Boyfriend Material

Alexis Hall

Jul 2020 · London Calling Book 1 · Sourcebooks, Inc.

About this ebook

"It's a fun, frothy quintessentially British romcom about a certified chaos demon and a stern brunch daddy with a heart of gold faking a relationship."—New York Times bestselling author Talia Hibbert

AMAZON BEST BOOK OF THE MONTH

Named a best book of the year by Oprah Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, Goodreads, The Washington Post, and more!

WANTED:

One (fake) boyfriend

Practically perfect in every way

Luc O'Donnell is tangentially—and reluctantly—famous. His rock star parents split when he was young, and the father he's never met spent the next twenty years cruising in and out of rehab. Now that his dad's making a comeback, Luc's back in the public eye, and one compromising photo is enough to ruin everything.

To clean up his image, Luc has to find a nice, normal relationship...and Oliver Blackwood is as nice and normal as they come. He's a barrister, an ethical vegetarian, and he's never inspired a moment of scandal in his life. In other words: perfect boyfriend material. Unfortunately, apart from being gay, single, and really, really in need of a date for a big event, Luc and Oliver have nothing in common. So they strike a deal to be publicity-friendly (fake) boyfriends until the dust has settled. Then they can go their separate ways and pretend it never happened.

But the thing about fake-dating is that it can feel a lot like real-dating. And that's when you get used to someone. Start falling for them. Don't ever want to let them go.

Discover the LGBT romance about exact opposites falling in perfectly imperfect love that New York Times and USA Today bestselling author CHRISTINA LAUREN calls "hilarious, witty, tender, and stunning."

Ratings and reviews

I enjoy following the life of Luc & how Oliver became part of his life. This novel made me LOL multiple times! I guess Luc has a similar joking style like I would haha I am always rooting for Luc & Oliver when they face any obstacles 🩶

Four and a half stars. This is another one of these books that everyone is talking about that actually turns out to be worth the hype. Now I'm old enough to remember reading Bridget Jones's Diary when it was first published and this gave the same sort of vibe. It's fresh and funny and cute and totally different to all the other stuff out there - which BJD was at the time. So our hero and narrator Lucien O'Donnell is what we'd call a z-list celebrity, famous only because he parents were famous back in the 1980s and his father is now a judge on a Saturday night talent show (think X-Factor or The Voice). After his ex sold him out to the tabloids Luc has mainly just been binge-watching series on Netflix and snuggling under the duvet in his pigsty of a flat, but drawn out by his friends to a party he overreacts to an overture from a guy and then gets papped falling over in the street, which the tabloids translate into drunk and out-of-control. Worse, Luc works for an unfashionable charity (I won't spoil the surprise) and some of its more conservative donors have pulled their funding because of his dubious lifestyle choices (its not the gay thing, oh no (eye-roll), its the drugs and the booze etc). In the fashion of all romantic comedies, Luc decides the only way to get the donors back is to be seen with a sensible, respectable boyfriend. Enter Oliver Blackwood, handsome, clever, gainfully employed, obsessively tidy, and a friend-of-a-friend, pity he dislikes Luc intensely. But the guys come to a fake-relationship agreement, Oliver will rehabilitate Luc's image, and attend his upcoming charity dinner, if Luc will accompany Oliver to his parents' ruby wedding anniversary party. What ensues is a funny, clever, charming romantic comedy - thoroughly enjoyed every second of this and loved Luc and Oliver, such a cute couple. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I had the pleasure of both reading and listening to this absolutely hilarious fake dating M/M romance. This is my first book by Alexis Hall, but I was immediately drawn in by the witty writing and laugh out loud humor. Luc and Oliver couldn't be more different, but their opposites attract/forced proximity romance completely worked. I loved seeing them slowly lower their walls and show a more vulnerable side to each other. The relationship grows and builds in the perfect way. It felt honest and true to the characters and I appreciated that the misteps were included right along with the milestones. I found this closed door romance incredibly sexy and sweet. The entire cast of characters was delightful. Even Jon Fleming played his role perfectly and I fell even more in love with Oliver during that first meeting with Luc's father. Luc's group of friends, coworkers, and mother were an absolute highlight of the book and so many times I laughed out loud while reading and listening. They were all so loyal and supportive in the most goofy ways and I'm pretty sure I cackled every time Odile was on the page. The narration by Joe Jameson could not have been more perfect and I am incredibly impressed by his performance. He gave each character (male and female) a wonderfully unique voice that truly fit with their personality and I had no trouble differentiating between who was speaking. His comedic timing was spot on and his delivery really made the audiobook truly one of the best I've listened to. Boyfriend Material was exactly the book my heart needed! Audiobook Review Overall 4.5 stars Performance 5+ stars Story 4 stars *I voluntarily read and listened to a review copy of this book. Thank you Libro.fm, Dreamscape Media, and Sourcebooks Casablanca.*

About the author

USA Today bestselling author Alexis Hall writes books in the southeast of England, where he lives entirely on a diet of tea and Jaffa Cakes. You can find him at http://www.quicunquevult.com/, on Twitter @quicunquevult, and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/quicunquevult