Boyfriend Material (London Calling, #1) opens Goodreads in a new tab

My thoughts

4/5stars OMG OMG OMG isn't this the MOST relatable queer book I've read in forever?!?! This is a m|m romance with both the enemies to lovers and fake dating trope. (ik both of them are clichés but I liked them here, they were done vv nicely and I loved reading them) I related with Oliver (with the whole family thing) I related with Luc for the whole his sexuality being the only topic of discussion for his work colleagues/donors/wtv. This is an actual real portrayal of a queer journey. AND I LOVED IT VERY VERY MUCH. The cherry on the cake is that this book is actually really funny. And I NEVER laugh at books, like literally never. But this one has actually made me put the book down and laugh out loud. The dialogues are written in such a way that I burst out laughing so hard on MULTIPLE OCCASIONS. Now I do know that some people feel that the lack of descriptions and a dump of dialogues makes it a tad bit boring but you know what I loved it? okay i loved the dialogues, not everything has to be description-centric plus the dialogues were actually funny so yes bring it on.. You know you’re wearing pyjamas wrong, right?” He didn’t look up. “Oh?” “Yeah, you’re supposed to just wear the bottoms, and have them hanging low on your hips, displaying your perfectly chiselled V-cut.” “Maybe next time.” I thought about this for a moment. “Are you saying you have a perfectly chiselled v-cut?” “I’m not sure that’s any of your business.” “What if someone asks? I should know for verisimilitude.” The corners of his mouth twitched slightly. “You can say I’m a gentleman and we haven’t got that far.” “You” – I gave a thwarted sigh – “are a terrible fake boyfriend.” “I’m building fake anticipation.” “You’d better be fake worth it.” “I am. Now, I must say if you're going into this looking for a big plot or a whole lot of character arc/plot unfurling: NO. Lemme stop you right there. With plentiful dialogues and a whole lot of funny I'm afraid there is not much of actual plot to this and the protagonist's relation with the father thing kinda feels hurried and so does the ending. But overall it was a good romance to read. Special mention for the protagonist's mother- OMG I LOVED THAT CHARACTER SO MUCH?? She is this rich famous French lady who was a rockstar in the 70s and now lives with her bestfriend and her four pet dogs and is obsessed with Drag Race and making awful curries. And she is so supportive of her son despite everything, she is the best queer person parent and I would die to have someone like that in my life. “Are we really bad at this?” I asked. “We’ve been fake dating for three days and we’ve already fake broken up once.” “Yes, but we fake resolved our difficulties and fake got back together, and I’m hoping it’s made us fake stronger. The only aspect of this book I did not like was the continuous HP references? Now don't get me wrong, I loved that series, I grew up with it but with the recent events and things J K Rowling has said about queers, like we all at this point know everything and then to mention those in a queer story? I don't know it just didn't sit right with me. Hence I didn't bump it up to five stars. But overall I really did enjoy this, a lot.