Title: Husband Material
Author: Alexis Hall
Genre(s): Romance
Rating: ★★★★☆
There are a few things I adore about Alexis Hall’s romance novels that are well represented in this book: his couples communicate and act like real people, and so don’t end up in conflicts that could be solved with a straightforward explanation, thus inspiring me to yell “just talk to each other already!” (but do still sometimes end up with communication problems because, well, people are complex and sometimes communication is hard); his stories are full of feelings that often are not just about the two main characters, but also portray the benefits and challenges of friendship; and he is interested in looking for satisfying endings that aren’t necessarily the simple marriage and heteronormative HEA or the simplified fall-in-love-and-done story. Luc and Oliver are such interesting characters to me because at this point (heads up if you didn’t know, this book is a sequel to Boyfriend Material!) they are dealing with the kinds of problems that come up when the New Relationship Energy has run out and you’re left with questions about long-term compatibility and values and identity and those conversations that you see turning into arguments but can’t quite stop because the disagreements are well-worn grooves that you just fall into. They feel like such real people in a caring, imperfect long-term relationship. I maybe wasn’t a huge fan of the “Four Weddings and a Funeral” structure, which felt a little too predictable once I realized what was going on (around the end of the second wedding). But I was sucked in to the story, from the serious and loving moments to the hilarious — including the continued failed jokes with Luc’s coworkers and the very satisfying jabs at Tories and religion and the middle/upper classes.
Five Sentence Reviews 