Alexis Hall

Wanted: One (very real) husband Nowhere near perfect but desperately trying his best In BOYFRIEND MATERIAL, Luc and Oliver met, pretended to fall in love, fell in love for real, dealt with heartbreak and disappointment and family and friends. . . and somehow figured out a way to make it work. Now it seems like everyone around them is getting married, and Luc's feeling the social pressure to propose. But it'll take more than four weddings, a funeral, and a bowl full of special curry to get these two from I don't know what I'm doing to I do. Good thing Oliver is such perfect HUSBAND MATERIAL. Brilliance on every single page."-Christina Lauren, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, for Boyfriend Material "The apotheosis of the rom-com."-Entertainment Weekly, A+ Review, for Boyfriend Material "Every once in a while you read a book that you want to SCREAM FROM ROOFTOPS about. I'm screaming, people!"-Sonali Dev, award-winning author, for Boyfriend Material "FAKE DATING, REAL FEELINGS, BEST JOKES."-Olivia Waite, award-winning author, for Boyfriend Material "Fresh and vibrant."-Annie Carl, The Neverending Bookshop (Edmonds, WA), for Boyfriend Material "

Husband Material

Pia 

This is the best description of this whole book

5 Oliver righted it for me, then took my hand. “Oh, and Dad..." He shot one last look at his father. “Go fuck yourself."

"Yes," said Oliver, as he de-spanielled the sofa. “My refusal to drink milkshake brings all the boys to the yard."

"Don't be silly," Judy told me, undaunted. “Everyone's got room for a goat. They're tiny. Practically stackable."

“I thought I'd already agreed to that when I was in the cupboard. I assumed you were trying to call it off."

"I like you now," I protested. ud Oliver laughed. "I should bloody well hope so. It's been two years." 

Lucien's way of thinking will never fail to amaze me

Hi <3 he/him

If I was a yoghurt, I–I wouldn’t be a yoghurt.”

I was listening to 'Like Real People Do' by Hozier when Luc said this and I just wanted to say that it made the situation so so sweet <3

And so instead, what came out of my mouth was, “We should get married.”

I absolutely agree  with Oliver, the magnus archives is one of the best podcasts I've listened to :)

I groaned massively. “Not The Magnus Archives.”

“What’s wrong with The Magnus Archives?”

Laura 

"Oh my God. How did you get to arson from We should do something to keep ourselves awake'?" The slightest pause. "Be gay. Do crimes?" “I was thinking more … be gay, have sex? You know, on the rug, in front of the fireplace. Because it’s here and I think we’ll regret it if we didn’t.”

So, he does it to get laid?" «Yes," said Oliver, as he de-spanielled the sofa. “My refusal to drink milkshake brings all the boys to the yard."

It still scared me how vulnerable sex could make me feel. Which meant it was way easier to say spank me daddy.  

Wanted: One (very real) husband Nowhere near perfect but desperately trying his best In BOYFRIEND MATERIAL, Luc and Oliver met, pretended to fall in love, fell in love for real, dealt with heartbreak and disappointment and family and friends...and somehow figured out a way to make it work. Now it seems like everyone around them is getting married, and Luc's feeling the social pressure to propose. But it'll take more than four weddings, a funeral, and a bowl full of special curry to get these two from I don't know what I'm doing to I do. Good thing Oliver is such perfect HUSBAND MATERIAL. "Brilliance on every single page."—Christina Lauren, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, for Boyfriend Material "The apotheosis of the rom-com."—Entertainment Weekly, A+ Review, for Boyfriend Material "Every once in a while you read a book that you want to SCREAM FROM ROOFTOPS about. I'm screaming, people!"—Sonali Dev, award-winning author, for Boyfriend Material "FAKE DATING, REAL FEELINGS, BEST JOKES."—Olivia Waite, award-winning author, for Boyfriend Material "Fresh and vibrant."—Annie Carl, The Neverending Bookshop (Edmonds, WA), for Boyfriend Material

Erin ⋆✴︎˚｡⋆

And into the sudden storm that had turned a busy London street into... Well, okay, it was still a busy London street. But the pavement was shining silver and the raindrops were playing our tune and I was in Oliver's arms, and we were laughing and kissing, and all around us the passersby were putting up umbrellas in every colour of the rainbow.

Maryn Vela

Oliver was mine, and I was his, and I was completely, embarrassingly, disgustingly in love with him. Especially when he knew how to touch me, rough and tender and careful and endlessly… Oliver.

imagine someone giving you this kinda undivided attention

His thumb traced gently across my knuckles like we had all the time in the world and nothing mattered more than this conversation right now. 

“Oliver. It’s not your job to make being with you convenient for me.”

Im a sucker for a happy ending. Did I love the arguments no, but do I understand the portrayal of complex human emotions and connections, yes. 

Monserrat Navarro 

Mira <3

alexis hall needs to answer before the queens court for this

raven

** spoiler alert **
           DNF 48%

i got bored because the story wasn't that much about the main couple anymore. i might pick it up again someday, but for now i'll drop it.

"I loved Oliver and he loved me, and we didn’t need flags or banners or, for that matter, rings or weddings to prove it."

This book was a bit of a let down, if I am honest. Boyfriend Material was a very sweet, cosy romance with characters growth and an interesting plot, but Husband Material just felt like someone internally wrestling with their view on the convention of marriage and on how to be the right type of queer person. Oliver and Luc were both incredibly frustrating and argumentative for the majority of the book, and the thing is that they kept arguing about the same damn things over and over again and never really reaching a resolution. In the first book I said that Luc was clearly a man who needed therapy and instead leaned on another broken man to try and fix him. This is never a good idea because the only person who can fix your problems is yourself and while a good partner (and friends and family) is there to support you through that journey, they shouldn't be relied on solely to carry the burden of helping someone heal. That same criticism stands for this book as well, Luc is STILL someone who clearly needs therapy, and as far as I am aware, STILL hasn't gone to it - all while being happy that Oliver finally is in therapy... JUST GO TO THERAPY LUC, FFS.

 some really well made points in this book. As I am someone who does not think marriage is something for me I could relate to a lot of the questions Luc and Oliver were having about marriage. There was a quote from Oliver: 

"for me, it feels like a framework I didn’t create and can’t control that I’m expected to impose on my own life."

 and this really resonates with me. I am bisexual and in a relationship with a man, so there is an angel and a demon on my shoulders, one saying marriage was designed for a relationship like the one I'm in now and after 7 years together the expected thing would be for us to get married, and the other is saying "yeah but why though?" I actually enjoyed the ending of this book because it stuck its fingers up at the idea of conventional marriage and that marriage doesn't have to be for everyone, even for people who want to be together forever, but that fact that Priya was literally yelling this exact point at Luc for a good portion of the book and it just wasn't getting through his thick skull was honestly so annoying to me.

Oliver and Luc's argument over the LGBTQ community was also interesting, and I thought a bit ironic in a way because the idea in Boyfriend Material was that Luc started dating Oliver because he was deemed as being an acceptable kind of gay man and then in this book Luc struggles with the fact that he's not sure Oliver is an acceptably gay man because he doesn't partake in the same facets of queerness as Luc does. Luc feels accepted by the LGBTQ community and by the pride flag and the ostentatious, extravagant side that a lot of queer people enjoy and Oliver simply doesn't. Both sides of this argument are completely fair and understandable but Luc seems absolutely sure that because Oliver doesn't have more queer friends or doesn't want a rainbow balloon arch at his wedding that he must be insecure and internally homophobic. Honestly, I found Luc's opinion on this rather homophobic in itself because he's stereotyping queerness, Oliver doesn't fit snugly into Luc's idea of how he thinks a gay man should identify as gay and that's a pretty problematic opinion, in my opinion.

I still really enjoyed Alexis Hall's narrative voice throughout this book, it reads like Four Weddings and a Funeral mixed with Fleabag, and I absolutely adore that sarcastic self-mockery of British culture but I just don't think the overall plot of this book stands up very well. If you took out all of Oliver and Luc's arguments and all of the weddings and the funeral then what is the message that we take away from this book? For me, it's that society puts pressure on people to marry and people feel they have to, but really we should ALL be inspecting why we think it's necessary other than for tax reasons, being able to have your spouse sign off on medical decisions and possibly get a partnership visa for other countries, and none of those reasons are good enough for me. But all of those questions could've been answered if Oliver and Luc had just gone to bloody couples therapy instead of blowing money on a "we're actually just going to keep dating instead" party and I think in the end this book was overly drawn out and is unsteady on that very narrow plot line.

I think Alexis Hall has a great writing style and I'm willing to give their other books a try but I think I might be done with this series specifically, I think Luc and Oliver have run their course and honestly I am not sure a sequel was even needed let alone a trilogy, the third of which is expected to publish this year.

Genevieve 

"I loved Oliver and he loved me, and we didn’t need flags or banners or, for that matter, rings or weddings to prove it."

3.5 ⭐s

This book was a bit of a let down, if I am honest. Boyfriend Material was a very sweet, cosy romance with characters growth and an interesting plot, but Husband Material just felt like someone internally wrestling with their view on the convention of marriage and on how to be the right type of queer person. Oliver and Luc were both incredibly frustrating and argumentative for the majority of the book, and the thing is that they kept arguing about the same damn things over and over again and never really reaching a resolution. In the first book I said that Luc was clearly a man who needed therapy and instead leaned on another broken man to try and fix him. This is never a good idea because the only person who can fix your problems is yourself and while a good partner (and friends and family) is there to support you through that journey, they shouldn't be relied on solely to carry the burden of helping someone heal. That same criticism stands for this book as well, Luc is STILL someone who clearly needs therapy, and as far as I am aware, STILL hasn't gone to it - all while being happy that Oliver finally is in therapy... JUST GO TO THERAPY LUC, FFS.

There were some really well made points in this book. As I am someone who does not think marriage is something for me I could relate to a lot of the questions Luc and Oliver were having about marriage. There was a quote from Oliver: "for me, it feels like a framework I didn’t create and can’t control that I’m expected to impose on my own life." and this really resonates with me. I am bisexual and in a relationship with a man, so there is an angel and a demon on my shoulders, one saying marriage was designed for a relationship like the one I'm in now and after 7 years together the expected thing would be for us to get married, and the other is saying "yeah but why though?" I actually enjoyed the ending of this book because it stuck its fingers up at the idea of conventional marriage and that marriage doesn't have to be for everyone, even for people who want to be together forever, but that fact that Priya was literally yelling this exact point at Luc for a good portion of the book and it just wasn't getting through his thick skull was honestly so annoying to me.

Oliver and Luc's argument over the LGBTQ community was also interesting, and I thought a bit ironic in a way because the idea in Boyfriend Material was that Luc started dating Oliver because he was deemed as being an acceptable kind of gay man and then in this book Luc struggles with the fact that he's not sure Oliver is an acceptably gay man because he doesn't partake in the same facets of queerness as Luc does. Luc feels accepted by the LGBTQ community and by the pride flag and the ostentatious, extravagant side that a lot of queer people enjoy and Oliver simply doesn't. Both sides of this argument are completely fair and understandable but Luc seems absolutely sure that because Oliver doesn't have more queer friends or doesn't want a rainbow balloon arch at his wedding that he must be insecure and internally homophobic. Honestly, I found Luc's opinion on this rather homophobic in itself because he's stereotyping queerness, Oliver doesn't fit snugly into Luc's idea of how he thinks a gay man should identify as gay and that's a pretty problematic opinion, in my opinion.

I still really enjoyed Alexis Hall's narrative voice throughout this book, it reads like Four Weddings and a Funeral mixed with Fleabag, and I absolutely adore that sarcastic self-mockery of British culture but I just don't think the overall plot of this book stands up very well. If you took out all of Oliver and Luc's arguments and all of the weddings and the funeral then what is the message that we take away from this book? For me, it's that society puts pressure on people to marry and people feel they have to, but really we should ALL be inspecting why we think it's necessary other than for tax reasons, being able to have your spouse sign off on medical decisions and possibly get a partnership visa for other countries, and none of those reasons are good enough for me. But all of those questions could've been answered if Oliver and Luc had just gone to bloody couples therapy instead of blowing money on a "we're actually just going to keep dating instead" party and I think in the end this book was overly drawn out and is unsteady on that very narrow plot line.

I think Alexis Hall has a great writing style and I'm willing to give their other books a try but I think I might be done with this series specifically, I think Luc and Oliver have run their course and honestly I am not sure a sequel was even needed let alone a trilogy, the third of which is expected to publish this year.

Sara Uribe

I received a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
 
I have a feeling this is one of those times where I say, “It’s not you, it’s me.” I don't know what happened between this book and book one but I felt like I was going around and around and around in a circle and just never catching up with the point of this book. I would have been much happier if the author just left this story alone with book one. I just simply didn't care for this one. Not. One. Bit. However, the only reason I’m giving this book three stars is because of the wonderful narrator, Joe Jameson. He did a phenomenal job with not only this book but with book one as well.
 
That’s all I have to say.
 
 
⭐⭐⭐

Having read Boyfriend Material, this book felt like a real let down.

Ivory Flores

Catherine Duplessis

3.5 ⭐️
I can’t quite put my finger on why I don’t LOVE these books. I like the humor, the story and the characters, but I think the pace is just too slow for me. I feel like nothing really happens. 

The best way to describe it would be that it feels like reading a TV show instead of a movie, and a TV show more like Gilmore Girls than Gossip Girl. No big plot twist, just following the characters into their lives.

Which is not necessarily bad, but the lack of twists and turns make me just like it and not LOVE it.

I’ll still read the rest of the series.

Meghan Thompson 

3.75 
let me start this off by saying that I love Oliver and Luc so much. they will always hold a special place in my heart bcs Boyfriend Material was the book that got me back into reading again. 

with that being said...wtf was this? it is not that I didn't enjoy this book because I did but I also just felt like I read the book version of four weddings and a funeral except there were only like three and half weddings and a funeral. for the beginning part of the book it felt like Oliver was simply just a side character and Luc was just running around caring for everyone else in the name of friendship or getting "revenge" on an ex. (honestly if an ex asked me to go to their wedding it would be an immediate no bcs I simply do not care nor do I want to see that). I really thought giving Miles any screen time was unnecessary..like I really didn't need any reconciliation between them he could’ve stayed forgotten. the second half of the book just felt like mostly fighting between Luc and Oliver with occasional cute moments that ultimately just led into more fighting. 

in regards to characters Luc made a moderate amount of growth..at least in terms that he wasn't as self destructive as he was in previous books and openly communicated. what I love about him is his constant vocalization over the fact that feelings make him uncomfy but he's trying for Oliver. I didn't particularly like that he felt so obligated still to continuously have to prove or justify himself in the eyes of other people. Oliver was great as always. I loved that we got a more in depth exploration on who he is as a person and his relationship with his family. 

overall what felt short for me in this book was the need to try and be relevant. there was a constant mention of things that are currently popular in pop culture. or the addition of severe political issues and their detriment to society but honestly it just felt short. overall those moments just made me cringe. i understand what you are trying to get across but those issues go far beyond just a quirky little joke to be made. 

I loved Boyfriend Material and it will always hold a special place in my heart. However this book just fell a little short for me and made me wish that it was just a little sequel novella not a full fledged novel. however does this mean I'm not going to read the rest of the books that are meant to come out? absolutely not..I will continuously read almost anything about Luc and Oliver because they're a mess but they are my mess.

Pretty good sequel! I really enjoyed the first book and I like it slightly more. I love revisiting stories with characters you get familiar with and grow to love, but I hate reading about them arguing and not communicating well (hence the rating). As always, Hall's writing is super fun and hilarious, and ultimately delightful! At the same time, I don't want to read a book about Oliver and Luc being distant, arguing, and having issues every time they interact. I wouldn't have gone this route with this sequel, personally, but to each their own. 

Safiyah Young

Pretty good sequel! I really enjoyed the first book and I like it slightly more. I love revisiting stories with characters you get familiar with and grow to love, but I hate reading about them arguing and not communicating well (hence the rating). As always, Hall's writing is super fun and hilarious, and ultimately delightful! At the same time, I don't want to read a book about Oliver and Luc being distant, arguing, and having issues every time they interact. I wouldn't have gone this route with this sequel, personally, but to each their own. 

Still had a great time reading it!

it wasn’t the same as boyfriend material. focused a lot on other relationships. would’ve preferred if we saw some more growth from luc and didn’t see so many stereotypes. took a long time to get into. 

julia konopka

I loved this book just as much as I loved boyfriend material in theory however, as much as I can understand Luc and Oliver's decision in the last chapter, it was definitely anticlimactic considering the book's title. I also think it could have been a good opportunity to write from Oliver's perspective- his struggles would have been interesting to read as he himself experienced them. 

Sebastián

I am so happy this book exists since it gives us more from Luc and Oliver, but at the same time I'm kind of mad about how it came out... the book had a good premise given the fact that it explored Oliver's journey more (something we only started to understand by the end of the first book); but we're still reading from Luc's point of view and it seems as if he didn't learn much from the events on Boyfriend Material. Oliver's identity issues would have been incredible to read from his perspective, and not from Luc's endless doubts and whims. In the end, the book felt repetitive (not compared to the first but within itself); and the ending was extremely anti-climatic, needing at least one or two more chapter before the "twist". This isn't a bad book at all, it still manages to capture what makes Boyfriend Material my favorite romcom since Oliver and Luc are such a wholesome couple, but in my opinion the writer didn't have a clear plot this time and a wasted opportunity to have Oliver as the narrator.

I love this book so much,, except for the ending. Hated that. Literally made the whole book feel pointless.

Luc 

I’m very very very upset with the ending. I feel broken. That’s all. 

Seth Schweiger

I find it difficult to review this one as I really did enjoy it. I reread Boyfriend Material before reading to reacquaint myself with Luc and Oliver before reading Husband Material and so I went in still eager to read more about Luc and Oliver’s relationship as there was more to explore. As I read though I began to realise I didn’t feel this book was necessary. 

I enjoyed the Four Weddings and a Funeral type plot centring around various weddings and Luc and Oliver’s lives. It worked because it helped drive it on. It was nice to see how their life had progressed together. 

My issue was that the central conflict was very much about the differences between Luc and Oliver in their relationship which seemed to just circle round. Then there was the drive for them to marry which then became a big struggle for them as it created a lot of tension with their planning. It just didn’t feel necessary. I suppose I liked how it was all resolved and the commentary provided but I realised when I was halfway through I didn’t need this exploration of Luc and Oliver’s relationship. I think, for me, the first book was enough. It wasn’t to say this book was bad as I did enjoy it but I don’t know how much I’m going to want to reread this anytime soon. I am excited to hear we’ll get to read about other people in this world as the people Luc and Oliver have surrounded themselves with are complex and interesting and I think that might be how I’d prefer to stay in this world. 

Becky

I find it difficult to review this one as I really did enjoy it. I reread Boyfriend Material before reading to reacquaint myself with Luc and Oliver before reading Husband Material and so I went in still eager to read more about Luc and Oliver’s relationship as there was more to explore. As I read though I began to realise I didn’t feel this book was necessary. 

I enjoyed the Four Weddings and a Funeral type plot centring around various weddings and Luc and Oliver’s lives. It worked because it helped drive it on. It was nice to see how their life had progressed together. 

My issue was that the central conflict was very much about the differences between Luc and Oliver in their relationship which seemed to just circle round. Then there was the drive for them to marry which then became a big struggle for them as it created a lot of tension with their planning. It just didn’t feel necessary. I suppose I liked how it was all resolved and the commentary provided but I realised when I was halfway through I didn’t need this exploration of Luc and Oliver’s relationship. I think, for me, the first book was enough. It wasn’t to say this book was bad as I did enjoy it but I don’t know how much I’m going to want to reread this anytime soon. I am excited to hear we’ll get to read about other people in this world as the people Luc and Oliver have surrounded themselves with are complex and interesting and I think that might be how I’d prefer to stay in this world. 

Inga 

** spoiler alert **
           I’ve never written a review before but I just have a lot of things to say so here we go! 
(Also English isn’t my first language, so I apologise for any mistakes)

1. The characters were wonderful! I really felt that distinct Luc and Oliver energy that I loved so much in Boyfriend Material. Especially because a few scenes from Boyfriend Material were “recreated”. 
Some other reviews mention that they don’t see a lot of character development, which I both agree and disagree with. Luc and Oliver are clearly more comfortable within themselves and with their relationship. Still, they are not perfect. Far from it. They are insecure and neurotic and doubt themselves and their relationship to a fault. And because only two years have passed since both of their low points in life, I feel like it would be unreasonable for both of them to have shed these major issues to a point where they wouldn’t be a major plot point. 

2. THE SIDE CHARACTERS??? yes. I loved all of them (apart from Miles (and maybe JoJo?) obviously.) and I loved seeing them get more screen time. Especially Priya, who will always be a personal favourite. 

3. THE ENDING 
I loved it. I loved it because it spoke to me in a way not a lot of books and book endings have spoken to me. 
Though I found it kind of frustrating that 1) they never fucking talked to each other and 2) it was clear from the beginning that neither of them actually wanted to get married. I’ve read lot of comments saying how they felt fooled. Which, okay, I understand because the book is called HUSBAND material and from the marketing, lots of people probably weren’t expecting the book to be what it was. But you can’t tell me you read more than 200 pages of this book and thought ‘yep, these people want and should definitely get married’. 
As someone who never saw a huge point in marriage either (as does most of my immediate family), I thought it was just wonderful to see characters not having to be married in order to be happy. 
I don’t feel as though the book wanted to overly lecture about the importance (or lack there of) of marriage within a queer context, because it is clearly a personal choice between the two of them. It’s not right for THEM, for deeply personal reasons, which I found great and connected to especially.

Overall I really, really fucking enjoyed this book, though it was a lot darker and a lot more political than I (or perhaps a lot of people) expected from the marketing. However I had a great time and it made me happy.

boyfriend/husband material girlies… look away 🫣

ash (smokedshelves)

Most times when I get to the end of a romance novel I’m wishing to spend more time with the couple and that’s exactly what this book delivers. It’s like getting a very long actually good epilogue. 

Luc and Oliver are still dealing with big emotions and how they want to live their lives and I still love them. I feel like their characters are so real and beautiful. Sort of a side note but I do appreciate that therapy has been getting more positive attention these days. 

Overall, this was funny and quite enjoyable. 

Megan BV

Well this was adorable. And emotional. 

Most times when I get to the end of a romance novel I’m wishing to spend more time with the couple and that’s exactly what this book delivers. It’s like getting a very long actually good epilogue. 

Luc and Oliver are still dealing with big emotions and how they want to live their lives and I still love them. I feel like their characters are so real and beautiful. Sort of a side note but I do appreciate that therapy has been getting more positive attention these days. 

Overall, this was funny and quite enjoyable. 



Husband Material

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