Boyfriend Material

## Novel by Alexis Hall

***Boyfriend Material*** is the first installment in the *London Calling* series, written by Alexis Hall. It was published through Sourcebooks Casablanca on 7 July 2020. Hall was primarily inspired by British romantic comedy films including *Notting Hill*, *Four Weddings and a Funeral*, and *Love, Actually*. It narrates the son of famed rockstar parents, Luc O'Donnell, who has a fake relationship with lawyer Oliver Blackwood, both benefiting from this arrangement. They eventually end up falling in love. "Boyfriend Material" was named a best book of the year by *Oprah Magazine*, *Entertainment Weekly*, *Goodreads*, and *The Washington Post*.

The accompanying audiobook was narrated by Joe Jameson, published by Dreamscape Media on 7 July 2020.

## Synopsis

Wanted:

One (fake) boyfriend

Practically perfect in every way

Luc O'Donnell is tangentially—and reluctantly—famous. His rock star parents split when he was young, and the father he's never met spent the next twenty years cruising in and out of rehab. Now that his dad's making a comeback, Luc's back in the public eye, and one compromising photo is enough to ruin everything.

To clean up his image, Luc has to find a nice, normal relationship... and Oliver Blackwood is as nice and normal as they come. He's a barrister, an ethical vegetarian, and he's never inspired a moment of scandal in his life. In other words: perfect boyfriend material. Unfortunately apart from being gay, single, and really, really in need of a date for a big event, Luc and Oliver have nothing in common. So they strike a deal to be publicity-friendly (fake) boyfriends until the dust has settled. Then they can go their separate ways and pretend it never happened.

But the thing about fake-dating is that it can feel a lot like real-dating. And that's when you get used to someone. Start falling for them. Don't ever want to let them go.

## Background

### Behind the scenes

Concerning the writing process, Hall stated, "the second bathroom door scene was … um … quite emotional for me. In terms of favourites, I enjoyed any scene with Alex. There's something very comforting about writing an upper class twit". He put as a disclaimer, "I started writing this book before J.K. Rowling began using her platform to attack the rights of transgender people. This text contains some references to her work. This does not in any way represent an endorsement of either the work or the author".

He reported on his website of the protagonists' heights, "Luc is taller (at 6ft 4in), with Oliver closer to 6ft".

### Content warnings

* Homophobia
* Discrimination, manipulative
* Abusive parents
* Cancer
* Eating disorder
* Body-shaming

### Critical reception

*Booklist* raved, "Downright hilarious...Hall achieves a true balance between romance and comedy, delightfully succeeding at both." *Publishers Weekly* described it as a "triumph".

## Characters

* Lucien O'Donnell
* Oliver Blackwood
* Cristopher Blackwood
* Jon Fleming
* Alexander "Alex" Twaddle
* Miffy
* Bridget
* Tom

## Editions

Second editionAudiobookDanishHebrewJapanesePolishPortugueseRussianSpanishSwedish
## Media

* Blue Willow
* Behind the Mic: Narrator Joe Jameson on Boyfriend Material

## References

1. ↑ Kramer, Gary (10 April 2020). "Fake It Till You Make It: PW Talks with Alexis Hall". *Publishers Weekly*.
2. ↑ Koehler, Mimi (6 July 2020). "Q&A: Alexis Hall, Author of 'Boyfriend Material'". *The Nerd Daily*.

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