Boyfriend Material
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Boyfriend Material 〰️
I loved this book. I get that Luc isn't the most likeable MC in the world, but he was still enjoyable to read. (His self-deprecating humour was a little much, but I enjoyed the writing style, so it's forgiven). I love a good fake dating story. Though truth be told, they acted and sounded more like a real couple who casually used "fake boyfriend" a lot just to justify it being fake. But I still loved it. What can I say? I'm a sucker for romance, even if the fakeness of the fake boyfriend plot wasn't super believable.
I felt bad for Luc and all he's had to go through in life, so I was happy he found someone who loved him for him and not his questionable past. I thought Luc and Oliver were really cute together. I love opposites attract stories. Yes, they both lead very different lives, but I still saw the chemistry between them. And honestly? If they were too much the same, it would have been boring to read.
As much as I enjoyed reading this book, there were still some issues. The casual homophobia was for sure a big one. But did no one else notice that besides Luc and Oliver (and their main friends/family) that everyone was complete idiots? Like, Alex is the obvious one. How he managed to get a job, let alone keep one, is beyond me. But it seems like every other character (like Alex's fiance or random rich people) all sound like absolute idiots. Was it the "com" part of the "rom-com"? Because I don't get it. Also, as much as I loved Oliver, who actually speaks that proper (posh)? Maybe it's a British lawyer thing that I'm not aware of, but he speaks a bit like a super well-knowledgeable Victorian butler.
Also, who thought it was a good idea to have two James Royce-Royce characters? (I mean, Hall did, obviously). But I could never tell if both of them were in the same room and if so, which one was talking. Could they not have had one be called James Royce and the other James Royce-Royce? That last observation was a bit of a nitpick.
I know it sounds like there was more negative than positive in my review, but I really did truly love this story. Was it the perfect LGBTQ+ romcom? No. But did I have a blast reading it? Absolutely. Will I read the sequel? Well, I've already started. :)
Though there are some issues, I still think this book deserves to be on everyone's gay TBR list.
