Recent Release Audio Review: Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall, Performed by Joe Jameson

12 July of 2020 by ButtonsMom2003

Boyfriend Material By Alexis Hall

Genre: Contemporary, Romantic Comedy, GLBTQ, MM

Tropes: Fake boyfriend

Released: July 7, 2020

Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca (ebook); Dreamscape Media LLC (audiobook)

Length: 432 pages / 13 hrs, 11 mins

Synopsis

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.

Review

Reviewed by ButtonsMom2003

I loved this book and the audio was wonderful!

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley but ran behind in my reading and didn’t get it read by release day. When I was finally able to read it, I found out that the audiobook was available so I decided to listen to it instead. OMG! The audiobook is fantastic! Joe Jameson sounds so much like another of my newly favorite narrators that I suspect it’s the same person. I won’t say who because I know some narrators prefer not to have their different personas connected.

I have heard so many good things about Alexis Hall’s writing and I even have a few of his books in my gargantuan digital library. However, Boyfriend Material is the first one I’ve actually read/listened to and now I feel really sad about that. On the other hand, I’m also happy because I can now dive right in to more of his stories.

On to how I felt about the book. I LOVED everything about it except for one tiny thing that I’ll get to later. Fake boyfriend stories are among my favorite romance tropes. This one was really funny in places, heartwarming in others, and in a few spots a bit heartbreaking. I always love rooting for the underdog and here we had two of them.

Both Luc and Oliver have had bad luck when it comes to romance. When they agree to fake date each other, readers know that it can only lead to one thing (because this is a romance) and that is a happy ending. It’s also pretty safe to assume that the path to the HEA won’t be particularly smooth.

The wide cast of secondary characters added so much to this story. Luc’s friend Alex was so funny. How he reacted to Luc’s jokes would be almost unbelievable if I didn’t personally know at least one person like him (really dense when it comes to humor). Joe Jameson’s comedic timing throughout the book was spot on. As a US reader/listener who reads and listens to a lot of British authors, I appreciated the humor throughout the story; I thought it was a good blend of British and US wittiness.

I should probably mention that if you’re looking for a story with hot, sexy time you might want to pass this one up. Just know that if you do, you’ll be missing a fantastic story. Oh, and the one tiny thing I didn’t like about this one? I wanted an epilogue so, so much. I’m the type of reader who never wants a good book to end and I really wanted to see how Luc and Oliver are doing a few months, or more, down the road.

This review is already getting too long. The only other thing I can say is: read or listen to this, I don’t think you’ll regret it a bit.