Father Material by Alexis Hall: My Favorite Romance of the Year

Luc, Oliver, a potato-shaped dog named Spud, and a teenage girl with a lot of baggage. My heart didn’t stand a chance.

Synopsis

First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes…what was that, exactly?

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.

Audiobook review

6 stars
And full marks to Joe Jamison, who voiced every character, every tone, and yes, even Spud’s barking and whining, with remarkable accuracy.

This is my favorite romance of the year so far. I had nearly forgotten how much I love these two.

Luc is messy, clumsy, and anxious, but also completely adorable. He has a enormous heart and spends considerable energy downplaying his own kindness every chance he gets.

Oliver is the perfect counterbalance. Organized, sensible, steady, eating well, exercising regularly, and so deeply in love with Luc that he extends infinite indulgence toward his quirks. He is also commanding and, let’s say, probably quite interesting behind closed doors. Pardon me for saying so, but if he were straight, I’d be in trouble.

Add a dog that looks like a potato and answers to the name Spud, and I was simply done. Melted completely.

But the joy doesn’t stop with these two. Their band of friends, from James Royce-Royce to Bridge and Pria, are all wonderfully queer, gloriously eccentric in their own ways, and tight as thieves. I adore every single one of them.

And then there are Luc’s coworkers, who deserve their own paragraph entirely. From the posh but endlessly gullible Alex to the utterly unclassifiable Rhys Jones, not forgetting a very grumpy academic doctor. The genius touch is the charity they work for: C.R.A.P.P., dedicated to the protection of bugs. You could not invent anything more gloriously offbeat and British than that. No offense intended to British people, who are genuinely among my favorites on this earth. I love your particular brand of cool and eccentricity, and that’s exactly the energy this whole cast radiates.

When we meet them, Oliver and Luc are at the point in their relationship where they want to build something more together. The first step: getting a dog as a trial run, to see if they have what it takes to be parents. I loved watching their different personalities play out in Spud’s education. Oliver committed to every step of proper dog training. Luc smashing cheerfully through every boundary, following his heart and utterly incapable of resisting puppy eyes. As a dog owner myself, I am somewhere in the middle, and that’s exactly where they end up too, learning to compromise.

And then comes the next step: fostering.

This is where Alexis Hall became even more brilliant, if that were possible. He writes the reality of raising a child, and specifically a child with a difficult past and a great deal of attitude, with such genuine insight that I was in awe. Everything is there. The clashing parenting styles shaped by different upbringings. The sulky teenage girl with walls built high for good reason. The endless adjustments, the lessons learned on the go, the guilt, the fear of not measuring up, and underneath it all, that fierce and boundless love parents carry for their children. It read like a parenthood manual, except it never once felt pedantic.

There is also a professional threat hanging over Luc’s job that forces him to rise to the occasion, giving us some of the funniest and most delightfully droll moments in the book.

I had the best time. Six stars, no hesitation.

Thanks for reading.

Sophie