I don't know what crack cocaine Alexis Hall puts between the pages of his romance books but oh my god do I just inhale his work. It must be the combination of his incredibly readable writing style and perfectly rendered romances.

Boyfriend Material follows Luc the estranged son of a washed-up rock star looking for a respectable fake boyfriend to clean up his reputation after unflattering paparazzi photos threaten his job. To the rescue is Oliver the posh barrister in need of a date to a family reunion.  

One of the strengths of Hall's writing is his ability to capture a genuine connection between characters. As it should be in any romance I was absolutely enamoured with Luc and Oliver. Not only did I find their chemistry believable and the rapport absolutely delightful but as the story unfolded I became more and more invested in their relationship. I especially appreciated Hall's commitment to a slow burn. Luc and Oliver don't share their first real kiss until around 2/3 of the novel and only have sex 3/4 of the way through. This restraint made those moments all the more impactful for me.

Hall is also great at seeding natural character drama into his romance to make the expected breakups within the story feel less contrived. When Oliver and Luc do briefly split it feels like a natural phase in the relationship due to pre-established character flaws rather than incredibly contrived moments designed to fit the expected structure of a romance novel. My one complaint on this front is that we don't get Oliver's POV in this novel so I did feel I was missing a bit of context when he pulled away but overall all was great at giving us as much as we could about Oliver through Luc's POV. 

I will say those looking for classic fake dating moments may be disappointed. While Luc and Oliver are technically fake dating because everyone in Luc's life knows the relationship isn't real there's less of that external tension that's so fun in a fake dating situation. Also while the two are technically dating for the press because Luc is the E-List son of C-List celebrities the book rarely explores much drama with the press either which I was definitely expecting based on the premise.

While I didn't adore Boyfriend Material quite as much as I did A Lady for a Duke this fake dating romance was a delightful romp and I'm excited to get to the sequel.