Husband Material

London Calling, Book 2

By: Alexis Hall

Narrated by: Joe Jameson

In Boyfriend Material, Luc and Oliver met, pretended to fall in love, fell in love for real, dealt with heartbreak and disappointment and family and friends...and somehow figured out a way to make it work. Now it seems like everyone around them is getting married, and Luc's feeling the social pressure to propose. But it'll take more than four weddings, a funeral, and a bowl full of special curry to get these two from "I don't know what I'm doing" to "I do".

Good thing Oliver is such perfect Husband Material.

©2022 Alexis Hall (P)2022 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Disappointed

Performance by the narrator, Great! The story, not so much.
You know those books where you are like “ yeah, this is pretty good”, then the ending comes and it turns to “nope. Just now I just feel like I wasted my time.” This is one of them.

I am new to Alexis Hall and was a fan of the first book of this series “Boyfriend Material”. Unfortunately, I am not a fan of this one, especially the ending. It feels that I pretty much just wasted my time with the first 90% of the book and could have just finished the last 10% and would have gotten the same out of it. Which sadly means I probably won’t be reading/listening to anything else by this author.

If you like the first book, I would recommend ending it there. It was way better.

I need more.

I loved this book the ending was definitely not what I expected and I don’t know how I feel about it. But I know I loved it overall can’t wait for more

Should've been an anthology.

An interesting continuing of this series, though, it should've been an anthology series set in the same universe as Boyfriend Material.
Still, all excellent stories, funny moments, and all the things in between. Narrator is once again excellent as well.

A subversion of expectations

The first time I started listening to this, I paused just a couple chapters in (despite the excellent narration—please continue to cast Joe Jameson, he’s perfect and irreplaceable), because it was not delivering the vibes I expected from the sequel to Boyfriend Material, and that was what I was looking for at that moment. But then I relistened to the first audiobook and segued right into the second, and I suggest doing that if you can. I mean, the more Joe Jameson and Alexis Hall the better, but also it gives the story some fresh emotional context that you might need to get through the tough parts (but don’t worry, there are lots of funny bits too).

In some sense, it felt like this sequel was a response to the success of the first book with a mainstream romance audience. It confronts the reader with the ways the leads have been alienated by society and social norms, and it refuses to give in to most romance tropes. The characters become more challenging as well, as both Luc and Oliver have moments of being truly unlikeable as they figure themselves out, and both of their dads are deeply disappointing. There’s a humanity to everyone’s emotional mess that makes it believable and relatable.

I laughed, I cried, I wanted to hang out with Luc’s mom. I’m adding her to my fictional character dinner party invite list.

Meh

This book is exhausting, a lot like Boyfriend Material was, but without the payoff. Boyfriend Material balanced the tedium of Lucien’s back and forth and constant self-doubting with flirtation, anticipation, and the type of cheesy-payoff ending that people want from books like this. Husband Material is just a slog. You’re constantly annoyed by the characters and the ending tries to make a point or be thought provoking in a way that sort of misses the point of listening to books like this - books that are supposed to be fun.

Not nearly as good as the first one

I have mixed feelings, honestly. No, I don't think this is as bad as some of the other reviews make it out to be but it isn't good either.
There are some very nice bits and I am not against this basically being 4 weddings and a funeral. The funeral part was very nice and in general both Oliver and Luc go through STUFF™️ but the main difference from book one is that you can't feel nor find a resolution.
The main conflict is that Luc and Oliver don't express their homosexuality in the same way. They talk about it over and over and over and over again... which wouldn't be a major problem if in the end the answer they find is that they don't have an answer.

Another conflict, which relates to the first, is... does Oliver have internalised homophobia? Answer: probably yes, but what u gonna do about it.

And so on and so forth. This book should be three times longer in order to tie up everything that got thrown at us in the last 2 books and half as long at the same time bc this was already dragging so much.

I don't know if I even want to touch upon the fact that in the end * SPOILER * Oliver leaves Luc at the altar because "Marriage = heteronormative and I just want to be boyfriends". Because I still can't wrap my head around it. What I know is that I would have liked this book 30% better if I didn't get this part, and I'm not a marriage fan but to me this just doesn't make sense.

EDIT: After a moment of reflection I decided that I hated the ending and I'm very mad about it. #thanksihateit

I guess what I'm saying is....buy this if it's on sale or something otherwise don't waste a credit if you really really want to read this. Otherwise don't bother.

Protect Alexis Hall at all costs

I could read 50 Luc and Oliver books. And then read them again. Narrator is also top shelf.

Not what u expect but in a good way

This book had me experienced all sort of emotions raging from laughing to crying.
I understood why some people are disappointed with the book and ending but I feel like this fits Luc and Oliver and who they are. The ending makes sense and overall had me crying by the end of it (happy tears)
I love this book and makes me wanting more

Not what I expected but still great (spoilers)

I started listening to this book and about 3 hrs in a sat back and scratched my head. I was confused about what was going on. So I took a minute to read some of the reviews. I fell down the rabbit hole of spoilers (which I enjoy reading) and the primarily terrible reviews of this book. I think overall I think it rated 2.5 starts. People complained about lack of character development. How the two main characters who we’ve come to love seem secondary to all the seemingly disconnected weddings throughout the book. That they have a toxic relationship and by the end you wish they’d breakup.

I have to say I couldn’t disagree more. Each stage of the story although an isolated incident challenges both luc and Oliver to grow as individuals and in their relationship. They have multiples conversations about what they want and if they fit. Insecurity is a real part of many relationships and I don’t think it reflects badly on either character to require support and understanding when faced with a deep seated insecurity.
When it really counts they are there for each other. They show up through their bullshit.

(Very spoiler moment)
I will say that the last half an hr of the book came completely out of left field. They both individually decide they don’t want to get married the day before their wedding and don’t confront the issue until the day of. This felt forced to me. After all the growth and development it felt like Alexis wanted some last minute big drama to top things off. I think it didn’t need it. There was no reason for the characters to randomly both realize that following the traditional relationship path didn’t work for them. I don’t have an issue with them not getting married just that it didn’t follow logically in the development Hall had spent the whole book developing. That’s the only reason this book didn’t get five stars.

wow the end!

loved it! was a little scared at the end but damn! that's how you end a love story!