If this doesn’t overtake A.C. Rosen’s Camp as the book of the summer, I’m going to be so mad (but not really surprised). I honestly can’t even remember where I came across this, but when I did I immediately requested a copy from the publisher.* And boy, am I glad I did—it was so good.
I first read Hall’s work five years ago with Waiting for the Flood and could see the potential, but never followed up on my hunch only to be blindsided by this one! I could’ve been reading his work this whole time and growing with him. Needless to say, I will be going through his back catalog in the near future.
Boyfriend Material is a fake boyfriend MM romance, but written more like a young adult/teen romance/RomCom story, rather than an explicit full-on sexy romance. Protagonists Luc, the child of a c-list celebrity with a baggage cart of emotional damage, and Oliver, an on the up barrister with his own hidden issues, strike a deal to fake-date each other until after an event, and of course eventually fall madly in love with each other.
“And, as a fund-raiser, it’s my job to convince people that they’re better off giving their money to bugs that eat poo instead of pandas, orphans, or—God help us—comic Relief.” (Chapter 3)
Clearly, I was pre-disposed to like this book because it’s a MM romance set in London, but that was further solidified when I found out Luc works in nonprofit fundraising. I mean come on, if I ever write a novel nonprofits and fundraisers will be involved because that’s basically my non-book life. Add in that he has no filter and is constantly beating himself up and the only place you have to go is down. And Hall somehow kept going up. It took me a while but when I finally noticed that all the What’s App group conversations names were puns I just threw another star on my rating (we’re at like 20 already), because they just made me laugh!
- “Queer Comes the Sun”
- “Don’t Wanna Be All Bi Myself”
- “One Gay More”
- “All About That Ace”
- “‘Don’t Luc Back in Anger”
- “You Can Luc (But You Better Not Touch)”
- “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” (even better b/c one of Luc’s friends is Bridget…)
Early in the book, I was wary when Hall described each of Luc’s friends individually since it came across as checking diversity boxes, but thankfully it was only once and the few things he highlighted all came back later in the novel reiterating why he mentioned them (a minor character’s religion or profession). The same thing can be said when both Luc and Oliver explain what is wrong with the other one at various points in their relationship. I was like why are we writing everything out (show don’t tell), but then at some point it clicked and/or Hall made it explicitly clear that they had to specifically say everything because they were learning to communicate.
“There should really be a word for the feeling you get when you do a thing you don’t particularly want to do to support somebody else but then realise they didn’t actually need you and nobody would have noticed if you’d stayed home in your pyjamas eating Nutella straight from the jar.” (Chapter 1)
If this novel is about anything, it’s about communication. Like so many other romance novels, the protagonists either don’t communicate. In this instance, they don’t know how because of each of their respective histories and they have to navigate the unknown (oh hey every relationship) while in the guise of making their fake relationship look real. Their communication is brutally honest at various points, and yes there is a scene in the rain with love being confessed (so. much. swoon), and in the end they obviously sort it out but not without a lot of growth on both sides.
For me, the icing on the cake for the book was the lack of sex. It’s been a few days since I read it, but I’m fairly certain there was only one full on sex scene actually on the page. There were quite a few fade-away to curtains floating in the window moments and frankly, it was perfect. The more of these books I read, the more I realize I want the sweet/clean romances just as much as I want the down and dirty ones. One incredibly well written encounter in a book can carry be as rewarding as one a chapter, if the characters and story are strong enough, and in Hall’s case they were.
He kissed me. And it was the most Oliver kiss, his hands cupping my face gently to draw me to him, and his lips covering mine with a deliverate care that was its own kind of passion. The way you’d eat a really expensive chocolate, savouring it because you knew you might never get another. He smelled of familiarity, of homecoming, and of the night I’d spent wrapped in his arms. And he made me feel so fucking precious I wasn’t sure I could bear it.
Except I also didn’t want it to end. This moment of finding something I’d long since given up looking for. Maybe even stopped believing in. The wild impossible sweetness of somebody kissing you for you—because of you—and everything outside the press of bodies, the ripple of breath, the stroke of tongues drifting away like old leaves in autumn.
It was a kiss to make you invincible: hot and slow and deep and perfect. And for a little while, as long as Oliver was touching me, I forgot to need anything else . . . (Chapter 30)
Seriously though, I kept getting echoes of McQuiston’s Red, White & Royal Blue rather than any of the dozens of MM romance (tag link) novels I’ve read this summer. McQuiston’s may have had more sex in it, but they had similar OMG why is this so perfect I HAVE TO KEEP READING moments throughout that it would be doing Hall a disservice not to compare his work to that darling of the book blogger world.
Recommendation: My response is a mess, but suffice to say this is a wonderful book and I will absolutely be reading it again in the future. Hall’s writing has vastly improved since I last read his work and Luc and Oliver’s story, everything about it even the family drama which is so often overdone, just worked. As I was going back to grab pull quotes for my response, my heart fluttered. And if the few pull quotes I included was enough to get my heart fluttering at the story, there’s clearly something wonderful here and I can’t wait to revisit it and explore the rest of Hall’s work.
*I received a copy of Boyfriend Material via NetGalley in return for my honest opinion. No goods or money were exchanged.
Opening Line: “I’ve never seen the point of fancy dress parties.”
Closing Line: “And I was pretty sure this was how love felt: fuzzy and scary and confusing and light enough to whisk you away like a Tesco’s bag on the wind.” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)
Additional Quotes from Boyfriend Material
“He flicked the light off abruptly, and I tried to settle myself down without impinging on his personal space or sense of propriety. His bed was firmer than mine, but also way nicer, and probably way cleaner. I could just about catch the scent of him from the sheets—fresh and warm, like if bread was a person—and I could just about feel the shape of him beside me. Comforting and distracting at the same time. Damn him.” (Chapter 14)
“And Oliver was all casual again: another crisp pair of jeans, into which his distractingly fabulous arse was wholesomely nestled, and a cream, cable knit jumper that made him look like he belonged on a Tumblr feed called fuckyeahguysinknitwear.” (Chapter 24)
“We’d decided that the fundraiser should include a silent auction back when we (that is to say, I) set up the first one a few years ago and I think we’d just thought it sounded good. But it turned out they were a fuckton of work because you needed either a small number of expensive things and a lot of rich people, or a large number of moderately priced things and a reasonable number of rich people, and every time it was touch and go whether the balance was going to shake out right.” (Chapter 34)
“These weren’t yeah whatever kisses. These weren’t take it or leave it, get your coat you’ve pulled kisses. They were everything I thought I could never have, everything I’d been pretending I never wanted, telling me that I was worth it, that he’d be there for me and put up with me, and wouldn’t let me drive him away.” (Chapter 37)
Great review! I loved this book so much. I found your review when I did a search for like if warm bread was a person. I wanted to make sure I had it correct.
“His bed was firmer than mine, but also way nicer, and probably way cleaner. I could just about catch the scent of him from the sheets—fresh and warm, like if bread was a person—and I could just about feel the shape of him beside me. Comforting and distracting at the same time. Damn him.” (Chapter 14)
It is such a fun treat to find someone else who obsessively wrote down the names of the what’s group💕💕💕
Linda
Thanks for stopping by and commenting! You really made me want to read it again refreshing my memory with this quote 😀