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Publisher’s description for Boyfriend Material, by Alexis Hall:
Luc O'Donnell is tangentially—and reluctantly—famous. His rock star parents split when he was young, and the father he's never met spent the next twenty years cruising in and out of rehab. Now that his dad's making a comeback, Luc's back in the public eye, and one compromising photo is enough to ruin everything.
To clean up his image, Luc has to find a nice, normal relationship...and Oliver Blackwood is as nice and normal as they come. He's a barrister, an ethical vegetarian, and he's never inspired a moment of scandal in his life. In other words: perfect boyfriend material. Unfortunately apart from being gay, single, and really, really in need of a date for a big event, Luc and Oliver have nothing in common. So they strike a deal to be publicity-friendly (fake) boyfriends until the dust has settled. Then they can go their separate ways and pretend it never happened.
But the thing about fake-dating is that it can feel a lot like real-dating. And that's when you get used to someone. Start falling for them. Don't ever want to let them go.
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I liked Boyfriend Material. The characters are fun, it’s set in London, and it’s a romcom. I love a romcom with a big boisterous friend group and it had a lot of funny moments. This was a very serviceable, heartwarming distraction with all the elements for a fluffy read—what’s not to like, right?
Well, I did have some quibbles. I yearned for clear consistent writing that didn’t take me on a loop de loop through the author’s meandering thoughts. I found myself confused and annoyed at times reading paragraphs like this: ‘The constantly being in the main character’s head and the...you know...thoughts? That like he expressed in a way that was a way a thought would be expressed if I knew how to express it? Was so tiring.’ A TOUCH of that would have added to the character but doing it so often took me out of the book multiple times.
And while I liked the characters (mostly) and the story arc, the real tender raw moments didn’t have me feeling fully invested. Some of the bits, like how stupid one of the characters was, also would have been much funnier in smaller doses. When it was drawn out and repetitive it was too much. It also didn’t seem real and thus took me out of the moment. The main character was also such a jerk, repeatedly and deeply, that it made me not care much about him. His redemption arc didn’t quite get there for me.
In short, I was not invested in the way I should have been. I will happily overlook plot holes in a romcom but the plot for this one was just a little too thin and didn’t have the motivation it needed—and then suffocated under the weight of the main character.
Final Verdict: Would I pick up Boyfriend Material for a beach read? Go for it. Something tells me it would also be good on audio, where someone can act out all the main character’s thoughts so you don’t have to do the work of wading through them. I also might have been expecting this to be Red, White & Royal Blue and we all know that is just not a fair comparison!
I received a copy of Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca for letting me review!