Clemmie Judges

BOYFRIEND MATERIAL

BOOK INFO

Title: Boyfriend Material

Author: Alexis Hall

Pages: 427

Publication date: July 7th 2020

Description: 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.

THE BAD

Alright, before I gush about the book, let me point out its flaws, because no book is perfect.

The characters: They are great—don't get me wrong. They all have fun personalities, and their dialogues make me laugh out loud. My only problem with them is that they act too cartoony sometimes. I get that this is supposed to be a fictional world, and again, I'm not saying they're horrible. I just think the author should tone down its silliness. Even if it makes me laugh.

The grammar: Alright, look. You can do this...and also this... but not both at the same time! Either add a space with your ellipsis or don't, but not both. Also, I'm pretty sure at one point the author wrote his ellipsis with two dots like this.. I am not kidding you. There are quite a few other grammatical mistakes as well. It makes the book feel less professional.

The writing style: Again, there's nothing particularly wrong about it, but I do find it too "telly" and not enough "showy." 

Too much build-up: Throughout this story, something has been hinted at. (I cannot say what, because that'll be a spoiler.) It's something that's supposedly big and shocking, but when it's finally revealed, it's... not as important as I thought it would be. Or maybe that's just me.

Now that that's out of the way, time for the fun part!

THE GOOD

Usually, when books have shitty main characters, they stay shitty throughout the whole book. This character, however, manages to redeem himself, which I find commendable. He's not perfect, but he's trying to be better, and you can see him struggling. Which is amazing.

And the other characters never let him be shitty either. They call him out on it, and he doesn't deny it. 

He's also self-conscious, and petty, and he owns it. I've never seen a character that's such a mess before. It's refreshing, in a fun way.

The romance is also good. I thought the author would hold things back to make things more juicy, but no. Their relationship progresses very nicely.

Another thing I like about this book is how fun it is. Usually books with these sorts of premises have that one angsty part that gives me the feels but is also sort of boring. But this book isn't like that. Even when Luc is hitting his lowest point, I still find it interesting and fun.

And I didn't think I'd like the supporting characters, but I do. Boy oh boy, I do.

Overall, this book is just a fun, fun ride. It's about how Luc learns to grow into a better person. And we see him struggling and failing and trying again, and it's just so wholesome and nice. 

RATING: 9/10