The Best Fake Boyfriend M/M Books

An M/M Romance Roundup

The fake boyfriend trope is basically Article One of the M/M romance constitution. Two men agree to pretend — usually for the dumbest reason imaginable — and then, shocker, catch feelings. For real. The scaffolding is so familiar it's practically its own love language. But that's the beauty of it: even when you know exactly where the bus is going, a great author makes you forget to check.

Here's my roundup of some of the best — and a few with small asterisks. I've noted series info and where to start. Settle in.

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Fake it 'til You Make Out — Isla Olsen

Series: Love & Luck, Book 1 | Grade: B+

When Heath spots his cheating ex at a coffee shop — newly engaged with a boulder on her finger — his only plan is to convince her he's moved on. The easiest lie available ("I'm gay now, actually") accidentally becomes very public very fast when she outs him on Facebook. Suddenly he and his gay best friend Declan are fake-dating whether they meant to or not, and then things get complicated because Heath keeps forgetting it's fake.

Olsen writes low-angst, high-heat romantic comedy that moves fast and doesn't ask you to work too hard. This one has sharp banter, genuinely funny family dynamics on both sides, and a bi awakening. The third-act conflict is a little thin, but the warmth here is real. A solid series starter, and one I'd happily recommend to anyone who wants their fake boyfriend served with a side of wit. The Love & Luck series continues with more of the extended friend and family group, and it stays fun throughout.

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Mr. Big Shot — Isla Olsen

Series: Suits & Sevens, Books 1–4 | Grade: B+

Olsen's Suits & Sevens spinoff — which connects loosely to the Love & Luck world — kicks off with Will discovering that the one-night stand he can't stop thinking about is also his new billionaire boss, Spencer: a closeted bisexual in the middle of a messy scandal with a firm no-fraternizing policy. You can guess how long that policy lasts.

As a series, Suits & Sevens is a mixed bag but consistently entertaining, and Mr. Big Shot is a strong entry point. My personal standout, though, is Book 4, Mr. Blue Sky, which surprised me by being the quietest and most emotionally layered of the bunch. Jackson has spent years as his best friend Skyler's designated rescuer, and when Skyler develops real feelings for him, Jackson has to reckon with the fact that he might be asexual — and that a relationship built on emotional intimacy rather than physical attraction isn't a lesser kind of love. The asexual representation is handled with genuine care and specificity, and Jackson is so charming I could read him all day. That book alone might be worth picking up the whole series.

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Hot Head — Damon Suede

Grade: B

Fair warning: Hot Head is not like most of the other books on this list. It's darker, grittier, and considerably more explicit — less romantic comedy, more blue-collar pressure cooker. Griff and Dante have been best friends and NYC firefighters together since they were teenagers, and Griff has been silently, desperately in love with Dante for basically all of it. When Dante, short on money, decides to start making gay porn and asks Griff to be his partner, the line between performance and reality starts to blur fast.

Suede writes with real heat and real emotion, and the New York setting — fire stations, outer boroughs, the particular weight of machismo and secrecy — gives the whole thing a specificity that's hard to fake. The intensity can be a lot, and the plot occasionally strains under the weight of its own drama, but if you want something with more edge and less sunshine, this one delivers. It's a classic in the genre for a reason. Just go in knowing what you're signing up for.

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Borrowing Blue — Lucy Lennox

Series: Made Marian, Book 1 | Grade: A-

Blue Marian runs into his ex at a vineyard resort the night before his sister's wedding. The ex has a new date. The date is wearing a wedding ring. Blue would very much like the ground to swallow him. Enter Tristan: handsome stranger at the bar, owner of the vineyard, and — in the most gloriously inconvenient reveal — the brother of the groom. The fake boyfriend arrangement starts as a five-minute revenge scheme and becomes a complicated, steamy, week-long problem for both of them.

Borrowing Blue is Lucy Lennox at her most fun: warm, fast-paced, and genuinely funny, with a sprawling, chaotic Marian family that feels lived-in from the first page. The "fake" part dissolves pretty quickly because these two are clearly gone for each other almost immediately, but the chemistry is so good it barely matters. I'd call this the strongest in the series — the later books are all enjoyable, but this one has the freshest spark — and it's a great place to start if you're new to Lennox.

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Fake Out — Eden Finley

Series: Fake Boyfriend, Book 1 | Grade: A-

Five years ago, Maddox told his childhood sweetheart he was gay to get out of marrying her, then fled to New York and never looked back. Now she's getting married — and after a drunken encounter, he's been invited to the wedding and is expected to bring his boyfriend. The boyfriend who doesn't exist. Because Maddox is straight. Or at least he thought he was, until he met the guy he's bribing to play the role. Damon is a former baseball player trying to rebuild his life as a sports agent after an injury ended his career. Forty-eight hours of fake-dating in exchange for a meeting with a potential client. Simple enough. Except Maddox keeps kissing him like he means it. And that's a problem.

What makes this one work is the particular flavor of its identity crisis — Maddox isn't closeted so much as genuinely confused, and watching him reckon with that in real time gives the whole thing an edge. Damon's skepticism is earned and well-written, and the two of them have real heat. The first book is the strongest entry in the series — tightest focus, freshest emotional stakes. Start here.

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Maybe We Can Fake It — Tammy Subia

Series: Mayweather, Book 1 | Grade: B-

Small-town innkeeper and single dad Brenden has an anxiety-spiral moment and accidentally tells his daughter's wealthy, scrutinizing grandparents that he's in a serious relationship — right before they announce they're coming to visit. He recruits his grumpy, guarded friend Travis (a diner owner who has, unbeknownst to Brenden, been quietly in love with him for years) to play the role.

The vibe is cozy and warm — people have compared it to a gay Gilmore Girls, and that's not entirely off — and the fake-dating-to-real-dating arc is handled with a lot of sweetness. My honest take: one protagonist wasn’t terribly likeable and the other’s motivation was never quite established. Still a pleasant read, especially if small-town coziness is your comfort zone.

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The Mayor and the Mystery Man — A.J. Truman

Series: Single Dads Club, Book 2 (readable as standalone) | Grade: B

Leo is the mayor of a small town with a political problem: a one-night-stand has sold compromising photos to the press, and his approval ratings are in freefall. His campaign manager tells him he needs a boyfriend — someone trustworthy, likable, available immediately. His best friend Dusty, a carpenter freshly arrived from LA after a bad breakup, checks all three boxes.

What I particularly appreciate is that Truman skips the obligatory dramatic breakup. The relationship builds honestly, through real friendship and growing desire, and earns its emotion without manufactured crisis. My one quibble is that I wanted the tension to simmer longer — there's less yearning than I craved, which for this trope is like a heist movie that skips the planning montage. But the banter is sharp, the single-dad dynamics are sweet, and the bi awakening is handled well. Can absolutely be read without Book 1.

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Convincing Cole — Jaclyn Quinn

Series: Shore Thing, Book 1 | Grade: B

Cole has moved back to his sunny Florida hometown to start a hotel and tour company with his four best friends, which would be going great if he weren't in the process of falling back into old bad habits with his toxic ex. Aiden — the bartender and bar owner down the street who is allegedly straight — steps in with an offer to play fake boyfriend, partly to protect Cole and partly because there's something about Cole he can't quite leave alone.

Shore Thing does the fake boyfriend trope as comfort food: unpretentious, warm, easy to devour in a sitting. The beachside setting is vividly rendered, the friendship group provides a solid found-family backdrop, and Cole and Aiden are genuinely likable together. Cole's back-and-forth can test your patience, but Aiden's earnestness more than compensates. A good time with a nice setting.

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On the Run — May Archer

Series: Whispering Key, Book 2 (readable as standalone) | Grade: B

Toby has made one very bad judgment call in New York and is now on the paparazzi's radar as "the other man" in someone's very public almost-outing. His solution: flee to the weirdest, most out-of-the-way Florida island he can find and lie low. The island's most eligible resident, Beale — an enormous, warm, feral-cat-rescuing, horoscope-believing, genuine-to-a-fault cinnamon roll of a human being — becomes his fake soulmate within about 48 hours.

On the Run might be the funniest book on this list. Toby's inner voice is withering and self-aware in the best way, and watching him get completely dismantled by Beale's sincerity is one of the genuine joys of M/M romance. The plot mechanics are a little wobbly, but the characters are so fun I didn't care. This is the best book in the Whispering Key series, and it works perfectly as a standalone — though once you meet this island's cast of characters, you'll probably want to read the whole thing.

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Don't Date a DILF — DJ Jamison

Series: Rules We Break in Granville, Book 1

Clark is a teacher in the small, endearingly nosy town of Granville with exactly one rule: do not date a parent. He has watched that road go very wrong before. Then Hunter Rhodes — broad-shouldered, sweet, completely disarming, and the father of one of Clark's students — shows up and Clark's rule starts developing cracks. The fake boyfriend scheme emerges as cover against Clark's matchmaking grandmother and the relentless romantic ambitions of every single woman in Granville who has set her sights on Hunter.

It's a small-town romcom in the warmest sense: cozy, a little silly, and genuinely sweet. Both protagonists are people I liked spending time with, and the found-family energy of Granville gives the whole thing a lot of heart. A fun entry point for the series, and one that works well as a standalone.

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The Husband Hoax — Saxon James

Series: Accidental Love, Book 1

Christian is a lovable disaster of a human being — the kind of person who trips over flat surfaces and knocks things off tables while standing still — and he's been estranged from his wealthy, homophobic family for a decade. When his cousin's wedding arrives, he hires someone to play his impressive, successful boyfriend. His fake date cancels with minutes to spare. Enter Émile: a charming, British-accented heir with his own problem — his late grandfather's will stipulates he must be married to receive a substantial inheritance earmarked for good. Their mutually convenient scheme handles the rest.

This one is anchored by the found family living with Christian in their Victorian house (nicknamed Big Bone Bertha) — a group of queer men who became each other's people after their own families failed them. I wanted to wrap Christian in a blanket and never let go of him, and Émile's quiet affection for this chaotic man is exactly the right counterbalance. If you like your M/M romance with a lot of heart and a genuinely sweet dynamic, this one is hard to put down.