Book Description 

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.

My Review 

This is the third Luc and Oliver book and readers really need to start at the beginning of the series to fully appreciate the overarching…arc…as well as the quirks and foibles of the various secondary characters. 

Fans of Hall’s books should also remember that there is nothing Hall likes more than subverting expected norms of the genre and giving readers something to think about. In this case, that something is that family comes in many forms and is not always easy. After the “fakeout” with the puppy, Luc and Oliver pursue parenthood via the foster care system. Rather than taking on a rosy-cheeked infant, Luc and Oliver open their home to a teenage girl who has experienced a difficult few years after the death of her grandmother. 

In other news, Luc’s beetle conservation charity faces closure and he and his mismatched assortment of coworkers have to band together (no pun intended) to convince their new patron that beetles really are worthwhile. It’s giving shades of The Nice Man Giveth from The Simpsons.

The secondary characters are just as zany as ever, but after three books, it’s a bit too twee. This is perhaps a side effect of being very good at characterization because there are a lot of secondary characters and each one has a developed personality and they all insist upon voicing their concerns and airing their grievances at any given opportunity.

I would recommend Father Material. This book will appeal to fans of the series. I certainly don’t want to give too much away, but it’s so refreshing to have a (semi) realistic portrayal of fostering wherein their daughter’s trauma is magically resolved the moment she enters the stability of a middle-class home. Despite this added layer of complexity, the tone is overall light and I found myself smiling at the cheesy puns and callbacks. This is probably the last we’ll see of Luc and Oliver, but I’m certainly looking forward to more from Hall in the future.

I received a digital ARC of this book from Sourcebooks Casablanca/NetGalley.