I was initially wary of reading this sequel to Boyfriend Material, by Alexis Hall. I really enjoyed Boyfriend Material, but since romance novels tend to go through an arc of the main couple getting together, breaking up, and getting back together again, I tend to avoid sequels that focus on the same couple that got together in the first book because I don’t want to see them break up. I want to believe they live happily ever after. How can I believe that if you insist on messing with the HEA?
Spoiler Alert: Luc and Oliver do NOT break up in this book. They do argue a fair amount, but there is no breakup.
The book starts with Luc running into Miles, his ex who, not only broke up with Luc, but sold their relationship to the tabloids. Said terrible person is now getting married to a very young, very flamboyant YouTube star Luc refers to as a “twink.”
Luc is horrified to find himself invited to their wedding, but the more he things about it, the more he thinks it might not be such a bad idea to go. It might give him a sense of closure, especially if he can parade his very cute, very not-asshole boyfriend in front of his ex and his now-husband.
So they go to the wedding, and they have a surprisingly OK time, but Luc and Oliver start arguing because Luc starts to get nostalgic about hanging out with the kinds of people who flaunt their homosexuality, which Oliver decidedly does not.
Oliver has never felt that rainbows or any of the other standard gay paraphernalia represent him. Instead of making him feel included, they have made him feel excluded, and he makes some very good points about the commercialization of rainbows and other said gay paraphernalia.
Luc insists Oliver feels that way because he was raised in a homophobic household, and therefore retains some internalized homophobia. He might have a point, but picking at your boyfriend’s neurosis in an attempt to get him to admit you’re right is never a good idea.
Fortunately, Luc does not pick at that scab enough for Oliver to break up with him. Not only do they not break up, but much to his surprise, Luc ends up proposing to Oliver on impulse, and of course Oliver accepts.
Then the whole rainbow thing comes up again because Luc wants to get married under a rainbow balloon arch, but Oliver actually has taste, so coming up with a wedding that’s for both of them is proving more difficult than they initially would have thought.
They do get very close to breaking up a couple times, but it’s the last chapter or two where I really thought they were doomed.
I’m not going to spoil the ending for you. I’m just going to say that, if you’ve seen “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” you might be able to guess how the book ends (as well as how the rest of the book goes, since there are four weddings and a funeral in this book). I also felt like I should have seen it coming, given the fact that Luc had a whole year to get used to calling Oliver his fiancé, but just couldn’t do it.
I still don’t know how I feel about the fact that, as with Boyfriend Material, Hall waits until the very last page to give us our HEA. Way to keep us hanging.
But, on the whole, I really enjoyed this book. It’s just as snarky and hilarious as the first, and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to every minute … even when I kind of wanted to slap Luc.