Meagen Today I’m sharing my spoiler free review of Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall. This book was equal parts hilarious relationship moments gone wrong and sweet reminders of what it feels like to finally be safe with enough to truly unwind.
I stumbled upon this book after reading Red, White & Royal Blue which is also equally hilarious and heartwarming. You can check out my full review on that here.
Boyfriend Material is a similar premise, boy meets boy, boy thinks boy is terrible and it will be an insane struggle to pretend to be with this person but then oops maybe not as terrible as we first thought…
Lucien and Oliver are not nearly as hostile to one another as the mains in RW&RB in the beginning but it’s still definitely an enemies to lovers style trope happening here!
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I won’t spend too much time comparing the two books tho they are similar they’re also quite different. The main characters in this book are 28 which I found slightly more relatable (probably because of my elderly status as a 30 something)!
Fans of this trope will definitely want to check out The Charm Offensive! Check out my full review on that as well and add it to your TBR!
What is Boyfriend Material about?
Okay the quick version is that Luc is the son of two used to be rock stars from the 80’s and he now works for the only organization which would have him…a charity that endeavors to protect the dung beetle. In an effort to clean up his act he sets out to find the perfect boyfriend so he can be the “right kind of gay” and not lose his job.
His best friend sets him up with Oliver who is a lawyer and outwardly about as much of a stick in the mud as you could imagine…an incredibly gorgeous stick in the mud, but still. You get the picture.
The two head out on a their first date and it’s not long before Luc’s confrontational attitude and Oliver’s slightly better than you overtones clash. When pressed, Luc admits that he just needs Oliver to pretend to be his boyfriend and as luck would have it Oliver is just as desperate for a pretend beau.
Typical and somewhat non-typical hijinks follow and before we know it it is painfully obvious that these two are perfect for each other (tho they may be too blind and emotionally damaged to see it for themselves).
If they can overcome their individual emotional hangups they can stand a chance at a not so pretend life together.
What did you love about Boyfriend Material?
I really loved the characters (I know we are all shocked by this, no I will never stop being obsessed with fictional characters and allowing for glaring plot holes because of it) and there were no glaring plot holes in this one, that’s just usually totally fine with me because if there are great characters who gives a shit if the plot is mess?! NOT ME.
Anywho, Lucien and Oliver are adorable. Both of them are perfectly excellent on their own but together they’re all awww’s and come on and just get together already’s. They’re also, unfortunately, totally relatable characters for me.
Oliver is riddled with anxiety that he hides really well and is about to literally crack to pieces under the weight of familial expectations…been there, done that. Lucien is about as jaded as you can get about a father who ditches you when you are 3 and then pops up in your life when he needs to feel good about himself…because he’s dying…again, I have the t-shirt, club meetings are on the 2nd Tuesday of the month.
Perhaps the funniest parts of the book are when the two of them are dealing with their respective friend groups. Usually these outlier characters don’t need to be so vibrant and we still accept them and enjoy the work but Alexis Hall really goes above and beyond here without dragging the story on for 900 pages.
Luc’s friends are adorably harsh and sweet, Oliver’s “straight people friends” are so hysterical. I had to put the book down and just belly laugh for awhile after the dinner party scenes. Long way of saying that the characters are ALL really awesome and well written. The book is worth it for them alone.
Will you read more in this series?
As far as I know this is a standalone, Boyfriend Material doesn’t appear to be Book #1 in a series tho that would be fantastic. I would happily read more about these adorable characters and it would almost be nice to check back in with them down the road and see how they’ve fared.
The two of them do a lot of growing and changing throughout the book and while we end in a good enough place it wouldn’t break my cold black heart to peek in on them again and see if they’re still happy, growing, etc.
Overall opinions of this book:
Overall this was an easy 5 star read for me. I had been bogged down by mediocre reads and was saving this one for a treat…I just KNEW I would love it.
The awesome characters (Lucien and Oliver are about as adorable as I can stand) are wholly relatable. This book was such a feel good throwback to meeting my husband. Gushy wife moment ahead: there’s truly something magical about meeting someone and realizing that you aren’t censoring yourself the way you normally would. I loved seeing that for Oliver and Luc.
As much as I could live on adorable romance alone, this book throws it over the top with the laugh out loud funny moments. You know it’s a good read when Dustin looks up from his TikToks or TV show to say “what the heck is so funny over there” while I’m reading.
I appreciated that this had all the Red, White and Royal Blue vibes while being a touch more relatable with characters who were closer to my age range. I read a lot of YA Fiction/Fantasy/Romance so it doesn’t really bother me to read about the younger age groups but if we’re comparing (and I am) Boyfriend Material squeaked out ahead a bit for me because of that alone.
This book made me miss my on again (mostly off again) vegetarian diet and it made me want to move to London…and perhaps work in a shitty office full of old computers, and dingbats who just want to keep dung beetles from extinction. If I thought I could convince my husband to support either mission I would be packing and not typing 🙂
Rad this one. It’s lovely and full of musical references you’ll have to Google (or maybe not), it is worth the Googling just to have a few pages with Luc’s French mother and her best friend Judy, I promise.
Where can I buy this book for myself?
You can get this one on Amazon for sure. I’ll link the paperback and the Kindle version below. I’m a little late to the party, this one came out in the summer of 2020 so I’m nearly a year behind in discovering it so I’m not sure if there were hardcover versions floating around when it was released or not.
I haven’t seen a ton of buzz around this one on Bookstagram or BookTok which will change now because I can’t stop talking about how much I adored it so FOLLOW ME AND PREPARE.
Kindle Unlimited Membership PlansWhat else has Alexis Hall written?
Alexis Hall has written a bunch of other stuff. I have The Affair of The Mysterious Letter here to read next but check out his author page here for all the awesome books he’s written.
Another book / series from Alexis Hall that I’m looking forward to is Spires, I just ordered Glitterland to read!!
Looking for more reviews to check out?
Check out these other book reviews and bookish posts. I think you’ll love them! Make sure to let me know in the comments what kinds of books you like to read and what you’d like to see more of.
I’d love to hear about your favorite books, I’m always adding to my TBR (to be read) pile so leave those suggestions below!
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