Scan barcode
A review by bookphile
Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall
5.0
I loved it.
Mostly because this is the first book in a very long time that I actually didn't want to stop reading when I started and wanted to immediately get back to when I put it down. I missed that feeling so much.
This book is a very fluffy, very soft romance, that made me laugh a lot and I enjoyed every minute of... but it also made me sad a lot, because the characters go through so much shit and have to put up with so much crap constantly being thrown at them, but they deal with it or fall apart and then move along, because that what you do.
I really liked Luc. It was hard to read about someone who had so much self-loathing and such low self-esteem, who lashed out in cruelty to keep people at bay to protect himself, who let himself get abused and walked all over because he thought he deserved it. But it felt so good to see him heal and get better with the help of his friends and with the help of Oliver, who managed to prop up our boy Luc and remind him that he deserves better and that he should have some sort of expectations.
Which I think is why it hurts so much when Oliver falls apart. We always get angry at dependable people for falling apart, because they're supposed to be the good ones, the dependable ones. But they spend so much time keeping themselves together and keeping everyone accountable that when they fall apart it's always way uglier and messier. But as much as I wanted to, I couldn't stay mad at Oliver either.
I liked the romance between them, they were very sweet together. It was also obvious - to everyone but each other - that they mostly misunderstood each other's intentions but once those cleared up they turned out to be more compatible than not. And it's like, you're not even fake boyfriends because you're actually acting like real boyfriends, even when no one is paying attention to you. Idiots. Lovable idiots.
Mostly because this is the first book in a very long time that I actually didn't want to stop reading when I started and wanted to immediately get back to when I put it down. I missed that feeling so much.
This book is a very fluffy, very soft romance, that made me laugh a lot and I enjoyed every minute of... but it also made me sad a lot, because the characters go through so much shit and have to put up with so much crap constantly being thrown at them, but they deal with it or fall apart and then move along, because that what you do.
I really liked Luc. It was hard to read about someone who had so much self-loathing and such low self-esteem, who lashed out in cruelty to keep people at bay to protect himself, who let himself get abused and walked all over because he thought he deserved it. But it felt so good to see him heal and get better with the help of his friends and with the help of Oliver, who managed to prop up our boy Luc and remind him that he deserves better and that he should have some sort of expectations.
Which I think is why it hurts so much when Oliver falls apart. We always get angry at dependable people for falling apart, because they're supposed to be the good ones, the dependable ones. But they spend so much time keeping themselves together and keeping everyone accountable that when they fall apart it's always way uglier and messier. But as much as I wanted to, I couldn't stay mad at Oliver either.
I liked the romance between them, they were very sweet together. It was also obvious - to everyone but each other - that they mostly misunderstood each other's intentions but once those cleared up they turned out to be more compatible than not. And it's like, you're not even fake boyfriends because you're actually acting like real boyfriends, even when no one is paying attention to you. Idiots. Lovable idiots.