Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall
CW: Homophobia, Parental Abuse, Sex, Drinking
4.5/5
This book was the perfect way to start 2022! I had noticed this book popping up in the lists of what my friends had read in 2021 and got curious. So, I popped onto Overdrive and noticed that there was miraculously no waiting list. I decided to download and listen to it immediately! This book represents many firsts to me. It's the first book I've read this year, the first book I am reviewing for my blog, and the first of a series! While I am certainly excited to see where it goes next, I am also excited to try and convince you to read it first.
This book incorporates two of my tropes, the fake relationship and belligerent sexual tension. These, of course, often pair well together. It isn't always enough for two characters to be setting themselves up for confusion about what is real, sometimes they need to come to terms with the fact that they had the other person all wrong. Luc O'Donnell is facing thinly veiled homophobia in the workplace and too low of a self esteem to do anything sensible about it. He is the son of two aging and divorced rocks stars, which has kept him in the public eye more than he'd like. When donors for the charity he works for starts to pull out of the annual fundraiser because they are homophobic and think that Luc is behaving poorly, he gets himself a fake boyfriend to convince the media and the donors that he is turning his act around.
Oliver Blackwood is a barrister, vegetarian, health nut, and posh. In some ways Luc has put Oliver on a pedestal, in other ways he doesn't think very much of him. They share a mutual close friend but have only known each other peripherally. Their mutual friend suggests that they fake date each other and they both agree to do it. Oliver needs a date to his parent's anniversary in hope of keeping them off his back, so he is getting something out of the arrangement as well. Neither one has a life style that seems to mesh with the other one, but through this unlikely arrangement, they start to respect and like each other.
Of course, it is a romantic comedy. If it wasn't about people falling for each other, it wouldn't work. Other things you can expect to find in this book are dung beetles, puns, London life, found families, music, veganism, and cathartic moments. While I absolutely loved this story, I did have a moment near the end where I contemplated how I can trust the two will stay together. I am very glad that there are at least two more books in store. Oliver and Luc are adorable and I need proof that they can make it.
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