by Ashley Dickson-Ellison (@teachingtheapocalypse)
When I started listening to Alexis Hall's Boyfriend Material, it was kind of an arbitrary choice to start it. (Thank you, thank you, thank you to @libroFM and their amazing ALC program for providing the audio!) The next thing I knew, I was trying to find things to do around the house to justify listening to the book instead of the other endless tasks I should have been doing instead. And then, the next thing I knew, I was working on a dot-to-dot drawing (did you know they made those for adults?) while listening. And I was so very happy.
This book seems like a simple romance story about a fake dating relationship. Luc is having a rough time in his life partially because his has-been rockstar parents have made him just famous enough to catch the eye of the paparazzi, who manage to catch every mistake he makes, particularly when it comes to dating and sex. So after a particularly public blunder, in a desperate attempt to salvage his nonprofit job raising money for dung beetles, he winds up in a fake relationship with a friend of a friend, Oliver Blackwood, who is as stable and responsible as they come. Luc and Oliver could not have more opposing personalities, but because Oliver also has some motivation to show that he's in a stable relationship, he agrees to help Luc.
But things aren't always what they seem, and Luc and Oliver find they have more in common than they had expected. However, life is messy, and their respective histories cause each of them to put up emotional walls that are very hard to tear down.
I love the way that this novel explores the plague of self-doubt and the way that insecurity can make relationships feel impossible. I also love the way that Hall explores the complexities of relationships between children and their parents and the way that those relationships can impact the children's love relationships.
Most importantly, I also simply love the relationship that grows between Luc and Oliver, and I found myself rooting for them and grinning a ridiculous amount as they strived to work out things between them. It was a fun, fulfilling book, and I'd love to spend more times with those characters.
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