Oliver: I don’t feel included in the queer community, as you define it, or represented by rainbows or other commonly used queer symbols. In fact, I feel excluded when the community is defined this way. 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. and through it all, husband material is overwhelmingly filled with love, with luc and oliver holding my hand each step of the way. how loved we are, despite being flawed and messy. but okay fine, i can look past this, i am cool - or so i thought. until it came to the great rainbow arch debate When I first heard of this book I wrote a little sentence here. "Maybe I'll finally get the ending I craved in book one."

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 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. This argument is presented so many times that it seems clear Hall must think he’s doing something smart and interesting here, and really Making People Think about The Right Way to Be Gay. But Luc’s position is wholly unsupported in the text and repeatedly returning to it only made me think about how poorly reasoned it is.

Sounds heavy, is not, in part because both characters are funny and Luc's narrative voice is hilarious, in part because this is an intensely real couple who talk like people do--they're digging into problems they experience, not making speeches. Plus, the setting is pure delight. This is basically four weddings and a funeral (not a spoiler, the book flags the parallel clearly) with a joyous roll around in the absurdity of wedding culture, Britishness, offices, publishing, and the fact that we're all pretending to be competent adults. Okay, something just under the middle, then. Something below average. Because I am a below-average person, as you have so clearly implied.”

It's about wanting as many people as possible to feel welcome in that space. And you don't you can't really make people feel welcome if you implicitly erase them," Hall said. And that was the worst of it until we hit part four. Part four took me entirely by surprise because it hadn’t even occurred to me to look up the warnings for this book. Like I said, I thought the book was going to be FUN. But I suppose the word funeral does have the word fun in it? *queue up the “Come to the Fun Home” song*

Two talented chess players challenge each other on and off the board in bestselling author Hazelwood’s YA debut. When I read Boyfriend Material almost two weeks ago for the first time, I fell in love with Luc and Oliver. I couldn't believe that I had waited so long to read such a gem. I was seriously missing out. The first book introduced me to Ollie and Luc and all the other interesting characters such as Bridge, Alex, James Royce-Royce and Priya. There was so much wit, humor and colorful characters that made the story not only hilariously funny but also worthwhile. 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. Special thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC of this book for an honest review. My personal favourite was probably the Funeral part and the painful emotional fallout from that. In the midst of a book that was by its very nature full of Big Drama and manic exuberance, that part felt like a little oasis of breathing space where, in the midst of this confused, achey, angry, grieving sadness, the characters created this lovely, complex unity of mutual support, honesty, and tenderness. I loved that, and it felt like the most authentic moment in the book for both of them.

Oliver isn’t rejecting anything, he’s saying he feels rejected by something. Luc’s response reverses cause and effect. And, my god, the ending literally made me want to die. It was the absolute worst and I hated it so much. If I didn’t already think Luc and Oliver were a horrible couple together, then this would have definitely pushed me far into the ‘horrible couple’ camp. It was dreadful. Urgh.

Book Review for Boyfriend Material

I was honestly looking forward to this sequel, and I’m sad over how disappointed I am with the result. The book started out pretty okay, but to me it just steadily became worse and worse. Everything (apart from the comedy) that had worked for me in book 1, just kind of appeared to have lost its charm here. It wasn’t what I was hoping it would be, unfortunately. Will we see this duo tie the knot in this sequel? That remains to be seen but damn I hope so. I would love nothing more than to see Oliver and Luc get married👬.

I guess this book is for readers who don’t normally read romance books and only want romance that throws out the expected, as if it could bring something new to the table. The fact that Luc never questions his assumptions, just grudgingly accepts that he and Oliver feel differently, while Oliver repeatedly questions himself after Luc’s tirades, says troubling things about Hall’s own opinions on the subject. Does he realize what message he has sent by making Luc’s arguments strident and clear while reducing Oliver to hand-wringing self-doubt, or by letting Luc have the last word on this topic in the book (in an argument that ends with Luc insinuating Oliver isn’t proud of their relationship because he would disapprove of Luc’s desire to buy a mlm flag to hang in their window)? Does he really think that people who don’t like rainbow iconography are rejecting the queer community? the whole debate is basically about how Luc is very much into the whole expressing your identity with rainbows everywhere and over the top parties while Oliver simply does not care and feels a bit uncomfortable by the whole thing Luc: That’s homophobic. Why are you so uncomfortable with yourself? You’re rejecting a core part of my identity. There are plenty of people who find real value in darker stories, because there are people for whom that speaks to their real experience. Something that is more unflinching and less escapist has real value to a lot of people and other people. There are people that don’t like the kind of books I write for that reason. But the other hand, I think there is value in there being a choice," Hall said.I just finished, and I'm going to take some deep breaths before continuing this review. Deep breaths. 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.