Early Review: Husband Material by Alexis Hall

 Husband Material 

by Alexis Hall

pub date Aug 2, 2022

Sourcebooks Casablanca 

⛪️ 2.5 stars out of 5 ⛪️ 

I am a HUGE fan not only of this book’s series predecessor, Boyfriend Material, but of Alexis Hall’s work in general. Literally everything of his I’ve read, I have loved. His writing style, his amazing characters, his facility with language and wordplay, his deep understanding (and inclusion) of complex social issues, these are all huge draws for me. I love everything he writes and trust him as a writer more than anyone I have ever read. I had ZERO doubts about this book. I was so excited to get to revisit one of my favorite fictional couples, Luc & Oliver - especially under the guise of seeing them move their relationship forward. Look at the cover! That title! They’re tying the knot! This is going to be wonderful! I thought.

This book is cruel. Nothing about it makes sense. Does Alexis Hall hate us? Did he resent having to write this? I don’t know. I don’t understand anything because I don’t understand this book.

For starters, the first section was a little wobbly. I really didn’t care for how obnoxious Bridge was and how easily Luc discarded Oliver. But it seemed to find its footing for a while. It was up and down, but had a lot of interesting things to say, as most Alexis Hall books do, and I loved that! Then it just kind of… crashed and burned.

Boyfriend Material was written in the style of 90s romcoms, and this was Hall’s take specifically on Four Weddings and a Funeral. I know it was part of the tribute but I personally wish he would have toned down the ridiculousness of the antics in the early part of the book. There were mishaps and bad judgement calls being made merely to drive the plot but I didn’t appreciate the result of these bad calls because they almost invariably ended up hurting Oliver who is the last person who deserves to be hurt or taken for granted. 

I adore Luc and Oliver but this book really pushed how far I was willing to let Luc slide in his behavior. He’s never been the easiest-to-like character - he’s flawed and damaged, but relatable. Except for in this, he really doubles down on the pettiness, hypocrisy, and just general misguidedness. He’s legit awful in so many scenes. He seemed hell bent on demonstrating over and over again just how shitty a person he could be. It really bothered me that Luc repeatedly displays a complete lack of sensitivity to Oliver’s needs. Especially when Oliver gives him so much back in that regard. I found that extremely disappointing. I even felt very #TeamOliver for most of the book which I didn’t want to be. I didn’t want to have to take sides, I wanted to be #TeamLucAndOliver.

On the positive side, there’s lots of interesting and relatable stuff about the complexities of family dynamics and navigating relationships (partners, friends, family, coworkers, acquaintances, strangers) and important discussions about what it means to be part of the LGBTQ+ community. I especially appreciated the discussion of the very problematic intersection of religion and government, and the many problems with conservatism. Hall handles all this with great sensitivity and insight - and humor - as per his usual.

In the course of the story, both Luc and Oliver end up standing up for themselves in various circumstances to people who definitely had it coming and it is ever so satisfying! I was so proud of them in these moments. But for most of the story, it was just Luc treating Oliver badly and Oliver forgiving him. Over and over again. It felt like they’d fallen into a toxic, dysfunctional relationship. Luc never seemed to learn from his mistakes or show remorse over having hurt Oliver - or indeed ever even understood how he’d hurt Oliver and that he should probably make an effort not to. They would get past one obstacle and immediately find another. Of the five sections (four weddings and one funeral) the funeral, ironically, was the best part as Luc actually stepped up a little bit and showed some support for a while and things looked really promising by the end of that section. But after a very turbulent beginning and middle, and then the promise of a slight upward trajectory, things immediately took a hard nose dive and the plane never pulled up again. 

All that said, I did enjoy much of the book. I laughed out loud several times and smiled through much of it. It just had way too many problems and parts that made NO sense for me to be able to recommend it. I am absolutely stunned and befuddled by the choices Alexis Hall made in this book. I’m genuinely disappointed with it. Luc & Oliver deserved better. And so did we.

——

Many thanks to Sourcebooks Casablanca for providing the free digital copy via the Early Reads program.