[ARC REVIEW] “Boyfriend Material” (Hawthorne University #2) By: Ilsa Madden-Mills

What is Boyfriend Material by Ilsa Madden-Mills about?

Eric’s not Boyfriend Material. Or is he?

#1 Amazon bestselling author Ilsa Madden-Mills delivers an all-new, enemies-to-lovers sports romance, a breathtaking tale of passion, heartbreak, and love…

Skyscraper cheekbones, lush lips, and magnetic topaz eyes.
I’m talking about Eric Hansen.
Rich prick.
Glorified hockey star.
Thinks he’s amazing.
Yeah. The Golden Boy and I are well acquainted. In prep school he trampled on my heart and kept right on going.

Three years later, he’s living the high life with frat parties and puck bunnies at Hawthorne University. On the other hand, people barely notice me. I’m the nobody, surviving in the seedy part of town as I struggle to keep my head above treacherous waters.

The avoidance game we’ve been playing was working—until he rescues me from a bad guy and claims he wants to help me more. Hello. I don’t need a knight in shining armor. This girl saves herself.

Yet, I’m not sure how long I can ignore the undeniable spark between us.
(It’s not even a spark; it’s a full-fledged, blazing fire.)

Can this hockey player prove he’s boyfriend material, or will this be a game we both lose?

Rating: 4.5/5 Stars

Review:

Second chance romances can sometimes be hit or miss for me, but this one was a hit! We first meet Eric and Julia in the first book in the Hawthorne University series, “Boyfriend Bargain,” where Eric is Zack’s roommate, and Julia is Sugar’s roommate. Eric seems a lot more happy-go-lucky in the first book than he does in his own book, though, but that could be because we only see him from his own POV in the second book or from Julia’s, who has tension towards him anyway from high school. Plus, his best friend (Z) isn’t there anymore. The only thing I noticed that was sort of distracting was that some of the character descriptions for Eric were the same descriptions that were used to describe Sugar in the first book.

We see a darker side of the Kappa fraternity, of the people behind the party house that are, quite simply, total pieces of garbage. There is also trigger/content warning for sexual assault on this book though, so please keep that in mind if you decide to read it!

Eric and Julia complemented each other well. I liked how some conflicts (either between the two of them, or other conflicts they were dealing with personally on their own) were resolved a lot quicker than I thought they would be, leaving room for other ones to take more center stage as the story progressed. This made the book less predictable, which was really cool.

I’m hoping that Reese is the star of the next book, and potentially Boone after that, if the series keeps going! Overall, I think this was strong continuation of the series, and I’m excited to read Ilsa’s next book! Huge thanks to her for allowing me to read an early copy — the book is out now!

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