Husband Material by Alexis Hall
While I am reading romance novels of various kinds at the moment, I have not been tempted to read any sequels, until this one. In some ways I think that was a mistake. Having enjoyed Boyfriend Material, I was curious to see what would happen in the followup, especially since the title implied a marriage. What happens in the sequel, of course, is what happened in volume one. All the jokes are repeated from the first volume. Luc tells jokes that are misunderstood by his colleagues; Priya and the gang ride around in the truck while she berates people; Odile and Judy are hopelessly charming; papa puts in a brief and disappointing appearance. Oliver and Luc fight and fake fight and threaten to come apart. All of this is still engaging and funny because Alexis Hall writes reliable comedy. There are still parts where the joke gets stretched. All that is okay if okay is all right with you. But the book does a lot of preaching. Internalized homophobia, theories of gay marriage, who is a good gay and how to be a good gay. Plus all the buzzwords of gender today. None of this is egregious but neither is it engaging. So by the end of the book I was tired of the whole story. Which is sad because the last few pages are one of the best parts of the novel and the image of Oliver and Luc gleefully fleeing their own wedding is daring and worked really well for me. I’m not a particular fan of marriage to begin with, so I liked their stand. (Let me add lest it be misunderstood that if people are going to get married and marriage is destined to be a thing then it ought to be open to everybody, I do support that. Jeez. See what I mean? This is the kind of book that makes you write a sentence like that.) At any rate, I still liked the book but I hope the ending is not setting up yet another sequel.