Husband Material (London Calling Book 2)

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boyfriend material was an immediate five-star read—which is an incredibly rare occurrence because i only give five stars based on some kind of instinctive primal gut feeling of worthiness—and, to my dismay, husband material was so profoundly awful and disappointing that it actually might have killed some of that magic for me. Wedding number two is Luc’s ex Miles, the guy who sold him out to the tabloids and sent him into a downward spiral. After bumping into each other on the night of Bridget’s non-gender-specific bird-do, Miles very happily introduces Luc to the vision in glitter and rainbows at his side – who then announces they’re getting married and says Luc really must come to the wedding. Luc doesn’t know what to make of it, and it’s messing with his head; does he want to go so he can prove to Miles that he’s moved on and is happy with Oliver, or should he just let it go? It’s absolutely baffling to use an easily disproved legal myth as the way to establish the cleverness of your lawyer character. For anyone wondering, no, you cannot avoid a theft charge by waiting to form the intent not to pay for your meal until after you’ve eaten the food. Parts of this book were fun and/or moving. Parts were bloody exhausting. Unfortunately, for me, the exhausting parts towered hugely over the enjoyable parts. a b "29th Annual Lambda Literary Award Finalists And Winners". Lambda Literary . Retrieved 25 May 2017.

So, look. I’m not into romcom movies. It’s just never been my thing. This book, structurally at least, is based off of the romcom Four Weddings and a Funeral. Based on the wiki synopsis, I don’t think this book follows the events in that movie, but that’s just my impression. The book here is broken up into five parts, if you can guess by the movie title. They feel like very separated storylines that give off an individual short story feel, rather than brought together as a whole novel. If this book had been pitched more as a short story epilogue book of sorts, that would make more sense. I went into this book thinking that the story would be fun and games and anxiety about Luc proposing, the engagement, and eventual marriage to Oliver based on the title of this book. And, well, it is and it isn’t. I think I’m around a 1.5 out of 3 on those conditions? I’m often bored by wedding drama plots and prefer them to be minimal fuss in fiction and in life (my favourite on-screen wedding is Andy and April’s in Parks & Rec, lol). I do love those classic romcoms, problematic aspects notwithstanding. I liked the characters, though they didn’t leave a massive impression (which is why I reread the first book). I’d even recently (unrelatedly) rewatched Four Weddings and a Funeral, so I was about as ideally primed for the continuation of Luc & Oliver’s relationship journey and for a big queer FW&AF homage as someone who’s just not hugely bothered about weddings could ever be. i’d like to think that after many impulse rereads of boyfriend material (still cannot believe it was on my spotify wrapped please do not perceive me) and falling in head over heels love with so many of his other books, i know alexis hall’s voice. its one of my favorites, a place of comfort, a little bit of home i carry in my chest. There are lots of methods to read Boyfriend Material, one of which is to read Boyfriend Material PDF. PDF is a versatile file format that is commonly used for eBooks. It has a small file size and can be opened on any platform and device without losing formatting. 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 hotly contested rainbow balloon arch to get these two from "I don't know what I'm doing" to "I do".With their side characters and main characters, Hall's books demonstrate the spectrum of queerness, which is what he was always interested in writing. cannot wait for Father Material where Luc inevitably out of nowhere will say "Let's have a kid" while Oliver is cleaning the toilet and then they don't talk about it for nine months and five seconds before the surrogate mother delivers the child they are screaming, crying, throwing up, like "actually, i forgot to mention that i don't want kids" and "oh, thank god, me neither" and they have to kill both surrogate mother and child on sight. and then skip into the sunset. the end. An absolute joy. This is at once a delightful and absurd romcom (I have said before, Alexis Hall does romcoms like Richard Curtis might if Richard Curtis was good) and a really intense, moving love story, and a deep dive into some of the thorny issues of queer identity and belonging. The fact that all three fit together seamlessly is just...gah. I don’t know, Alex.” I thought it only fair that I go through the full joke-recipient routine. “What does a Roman pirate say?” Our favourite chaos demon & stern brunch daddy return in this delicious, ridiculous, and often poignant romcom about all the ways love can grow.” < that is the Very Professional Official Opinion I will send to this book’s publisher. It took me a few days to get that by refining the following initial reaction > “dhfksjdhsl what the HELL oh my GOD how does Alexis DO THIS why do I have all these FEELINGS somebody HELP.” Whichever way you slice it (or phrase it) one thing’s for sure: this book is a six-star read.

Based on hints from the author, the next MC is a college acquaintance of Luc’s and apparently it’s a guy named Jonathan we meet earlier in the book who everyone hates. So, I feel bad for him already. His characterization so far feels like early Boyfriend Material Oliver. This book would’ve been better off making up productions that weren’t actively playing at the time of this story. But that’s just theatre nerd in me raising an eyebrow at that entire sequence of events. You might say, “it’s not that deep!!” and maybe it isn’t. But this book takes a very hard stance on many topics (which I normally wouldn’t mind, but this book really tries to hit you over the head with them at every turn where it starts sounding like you’re being condescended to after a certain point)…well, then I’m going to start pointing stuff out that this book might want to sit down and reflect on too.First off, I loved Boyfriend Material. I thought it was cute, funny, and both characters seemed ready and willing for personal and romantic growth. I also love romcoms especially the 90s and early 00s British romcoms these books are inspired by. I even re-watched Four Weddings and a Funeral before reading Husband Material (highly recommend - the movie really holds up well)! So now that we have established my credentials as the target audience for Husband Material, I can say with absolute conviction, this book was a massive dumpster fire of betrayal. Oliver says yes, because duh – this is called Husband Material – and just like that there is yet another wedding being planned. I love how this book is simultaneously hyperaware of superficial heteronormativity but actual heteronormativity in the writing is ignored, such as assuming that a man and woman would only ever be in public together because they’re having sex, or including the tired “only women care about weddings” trope. Cover Revealed for 'Husband Material' by Alexis Hall". Nerds & Beyond. 4 September 2021 . Retrieved 19 April 2022.

HUSBAND MATERIAL was one of my most anticipated reads for 2022. If you know anything about me, you'd know that Alexis Hall's previous installment, BOYFRIEND MATERIAL, was one of my favorite books for 2020. I rarely read romcoms, but Luc and Oliver stole my heart and I knew that I wasn't ready to give up on their story. HUSBAND MATERIAL takes place in (I think) roughly two years after its predecessor and Luc and Oliver's relationship has never been stronger. With everyone in Luc's life getting married, he feels the pressure to propose to Oliver, but knows that Oliver does not have strong feelings about marriage. Their relationship seems solid, but what happens when marriage becomes the top of their disputes? Waite, Olivia (27 May 2022). "They Went on a Fake Date. Then Sparks Started to Fly". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 27 May 2022. Bond, Gwenda (16 June 2013). "Exploring LGBT History: LGBT 2013". Publishers Weekly . Retrieved 26 May 2017. They’re at that age where folks are settling down. Bridgette and Tom are getting married, however, they do take a minor stroll down Is-Tom-Cheating-On-Bridgette Lane before they actually get to the altar. Alex Twaddle and Miffy are also tying the knot, the James Royce-Royce’s have a baby (iconically, also named James), and Priya has taken up polyamory and is now in a thruple.Herman, Lily (31 December 2020). "Don't Sleep On The Best Romance Novels Of 2020". Bustle. Archived from the original on 29 August 2023 . Retrieved 19 February 2022. For much of the book, all Oliver does is show up to dispense support or wisdom. He has no thoughts or desires beyond what Luc needs at any given moment.

Following "Boyfriend Material's" publication, Hall, who has been publishing books since 2013, recalls getting phone calls from his team about the title's growing success.

But somethings have changed. Bridge and Tom are getting hitched and guess who is the maid of honor? Lucien. Haha. As discussed above, Luc fears marriage because of the associated expectations from other people. Luc also admits to Bridge near the end of the book that he proposed to Oliver because he was feeling insecure after his ex’s wedding and wanted to “show or prove” that their relationship was working well. And right before the wedding, he thinks the guests are waiting for him and Oliver to “prove our relationship was just as good as theirs.” It took me about 2 hours to listen to the last fifteen minutes of the audiobook cause I kept stopping every two minutes to rant to no-one in particular, but I am glad to report that I have since calmed down, so I will just calmly explain the reason for my rating in bullet points. Over-the-top romcom bullshit like a publishing company booking an author’s book tour in New York, Texas; Los Angeles, Texas; and Las Vegas, New Mexico isn’t funny, it’s exhausting. This whole book is way too convinced of its own cleverness and would be substantially improved by deleting 90% of the “clever” lines and references.