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jefferz's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I had read quite a few critically-written books lately and was in the mood for a more casual comfort read and had added Alexis Hall’s Boyfriend Material to my reading list last year during my post-Red White and Royal Blue movie watch (yes, I still have not read the book itself, working on fixing that soon). While Boyfriend Material is indeed comfortably casual at the surface, I was pleasantly surprised at how relatable and earnest it was. Beyond the expected laughs and genZ pop culture references, I found the story itself to be consistently-paced, well-executed, and quite solid all-around. I was skeptical (as I usually am for all top-rated books here) that it ranked so high on Goodreads’ best romance category in 2020, especially since queer romance novels are usually ranked much lower than heterosexual romance books, but I now understand and agree with the hype. Side note, although it has nothing to do with the book's content, I love the graphic design for the book's cover design that's simultaneously English-looking and also very classy and appealing. Beyond being British, I would be lying if I said the book's cover didn't have any influence over me choosing this to read (good job publisher branding).
Despite not liking most romance novel tropes, the fake dating trope is one I don’t mind as long as it's either done comically or critically well. Unexpectedly, Boyfriend Material takes a middle-road approach and excels at both. While I found the premise for the fake dating arrangement to be somewhat ridiculous initially (surely there's better ways to avoid getting fired than having a clean-cut boyfriend in the tabloids, but hey that's on-brand for Luc's character logic), the story overall just kept getting better and better once it got going. The first few chapters focusing exclusively on Luc come in hot, and by hot I mean “this guy is a hot mess.” Sensitive, defensive, emotionally volatile, one of the first thoughts that came to mind was “wow this book has great character work, so this is what all my crazy friends and ex partners go through internally on a daily basis, what a riot”. It took me a while to warm up to both Luc and the writing style which is quite on-brand for many recent contemporary romcom novels. Full of pop culture references, endless run-on sentences, purposefully made up words and questionable grammar, there’s a lot going on. These GenZ-appealing choices gradually become more balanced and strategically used (correlating with Luc’s character growth and maturity), but it wasn’t quite my taste.
Fortunately what helped carry me through the first half of the book was the chemistry and pairing between Luc and Oliver. This type of book lives and dies by its core couple, and fortunately I liked them a lot! Running with an “opposites somewhat attract” rather than a head over heels infatuation, their well-planned interactions was a relief to read. I had come off of a few other romance novels that have such instantly thirsty characters and implausible character growth that it had me facepalming. Initially a spiky and volatile mess common for his character trope, Luc’s growth and stumbles are handled in such an earnest manner that you really do end up rooting for him to succeed, despite his insecurities telling him to fail. Oliver on the other hand fits the responsible and logical trope, but Hall is able to surpass the typical role by delving into the psyche for why he acts the way he does. Both characters are more developed than the premise really needed them to be, which made me all the more impressed by the ambition (how obvious is it that I've bee repeatedly burned by romance novels?). There’s a great few chapters devoted to one of his friend’s birthday party Oliver invites Luc to as his plus one, only for Luc to notice that they’re all straight compared to his queer-dominated friend group.
“I think for me”—Oliver shifted slightly uncomfortably—“and I should stress I’m speaking entirely personally, I’ve never wholly identified with that particular way of signalling your identity. Which always makes me feel like I’m letting the side down a little bit.”
I found Hall’s approach to this topic in Boyfriend Material to be both interesting and different from many other similar queer romance novels. Maybe it's just what I’ve read so far, but it’s rare for me to see an openly gay male character grapple with not fitting in or feeling awkward in the greater LGBTQ+ community. Usually it’s a bi, closeted, or confused character (ie. Heartstopper, Sex Education, Red White and Royal Blue) that has these sentiments or those that came out later in life. Oliver’s character departs from both scenarios and it was quite refreshing to see that explored in a genre that tends to cater heavily towards the more out and proud parts of the community. This is all the more comedic when Luc’s mother asks Oliver if he’s ever “sissied that walk?” before while they’re marathoning RuPaul’s Drag Race. It's quite brief and not explored very deeply, but it was lovely to see these thoughts and feelings represented. Unrelated yet slightly related, the following quote made me laugh out loud, Oliver and my logical humor is one and the same:
“I’m fixating on the straight thing because…these people are important to you. And I don’t want to fuck this up.” -Luc
“The way I see it”—it was Oliver’s gravest voice so I braced myself for an onslaught of sincerity—“either you won’t, which will be nice. Or you will, which will be funny.”
Opposite attract pairings are pretty common and are often honestly contrived, but I found Luc and Oliver to really be great complements to each other. One of my personal nitpicks is when a romance novel has an emotionally volatile and disaster of a protagonist that somehow catches the interest of a responsibly straight-laced, mature partner. For most books aiming to be comfort reads, the bumbling MC charms the other character with their random antics who then falls head over heels for them. While great for an escapist read and comforting for readers that empathize with the character, I sometimes find it to not only be implausible based on the character’s logical personality, but also a bit lazy. Sure everyone would love for their perfect partner to see their disaster of a life and accept them for who they are, but that doesn’t really work in practice unless there's other charming aspects to the person (this is coming from someone who has a personality quite close to Oliver and is repelled by crazy people). Boyfriend Material avoids that issue partly through its well-utilized length (430 pages is on the longer side considering its simple premise), and also through Luc and Oliver’s many trials and tribulations. A lot of mistakes, errors, and miscommunication (a trope I normally hate I might add, gj Alexis Hall for making it work) made their growing relationship feel more complex and meaningful. Both characters also had quite a bit of character growth separately which also contributed to a more satisfying and rewarding ending.
Speaking of character growth and length, compared to similar romance books I’ve read (in particular, M/M queer romance novels), Boyfriend Material is definitely on the slower side. Hints of mutual feelings take a while to come up and the first real bedroom spice doesn’t happen until almost 75% into the book with a very slow build-up. While there's a lot of longingly awkward glances and references to sex, there's really only one spicy chapter included with other moments happening off-page, taking a classier approach. If you're picking this up primarily for man on man action, you're going to be disappointed. But its restrained approach helped elevate the material for me and took it from an easy typical romcom level read to a solid all-a rounder. I initially questioned why the book was so long considering it felt like there wasn’t a lot of “material” to work with (you know I had to lol), but I was repeatedly surprised by the quality of its seemingly mundane outings or Luc’s workplace follies that ultimately contributed to his personal growth. The book also tackles some non-Oliver/job related topics/themes like Luc’s feelings of abandonment by his famous rock star father, his low standards and self-value, and past romantic relationships (this one is quite underdevelopment however, perhaps it will be addressed in one of the two sequel novels). Meanwhile Oliver has themes of fitting into the expectation and image of others, an inadvertently toxic and homophobic family, and the excessive pressures he puts onto himself.
As a nice plus, Hall also has a nice mix of creatively inspiring quotes of self-reflection balanced out by equally creatively comedic one-liners (some of which are quite sharp which I always love):
“You really do own your illiteracy, don’t you?” -Oliver
“Yeah, I’m thinking about moving to America and running for public office.” -Luc
"My working theory was that getting a dessert from a vegan restaurant was like having sex with someone less attractive than you—they knew it was a tough sell, so they tried harder." -Luc</blockquote>
"For a second or two, I tried to do that British thing where you pretend nothing untoward is happening in the hope it’ll sort itself out quickly and amicably, and then you’ll never have to talk about it again…
And I desperately wanted to say something supportive but “don’t cry” was toxic bullshit, “it’s okay to cry” was patronizing, and “there, there” had never made anybody feel better ever in the history of emotions."
As a whole, I enjoyed and was pleasantly surprised by Boyfriend Material (and I do not mean this to be a backhanded compliment, despite how it looks). A true 4.5 rounded down, unfortunately the prose was just not to my personal taste and something I couldn’t overlook. But to Hall’s credit, it’s not just their specific writing but rather this style that has been popularized by many recent and trending contemporary fiction novels (this book knows who its readers are). However, the prose is really the only element that didn’t quite work for me (I'm decidedly not fruity enough I guess) and I’ve certainly rated many other books considerably lower based on their prose alone. And as previously mentioned, the prose does improve substantially in the back half of the book, further convincing me that it was a purposefully stylistic choice, not a default choice. While despite having a clean ending that allows Boyfriend material to be a standalone read if desired, there’s enough lingering plot threads and material to easily fill its one (soon to be two) sequel novels which I will more than likely also read. Good job Alexis Hall, this is approved Jeff Reading Material. (okay I will admit, that one was pretty bad)
Edit: Slept on it for a few days and decided to bump it up as it's closer to 5 stars vs 4 stars, feels a bit harsh to knock it down a star due to just the prose at times (Goodreads really needs to add half star ratings).
Despite not liking most romance novel tropes, the fake dating trope is one I don’t mind as long as it's either done comically or critically well. Unexpectedly, Boyfriend Material takes a middle-road approach and excels at both. While I found the premise for the fake dating arrangement to be somewhat ridiculous initially (surely there's better ways to avoid getting fired than having a clean-cut boyfriend in the tabloids, but hey that's on-brand for Luc's character logic), the story overall just kept getting better and better once it got going. The first few chapters focusing exclusively on Luc come in hot, and by hot I mean “this guy is a hot mess.” Sensitive, defensive, emotionally volatile, one of the first thoughts that came to mind was “wow this book has great character work, so this is what all my crazy friends and ex partners go through internally on a daily basis, what a riot”. It took me a while to warm up to both Luc and the writing style which is quite on-brand for many recent contemporary romcom novels. Full of pop culture references, endless run-on sentences, purposefully made up words and questionable grammar, there’s a lot going on. These GenZ-appealing choices gradually become more balanced and strategically used (correlating with Luc’s character growth and maturity), but it wasn’t quite my taste.
Fortunately what helped carry me through the first half of the book was the chemistry and pairing between Luc and Oliver. This type of book lives and dies by its core couple, and fortunately I liked them a lot! Running with an “opposites somewhat attract” rather than a head over heels infatuation, their well-planned interactions was a relief to read. I had come off of a few other romance novels that have such instantly thirsty characters and implausible character growth that it had me facepalming. Initially a spiky and volatile mess common for his character trope, Luc’s growth and stumbles are handled in such an earnest manner that you really do end up rooting for him to succeed, despite his insecurities telling him to fail. Oliver on the other hand fits the responsible and logical trope, but Hall is able to surpass the typical role by delving into the psyche for why he acts the way he does. Both characters are more developed than the premise really needed them to be, which made me all the more impressed by the ambition (how obvious is it that I've bee repeatedly burned by romance novels?). There’s a great few chapters devoted to one of his friend’s birthday party Oliver invites Luc to as his plus one, only for Luc to notice that they’re all straight compared to his queer-dominated friend group.
“I think for me”—Oliver shifted slightly uncomfortably—“and I should stress I’m speaking entirely personally, I’ve never wholly identified with that particular way of signalling your identity. Which always makes me feel like I’m letting the side down a little bit.”
I found Hall’s approach to this topic in Boyfriend Material to be both interesting and different from many other similar queer romance novels. Maybe it's just what I’ve read so far, but it’s rare for me to see an openly gay male character grapple with not fitting in or feeling awkward in the greater LGBTQ+ community. Usually it’s a bi, closeted, or confused character (ie. Heartstopper, Sex Education, Red White and Royal Blue) that has these sentiments or those that came out later in life. Oliver’s character departs from both scenarios and it was quite refreshing to see that explored in a genre that tends to cater heavily towards the more out and proud parts of the community. This is all the more comedic when Luc’s mother asks Oliver if he’s ever “sissied that walk?” before while they’re marathoning RuPaul’s Drag Race. It's quite brief and not explored very deeply, but it was lovely to see these thoughts and feelings represented. Unrelated yet slightly related, the following quote made me laugh out loud, Oliver and my logical humor is one and the same:
“I’m fixating on the straight thing because…these people are important to you. And I don’t want to fuck this up.” -Luc
“The way I see it”—it was Oliver’s gravest voice so I braced myself for an onslaught of sincerity—“either you won’t, which will be nice. Or you will, which will be funny.”
Opposite attract pairings are pretty common and are often honestly contrived, but I found Luc and Oliver to really be great complements to each other. One of my personal nitpicks is when a romance novel has an emotionally volatile and disaster of a protagonist that somehow catches the interest of a responsibly straight-laced, mature partner. For most books aiming to be comfort reads, the bumbling MC charms the other character with their random antics who then falls head over heels for them. While great for an escapist read and comforting for readers that empathize with the character, I sometimes find it to not only be implausible based on the character’s logical personality, but also a bit lazy. Sure everyone would love for their perfect partner to see their disaster of a life and accept them for who they are, but that doesn’t really work in practice unless there's other charming aspects to the person (this is coming from someone who has a personality quite close to Oliver and is repelled by crazy people). Boyfriend Material avoids that issue partly through its well-utilized length (430 pages is on the longer side considering its simple premise), and also through Luc and Oliver’s many trials and tribulations. A lot of mistakes, errors, and miscommunication (a trope I normally hate I might add, gj Alexis Hall for making it work) made their growing relationship feel more complex and meaningful. Both characters also had quite a bit of character growth separately which also contributed to a more satisfying and rewarding ending.
Speaking of character growth and length, compared to similar romance books I’ve read (in particular, M/M queer romance novels), Boyfriend Material is definitely on the slower side. Hints of mutual feelings take a while to come up and the first real bedroom spice doesn’t happen until almost 75% into the book with a very slow build-up. While there's a lot of longingly awkward glances and references to sex, there's really only one spicy chapter included with other moments happening off-page, taking a classier approach. If you're picking this up primarily for man on man action, you're going to be disappointed. But its restrained approach helped elevate the material for me and took it from an easy typical romcom level read to a solid all-a rounder. I initially questioned why the book was so long considering it felt like there wasn’t a lot of “material” to work with (you know I had to lol), but I was repeatedly surprised by the quality of its seemingly mundane outings or Luc’s workplace follies that ultimately contributed to his personal growth. The book also tackles some non-Oliver/job related topics/themes like Luc’s feelings of abandonment by his famous rock star father, his low standards and self-value, and past romantic relationships (this one is quite underdevelopment however, perhaps it will be addressed in one of the two sequel novels). Meanwhile Oliver has themes of fitting into the expectation and image of others, an inadvertently toxic and homophobic family, and the excessive pressures he puts onto himself.
As a nice plus, Hall also has a nice mix of creatively inspiring quotes of self-reflection balanced out by equally creatively comedic one-liners (some of which are quite sharp which I always love):
“You really do own your illiteracy, don’t you?” -Oliver
“Yeah, I’m thinking about moving to America and running for public office.” -Luc
"My working theory was that getting a dessert from a vegan restaurant was like having sex with someone less attractive than you—they knew it was a tough sell, so they tried harder." -Luc</blockquote>
"For a second or two, I tried to do that British thing where you pretend nothing untoward is happening in the hope it’ll sort itself out quickly and amicably, and then you’ll never have to talk about it again…
And I desperately wanted to say something supportive but “don’t cry” was toxic bullshit, “it’s okay to cry” was patronizing, and “there, there” had never made anybody feel better ever in the history of emotions."
As a whole, I enjoyed and was pleasantly surprised by Boyfriend Material (and I do not mean this to be a backhanded compliment, despite how it looks). A true 4.5 rounded down, unfortunately the prose was just not to my personal taste and something I couldn’t overlook. But to Hall’s credit, it’s not just their specific writing but rather this style that has been popularized by many recent and trending contemporary fiction novels (this book knows who its readers are). However, the prose is really the only element that didn’t quite work for me (I'm decidedly not fruity enough I guess) and I’ve certainly rated many other books considerably lower based on their prose alone. And as previously mentioned, the prose does improve substantially in the back half of the book, further convincing me that it was a purposefully stylistic choice, not a default choice. While despite having a clean ending that allows Boyfriend material to be a standalone read if desired, there’s enough lingering plot threads and material to easily fill its one (soon to be two) sequel novels which I will more than likely also read. Good job Alexis Hall, this is approved Jeff Reading Material. (okay I will admit, that one was pretty bad)
Edit: Slept on it for a few days and decided to bump it up as it's closer to 5 stars vs 4 stars, feels a bit harsh to knock it down a star due to just the prose at times (Goodreads really needs to add half star ratings).
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content
jaxx88's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing and Alcohol
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment
Minor: Bullying, Homophobia, Self harm, and Grief
amris's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism
Moderate: Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content
Minor: Drug use
kaitlynfriedman's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Homophobia
levilore_'s review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I would highly recommend the audio book because the narrator was so incredible that I actually liked the book more than the last time I read it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Classism
Minor: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Classism
its_vendetta's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer and Abandonment
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Homophobia, and Alcohol
caitlinemccann's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment
Minor: Bullying, Eating disorder, Alcohol, and Classism
hiddenstaircase's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This is a fake relationship to actual lovers done right. Plus it’s gay. Both of our male leads are struggling with different types of pressure, Oliver trying to capture perfection and Luc who always has his every failure plastered on the tabloids. They compliment each other and have been burned in different ways by past relationships. They have separate family dramas going on with their lives. There’s a third act breakup, which is annoying but kinda expected in these kind of books.
Only major gripe is with the excess of side characters and some of the dialogue feeling off. I cannot keep track of all the friends and coworkers and their relationships and then the other’s friend group. The dialogue between Luc and Oliver is teasing and cute.
Only major gripe is with the excess of side characters and some of the dialogue feeling off. I cannot keep track of all the friends and coworkers and their relationships and then the other’s friend group. The dialogue between Luc and Oliver is teasing and cute.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Cancer and Toxic relationship
livlamentloathe's review against another edition
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Okay, okay, okay. This was a lot and a half. I have thoughts.
Pro’s:
Pro’s:
- When they were actually being semi-serious boyfriends, post-dinner with the two rich dummies, Oliver and Luc were super cute and sweet
- I appreciated the idea of the bathroom door and Luc vocalizing his fear/longing for intimacy
- Luc’s mom and Judy — who totally should’ve been in love but oh well
- James Royce Royce and James Royce Royce (spelling? I listened to the audiobook so who’s to say?) — at first this annoyed me but by the end, I found the whole bit hilarious
- Luc’s friends helping him clean
- Bridgette’s work emergencies and terminal lateness
- I cried for a bit in the middle when Oliver and Luc were super cute and boyfriendy and so caring for one another at the gala! Luc’s need for support mirrored my own there so it was personal watching him be cared for in just the way he needed.
- The realism of Luc’s absentee father being shit still and not deserving Luc. I also liked that Luc didn’t let him off lightly at any point despite “having cancer.”
Con’s:
- But on the other hand: Luc’s dad. First because, it was unnecessary for him not to have cancer in the end! I’d have preferred an explanation like the doctor misread an X-Ray, or some meds were working and he’d be okay, or there was a surgery option with a high success rate! Anything but “oh that was an overdramatic lie”
- And further: his whole bit was so random. Somehow despite never being in Luc’s life, and Luc being more or less a random, the paps cared about Luc like he was a dang Kardashian. Instead of like… idk I pictured Howard Stern but if Stern was a narcissist rocker Lennon-type who lived to have a sad pithy comeback on The Voice. And he cares aww, then shows time and time and time and time again he doesn’t care, then ghosts again. If it looks like a duck…
- Tom????? No proper explanation for the status of Luc’s relationship with him, what it had been, why it ended, how he picked Luc’s friend over Luc? And the lack of proper understanding for Luc’s feelings post-relationship! Of course he’s bitter and sad!!!! Who wouldn’t be in that situation?! (That said, he seemed to be the only character with his head on “straight”)
- The ending, the ending, the fucking ending!!!!
- How defensive and snappy and mean Oliver was at and after Luc met his family! Especially after Oliver had practically begged for a game plan and Oliver hadn’t said anything to warn him!!
- The rude guy at the pub in the first scene being overly offended by Luc making the REALISTIC assumption a journalist would want to write about him! Then Luc was in so much mental conflict and dragging himself through the mud for being anxious and not wanting to be exposed again and said journalist acted like Luc was a narcissist for even making a joke about it! THEN having the fucking GALL to write about it!!!!!!!!!!! You can’t fucking act offended when someone thinks you’re using them for a story and then turn around and use them for a fucking story!!! What a fucking jackass.
- Oliver’s awful friends and awful awful family!!! The family were sincerely fucked up people, but how could Oliver let them talk about Luc like that??! It’s one thing that he let them tear into him, that’s a personal issue based on clear trauma and toxic familial abuse, but it bothered me that he was okay with Luc being the back-up target for defending Oliver!
- The idiots Oliver worked with! They were characatures of people! Reese (Rhys?) was one thing. He was a believable older man who shouldn’t be in charge of socials and was bumbling his way through it. But the other guy was such a fucking idiot that it’s beyond me how he even had a job! How can you be both that inept and so up and up with society-folk???????? Was this an obvious metaphor I missed? All in all, the only good bit of them for me was when Luc told the joke about the interrupting cow.
- THE HOMOPHOBIA!!! I could not connect with Luc’s desire to work at that company. It’d have been one thing if there was a micro-aggression and he needed the job. But he didn’t seem to need the work considering his rich dad, and mom living off royalties!! There was too much homophobia and him wanting to work there was beyond me. He should’ve quit. He should’ve sued them.
- I hated how all the homophobes got away with it. Like the queer characters would acknowledge it was homophobic after the fact (or mentally during) but rarely did anyone answer for their own ignorance! And this is re: cis white gay men. They were the first group of lgbtq+ to be palatable to the public, so there’s no real excuse! Luc stayed at and actively helped his homophobic boss. And bent over backward to make a bunch of other rich homophobes happy! Gross af.
- Luc’s self-awareness was frustrating. He’d think the right thing and say something bananas or just not say anything at all! It was so frustrating.
- Their communication was just bad. Most of the problems could’ve been solved with one honest conversation. How are we supposed to believe in the romantic ending when they broke up like 5 times during the book??
- The intensity of Oliver’s breakup with Luc. It floored me cause it seemed out of nowhere! Beyond their clear communication issues and the family thing, Oliver had not been anything less than loving and all in, and then he just up and decides it’s over? Sorry but it felt forced. It wasn’t organic enough to be believable.
- And THEN: Luc was made to jump through hoops and run an entire obstacle course (by his friends who were not being helpful kind nudgers trying to match make, but instead were brutal, harsh, and way too overly-involved. Good outside intervention would've been Bridge (?) giving Oliver a scolding or trying to help them communicate. Not kidnapping Luc and locking him out of the car to force him to beg Oliver back!! Oliver DUMPED Luc. Oliver should be the grand-gesture-er. Not Luc. I was so frustrated by the whole thing at that point. Much too frustrated to think the ending was romantic. I cannot believe they won’t just break up for good post-book.
Anyway, most of my thoughts are specific to spoilers. But my tldr/you haven’t read the book review is: The romantic relationship of the two central characters was plagued by poor communication, assumptions, and a desperate need to see a therapist (3 therapists—one each for them as individuals and another for them as a couple). The background characters are such bananas caricatures of humans, that they read as cartoonishly mean, dumb, and self-obsessed. I think they were meant to be jovially mean with the implication that Luc isn’t good to them so it’s mutual, but in my opinion, they just sucked. Sorry that was very mean.
If you want a simple book with stereotypical relationship problems, gay romance (that feels written by a str8 despite that very much not being the case??), and a sweet if not dragged out plot, this may be for you. Oh an actual selling point is that if you want a romance that’s entire plot is about the romance, and the subplot is so sub that it’s barely plot, read this! We’ve all been there. Sometimes you read SJM for the dreamy str8 faeries and sometimes you read a fluff romance book without a plot—escapism is escapism!
I’m mean.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Homophobia, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment
Moderate: Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Cultural appropriation, and Alcohol
kal517's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse and Homophobia
Moderate: Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders