Boyfriend Material

I have thoroughly enjoyed this book in a way that has completely disturbed my family. I giggled and full belly laughed my way through to the very end in one day whilst chasing family members about the house to quote the funniest passages but failing miserably because I couldn’t read them without laughing. Luc and Oliver’s story will remain with me for a very long time and probably through many rereads. Of course, they are not the only reason I will reread this. The side characters were marvellously ridiculous and definitely not side anythings. From the James Royce-Royces who I never failed to tell apart despite their shared name, to the Alex and Rhys unintentional double act that was frustrating, bewildering and downright silly. Add into the mix two messed up families, some very sticky situations and some very peculiar solutions, Boyfriend Material is a boiling pot of everything anyone would ever need in a very British romantic comedy. This book needs to be read by everyone.

***Audio Review *** 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 What an utterly perfect 'vehicle' this story was to showcase Joe Jameson's wonderful vocal talent. The amazing accents, a distinct voice for each character...including the female ones, and he even managed to get some feels in there somewhere too 😉; in fact, several of his narrations are on my 'Awesome Audio Narration' bookshelf here on Goodreads. I seem to remember reading somewhere that Alexis was quite impressed with Joe's narration for Mary Renault's classic, The Charioteer...as was I 😊, so I'm thinking maybe that's why Joe was chosen to narrate this one? I also know Joe narrates as Hamish Long and Rusty Coles for several of Harper Fox's stories...in particular Brothers of the Wild North Sea, which was fabulous. 5 stars definitely for the narration. As far as the no sex on page story and characters were concerned, it wasn't my fave of Alexis' stories I'm afraid [that honour is still shared by For Real and Glitterland]. It was bl**dy funny though...laugh out loud funny at times, especially the gormless Alex Twaddle and his 'Hooray Henry' show, and Rhys Jones Bowen being the most inept Welsh IT guru you could ever wish to meet. Yes, you may take exception to some parts of the storyline, but hey, it's FICTION... a little artistic license is allowed. I loved drippy Bridget who got a perfect 'Sloane Ranger' accent, and Luc's mum with her very laidback French drawl was good too. Everyone [well, apart from Luc's boss at CRAPP 😉] was so nice and helpful; it was actually Luc I had trouble with. I just didn't fully connect with [or like] him until quite late on in the story, although I LOVED Oliver most of the time...until their roles were sadly reversed towards the end of the story, and I was SO annoyed 😡. Alexis and his character observations are, as usual, spot on for the most part. The less said about Luc's worthless PoS sperm donor and Oliver's controlling and nasty parents, for whom nothing their grown-up kids ever did was pleasing or good enough, the better. I was quite surprised at the HfN ending right at the very end of the story I must say [it was like a football team getting a very late equaliser in a Cup final to take the match to extra time, after the opposition thought they'd already got the match sewn up]. Of course, although the author [HE] is about as quintessentially English/British as you can get, we have an American publisher 😏 so we always get a few Americanisms thrown into the story too, which obviously do not work over here as well e.g. bleachers, felony, alma mater and dumpster fire. We have to accept that there are not too many LGBTQ+ publishers left over here in the UK for really good authors [and Alexis is DEFINITELY a really good author] to transfer sales into making an acceptable living, so unfortunately American publishers are a necessary 'evil' I'm afraid. All i...

This was one of the best books I’ve read this year so far. Totally adorable, sweet when it needed to be, heart wrenching at times, and often absolutely hilarious. This is the story of Luc O’Donnell, who is the son of a famous rock star from the 80s who spent much of the time between the 80s and the present in and out of rehab. Luc’s never met his father, but now that his dad is making an epic comeback on reality television, Luc is getting more and more press, and his public image is starting to go down the toilet. If he doesn’t find a nice, respectable boyfriend to bring to a work event to prove that he’s not the disaster that the press paints him as, he’s going to lose his job. Cue Oliver Blackwood. He’s handsome, single, a lawyer, a vegetarian, and is also in need of a plus one to an important event. So, they make a deal. They’ll be fake boyfriends until each event is over, and then they can go their separate ways. These guys are adorable idiots and I would fight a feral tiger for them. We get this story from Luc’s point of view, and so we get to know him a bit better than Oliver. Luc is a bit of a dick (okay, more than a bit) but he’s been through some rough stuff over the last few years, and being dickish seems to be a shield he uses. Because it’s told in the first person, we see Luc during a lot of his more vulnerable moments, and so it was very easy to latch on and want all the best for him. The relationship between Luc and Oliver was a nice slow burn, and reached levels of adorableness that may yet be unmeasurable. As I said though, these guys are adorable idiots, and so there is plenty of idiocy from both sides when it comes to how a healthy relationship (fake or otherwise) works. Enter the heart-wrenching bits. But despite idiocy on both sides, both characters grow in wonderful ways due to the influence of the other. The last 15% or so of this one did me a solid kick in the feels, in a way that made the ending itself even better. All told, a lot of this book reminded me of Bridget Jones’ Diary, only gayer, and I was all the way here for it. There’s even a character named Bridget, and I want to believe that was on purpose. I loved every second of it.

I was really surprised by this book. I have read Glitterland and Waiting for the Flood by Alexis Hall and I loved both of those books. This one not so much. Positives- Told from the POV of Lucien who is cute, funny, sarcastic and self deprecating. He has abandonment and trust issues but is a likable guy. His interactions with his group of zany friends are fun to read. Oliver helps him come alive. Negatives- There is too much over the top banter and Lucien's coworkers are beyond ridiculous. We barely get to know anything about stoic Oliver and how he is feeling. The romance was cute but lukewarm. Overall the balance was off, way too much of comedy that I didn't find particularly funny and not enough romance to draw me into caring what happened to these characters. Maybe if I was British I would have appreciated the humor more-idk.

This book checked boxes for me I didn't even know existed. Every bit of it was perfect... no pressure to the author. A person could easily say "oh, another fake boyfriend, romantic comedy." But if this is you,and you are seeing this review and wavering, just trust me. The authors skill with banter, internal dialogue and pacing is unparalleled. No supporting character feels unnecessary or like filler. Every part of the execution is flawlessly done. I laughed, and I cried, and I am so sad its over. These characters may be some of my favorites. Alexis has a real talent for realistically screwed up, endearingly relatable characters that will make you fall in love with them, and they are so fleshed out, its impressive. So in love with this book and the authors writing.