Boyfriend Material|Book Review

Boyfriend Material! That’s what you’re made of, it’s written on your label!

Let me set the stage for you. Luc has a bit of a dilemma. He was recently photographed being a drunken mess in public and to make it worse? He was wearing playboy bunny ears at the same! (This is the part where you gasp in shock.) The wealthy donors who back his non-profit job start to pull out one by one. They need to see that Luc is one of those…respectable gays before the consider coming back. Enter the solution and the problem. Oliver Blackwood. An incredibly hot lawyer (whom we all must assume looks like The Princess Diaries era Chris Pine) who also happens to be stoic, not interested in Luc, and a vegetarian. But as you can guess, they eventually realize that faking being in love is a whole harder than it sounds. For reasons neither might have expected.

Boyfriend Material was just what I needed, a quick, heartfelt and incredibly witty read. The characters had a real three dimensional quality to them, and a plot that was more robust and emotionally complex than I was expecting. Many times it could’ve been contrived or cliche, but it managed to avoid doing what I expected at almost every turn. Which was refreshing, especially as someone who has read their fair share of gay romance.

Initially, I didn’t know how to feel about Luc and Oliver as a couple during their first few meetings, but as their relationship developed and we got to explore more of who they were as people, and where they were coming from, and as their insecurities and emotions were laid bare, I began to get attached to them as individuals. Which is something I don’t usually see done well enough. The excellent individual development here only strengthened how deeply invested I became in their relationship. It led me to really loved them together and root for them.

[light spoilers ahead, doesn’t ruin the ending or go into specific details]

I will say that one major critique I have about Boyfriend Material is that not only did it feed into the miscommunication trope once, but twice. Now, to be completely fair, this happens in almost every romance novel. Which I’ve come to begrudgingly accept, however, I have seen it done well and to great affect. After all, we all love our fair share of pining and angst. However here, its done in such an abrupt and out of place way, two times, that it honestly did lessen my enjoyment of those sections of the book. My own internal rule is that if a couple must break up, let it be due a reason that doesn’t feel contrived or cliche. Let it be a reason the reader can understand and let it play out for a reasonable length of time within the text.

That critique aside though, I would still recommend this book. If you want something light, sweet, and breezy to brighten your mood and maybe make you believe love is real, give this one a try. The writing is also quite funny. I hadn’t anticipated to literally laugh out loud but it happened several times, much to my surprise, amusement, and probably to my roommate’s annoyance.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sharing this ARC with me in exchange for my honest review.

★ ★ ★ ★ ½