The Build-a-Boyfriend Project
A Novel
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $1.99
Publisher Description
Bestselling and award-winning author Mason Deaver’s adult romance debut follows a journalist in a dead-end job who agrees to teach his disastrous blind date how to be a better boyfriend. Readers will delight in this sweet and steamy queer romance with trans representation!
Eli Francis is stuck. Stuck in an assistant position at the online magazine Vent when he should be a writer. Stuck with a boss who dangles a promotion but would rather he just fetch the coffee. Stuck working alongside the ex who has had no trouble moving up at work…or moving on.
When Eli’s roommates push him to date so he can get over his ex once and for all, they set him up with Peter Park. Tall, handsome, and unbelievably awkward. The date is a complete disaster, and further proof to Eli that love isn’t for him. But when his boss overhears Eli recounting the catastrophic night, he suggests teaching Peter to be a better boyfriend through a series of simulated dates so he can write an article about it.
But Eli has other ideas…Eli plays along, pretending to write the article, while secretly interviewing Peter about growing up queer in the South and coming-of-age dating wise in adulthood. Eli hopes writing this sort of piece will finally get him the promotion he deserves. And in exchange, he will teach Peter how to be a better boyfriend.
But the more time Eli spends with Peter, the closer they become, and the lines between what’s real and what’s fake begin to blur. Before long Eli is forced to face his greatest fears to become the writer he wants to be and secure the love he’s always needed.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
YA author Deaver (The Ghosts We Keep) makes their adult debut with a cute queer rom-com built around a classic fake dating setup. Eli Francis, a trans executive assistant at a Buzzfeed-esque online magazine, goes on a disastrous blind date with awkward coder Peter Park. After hearing about the evening, Eli's boss suggests Eli give Peter dating lessons and write the experience up in a lighthearted, if somewhat mean-spirited, piece. Eli accepts the assignment and Peter agrees, though Eli tells him he would rather write an article about Peter's experiences growing up queer in the South and coming out later in life. As the men go on a series of cute fake dates, Eli works on both articles, hoping he'll be able to convince his boss to run his more considered piece over the clickbait. Along the way, Eli inevitably falls for Peter, but the threat of the mean article looms so large over the plot that it can be hard to sink into and fully enjoy the sweet love story. Still, after the requisite third act drama, Deaver sticks the landing. This should earn Deaver a whole new set of fans. Correction: A previous version of this review referred to the author by the incorrect pronoun.
