Reviews with content warning for Grief - Boyfriend Material

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall

15 reviews

thereadinghammock's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-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

5.0

Oh my gosh, where to begin with this one! I'd been hearing nothing but great things about this book on Instagram, and after discovering it was free on Spotify, I figured I'd give it a shot. I wasn't sure I was going to make it though, as Lucien is such a pessimistic narrator, especially at the beginning. I figured I'd push on, since so many folks had such good things to say, I figured it had to get better. And it did!! Firstly, I give HUGE kudos to Joe Jameson as an audiobook narrator. Not only did every character have a distinct voice, so you knew who was talking at any given time, but he even used different enunciation to distinguish the James Royce-Royce's so you knew which anyone was referring to at any given time.

Now, on to our wonderful garbage fire of a narrator Luc. As I said, he was so unlikeable at first. He was so despondent that it was clear why he had such a hard time connecting with anyone, even his friends (the ever changing What's App group name was a hilarious running gag). I'm pretty sure I liked Oliver from the start, despite his prickly introduction. He came off as the kind of person who was "Always Right" and although he didn't rub it in your face, also couldn't stand to not correct an error or mistake, if only because he wouldn't want anyone to think he also thought that misinformation was correct. I wasn't expecting, however, for Oliver to also want in on the "fake relationship" deal.

It was clear from early on, Oliver was having real feelings for Luc pretty quickly and he was so panicky about it. He was trying to build up walls so hard and so fast because he clearly had a lot of big feelings, and Luc was being self-defeatist and caught up in his own shit for so long it took him forever to realize he had those big feelings too! I spent a lot of my listening time flapping about in the car to and from work, faux crying about how much they liked each other and they just didn't know it yet!!

I LOVED Luc's mother and she was just the right person to help Luc get out of his own way. I adored Oliver throwing himself at Luc after seeing he [Luc] cleaned his apartment for him [Oliver] and Luc feeling briefly clueless at that moment. But then my heart SHATTERED at seeing how Oliver's parents treated him at their anniversary party!!! I totally get Oliver's mindset of, "they supported me and loved me, and it may not have always been perfect, but they're my family" but BEBE THEY'RE ABUSIVE!! Oh my heart, my poor, sweet bean Oliver. Seeing him fall completely apart after the party and realize no one had ever been there to help him pick up those pieces after an event like that was so heart breaking. I wanted to crawl inside the book and just give him the biggest hug and tell him it was going to be OK.

I definitely wasn't expecting to fall so madly in love with these two adorable train wrecks, and I loved how wildly different they were and how different their issues were from each other. I am SO EXCITED to learn that the sequel is only a few months away and I can't wait to see these two numbskulls navigate their for-real relationship a bit more.

Content Warnings

ruthiedr89's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny inspiring lighthearted sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

frantic_vampire's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Why the hell did I wait so long to read this book?? It was so fantastic that I’m having a hard time putting my love for this book into words, but I’ll try. Just know that I’m fangirling really hard over this book right now.

Boyfriend Material had me laughing, it had me crying, it had my heart melting, and it had my heart breaking. But most of all, this book was fucking relatable. Luc and Oliver are probably some of the most relatable characters out there. They’re both anxious and stressed out, but in completely different ways. There were more than a few scenes that I felt all the way to my core. And I think this book will be sticking with me for a long time.

All in all I loved this book to pieces. I wish the next one was coming out sooner, because I just need more of Luc and Oliver and their quirky friends. Boyfriend Material is probably one of my favorite books of the year and is getting a solid five stars!

Content Warnings

olivialandryxo's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I was eager to read this because I’d seen multiple comparisons between it and Red, White and Royal Blue, my favorite romance novel. While Boyfriend Material does feature a similar relationship dynamic and equally hilarious banter, it wasn’t quite as amazing as I’d hoped it would be.

I wasn’t expecting such a focus on Luc’s and Oliver’s complicated family dynamics. The former’s father has been diagnosed with cancer and wants to fix their poor relationship, whereas the latter has emotionally abusive parents. I sympathize with both guys—I wanna give Oliver a hug—and I can especially relate to Luc’s situation, as sans cancer, I have a similar relationship with my own father. However, some of Luc’s comments regarding his father’s diagnosis seemed insensitive, and it rubbed me the wrong way. That is, until

it was revealed that the asshole never had cancer. Are you kidding me??? This discovery had me angry at the character and unsure what to think of the author. I’m sure Hall is great, but I question why he made this choice.

The way Luc and Oliver supported each other warmed my heart. Theirs was a bit of a messy romance, since both of them are the epitome of gay disasters, but I loved it nonetheless. Recently I’ve realized that fake dating is one of my favorite tropes because I love seeing characters’ dynamics shift from an arrangement to real affection, so of course I loved these two, loved their story. And, as an added bonus, they teased each other frequently, which was quite amusing.

This would’ve been a five star read if not for the events of the last hundred pages. Everything seemed to be going well. I was grinning and laughing at almost every page. And then everything went so wildly wrong.

I honestly thought the scene after Luc and Oliver had sex, where Oliver broke up with Luc, was just Luc’s bad dream. I thought he’d wake up, panicking, but find Oliver asleep next to him, cuddled up beside him, and all would be well. All was not well. They really did break up the following morning, and I was *this close* to throwing my book across the room. If not for the fact that I read the scene at four in the morning, thus didn’t want to wake anyone up and also didn’t want to damage my paperback, I might’ve. They didn’t make up until the last few pages, and I was genuinely concerned the book would end with them going their own separate ways. Thank every god it didn’t, because I can’t properly describe how much I would’ve hated that.

While things ultimately worked out, I found the ending to be sadly unsatisfying.

Overall, this wasn’t a bad book. It was mostly enjoyable, and quite entertaining. I’d recommend to those looking for a quick romance read, so long as you don’t go in with extremely high expectations.

Representation

gay protagonist and love interest
achillean romance (m/m)
queer side characters (includes gay, bisexual, and lesbian rep; one achillean couple and one sapphic couple (f/f))

Content Warnings

stardustandrockets's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was the lighthearted fluffy romance I needed! Just the right amount of steam (that is to say it was there, but not overly explicit) mixed with humor and witty banter that I love in a romcom. Though I will say I am far too American and found myself either Googling things I didn't know, relying on my knowledge of British culture from the BBC, or simply using context clues to figure out what some things were. (That's utterly on me and the book was 100% enjoyable regardless of not knowing a lot of British things.) This is definitely one I will be revisiting from time to time because I adore how utterly dense Luc and Oliver are.

Looking forward to Husband Material in 2022!

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