If you read the things I write, you may notice this name Hall showing up quite a bit! In my first days at WPL, I happened upon Paris Daillencourt Is About To Crumble thanks to one of our Featured Reads lists and it reintroduced me to rom-com-in-a-book as a sort of subgenre. I wrote an entire blog post about Paris Daillencourt and had the eternally joyous realization that I could, for no money whatsoever, indulge myself and read essentially everything Alexis Hall has written! Libraries do a much wider range of community work these days, but there’s always something magic about reading $300 worth of books for… $0. The latest title in my glorious conquest of Hall’s works is Boyfriend Material – and it’s a worthy and warm choice for early Pride month!

The tale centres on Lucien “Luc” O’Donnell, who finds himself in need of a PR-friendly relationship for the sake of his rockstar father’s image despite his personal disinterest. Oliver Blackwood is a friend-of-a-friend who desperately needs a date for an upcoming family reunion, and despite a terrible first meeting they agree to a relationship to help each other out. Forget Beauty and the Beast, fake dating until the feelings become too real might just be the real “tale as old as time.”

I actually didn’t realize at first that Oliver would be the main love interest. Hall does a wonderful job of embodying Luc’s cynicism and detachment; Oliver feels at first like the latest in a long line of poorly described not-really boyfriend prospects. For most of their first date (when Luc has yet to reveal his desperate plans), I wouldn’t have really been able to tell you what he even really looks like. I was as surprised as our protagonist when, in an uncharacteristic moment of honesty, Luc confesses his being in need of a fake boyfriend and suddenly Oliver agrees. It’s a lightning bolt moment of connection between two very different people – and suddenly the narration completely changes. 

From then on, Hall does a remarkable job of following one of the most concise yet essential writing tenets: he shows rather than tells. Despite Luc’s continued explicit insistence that a) he and Oliver are too different; b) they’ve known of each other through friends for years without ever having any romantic tension (so obviously can’t have any now); and c) they’d never get along without these insane circumstances; he can’t help but be warmed by Oliver’s genuine affection and support, and we learn more and more about the latter through the lens of this burgeoning attraction. Midway through the novel, Luc calls in sick at work just to spend time with his rapidly-becoming-less-fake-boyfriend, and his otherwise clueless colleagues remark on how new and nice it is to see him so happy. 

The final conflicts and resolution (both Luc’s angst about real feelings and the eventual showdown with Oliver’s controlling parents) I’ll leave to you to discover by reading, but know that they can shine at quite a high level of complexity thanks to the relationship’s strong foundations. It’s Alexis Hall, after all, and, as I’m learning, he has a knack for witty characters suffused with heart.