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A review by lennie_reads
Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book follows Luc, the son of famous musicians, who ends up getting papped in an embarrassing situation which causes problems at his work. To combat this, a colleague suggests that he gets a nice upstanding person to pretend to be his boyfriend in order to prove that he's also a respectable person.
Luc has a lot of issues and they are very centre stage throughout the book but it also tracks his emotional growth and his realisations about his behavior and how he's treated his friends etc.
I absolutely loved Luc's French mum, she was blunt and wacky and hilarious and I wanted more of her.
Tbh this whole book is hilarious, especially the interactions and language between the upper class at the private club etc.
The romance is a kinda of enemies to friends to lovers and it was messy and real and soft and grown up and I really liked it. Neither of them are perfect; they make mistakes and then they have to deal with them.
I also really liked the communication in this book and I Loved the sexual tension and chemistry, it was building from their first date and only got better.
My only issues with this book were that for all the tension and steamy language, whenever a sex scene would arrive we had a 'Fade to black' moment, which I thought wouldn't be the case in an adult book (I'm used to it in YA so I thought it might be a bit different but apparently not 😅).
My other issue is the ending, it was good and sweet but also I just wanted more. I would definitely like to revisit Luc & Oliver to see how they are getting on!
Overall this book is funny, soft, sweet, realistic, has lots of British humour & sexual tension but also deals with mental illness and I'm here for that.
Cw: depression, abandonment, alcohol, anxiety, potential eating disorder, homophobia, parental neglect
Luc has a lot of issues and they are very centre stage throughout the book but it also tracks his emotional growth and his realisations about his behavior and how he's treated his friends etc.
I absolutely loved Luc's French mum, she was blunt and wacky and hilarious and I wanted more of her.
Tbh this whole book is hilarious, especially the interactions and language between the upper class at the private club etc.
The romance is a kinda of enemies to friends to lovers and it was messy and real and soft and grown up and I really liked it. Neither of them are perfect; they make mistakes and then they have to deal with them.
I also really liked the communication in this book and I Loved the sexual tension and chemistry, it was building from their first date and only got better.
My only issues with this book were that for all the tension and steamy language, whenever a sex scene would arrive we had a 'Fade to black' moment, which I thought wouldn't be the case in an adult book (I'm used to it in YA so I thought it might be a bit different but apparently not 😅).
My other issue is the ending, it was good and sweet but also I just wanted more. I would definitely like to revisit Luc & Oliver to see how they are getting on!
Overall this book is funny, soft, sweet, realistic, has lots of British humour & sexual tension but also deals with mental illness and I'm here for that.
Cw: depression, abandonment, alcohol, anxiety, potential eating disorder, homophobia, parental neglect
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Cancer, Eating disorder, and Homophobia