Here's the reason why. A lot of them, actually.
Today's a bookish birthady kind of day. Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall is finally hitting the shelves and I couldn't wait for you to read this article I wrote back in April, when I read the E-Arc NetGalley kindly sent me.
This story is about Luc, who is the son of two rock stars from the 80s. His father walked out on him when he was three and ever since he's lived with his mom (a very weird person if I may say, but lovely despite everything and hella hilarious) in a little village. One day he moves and starts his life as an independent man, falls in love and everything is gorgeous until something bad happens and his love life falls apart and he's to work for the only charity that hires him. He needs to save dung beetles and he's not too happy about it, but is still better than nothing. It's still better than his reputation getting worse and worse, and he can cope. He's sure about that until the day his boss calls him in her office and tells Luc that he needs to do something to make the rumors about him much more positive, or else he's fired.
Luc doesn't really know what to do, because he knows he's a f*ck up and he can't really help it, so his co-workers suggest he should try and find a fake boyfriend who is respectable enough to be seen in public with Luc, in order to make the press talk about him under a positive light. Possibly before the big money-raise event his charity is organizing. And here's where Oliver pops up.
Oliver is respectable, a barrister, a man with solid and ethic principles and he's also a convinced vegetarian. He accept the deal in exchange of a favor that Luc is happy to oblige since he's desperate to keep the only job he can afford, so they start to fake date despite the fact that they have absolutely nothing in common.
And then... Well, I'll let you figure it out because you need to read this because you will absolutely love it.
I absolutely loved it and I wasn't expecting it at all. If it wasn't for Alex and Miffy, characters that I found a little too extreme in their being naive, I would've given this book a five stars.
I would say that these two are the only flaw in the story, the only element that made me curl up my nose and lips in disgust mostly because they're absolutely stupid and I don't get it. Like, I get the need to make the atmosphere lighter and less serious, but they felt extreme and... just too much. I really hated them, they didn't make sense and the parts where they come in were very annoying. But thanks to the Greater King Demon
So, pushing what I didn't like aside, which is a surprisingly short list, this time (Alexis Hall what did you do to me and to my cynic and fussy self???), let's talk about the very positive traits of this book.
Besides the fact that I would consider it a New Adult rather than a Young Adult novel, this is a contemporary story LGBTIAQ+ themed. It's main focus isn't the relationship between the characters, though. Although there's a lot of diversity in the cast, this is a story that has been written for the readers to understand what it means loving yourself and accepting your good and bad traits in order to be able to love the others.
It's moving, it's deep and it's full of flawed characters that are relatable with their fears and thoughts and lifestyle. You learn how to be a better person living their adventures, throughout their eyes, and you learn how hard it is to love and accept yourself when the world seems to be built around you so that you can be proven wrong at any times.
Their stories are realistic and rather than showing how perfect everything is when you fall in love, it tells how much it hurts when you need to learn how to love yourself first, so that you can learn how to love the others. It's such a hard thing to do and you can see it, because Alexis Hall doesn't just tell you about two guys falling in love. The author tells you everything that happens in the background as well, in their own backstage, in their minds and in the privacy of their apartments and makes the reader reflect over how powerful and destructive mass medium can be.
It was heartbreaking but still full of hope even in those bits where everything seemed lost. It taught how important sometimes is to let go of your pride, how not always the parents know what's good for you, how important friends can be in every moment, from the most important to the most stupid one. It pushes a lot on the fact that no one is alone, not even when you think you actually are. It teaches you how to appreciate the small things, how valuable are the words of those who love and care about you, no matter how harsh they might seem, and this is very important because we tend to forget it a lot, lately.
I didn't read a romance as I was expecting. I read a coming of age story, almost a memoir from a fictional character written to teach the readers about themselves and not to make them fall in love with the love story that develops around the main couple.
It was amazing, with the right pace and points that made me think deeply about myself and how I behave when it comes to create any form of relationship.
I felt a lot like Lucien (come on, let's admit it: if you know me, I am Lucien, except for the life full of excess he lives at the beginning of the book. The way he thinks, the way he behaves it's just me. Defensive, reluctant to the possibility to be open with someone and get hurt, he's very cynic and too busy to preserve himself to let himself believe that someone out there might just love him for who he is and don't hurt him, nor take all the positivity in his life away). I understood Oliver and his need of being perfect to be accepted, I understood when he felt like he would never be enough for anyone, his desire to disappear and his need to stay where he was because at the end of the day all he needed was a bit of strength and to believe in himself. I also wanted to kick him in the face with a chair at the ending of the book, because even though I understood his feelings, he deserved it. It was much needed. You know, for... educational purposes.
I loved the dynamics the two of them develop, far from perfect but somehow becoming perfect for each other and whatever they unconsciously wanted to build/they needed. I cried, won't lie. I got angry and sad and I laughed out loud in the middle of the night because their private jokes and their way of interacting when in private was hilarious. I loved how sarcastic Lucien can be and how lost Oliver seemed in front of his comments. It's not unusual for me and it was amazing to see another bit of me written on paper. I loved how vulnerable and fragile they were despite their being men, and this was a total surprise, unusual and unexpected, but a theme that was very well developed and didn't attack their masculinity.
I felt hopeless at the end and then somehow relieved but still weary. I liked that the author chose to give a final twist and made the ending not the classic "happily ever after", but the realistic "happy because we have a starting point but a lot to work on" kind of epilogue to the story. It was realistic, it was the right and perfect ending for this book and I'm so glad Alexis Hall didn't choose a classic and very boring, unfitting one for this it.
Thinking about it now, I can't think of anything different for them. It's mature and fits their dynamics perfectly. I loved it, it was much better than what I was hoping for and what I was thinking it was going to happen if Alexis Hall let the story go down that particular path- I'm so glad it didn't happen, even if it would've proven a very strong point that some side characters make throughout the last third of the book.
I will never stop praising how good the whole novel was and how much I appreciated the realism the author put in every single element she added.
So yeah, four stars for this beauty and you should definitely put your hands on it because it's worth every single minute spent reading.
I will definitely purchase a physical copy of this because there's so much that needs to be highlighted and tabbed I fear the whole set of highlighters and sticky tabs from my favorite stationery store won't be enough!
As per usual, thanks for reading this review. Please let me know if you read this book as well. I'm curious to know what were your thoughts about it. In the meantime, all my love to you, dear reader. ♥
Sam.
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