Spoiler Warning: I would say there are no spoilers. The plot elements I mention are all things that you could kind of guess from the tropes this book is following, so I wouldn’t consider them spoilers. Anything outside of that main plotline that could be surprising, I left vague.
52 Books in 52 Weeks – Book 36/Week 36 – Featuring the Legal Profession
Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall
I picked this book because the love interest is a barrister. They also have a couple discussions in the book about criminal defense because that’s something the love interest is passionate about because of his job. I also decided to compare it to another book, Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston, because I’ve seen people thinking these two books are the same and I also thought when I first saw the cover of this book that they would be more similar than they are.
Star Rating: ★★★★☆
This Book
Boyfriend Material is about Luc who is the son of two semi-famous musicians. Because of this, a lot of his exploits end up in tabloids which causes problems at his work. In order to clean up his reputation, Luc enters into a fake relationship with a posh barrister named Oliver. It’s a pretty typical fake dating storyline where it eventually turns into a real relationship. It is a little predictable in the same way that ‘enemies-to-lovers’ would be predictable, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. It’s one of those stories where it’s more about the journey than the destination.
Another aspect of the story is Luc’s relationship with his estranged father. They’re sort of trying to reconnect but neither’s heart is entirely in it, for Luc because he’s angry at his father and for his father because he seems to not really care about anybody other than himself. I really liked the way their relationship was portrayed and the way it progressed. The direction of this storyline is a little less predictable than the main romance storyline.
I’d heard mainly good things about this book, but I was a little reluctant to pick it up because I’m not really into romance to begin with and also it reminded me a lot of Red, White & Royal Blue (RWRB) which I was pretty underwhelmed by. I think this was mainly just because the covers are kind of similar, the plots aren’t really similar at all. I also kind of worried with Luc being the child of famous musicians that it would be very ‘Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous’ which I generally don’t like in stories. It really isn’t though because his parents are more washed up minor celebrities so beyond being followed by paparazzi his life is fairly average. He basically gets the downsides of being a celebrity without the perks.
Similarities to Red, White & Royal Blue
Something I remember disliking in RWRB is the text speech a lot of them used, it felt like it was trying too hard to be quirky. This book also had that in sections because Luc has a WhatsApp group where he and his friends chat. Most of them write a little bit more ‘normal’ though I think because they’re older than the characters in RWRB. The only parts where it gets very ‘texty’ is the one character who writes in all caps all the time and their memey joke names for the group chat. All in all though I found those sections less annoying than the ones in RWRB.
Something else that mildly annoyed me in RWRB and annoys me in most books it shows up in is cultural references. In RWRB I remember there being a lot of references to things like Harry Potter or Star Wars, mainly to show that the characters were ‘quirky’ or relatable. This also shows up a bit in Boyfriend Material. It’s mainly just passing references to things, but there’s also mentions of Rupaul’s Drag Race and Welcome to Night Vale which get a little bit more specific. I don’t know if I could even really explain why pop culture references in books bother me, they just come off a bit cheesy I guess and make me feel like the book could get dated fast. I also get a bit annoyed that a lot of books that have a gay character feel like they need to mention Drag Race for some reason. There are also some jokes in Boyfriend Material that rely on you having knowledge of the thing they’re referencing so if you don’t know the source material, that’s going to be lost on you.
Differences to Red, White & Royal Blue
I think the biggest difference and why I liked this book better than RWRB is that if felt like there was a lot more drama and higher stakes than in RWRB. Which there really shouldn’t be, it should probably be the opposite. One of the reasons I didn’t really enjoy RWRB is that there was very little conflict or drama. Everything seemed a bit too easy. In this, there’s a lot more drama, not really because the situation’s deserving of it, but because Luc is very anxious and melodramatic. I could see this maybe annoying some people but as somebody who is also anxious and melodramatic, I found it relatable. Also, the book does point out that he’s sort of overreacting to things without belittling the way he’s feeling.
I also thought this book confronted homophobia a little more than RWRB did. I read RWRB a while ago so I may not be remembering entirely correctly, but I don’t think their relationship actually faced that much homophobia, not as much as they would have in real life probably. And in general the universe of that book was very accepting, which I think was intentional. In Boyfriend Material, it’s more dealing with the topic of ‘acceptable’ or ‘nice’ homophobia. Sort of the idea that there is an acceptable type of gay person and an unacceptable type of gay person, which is homophobic but is more societally acceptable than outright hating gay people. I don’t think books that have gay characters need to include homophobia or topics like that if they don’t want to, but in certain situations I think it makes sense to at least have a mention of it. In the example of RWRB, it felt pretty unrealistic how little issue everyone had with their relationship. Also, it would have at least added a little bit of conflict, which that book really needed.
A Book in Three Acts 