Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall

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Title: Boyfriend Material
Author: Alexis Hall
Published by: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Release Date: July 7, 2020
Format: eARC
Pages: 368
Genres: Romance, Contemporary, LGBT
Source: NetGalley
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2020 Diversity Reading Challenge, Lenoreo's 2020 Netgalley and Edelweiss Challenge, Lenoreo's 2020 New Release Challenge, Lenoreo's COYER Quarantine Edition
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks ✩ IndieBound ✩ Book Depository
My rating:

Blurb:

Wanted:
One (fake) boyfriend
Practically perfect in every way

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.

I received a free copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.

4.5 stars — This one reminded me a LOT of Bridget Jones’s Diary in tone and snappy dialogue…I mean, the movies at least, it’s been so long since I read the book, I don’t remember what the writing was like.  I was actually a little…put off? (or lost I think) by the fast pace of the external and internal dialogue, and all the UKisms.  But as I continued to read, I got back into that groove and really enjoyed myself.  I guess I just hadn’t been expecting it.

I was also worried by the sheer level of snark and dryness and total lack of self-esteem that was Luc.  It could be offputting at times how much he put himself down.  But honestly?  In the end I did connect with him in spite of that, and I guess I just figured out who Luc was, and loved him in spite of his deflections and fear of feelings.  I think it made it really satisfying to see the places where he did end up growing, and I LOVED that he really truly did grow — perhaps because of Oliver, but he didn’t chuck it all when they hit the conflict.  That was kind of awesome.

Honestly, I feel odd saying this, but there were so many things that had me wary when I first started reading this book.  I think I went into it fairly blind, no expectations, and I had to get used to a different set of characters than I was used to.  I really truly am bummed that this wasn’t dual POV, because I really wanted inside Oliver’s head.  It didn’t detract from the story necessarily, it still felt full…I’m just greedy.  I had an initial hard time figuring Oliver out…but I think I got him as Luc was getting him.  And he was really endearing in so many ways.  But I also appreciated that he was fucked up in his own ways, that may have seemed quite different from Luc’s hangups, but in the end came down to the same thing.  Basically, the conflict and resolution ended up being strangely satisfying for me.

And the two of them together put me through so much.  I laughed so much at their witty banter, I ached with them as I saw them both feeling the feels, and I hurt for what they were going through individually as well as together.  I thought their chemistry was pretty solid, though was a bit bummed at the mostly fade to black (again, greedy).

And wow, were there ever a lot of seriously colourful secondary characters in this one.  So many of them felt completely unbelievable and caricatures, and AGAIN, that threw me off initially…but then I just kind of rolled with it, and they added their little tidbits, and it was fun and zany, and…it just worked for me.  Of course there were also some douchebags, but when aren’t there?  And they were seriously douchey.

So yeah.  This book was a strange rollercoaster ride for me.  Maybe it’s just a solid 4 stars…I can’t tell.  I think I’m just impressed with how it burrowed under my skin and made me accept all sorts of weird things that put me off initially.  So take from that what you will.