Reviewed By Donna

TITLE: Husband Material

AUTHOR: Xavier Mayne

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 350 pages

BLURB: Husband Material is a long-running reality show, where eighteen lucky guys compete for the hand of one lucky lady. Meet contestant number one, Riley. Since being left at the altar, he’s hit the gym to get into the best shape of his life. Now he’s in it to win it. Contestant number two, Asher, doesn’t really want the bachelorette; he needs the prize money for his sister’s cancer treatment. Asher’s upbeat personality brings Riley out of the funk he’s been in since his breakup. They make a formidable team, with one complication: Asher’s falling for Riley.

Producer Kaitlyn has her hands full when two bachelors are found in the shower soaping up inappropriately, then another live-tweets the entire debacle. If another scandal erupts, the network will cancel the show.

The two bachelors are on a collision course under the watchful eye of a producer torn between wanting them to find true love and trying to keep her show going. In the end, Riley must choose the bachelorette or the bachelor.

REVIEW:

I’m not ashamed to admit that when I first read the blurb for Husband Material I squealed like a tween at a One Direction concert. I dropped my phone and raced for the computer, ready to go all Gladiator on anyone who thought to get between me and a review copy of that book. Then, it arrived on my iPad and I sat there looking at it thinking, I’m not going to like this now and it’s my own fault. I was so hyped up to read it, there was no way it could live up to my expectations.

Yes. It. Could.

But good lord, how do I even begin to review this? How do I explain, short of writing a novel myself, everything that I loved about this book?

Let’s start with the show itself, and include lots of delicious quotes.

Husband material is the name of a rather long running reality TV series which is similar to the Bachelorette but sees the prospective grooms compete in Survivor-like challenges and reside, for the duration, in a Big Brother-like house.

All eighteen men, ranging in age from their early to late twenties, ranging in physical attractiveness from handsome to godlike.

The theme of this year’s series is Ages of Romance and as the book says-The real purpose of the ridiculous weekly challenges was to display the bachelors- or rather, their bodies- to the audience.

The costumes these poor men are forced to wear are definitely creative. My favorite involved silver body paint and a pair of stretchy short shorts.

One of the benefits of having a book based on a reality TV show is the chance to switch to several great locations. Aside from the mansion, they also film on a desert island, Las Vegas and complete a “survival” trek through the bush. All these different challenges and places to explore, allowed for a very slow building romance between the two main characters without having the story drag at any point.

The story is told exclusively from Riley’s point of view. After the humiliating experience of literally being left at the alter by his fiancé, Riley is in this competition to win. Having seen the show in previous years he has spent months in the gym preparing himself, both physically and mentally, to be the person he needs to be to take out his competition. Riley smiled back, reminding himself to look strong yet available. He had practiced that look in his bathroom mirror several times a day for the last few months, and he apparently had it down- Daphne giggled and blushed when he unleashed it on her.

When he forms an alliance with fellow competitor, Asher, his only goal is to get through to the final rounds.

Riley is a great character. He starts off the story as a blank canvas. He’s got the persona he’s perfected for the show but beneath that, it’s like there’s nothing there. Not because he’s vacuous or self-absorbed but because his fiancé completely wrecked him and he himself has no idea who he is anymore. He says he’s on the show to reinvent himself, and, with Asher’s help, that’s what he does.

Now Asher, how could anyone not love Asher? He’s one of those people who sees wonder in everything around him. He’s not in the game to win, he just needs the second place prize money to help his sick sister. Why would he want to win Daphne, the beautiful grand prize, when he’s gay? “Thanks, but second place works for me. I don’t mean to sound mercenary, but I need the money a lot more than I need a wife right now.”

On the surface Asher is the happy go lucky eternal optimist, but beneath that there’s a great depth and thoughtfulness to his character. He chooses to teach art to children because he wants to help people understand from a young age that it’s okay to be whoever they are. “The one’s who are ‘born that way’ have Lady Gaga on their side. It’s the ones who have no idea which way they were born that we have to worry about.” 

The true stars of this book are Kaitlyn and Omar, who are in charge of production. It’s their job to edit the footage into usable clips and to basically police the bachelors, ensuring the shows smooth sailing. The banter between these two was my favorite part of the story and included some truly inspired one-liners. “What ancient spiritual art prepared you to deal with an enormous schlong being waved at you on video?”

When Kaitlyn and Omar begin to suspect a romance is blossoming between Riley and Asher they decide some sneaky cupid tactics are in order, despite the fact the twofavorite bachelors ending up together could be ruinous to their show.

The romance, as I said before, is very slow building. The two men become close friends first and although we can see Asher’s feelings developing (that mechanical heart OMG), heterosexual Riley is completely clueless. Yes, this is a gay-for-you storyline, my absolute favorite, and Xavier Mayne pulls it off perfectly. Riley’s shock and denial and excitement. Asher’s uncertainty and fear and hope. Which all culminates in something along these lines…He was thankful that several months of yoga classes allowed him to be Asher’s sexual origami.

The story has very little angst and the humor is off the charts. Of course it’s not all smooth sailing and here’s the one little thing that I didn’t like. When Riley finds out that Asher isn’t going to get the runner-up spot he’s aiming for, his actions are just wrong. Gross and wrong, there’s no other way to describe it. Realistically there’s no way that he’d get away with what he does. But, all it took was discovering what he’d written in his note to Asher and I was loving on them both again.

Most people raved about Frat House Troopers and, sure, I liked that one, but in my opinion, with Husband Material, Xavier Mayne knocked one right out of the park.

The final chapter, simply and oh so perfectly entitled Happily Ever After is just one big “awwww” fest and a score for all those die hard romantics among us. “This is the problem with gay marriage,” Kaitlyn whispered to Omar. “Once these guys start planning proposals, no straight guy will be able to compete.” 

So everybody needs to headon over to Dreamspinner Press, preorder this book ready for the 24^Th of January and as Asher says- “Hold on to your gonads, sir, because I’m going to blow your…mind.” 

RATING:

BUY LINKS: Dreamspinner Press