Eli Francis is stuck in an assistant position at the online magazine Vent when he should be a writer, with a boss who keeps dangling a promotion but would rather he just fetch the coffee. Oh, and he’s working alongside the ex who has had no trouble 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. 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. As he teaches Peter, the lines between what’s real and what’s fake begin to blur.

Mason Deaver never misses!!!

It has been a while since I last read a Mason Deaver book, so The Build-a-Boyfriend Project reminded me how much I love their writing. Officially joining @atmreads ’s agenda of making everyone read more Mason Deaver and read this book!!! 🙂‍↕️

This book is Mason’s adult debut, and I think it features everything that makes their YA so great, but honestly, even better. It has the same heart as The Feeling of Falling in Love, and even I Wish You All the Best, and that any good romance should have, while also being very grounded and nuanced.

I love a fake-dating/practice dating trope, but a lot of times they feel a lot unrealistic, which is not a problem for a romcom, but sometimes!! they just don’t make any sense. That was not the case with this one! Would this happen in real life? Probably not. But it made sense for the characters and the overall plot, so it didn’t bother me.

My favorite aspect of Mason's work is that their characters feel very real. They're messy and complicated, and sometimes, unintentionally, treat people horribly, but make up for it in the end. A lot of people don't like that, which is why I think TFOFIL is sometimes divisive, but I don't care, I love it!! Personally, I don't want to read a romance where people are nice and everything is fine all the time. I love me some mess!!! And The Build-a-Boyfriend Project definitely delivered on that.
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Eli can be a very frustrating character to read about, he does some shitty things in this book, but I still loved him! But Peter is just all around a wonderful sweetheart, who never did anything wrong in his life, and I thought they were very sweet together!!
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This felt like such a classic rom-com, and I loved it so much. Probably my favorite Mason Deaver? Though I still need to read the Cupid book. I hope they write more adult romances!!!
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Also, I'm not saying that I gave this a full extra star because of the scene where Eli calls Peter a good boy, but also I'm not not saying that y'know 🥸 Oh also!! Every chapter features a movie title, which was a really fun touch, but also every movie listed slapped!!

Brief synopsis for this book: Eli Francis is stuck in life. As a way to further his career, he decides to write an article about a first date gone wrong with Peter Park.

I love Mason Deaver's works, and their new adult romcom book "The Build-A-Boyfriend Project" is yet another perfect read!

I think fans of classic romance movies and romance books will adore this novel, it has everything you'd possibly want in a book like this.

This was super cute! I actually liked it quite a bit. The characters were super sweet and I love a fun awkward character.

On one hand, I wanted to tuck Eli and Peter in my pocket and carry them both with me forever. On the other, I wanted to shake them until they saw sense (mostly Eli). This was my first Mason Deaver read and I was immensely grateful for the ARC from Netgalley. I'm a sucker for an adult fake dating trope, if an author can successfully make me believe adults would make this choice, I am usually all-in. And I was intrigued by the sort-of journalism-Bridget-Jones'-Diary-Never-Been-Kissed of it all, but ultimately it fell slightly short of the mark for me. I bought into Peter's side of things, but Eli's got too convoluted for me and my frustration therein kept pulling me out of the book. I had a hard time cheering for him.

That said, I really loved the shape and build of Eli and Peter's relationship. The disaster > almost colleagues > fragile friendship > real connection > romance was brilliantly paced and exhibited. I also loved that when the shoe finally drops, and really you're watching it slowly fall the whole book, Eli can't fix it immediately or easily. We love consequences. We love a careful consideration of whether to give someone another chance after they've done something so egregiously selfish. We just also felt like Peter deserved better.

Rounded up from 3.5ish stars.

wow.

thank u sooo much to netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this arc. i wish you all the best played a pivotal role in my life when i came out as nonbinary and queer. i was so elated to receive a copy of mason’s first adult romance book.

peter and eli’s story was beautiful, authentic, sweet, funny, and heartbreaking all at the same time. as a queer asian person who grew up in the south, i resonated heavily with peter. but i also related so much to eli, who struggled deeply simultaneously with both selfishness and giving away too much of himself.

i love that the main plot of the story didn’t revolve around eli’s transness or peter’s gayness. while both sexuality, gender, and ethnicity played a role in the story, they weren’t the main reason for any of the book’s plot points.

oh and the SPICINESS had me giggling and kicking my feet omg. i need more of this, mason!! eli and peter’s interpersonal issues with both themselves and each other felt so real and tender, i fell in love with both of them and their stories so quickly.

tysm mason for writing this beautiful love story~

This was an Incredible read! I love authors who can write queer characters and flesh them out without making them outlandish. Everything in this book feels realistic and true to the characters. AND as much as I hate end of book time skips, this one REALLY made me happy!

My full review will be on my Instagram @kayla_turns_pages

This was so heartwarming. Eli is struggling and writing a piece on growing up queer is how he plans to make a name for himself. But his subject is in need of help to be a better boyfriend. This was so cute and so sweet.

Fake dating? YES. Every time. The Build-a-Boyfriend Project proves once again that this trope never misses - especially when it’s paired with messy queer romance, biting humor, and enough awkward tension to make you want to crawl under a table (in the best way).

Mason Deaver captures the chaotic magic of an early 2000s romcom - while giving us what new ones are missing: real, messy, heartfelt characters. AND IT'S QUEER. Eli and Peter are total opposites, yet so deeply compatible it hurts. Their blind date? A DISASTER. Painfully awkward, beautifully written, and so vivid I felt like I was sitting at the next table over, silently screaming.

Eli is reeling from a seven-year relationship that left him emotionally hollow and creatively stuck. Peter? A soft-spoken, anxious, never-been-dated Southern sweetheart with a heart of gold and the flirting skills of a damp paper towel. When Eli’s boss (the WORST) pressures him into turning the date into a vanity piece surrounding a fake relationship experiment, Eli lies - to Peter and to his boss - and secretly writes a more moving piece about growing up queer in small town Georgia instead. What follows is part romantic comedy, part emotional excavation.

This book is a love letter to queer and trans love, to the many paths we take toward self-acceptance, and to the complicated beauty of letting people in. It’s about trauma, recovery, awkward firsts, second chances, and saying “I deserve more” out loud. From Eli’s brutally honest friend group to his insufferable ex (ugh, Keith. Literally, fuck Keith), every character feels textured and real.

Peter’s vulnerability, his fumbling kindness, his slow journey toward comfort in his own skin - it broke me in the best way. And Eli’s story? A masterclass in rebuilding, in refusing to settle, and in fighting for something honest even when it terrifies you. Mason Deaver wove a love story so believable and tangible that I feel I deserve a place in Eli and Peter’s wedding party. I LOVE THEM.

**Thank you Harper Collins and Netgalley for the ARC. All thoughts are my own.

Mason just gets it. This book was fantastic from beginning to end. Eli and Peter’s story will grab you and I promise you won’t want it to let go. The author does an amazing job of delivering depressingly emotional scenes, while maintaining the right amount of levity to drive this impeccable romantic comedy forward.

And I am so glad that I did because I loved it! Ate this book up. My first thought was you are so a hot mess Peter then you are simply a mess Eli. Both of the main characters came across as real and authentic, they both were flawed and the way things were dealt with felt very realistic. There was so much growth to their journey together.

It was a messy and sweet and just such a great story of love. The way to get to the happy ever after was a little bit messy but it felt real and I simply loved it.

Gotta say Michael is an excellent villain because he is the reality of how things probably would have gone in that situation. Still hate him though.

There was a spicy scene that I didn't expect and it didn't feel out of place but somehow it kind of did at the same time?

I loved this book.

"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." do you ever read a byline and think YEP that one is for me??? because as soon as i read the above i knew i had to clock in a shift. thank you to the publisher for an early earc copy!

i absolutely ADORED mason deaver’s first adult romance. i have enjoyed all of their young adult stuff, particularly ‘i wish you all the best’ but i actually think this might be my favourite of theirs so far. it was a real feel-good, early 2000’s rom com sorta vibes that just hit every beat for me. think how to lose a guy in ten days, but flip the premise on its head - eli, our main character, is an aspiring journalist who has fairly recently split from a coworker. he goes on a DISASTROUS blind date with peter, and makes a vow to never see him again. however, he gets convinced that teaching peter to date could be a good setup for an article for the buzzfeed-esque website he works for, whilst also allowing him to work on the article he ACTUALLY wants to write: about being queer and marginalised and growing up in the south.

the development of the relationship between eli and peter was so sweet and authentic. i just LOVE a good ‘fake dating that turns into more’ trope, and the slowburn and blurring of the lines in this had me kicky-feeting the whole way through. i started reading this and before i knew it, was waking up 5 hours later as if from a trance having devoured it in one sitting. it is such an easy read, with so much heart.

i cannot wait to read this one again closer to release, because i just know it is going to be cemented as an all-time favourite romance for me.

new favourite mason deaver book!!! i cannot believe it!!!

oh the absolute joy of an experience that was reading this book. it had me blushing, giggling, kicking my feet, happy stimming the entire gosh darn time. and then when i wasn’t smiling until my cheeks hurt, i was having heart palpitations waiting for the looming consequences of eli’s actions to FINALLY catch up with him (boy did they)

‘the build a boyfriend project’ primarily, is a romance. but i’d argue it’s a lot more than that. it’s chasing dreams and second chances and fighting for better because you deserve it. it’s movie references (that i will never get but im now making it a mission TO Get) ‘the build a boyfriend project movie thursday night’ Will be becoming a thing soon. and it’s rock climbing walls that i’ll never look at the same. buzzfeed articles i’ll roll my eyes at a little more. it’s sweetness and it is joy joy joy all the way through.

this is one of those books i can already see turning yellow with age, having tabs stuffed all the way through, dog eared pages and a spine so creased from being read over and over and over again. i am going to reread this book so. many. times. in my lifetime. just for more joy. because i deserve it. because we all deserve it.

if you are a fan of romances, of queer joy, trans joy, mc’s you will roll your eyes at but love forevermore, if you love fake dating and disasters that are just waiting to happen: you will love this book i promise. and if you don’t: read it again, you read it wrong.

also will be starting a ‘peter deserves every joy in the world and did nothing wrong from the start’ club if any of yall wanna join

I haven’t read this author before and I definitely want to read more from them. The two main characters are relatable and likeable. Their scenes together were so cute- while also having some good tension. Goes into some topics that are not well represented currently- how isolating and lonely it can be to grow up queer and Korean in the south. Eli’s family is great. I wish Eli wouldn’t have made some of the decisions he did - but the author does a good job of explaining his motivations (even if we want better for him and for Peter).

I’ve always enjoyed Mason Deaver’s books and this one did not disappoint. I thought the chemistry between our two main characters worked really well and I loved the story and the romance that built between them.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the digital ARC! The Build-A-Boyfriend Project by Mason Deaver follows Eli Francis, a journalist stuck at an online magazine he hates. When Eli goes on a disastrous date with Peter, Eli’s friends say he should try to teach Peter the ins and outs of dating. Eli mentions this to his boss who loves the idea and convinces him to do it and write an article about it. Eli is hesitant and also has his own article idea inspired by Peter: what it’s like to grow up queer in the south. Deciding he can convince his boss to publish the latter article instead of the former, Eli decides to write both as he takes Peter on fake dates. Fake feelings turn real and Eli grapples with how to tell Peter the truth.

If the plot of The Build-A-Boyfriend Project sounds convoluted, that’s because it is. It doesn’t stop the novel from being fun and heartfelt though. I loved Peter and his slightly clueless Golden Retriever energy. While some of the side characters weren’t particularly well-developed, I also liked Eli’s mom a lot.

I couldn’t stop wondering though why Eli was writing the boyfriend article when he could be focusing entirely on the queer youth in the south article. I suppose it’s so his boss has proof he’s working on the boyfriend article but why Eli didn’t just quit his job and try to get his article on queer youth in the south published elsewhere? I also wondered why Eli didn’t just tell Peter the truth. Or at the very least confess his real feelings for him. Eli considers telling Peter about the article multiple times but doesn’t - for reasons that aren’t totally clear to me. I thought it was an odd choice for Eli not to tell Patricia, his best friend and roommate, the truth at the very least.

I still enjoyed a lot about this book - from the movie references and chapter titles to the sense of humor. The commentary on how not every individual in the south is less smart or more conservative than other people in the United States is important and is a discussion we should be having more often.

Without spoiling it, I’ll just say that I really enjoyed the ending and how the characters got there. I smiled my way through the last chapter.

Overall, I liked the parts that made up this novel if not the overarching plot.

Random fun fact - this is the second book I’ve read with a trans main character who chose the name Elijah after Elijah Wood and goes by Eli. I recommend Second Chances in Newport Stephen by TJ Alexander if you’re looking for another trans-led romance!

4.5 Stars

Oh how I adored this story. Eli and Peter were both treasurers, and this story encapsulated their real story.

With a fresh homage to “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days,” it was fun to see how Eli was able to take Peter and one of the worst first dates, and turn it into this fun story of trusting yourself and going for your dreams.

Thanks Avon and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

3.5 stars

I enjoyed this, but not as much as I would have liked. This is a super sweet adult romance debut by Mason Deaver. They are fantastic (I Wish You All The Best is one of my top favorite books). That said, the story felt a little disjointed at times where the vibe is concerned. The writing is great, and the trans rep is very well done, but the tone didn't always feel consistent. Almost like it would jump from being a silly rom com to a serious social commentary with no in between. Those vibes can go together in a story, it just didn't feel as if it was done very smoothly. Eli was an interesting enough character, but I would have liked to see more of Peter. His presence in any scene really carried the story. All this to say, I still had a lot of fun reading this, and this was a good first foray into adult romance by this author. I will still definitely be reading more of their work in the future.

Thank you NetGalley and Mason Deaver for the ARC copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I love Peter & Eli! This is one of my favorite MM Romances that I've read recently and thought it had very good relationship building. I'm a huge fan of MM Romance and this is definitely one that I'll be recommending to my audience.

Someone needs to explain to author Mason Deaver that while the self-centered, impulsive behavior of the trans teen MCs in his YA novels is age-appropriate, it is much less understandable when an adult pulls the same type of crap. In Deaver's first adult romance, POV MC Eli Francis is a college graduate with journalistic dreams toiling away as an assistant to the editor at a San Francisco Buzzfeed-type site. LI Peter Park is a perfect cinnamon roll, awkward and inexperienced but warm, sweet, interesting, and way too good for Eli. Sure, their blind date is a disaster, mostly due to Peter's nerves. But Eli mistakenly thinks that Peter is a problem to be fixed and that he is the right man for the job. And what do you know, Eli's boss wants him to document all of the juicy details of the reclamation project for the site, and promises him the long-coveted staff writer position if he delivers.

Eli offers to give Peter boyfriend lessons, acknowledging that he is writing an article. But he tells Peter that he will be the subject of a serious essay about the challenges of growing up gay in a small Southern town and then finding a community in a big city. Which Eli does indeed write, laboring under the delusion that he can convince his boss to publish the thoughtful human interest piece instead of the clickbait disaster date saga.

Deaver does a good job of showing how Eli and Peter grow closer, gradually blurring the boundaries between professional fake dating and developing real feelings for each other. There is an especially cute date at a rock-climbing gym, but you know the truth will out eventually and Peter will be hurt. Eli's groveling is too little and too late IMO. I don't need my MCs to be entirely likeable, but I do have to believe that their coupling with the LI is a HEA for both partners. My sweet Peter Park deserves better - a caring partner who cherishes him just as he is, not a jerk who acts like, well, a teenager.

ARC received from Net Galley and publisher.

Peter was the hero of this book for me!! I absolutely adore him, he was just the sweetest MC ever. I wish we got to see more of the post-apology part of Thor story, but I still enjoyed this book.