I decided to read and write a review for Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall, despite the fact that I mostly only ever read fantasy books. When a contemporary romance book gains as much hype as this one did, however–and when I’m feeling a little overstimulated by so much sword and sorcery–then sometimes a book like this can be a nice distraction.
The synopsis for Boyfriend Material sounded absolutely adorable, and I was actually looking forward to reading it. I also anticipated loving it as much as another hyped up mm romance that I awarded 5 stars, which was Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. But unfortunately, for me, Boyfriend Material did not quite live up to the hype, and I couldn’t award it more than 3 stars out of 5.
The book is a fake dating trope romance between kinda famous (his parents are rock stars) Luc O’Donnell and nice, normal Oliver Blackwood. Luc needs to clean up his scandalous image in the press to avoid losing his job, and Oliver is the perfect person to help him. Although the two have absolutely nothing in common, they strike a deal to be fake boyfriends in the public eye, for publicity’s sake.
This first thing I noticed upon diving into this book is that it is mostly dialogue. Sometimes the dialogue is very witty, clever, and funny.
Other times it just goes on and on, and the characters don’t stop talking. And you suddenly feel like you’re the one who has been dragged out to an obligatory dinner with coworkers or someone’s parents—when you don’t want to be there—and you’re just politely nodding your head and twirling your fork, watching the clock while trying to feign interest in the conversation when you’re secretly wondering how much longer you have to stay there. That’s how it felt.
And, unfortunately, too much of the book felt this way for me.
I read hundreds of pages and still don’t feel like much happened at all in the entire book. It was just lots and lots of people talking and not much plot. That can be okay in a story that’s primarily focused on the romance, but in this case, the characters’ fake dating turned into real dating so early on in the book that there wasn’t much left to anticipate or hope for after that point. So sadly, I lost interest after that point, and making it to the end of the book became a chore for me. I really wanted to love this story, but I ended up bored throughout far too much of it.
I’m rounding this review up to 3 stars because the romance itself was wholesome and sweet, but there just wasn’t enough of it (and it was resolved far too quickly) to keep my interest.
Boyfriend Material Review Originally Written August 14, 2022
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