Boyfriend Material (Hawthorne University 2) by Ilsa Madden-Mills-review & excerpt tour
Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk / Amazon.au /
Don’t own a Kindle? Download the FREE Amazon Kindle App for your mobile device or pc
ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date July 25, 2022
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?
••••••
REVIEW: BOYFRIEND MATERIAL is the second instalment in Ilsa Madden-Mills’ contemporary, new-adult HAWTHORNE UNIVERSITY erotic, sports romance series. This is college seniors, hockey star Eric Hansen, and Julia Lauren’s story line. BOYFRIEND MATERIAL can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous instalment is revealed where necessary.
WARNING : Due to the nature of the story line premise including sexual assault and slut shaming, there may be triggers for more sensitive readers.
Told from dual first person perspectives (Eric and Julia) BOYFRIEND MATERIAL follows the building relationship between college seniors, hockey star Eric Hansen, and Julia Lauren. Eric and Julia met in prep school but one night together pushed Julia out of Eric’s life. Now seniors in college, Eric is struggling with a direction in life, hoping to make it big in professional hockey but his parents have plans Eric does not want to follow; Julia has some struggles of her own, having lost everything when her mother’s life spiralled out of control. Now Julia is drowning in debt, owing money to someone from her mother’s past, a debt she is paying through questionable means but when Eric witnesses an attack against our story line heroine, Eric becomes protector and guardian of the woman with whom he will fall in love. What ensues is the rebuilding friendship and relationship between Eric and Julia, and the potential fall out as Eric’s parents take control, pushing our heroine out of his life.
The relationship between Eric and Julia is an enemies to lovers, a bully romance in which most of Eric’s friends are misogynistic and bullies, aiming their vitriol at women and our story line heroine. Eric battles between head and heart knowing his parents had other plans for his future but his attraction to Julia comes with the possibility of losing it all. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.
There is a large ensemble cast of secondary and supporting characters including many with questionable ethics and behavior. We are introduced to several members of Eric’s hockey team, as well as the troubled Kappa fraternity; Julia’s friends Poppy and Taylor, and Eric’s grieving parents.
BOYFRIEND MATERIAL is a story of addiction and abuse, desperation and convictions, family and friendships, relationships and love. The premise is dramatic, emotional and heart breaking; the romance is seductive and impassioned; the characters are broken, struggling and determined.
Copy supplied for review
Reviewed by Sandy
No. I do not have a favorite look for him, but it does show off his ridiculous cheekbones and aristocratic, slightly bent nose.
He’s wearing jeans, gold Converse, and a HU shirt. The lion on the front seems to glare at me—much like he is now.
I lean against the doorjamb. Be cool, be cool. “Howdy, partner.”
He doesn’t smile. “That guy at the laundromat is scary. Stay away from him. I mean it.”
I huff. The nerve of him to tell me what to do.
“That’s what I told you. I repeat, you could have been hurt. Let me handle Connor.”
His arms cross. “How did you get involved with him? Are you on drugs?”
I tuck my hands in my pockets and dip my head so he can’t see how much his words hurt. I know I strip, no one has to remind me, but in prep school, I was the goody-two shoes who never wavered. I had to keep my grades up to keep my scholarship—not that I was ever invited to parties. I wrote poetry. I drew. I daydreamed about him. “Do I look like an addict?”
His golden eyes roam over me. Assessing. “Maybe.”
My throat tingles with words I want to say but know I shouldn’t.
The less he knows, the better.
His nose flares. “I’m trying to help you and you’re giving me the cold shoulder. What’s wrong with you?”
I swallow thickly as I gaze at him. “Eric. Please. Being around me will only smear your good name—”
“Stop,” he calls out, then rubs his face, his anger seeming to deflate like a popped tire. “Don’t put yourself down like that. You’re a person, Julia. One that people care about.”
And I want to protect those people.
I chew on my bottom lip. “You shouldn’t have interfered.”
He lets out a long sigh, gives me a searching look, goes to leave, then stops. He reaches into his pocket and holds something up. “This is yours, I assume.”
I stare at the ring, my lips parting. “How did you . . .?”
But he’s already out the door.
Follow:Goodreads / Website / Facebook Group / Amazon Author / Twitter /
Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and USA Today best-selling author Ilsa Madden-Mills is best known for her angsty new adult romances and romantic comedies.
Fourteen of her Eighteen novels have placed in the Amazon Top 10 Best-seller List: Dirty English #1; Not My Romeo #1; The Revenge Pact #1; Dear Ava, Fake Fiancée, I Dare You, and I Promise You #2; I Hate You #5; Not My Match, I Bet You, Filthy English, and Very Bad Things #6; Boyfriend Bargain #8; The Last Guy, her collaboration with Tia Louise, #4.
A former high school English teacher, she adores all things Pride and Prejudice, and of course, Mr. Darcy is her ultimate hero.
She’s addicted to frothy coffee beverages, cheesy magnets, and any book featuring unicorns and sword-wielding females.
