Luc and Oliver have been through it all: fake dating to save Luc’s career, I-guess-this-is-actually-for-real dating when all of that blew up spectacularly, (briefly) breaking up over irreconcilable differences, (definitively) getting back together over perfectly reconcilable everything else, (almost) getting married, (finally) moving in together, and ultimately celebrating years of perfect domestic bliss.
But as all their very grown-up-now friends begin reaching new life milestones, advancing careers and having babies, Luc and Oliver decide it’s time to open their hearts and lives to something new: a tiny, squirming, adorable bundle of furry joy named Spud.
And maybe now that hearts-and-lives are already open, there’s room for someone else. Something more. Something that may require them to find in themselves a little father material.
THE FACTS
📙 Not quite peak Alexis Hall humour & entertainment
📘 I wish it had all been about Spud
📗 Well written, a bit long
📕 Felt a little … off?
THE GOOD BITS
I love Alexis Hall. I have read all his books, and I’ve loved most of them. There have been a couple recently that I haven’t felt quite the same about and sadly, Father Material is one of them.
The London Calling universe has a special place in my heart. I maintain that “Boyfriend Material” is one of the best books in the genre. Lucien and Oliver go from fake dating to real dating and the quirky humour and hilarious friends make the story near perfect.
In “Father Material” I felt as though those characters I had grown to love so much had altered in a way that made them feel a little unfamiliar.
I loved the beginning of the book. Hall’s signature characterizations were in full force. Luc was having a freak out in the middle of the night about having to adult and get a puppy with Oliver. It’s about more than a puppy. This is the way that Luc and Oliver and trying on the idea of being responsible enough to have a child in their lives.
“You know that bit in a horror movie where everybody realises that they’ve been eating human flesh this whole time and there’s this silence broken only by the clink of people putting down cutlery and everybody starts avoiding each other’s eyes?
This was that, only without the cannibalism.”
Now, I should admit that I get a bit annoyed when there’s an underlying implication that a couple isn’t completely happy until they have a child… and there’s a limited amount of discussion about this in the middle of the book. This is where things went a little weird for me though. Luc and Oliver’s friends seemed like different characters in this book. They have always bickered and argued, but deep down they have always been supportive and loved one another. In this book, that felt like it changed. Most of their friends have become the kind of people that I wouldn’t even want to be around.
Sadly, I feel like Oliver fell victim to the same fate. Oliver is my favourite character in this series. As much of a train-wreck as Lucien is, Oliver is steadfast in his attempts to control his life. The endearing thing about him though, is that he loves as hard as he does anything else and despite his atte3mpts to control the world – he is sweet and kind. The Oliver is this book… isn’t so sweet. There were times when I felt really uncomfortable with the way that he treated their foster daughter.
This could be Hall’s way of letting Luc come into his own as the “good parent” in many of the situations in the story, but it felt quite out-of-character to me.
I whacked two slices of bread in the toaster. And then, when they came up far too pale, whacked them immediately down again.
“You know,” Oliver told me, “you could just turn the dial up.”
“Then they get burned.”
“Don’t they get burned this way as well?”
I slammed the cancel button, and two perfectly browned slices
of toast popped up. “Not if I’m quick.”
“And you couldn’t be just as quick on a higher setting
because…”
I gave Oliver a playfully grumpy look. “I’ve got a system and
the system works.”
“I think those are, at best, each half true.”
I didn’t dislike this story at all. It was a well written tale about two men learning to “parent” a young person and realizing how their own parents have contributed to who they are. It was a sweet story with a hopeful ending.
Was this my favourite Hall book? Definitely not. I’m still a fan of “How To Bang A Billionaire” and heart-breaker Arden St. Ives (although this book seems to have disappeared from Hall’s library and isn’t even listed in the “other books” section at the beginning of his newer work). Another of my favourites is the Kate Kane: Paranormal Detective series – same quirky sense of humour combined with sharp and clever story telling.
I bought my own copy of Father Material by Alexis Hall.
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