A review by galleytrot
Not Dating Material by Saxon James

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

4.5

READ: Sep 2023 
FORMAT: Audio 

BRIEF SUMMARY: 
In this contemporary romance, Seven is rescued from an extremely compromising situation the newest roommate of the house, and once Molly proves his worth by keeping the whole ordeal to himself, Seven responds in kind. Molly has had nothing but bad luck with men and dating, no matter how he fine-tunes his parameters towards older, mature men who are more likely to want to settle down; so, Seven decides to take him on a series of mock dates to give pointers and tips over what Molly might be doing wrong. Dating for real is completely out of the picture due to house rules and personal boundaries, and the last thing Seven wants is to drag sunshiny Molly down to his and Xander’s level of dysfunction, but attraction doesn’t always care about rules and boundaries. 

ENTERTAINMENT VALUE: 4.5 / 5⭐ 
Listen: fake dating tropes have been worn pretty thin, and the progression of them is always obscenely predictable. This book largely conforms to those expectations, but it’s also surprisingly refreshing in some ways. For instance, throughout the early ‘mock’ dates, Molly and Seven both are pretty diligent at sticking with the pretense of date-coaching and not making it weird for each other by insinuating more is going on. Molly is genuinely enthusiastic about learning, and they legitimately come up with some helpful takeaways from their time together. That predictable blurring of lines isn’t immediately present from the start. 

Seven doesn’t do steady boyfriends, and he is clear about his boundaries from the get-go. He wears his past trauma as a shield without apology, and he is a package deal with his foster brother, Xander. Seven and Xander are nearly inseparable, and any romantic interest would have to understand and accept the nature of their deep but platonic bond before Seven could entertain the barest hint of the possibility of a relationship. Not to mention, in his eyes, Molly it too bright, too bubbly, too undamaged to ever be saddled with a broken and jaded ass such as himself, and he doesn’t even fit in the parameters of Molly’s dream man anyhow, so it’s all a moot point. 

Molly may never have experienced childhood abuses or traumas or dysfunctional families, but he does have his own valid history of hurt. Instead of expressing the negativity inside of him, it’s easier to let the world see the happy, well-adjusted Molly that they want to see and not step on anyone’s toes. What he wants more than anything is to date a loyal and devoted man to eventually settle down with, but he can’t seem to stop striking out, even when he tries to select for older, respectful men who should ostensibly want the same thing. It isn’t until Seven points out that the men might not be the problem when Molly realizes the common denominator for his disaster dates is himself. 

TECHNICAL / PRODUCTION: 4.25 / 5⭐
So I was vibing with this story pretty strongly for the majority of it, right on up until the very end. The inciting possibility that got Seven to pull his head out of his ass and choose happiness made me want to get up and walk right out of the room. I mean, I get it, I do. Caveman brain go, “He mine, no share,” and there is no reason I shouldn’t believe his response isn’t realistic, but... it’s not exactly the romantic response, is it? When absolutely nothing else is enough to persuade him, but once he realizes Molly could choose to
sleep with his date
, that is what gets him to fly into grand gesture mode? It left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth, if I’m being honest. 

Aside from this baffling choice, I really did very much enjoy this story. The chemistry between our leads was kind of through-the-roof leading to extremely enjoyable spice, and that’s been true of any book I’ve read with James’s involvement. And for all that I hate to admit it, Molly’s struggles and choices all hit obscenely close to home for me. Short of some key differences, he basically is me, except I don’t have a Seven or Xander or Agatha of my own and, rest assured, I am suitably jealous. 
 
THOUGHTS - OVERALL: 4.5 / 5⭐ 
My library recently put up a plethora of Saxon James audiobooks and I am pretty excited to start digging into more of them. I am also very interested in the continuation of this series. The roommates of this household are all uniquely interesting and flawed individuals, and I want to read more about them. I kind of wish this book was longer than it is, just to spend more time with the characters. 

This book has representation for gays and bisexuals. There is otherwise little else in the way of diversity. 

The following elaborates on my content warnings. These may be interpreted as spoilers, but I do not go into deep detail.
This book contains: sexual harassment/exploitation (non-consensual photography); mentions of child abuse; mentions of abuses within the foster care system; past infidelity; medical anxiety, panic attacks; alcohol use; misogyny; past child abandonment; and, strongly-implied past sexual abuse.
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