What a whirlwind of a story! From a disastrous first date to a fake dating pact, this book had all the hallmarks of a classic romcom. I found Eli to be a relatable character with his sarcastic humor and bleak outlook on dating life. I liked that while he was not hopeful for himself, he was Peter’s biggest cheerleader. Eli and Peter’s relationship went through many ups and downs in the book. I enjoyed the fact that their issues were realistically worked through. Especially the big one.

The audiobook was a delight to listen to. I enjoyed the way Eli’s humor and Peter’s soft-spoken earnestness were depicted by the narrator. The audiobook enhanced my enjoyment of the story. It was clear and high quality. I thoroughly enjoyed this book!

I love this story. I’m a huge fan of LGBTQIA+ stories and it’s perfect. The story is adorable and the spice iis a slow burn but it’s so good like most stories I read but it was still cute. The narrator has a nice voice and makes it a good listen. The only thing I don’t like is the POV being third person and not dual.

Unfortunately, this was a dnf for me. I do not much care for the “teach me how to date” trope. The main character was insufferable. :(

Eli loathes his position as an assistant at an online magazine when his talents and desires lie in writing. He agrees to go on a blind date where he meets Peter, who is late, unprepared, and possibly the most awkward human ever. Eli’s boss pitches the idea of Eli writing about the terrible date, with the twist of building Peter up as a better boyfriend. Eli thinks this might just be the journalist break he needs and embarks on this #FakeDating adventure so he can get the story while Peter gets the dating tips. But as Eli gets to understand Peter’s journey of growing up queer, Asian, and from the South, Eli quickly starts to develop sympathy (not to mention feelings!) for Peter. The issue is that Eli’s boss still wants that article that chastises Peter, but Eli can’t help but relish in Peter’s charm.

This is my first Mason Deaver book, and I have to say I’m a big fan! I loved everything about this book, from the unproblematic representation of queer and trans and Asian folks, to the quirky M/M romance storyline. I found myself going from being annoyed with Peter to sympathizing with him and Eli began to unravel his layers. I appreciated pop culture references that Eli makes that go totally over Peter’s head, somehow making me giddy over their flirtatiousness. Eli is a messy queer character, going from heartbroken to scorn to self-righteous to enamored, and I loved the entire journey. On the other hand, Peter did feel a bit one-dimensional and almost hapless at first, but that was obviously intentional as we see him through Eli’s POV, with his charm growing on me. It’s mostly endearing but does pick up to be quite steamy. Lastly, I loved Logan Rozos’s voice as the narrator, perfectly encapsulating Eli’s complexities. This is a book I’m going to be recommending to any M/M romance fan!

Reviewed as part of #ARC from #NetGalley. Many thanks to Harper Audio for the opportunity to read and review.

Read this book if you:
🥸 love a fake dating trope
💻 miss the old Buzzfeed with actually good news stories
🙅🏻 have always been appalled at “no fats no femmes no Asians” toxicity in gay culture


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This review will be posted to Instagram @AutobiographiCole on or around the release date!

Adorable story with well-defined characters who will warm your heart. I felt that the side characters, though not super developed, were useful tools for moving the plot along and have potential for their own stories. I didn't want to leave this cast when the story ended.

Narration was well-acted and seamlessly produced. And if the narrator is who I think he is, my hats off to him on his recent graduation and using his platform as a commencement speaker.

I picked up this ALC to see if I actually wanted a physical copy from my book box and I'm happy to report that I will not be skipping this month!

This is a really lovely queer awakening story. I actually thought it was YA but then 🌶️!

This story follows Eli, an aspiring writer and assistant at a journalist setting and Peter, an aspiring romance writer and tech guy. Eli is trans and pretty open about it and Peter is gay and has no experience dating at all.

After a failed first date, Eli is told to build a better boyfriend out of Peter and write a story about it but Eli lies to both his boss and Peter and tries to write a story about Peter growing up queer and Asian in the south.

Lots of love occurs and lies. I think I really struggle when I know the big conflict will be about lying and the third act break up is hard lol. Otherwise, great story!!

The audio was so perfectly done and the narrator really felt like ELIs POV

Quite an enjoyable book, Eli and Peter were so cute together and apart, I do love my MCs to make mistakes and grow from them and do their best, and that’s exactly what happened here, no one was perfect, everyone made mistakes but they really tried their best.
The reason I didn’t rate it five is because it was predictable how the third act break up was going to happen, I was hoping I was mistaken but no, it happened exactly how I expected, how I hated Michael, but even that was well written and made me cry and feel all the emotions.
Thanks to NetGalley for the copy.

3 stars.

🌁 set in San Francisco
🏳️‍⚧️ trans rep
🧡 fake dating / relationship coaching
💛 adult romance

🎧 audio review

I’ll keep this short bc I don’t feel like saying too much about this honestly. I liked it but I didn’t love it. I didn’t find it really cute or romantic and I didn’t smile and giggle like I would when reading a good romance novel.

Eli gave me the ick a few times and I found myself rolling my eyes about him. He was condescending and judgmental and I just didn’t like the way the relationship coaching worked. It came off weird to me.

It just didn’t work for me the way I wish it had. For this to be an adult romance, the main protagonist gave younger adult vibes & I also didn’t care for the narrator’s voice.

3.5 stars

I want to start of by saying that I was very excited to read/listen to this because of the Trans representation and the fact that it’s being sold as a rom-com, and I’m a sucker for a rom-com.

But, I don’t think this should be labeled as a rom-com, a romance sure, but not a romantic comedy. While this does have some humor sprinkled into it from time to time, it’s not a comedy. Most of the time is making some serial social commentary, which I don’t mind but again not a rom-com.

While I like both MC I adored Peter and how clueless and sweet he was, I struggled with Eli and his decision but ultimately he was very likable. I feel like maybe the romance could have used a little more spotlight, so that we could feel their connection but there were a lot of side characters that took away the focus from the storyline.

Overall I did enjoy myself while listening to this, the narrator did kind of lack some feeling but it felt like I was listening to a friend tell me a story which kept me focused on his narration.

Thank you to the publisher for this ALC this review is entirely my own.

4/5⭐
The Build-a-Boyfriend Project is such a fun and sweet mlm romance! Eli is a relatable emotionally messy, late 20s, trans, gay man and Peter is an adorable, sweet, neurodivergent-coded, queer man. This book had great queer representation and the ensemble of characters was very diverse. The story was a good pace and kept me entertained throughout the book. I have really liked other books by Mason Deaver, but I think this is my favorite I have read by him so far. The Build-a-Boyfriend Project (TBBP) has all same earnest intimate qualities of I Wish You All The Best, but instead of highlight teen/young adulthood, TBBP is an intimate story of queer self-discovery in your late 20s / early30s. Personally, I found myself getting a little annoyed with Eli’s behavior, but it did feel realistic to the character and his overall story. However, Peter’s cute sweetness made up for the times I was getting tired of Eli’s choices. I also was lucky enough to get to read the audiobook which had fantastic narration by Logan Rozos; he is a wonderful narrator and I am always thrilled to see when he is narrating a book I am interested in. Overall The Build-a-Boyfriend project is a sweet, emotional, reflective, and intimate queer romance.
Thank you to HarperAudio for providing me an ALC of the audiobook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely adored this book. Eli is an executive assistant at a Buzzfeed-type place with dreams of getting to write his own stories some day, and after he vents to his boss about an absolutely disastrous first date, he finally gets his chance: he's going to teach bad-date Peter how to date. There will be dates and lessons and open, frank conversations, and at the end of it, Eli will have a story of his own that his boss has promised to (maybe) publish. Only Eli is secretly writing two stories: the one his boss knows about, and a hard-hitting piece based on Peter's background growing up gay and Korean in a small town in Georgia. Eli's boss only knows about one article, and Peter only knows about the other, and Eli...well, as the dates progress, Eli begins to have actual feelings for Peter.

I absolutely loved both characters. Peter is painfully shy, Eli is feeling stuck, and they both bring out the absolute best in each other. The cast of side characters is delightful, as well—I absolutely adored Eli's friends.

The Build-a-Boyfriend project is super sweet, has some really funny moments, and sucked me in right from the beginning. Logan Rozos narrates it beautifully (there are a couple times Peter's light southern accent makes it into the narration or Eli's dialogue but I loved his narration so much I really didn't mind). All in all, I absolutely adored this book and am really looking forward to reading more by Mason Deaver.

In terms of TW/CW there is a brief mention of conversion therapy (not done to either of the MCs), and Eli's father is dead.

This was very wholesome and heartwarming! I really enjoyed seeing Eli and Peter develop a relationship and to see them grow individually. I was familiar with Mason Deaver's work having read two of his previous novels and this was exactly what I would expect so I really enjoyed it!

2.5 stars?? idk eli was pretty insufferable, and i had no sympathy for him at the end for how he treated peter. you can't have your cake and eat it too, buddy.

So I was super excited about this alc because this book is getting a special edition in one of my subs (I won’t say what one for those who love a surprise) and since hearing about it I have been so interested. To start off it is SO clear that someone from the community was writing this book. I have been so annoyed with MM books because they are cringy, filled with homophobia, every single one has awkward closet tropes and I just overall get the ick about a lot of scenes. This book DELIVERED. The supportive family, healthy trans rep, the cute romcom romance, and my favorite of all fake dating. Honestly Eli was an ☛​̳𝙖​̳𝙉​̳𝙣​̳𝙊​̳𝙮​̳𝙄​̳𝙣​̳𝙂 ̳☚ af character but he was meant to be, he needed his aha moment and he gets the wake-up call. Thank you Mason for authentic LGBTQ rep and bringing in BIPOC roles so naturally. If this is what your debut adult romance is, I look forward to what’s next. Thank you HarperAudio Adult and NetGalley for this alc in exchange for my honest review.

Mason Deaver has a special place in my reader heart as the first read with a young adult nonbinary protagonist. And they continue to be one of the few contemporary authors who really does justice to the internal life of trans and NB characters and their specific struggles with feeling safe and allowing vulnerability in all personal relationships. This one is a lot more light-hearted than the previous works, but has the same tender and frank portrayal of a transmasc protagonist and his circle of friends and family, and it's surprisingly wholesome. That said, it did have my personal pet peeve of a romance with only one POV. It became particularly frustrating because the the audiobook narrator chose to depict the awkward Peter, described as stupidly hot and buff and Korean, with a highly femme, borderline wispy voice. I enjoyed the whole tropey fake dating plot well enough, but given the final act of how Eli "betrays" Peter, it's weird that the narrative chose to not give Peter a proper voice throughout. Overall, it was a quick and fluffy read, but I'm a wee bit disappointed given how profound I've found the author's previous works. And how dirty the narrator did Peter.

This is your typically frothy romance with one spicy scene.

Eli is feeling stagnant. He's an assistant at an online magazine that no longer publishes the type articles he wants to write, not that they've asked him to write anything anyway. And on top of that his long time boyfriend, who works at the same magazine, recently broke up with him.

One sad night he agrees to be set up with a friend of a friend and it's a disaster. His date, Peter, is late, spills food all over Eli, forgot his wallet, and can't hold a conversation to save his life. Eli cannot wait for it to end.

When grousing about it at work, his smarmy boss overhears and cajoles Eli into spinning it into a article with Eli teaching Peter how to date while ragging on his failings. It's not what Eli wants to write, but he agrees, hoping the deeper article he develops about Peter's experiences growing up will be published instead.

Of course, as with all fake dating scenarios, real feelings happen. And, of course, no one communicates them until a major hurt has happened.

The characters are interesting, but there's no major character development or depths to discover. Even so, it's a perfectly sweet romance.

This was a super cute story full of fake dating and tons of mishaps and mistakes! Absolutely loved this one! Peter Park <3

I also got the chance thanks to NetGalley as well to listen to the audiobook version of this book! The narrator was perfect for the roll. 10/10 choice!

This is such a cute romance! I appreciate that the main character being trans wasn't the main focus of his identity, but was definitely a part of the story. The "watch list" had some great picks and helped me add to my list of movies I need to watch!
The narrator of the audiobook is great at bringing the story to life! I highly recommend recommend a listen/read!

4.5 stars! Thank you to NetGalley and HarperAudio for this advanced copy! You can pick up The Build-a-Boyfriend Project on August 5, 2025.

This book was EXACTLY what I needed to pull me out of a reading slump. Heartbroken Eli goes on a blind date with the shy and overworked Peter Park, in what ends up being one of the worst first dates of all time. But Eli decides to give Peter a second chance -- along with some dating lessons, so Peter's next date won't be quite so disastrous.

Of course, as they spend more time together and open up to one another, real feelings enter the picture. But the relationship is made doubly complicated by Eli's decision to write about Peter's love life for work, in the hopes of seizing the opportunity to be a staff writer. What could go wrong???

Even though Eli's schemes were convoluted (in the way of all great rom-coms), I loved the execution and genuine romance between him and Peter. Plus, the LGBTQIA+ representation was wonderful, and I appreciated the couple's honest conversations about sex and intersectionality (as a trans man and gay BIPOC man).

I devoured this book in a day, and I can't wait to pick up the rest of Mason Deaver's backlist! Def grab this one if you love dating lessons/fake dating, friends to lovers, and MM romance!

Just so perfectly tender and sweet. Everything about this book felt lovingly inspired by romcoms from the early 2000s. The farcical set up, the slow burn romance, the silly slapstick moments all worked together really nicely. I think this book would adapt really well into film and with Mason's YA novel being turned into a movie who knows it could happen. If you're a fan of a dorky anxious love interest I think you'll have a great time with this book. The ending of this book is really grounded so if you feel that romance novels are too unrealistic at times this book could really work for you.

Also it's always a joy to get to read trans romance. With the current political climate it's just nice to read about some trans joy. Now I just need a major publisher to give me some trans lesbian romances.

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a free audio ARC in exchange for my honest review.