Book of the Month: Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall

If you’re into gay things, and you’re into British things, then you’re definitely going to want to check out Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall. It’s the story of Luc and Oliver, exceptionally different in many ways, but so positively perfect for each other in even more. It’s cute, devastatingly funny, and stupidly emotional all at the same time. 

Boyfriend Material was such a success that it’s getting a sequel, and well, we can’t wait. The release of Husband Material is right around the corner, so we decided that it was only fitting that in order to celebrate this anticipated release, we’d feature Boyfriend Material as our Book of the Month. 

Everyone everywhere needs to read this incredible story. Here is our review.

Boyfriend Material, plot overview

When the story kicks off, Luc’s life is a bit of a mess. The son of two has-been rock-stars, Luc is no stranger to the spotlight. Not that he is happy about it, not at all. He considers the paparazzi attention to be an absolute bother and wishes they would all just go away. They’re always there, lurking in the corner catching him at his worst. And for the last few years, that feels like pretty much all the time. 

Luc works as a fundraising manager (we think) at a non-profit that raises money for the preservation of dung beetles and the negative paparazzi attention he is receiving is impacting donations to the cause. With his job on the line, his coworker comes up with the genius idea of getting himself a fake boyfriend to help clean up his media image. 

The suggestion of a fake boyfriend occurs because well, clearly Luc isn’t capable of getting a real boyfriend now, is he? 

Enter Oliver. Mildly already acquainted with Luc, their mutual friend sets them up. Except only Luc seems to be clued into the fact that it’s a fake dating scenario. Oliver shows up thinking he is actually on some kind of date with Luc. It doesn’t go very well, and before the end of the night, it’s exposed that Luc is actually just looking for a fake boyfriend. Oliver, it turns out, also needs someone on his arm for an upcoming family event, so Oliver dutifully agrees to help Luc out with work, if Luc will return the favor. 

They agree. 

And so they start fake dating and fake boyfriending all over the place. Shenanigans occur, people trip and get caught up in real feelings, disasters ensue, and they break up. Honestly boys, two blind idiots leading the blind. 

Luc: a walking gaysaster

Luc is a bonafide disaster – but he has good reason to be. You see, his ex, Miles, sold all the sordid details of their relationship together to a tabloid magazine for fifty grand. Miles told the magazine about all the things they experimented with in college, things about their drug use, sex life, and other things that tabloid papers have no business knowing. And they printed it all. 

The tabloids labeled Luc as an utter train-wreck and so, naturally, Luc then became a train-wreck. Completely traumatized by the whole ordeal, Luc’s mental health deteriorates and when Boyfriend Material starts, Luc is barely just plodding along. 

But the thing is, underneath the self – deprecating man-whore that he is, Luc is actually a lovable ball of fluff. He is kind, loyal to a fault, and really really funny. Unfortunately, because his self-confidence is in the toilet, he lets the people around him treat him poorly. His employers through their homophobic harassment, right down to his own dead beat father. 

But for every jerk in Luc’s life that treats him badly, there are three others waiting in the wings to prove to Luc that he’s really an incredible human that deserves all the love in the world. So thank god Oliver has a lot of love to give. 

Oliver: terribly misunderstood

Oliver is a successful defense barrister that is overly principled and uptight. He’s a vegetarian because … the animals. He won’t take Uber because of their unethical company policies. He works out and diets to perfection – yeah, Oliver is one of those kinds of guys. But just like most people like that, Oliver is constantly striving for greatness because the key influencers in his life – his family – have spent their lives making sure he doesn’t feel like he is good enough for anyone or anything.  He works a lot, has a laundry list of failed relationships and just can’t figure out what keeps going wrong. 

He has very little in common with Luc and they’re absolutely nothing alike, but just like Luc, when you peel the layers away, Oliver is really just an adorable baby bunny that you want to put in your pocket and protect, protect, protect. 

The fake dating trope

We don’t know about you, but we are BIG fans of the fake dating trope. Alexis Hall weaves the story of Boyfriend Material and the evolution of their relationship from fake to real like an expert. We yelled at Luc many times as he continued to stumble through his relationship with Oliver like the self-deprecating fool that he is. We yelled at Oliver just as often and his inability to see just how shamelessly Luc was throwing himself at Oliver. Oliver, baby, open those beautiful eyes of yours!

We absolutely loved that Oliver took on Luc’s dad and came to Luc’s rescue when he needed him most, and we absolutely loved that Luc did the same back for Oliver. We loved the moments of domesticity in their flats as they welcomed each other into their personal spaces. 

And then we loved that, eventually, they gave each other enough confidence to tell the other that this isn’t just fake. Luc has the feelings for Oliver, and Oliver has the feelings for Luc. 

They’re both so perfectly imperfect though, that the honeymoon doesn’t last for long. Afraid of himself, Oliver walks out on Luc and Luc is right back where he started – alone, drowning in a pool of self loathing, and missing Oliver. 

We’re not going to tell you how it ends, but we will tell you we yelled at the two of them a lot. All we have to say is, thank god Luc has some really kick-ass friends that wouldn’t let him quit on himself, or his relationship with Oliver, even when they had both quit themselves. 

Boyfriend Material is hilarious, adorable, and utterly addictive. We can’t tell you how many times we’ve read this fabulous story. Luc and Oliver have become our comfort characters around these offices and we reach for them every time we’re feeling just a little down. 

If you haven’t done so yet, grab yourself a copy of Boyfriend Material now and come yell and scream at the gay disasters that they are. 

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