AUTHOR: Alexis Hall GENRE: LGBT+ Romance PAGES: 427 RELEASED: 7 July 2020 SERIES: London Calling #1 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. Who knew faking it could be the secret to falling in love...
When his reputation is tarnished by the press, negatively affecting his job, Luc realises he needs to do something to turn things around, especially with a big fundraising event coming up that needs to be a success. That something is getting into a fake relationship so he can start being portrayed as a wholesome gay, not a party-all-night fall-over-drunk-in-the-street gay. His best friend Bridget is super excited to set him up with her only other gay friend Oliver. The problem is Luc has always fancied Oliver and the few encounters he’s had with him have ended badly. Perfect Oliver would never be interested in someone as messy as Luc. But when Oliver reveals he needs a date to his parent’s wedding anniversary, they strike up a mutually beneficial deal – they’ll fake date publicly until both events have come and gone, and then they’ll amicably go their separate ways. But, as with any fake relationship, the line between what’s real and what’s not soon becomes blurred as they both start to learn more about each other. Even though they’re from completely different worlds, they slowly start to realise how well they actually fit together. They just have to figure out how good they work together before they reach the agreed expiration date on their relationship... This was one of my most anticipated releases in 2020, but for some reason I just never got around to reading it until now and I kind of hate myself for having put it off for so long! This was such a fabulous read and I really enjoyed following Luc and Oliver’s relationship develop throughout the book. The fake relationship trope is one of my favourites, and I think this one was such a natural and slow-burning progression compared to others I’ve read. Both Luc and Oliver had really interesting friend groups and I kind of wish we got to spend more time with and seen more of their dynamics. In particular, I lowkey want a James Royce-Royce and James Royce-Royce origin because it was be wonderfully chaotic but super sweet. The only thing I think could have made this book even better was if we could have gotten a few chapters from Oliver’s perspective. And I say this only because the majority of romances I tend to read have alternating perspectives, so there were moments where I was craving some time inside Oliver’s head. In saying that, the book worked totally fine from Luc’s perspective, and I’m just super greedy because I really enjoyed spending time with these characters. And while Alexis wrapped this book up nicely, it was awesome to learn that there is a sequel coming, because Luc and Oliver’s story didn’t totally feel complete. With the sequel, Husband Material, right around the corner, now is the perfect time to dive in and fall in love with Luc and Oliver falling in love. |
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