Boyfriend Material

By: Alexis Hall

Narrated by: Joe Jameson

Length: 13 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's Summary

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 20 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 someone who has never inspired a moment of scandal in his life. In other words, he’s 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 settles. 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.

©2020 Dreamscape Media, LLC (P)2020 Dreamscape Media, LLC

The right material!

Boyfriend Material hit the right note of fun & funny yet serious enough to care.

I’ve been in a reading slump recently. It’s been hard to find a romance with real emotional growth from trying situations that aren’t so tragic that they’re too much to take because 2020 is a dumpster fire. I completely forgot about social distancing while watching Luc deftly schmooze donors for CRAPP. I liked Oliver enthusing about his career & making sure jokes weren’t mean spirited. I cheered when the hotelier refused to give out personal information about a guest. It was great that no one went stalker - they said their piece & took no for an answer. The solid couple of chapters full of parents and (appropriate) F-words were tense and interesting and healthy. I liked the use of internet grammar (such van, much emergency; clean all the things: we baconed in silence) and supportive friends.

I agree with the SBTB review that suggested a longer or additional final scene or epilogue would be in order. Not so much because they were lacking, but because I wanted more time with Oliver and Luc being together & good for each other. Revisiting the hedgehog boxers was a nice touch, but what I like about fake relationships is how they nudge the characters back together again and again until they catch their groove. There was so much good togetherness in the book as a whole, after a couple chapters of apartness (forgive me), I wanted more time with them being together again.

If you want a comedic romance that has light & fluffy moments, a running side gag of escalating book emergencies, good & bad parents, and emotion enough to tug the heartstrings, read Boyfriend Material. (If you haven’t belly laughed by the ~3rd page/chapter, it’s not your kind of humor. It is exactly the kind of humor I enjoy so I LOLed a lot.)

Steam: Low. The M/M sexytimes were slow to get going then off page.

Narration: Generally well done. Narrator used different voices for dialogue. Some of the choices made for female voices seemed a tad odd but overall it was pleasant listening. Good audio quality.

Enjoyable but more angst than romance

The story is funny and engaging enough to be entertaining, particularly the side characters. Narration was especially good. But there is zero heat and while the story is focused on a developing relationship, it’s not very romantic overall. If you enjoy witty banter and British stories, this is for you. But don’t expect the usual m/m romance elements.

I love this book RIDICULOUS amounts

This book is a delight from the opening scene to the very last sentence. I've gushed at the author about it on Twitter. I've recommended it to every friend who'll listen. I'm not sure how many times I've listened to it (many), and it's only been out a few weeks. It's hilarious and heart-wrenching, and the characters are, despite their rom-com ways, deeply human and believable. I want to send Alexis Hall chocolates and medals and perhaps a nice cottage in the country. Since I can't do those things, I'll just tell you: buy this NOW.

Fabulous

My favorite book of this year, and my favorite narration. Both have helped to keep my world afloat in the chaos that is the year 2020. Listening a second time, has made it even better. This is bound to be my go to comfort audio. Joe Jameson is fabulous.

Great read for fans of Red, White and Royal Blue

I always enjoy a good fake boyfriend yarn and these characters were compelling. The author’s breezy tone made it very hard for me to put this down! The narrator is an asset to the prose and a delight to listen to. Highly recommend! ❤️💙❤️💙

Meh...

I was so excited for this book and I was waiting for so long and now I feel deflated— 13 hours for hardly any romance or any actual story.. this book was unnecessarily long for no reason- 4 hours could have easily been shaved off and not missed any important details to the story because quite frankly there wasn’t any. The characters were bland and cold to the point where I kept asking myself if they were really attracted to each other or not.

Wonderful

Alexis Hall is a wonderful writer whose characters are full of life and joy. You can feel the fun he has playing with language and the thoughtfulness put into it.

Joe Jameson did a fabulous performance. He was a full cast of characters himself. I particularly liked his upper class nitwit performance.

I highly recommend this book.

All the heart eyes emojis.

Quirky, emotional, humorous , and sweet.

I loved this very typically quirky and often hilarious romance. All the characters - even the ridiculous over-the-top posh ones were well developed and truly made the book in my opinion. Like almost all of this author’s books it was outstanding! Between the times I found myself chuckling at the humor, I was tearing up because of Lucian’s pain and emotional damage. It was not an easy path to the HFN finale. I hope Hall has more books in the works because he is truly one of the most talented authors I’ve read - especially in this genre and it was a long wait for this latest publication. I’m so happy to find something of his again.

Amazing Narration, Good Story

Exceptional literature this is not. But it’s not what we got the book for. I really enjoyed the narration and found the story a lot of fun, it’s clearly a romance that supposed to do this kind of twisting turning thing, and the story had an aspect to it that a lot of gay fiction in this genre doesn’t tend to. The conclusion is wonderfully predictable, that’s why we’re reading it, and I felt a little like it didn’t quite rap it up for me. If you want a fun time (more than a 1 night stand, less than marriage), please enjoy!

A fantastic read/listen

I absolutely loved this book! The story was engaging and romantic with plenty of twists and turns and the narrator is phenomenal!

Very enjoyable

Brilliant narration. Funny and touching. Really enjoyed. Oddly both a ridiculous concept but truthful to the emotions explored.

Bloody brilliant

Absolutely loved this audiobook. The story has plot and meaning, the characters have depth with fun and quirky personalities. The narrator is fabulous, his voice is easy to listen to. I could listen to him all day.

Didn’t Want This To End

I truly loved this. From the complicated mess of Lucs life, to the way Oliver picks up the pieces. The crazy friends they each have and the sheer spectrum of personalities this book contains. I loved every second of it and I was gutted when it came to an end. I want more Oliver and Luc. I want to stay with them. It’s honestly such a beautiful story and so well written. I’ve already started looking up more Alexis Hall books to download.

Pompous, middle class and not at all engaging

Really disappointed in this as it had good reviews, but when I looked in to it further I realised that the good reviews had largely come from a younger female audience. So maybe this book just isn’t for a gay guy in his late twenties?
It felt like the characters were largely unlikeable, arrogant, posh/snobbish hipsters - imagine a gay hipster Made In Chelsea? (That’s not a compliment)
I also liked Joe narrating his thoughts and as the main characters voice, but all of the other voices sounded so forced. The french accent for his mum was awful, and there was a Celtic character in there who sounded welsh.
After 6 chapters, I just didn’t care to listen anymore and returned the book for a refund.

Flawed but charming

I sought out this audiobook because I felt the need for a bit of escapism. If you are looking for a light-hearted diversion, then then this is probably for you.

Joe Jameson does a good job with accents and I feel like he portrayed, Luc, the main character and narrator very well. There are some major plot flaws though; the centre premise is so unrealistic that it does detract somewhat from the witty and generally well-written repartee between the two main characters and the narrative is, ultimately, very predictable. There are lots of very up-to-date cultural references that will no doubt date the book very quickly, but they give the novel a very contemporary feel. Most of the secondary characters are more caricature than character but this only serves to highlight the intense relationship between the two main characters, Luc and Oliver, everything else sort of falls into the background which I imagine was the author’s intention.

Much of the book is a bit of a frustrating will-they-won’t-they tug of war but to be honest you slowly learn to love these two characters for who they are and want them to succeed. As others have mentioned I was charmed by this book and despite its flaws, didn’t really want it to end.

Amazing

This book is just pure joy, the ups, the downs, the characters (the snark!), the falling down so spectacularly and the getting back up again. Just all the feels!

Plus its the epitome of dry British humour, whilst also poking fun at some pure Britishisms. I laughed so hard at points I had to use my inhaler.

The narrator of this is so good, I completely forgot it wasn't real different people talking. Oliver's voice was so deep and gorgeous but also portrayed the perfectly controlled man completely hiding his emotions, then showing signs of conflict, gradually cracking and giving tiny hints of expression and so forth, developing along with his character throughout the book. Also of note, the female voices were excellent and completely varied. The acting was A list standard.

Highly Recommend

A gripping emotional roller coaster

Well I've not felt so invested in a novel for a long time. From laugh out loud funny, to dramatic and downright heartbreaking right to the very end - and just when I thought I was coming to terms with what had happened, another twist. This is simply a wonderful story. I couldn't stop listening and when I had to prise myself away I found myself daydreaming about what would happen next. The narration is also fantastic.

Listen to this, but give yourself a weekend and maybe a bottle of wine to help you get through it 😂

So cute I could die

l just really loved this. Really, I don't know if it's because I haven't read/listened to a romcom in ages but this was just so good and I really loved the characters. I'm definitely going to look out for the author now and the narrator is fantastic. Seriously, if you're second guessing getting this, do it just for the narrator. I'm going to buy other books he's narrated just because of this listen.

Brilliant, well written and observed

Couldn't put it down! Performance was mesmerising. Truly wonderful. Best long read, and so funny.

Laugh out loud story with excellent narration.

Thoroughly enjoyed this Audiobook and found myself getting truly engaged in what was going to happen between the two main characters once their "arrangement" ended. Very funny characterisation by Joe Jameson. I've already recommended this to several friends who have also enjoyed it.