Title: Boyfriend Material (Boyfriend Material #1)
Author: Alexis Hall
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Publication date: July 7th, 2020
427 pages
4/5 stars
Goodreads Synopsis
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.
Review
“In any case, I wasn’t prepared for the truth of you.”
Alexis Hall, Boyfriend Material
Luc is somewhat famous and has a bad public image currently. This causes issues with his job, forcing him to try and rehabilitate his image by dating a respectable man. Enter Oliver Blackwood; barrister, boring, and ambivalent towards Luc. They have met before and not gotten on well, but when Luc propositions him to pretend to date him – Oliver realizes he can get something out of this situation as well. These two may dislike each other now, but they may find out they are more alike than they ever knew.
I fell in love with these two over the course of the book, along with their friends and the other side characters. There were legitimately funny moments over the book once Luc and Oliver meet – but the beginning is a bit slow when it is just Luc. You definitely have to stay the course with him until he meets Oliver, Oliver makes him a better person and more interesting to read. Boyfriend Material is pretty similar to Red, White, and Royal Blue – but set in London and with an even more adult theme (but not necessarily in the steam department). There are more serious, side story lines that help to round out the characters and cut into the humorous aspects to balance the book out. I appreciate the author’s use of banter and emotion to give depth and dimension to these two characters.
I can’t wait to read more in this universe, as it was announced that there will be two more books in the Boyfriend Material universe.
For fans of Casey McQuiston, Boyfriend Material starts a new series with diverse characters, laugh out loud funny moments, and a relatable romance.
Happy reading, folks!
Baltimore Bibliophile 