Reviewed by Larissa
TITLE: The Faker Rulebook 
AUTHOR: Baylin Crow
PUBLISHER: self published
LENGTH: 191 pages
RELEASE DATE: January 3, 2021
BLURB:
The Faker Rulebook: A perfect guide to a successful fake relationship with your straight best friend.
Noah—Rook Oliveira stumbled into my life when I was eleven years old.
Being the scrawny new kid at school with a mouth full of braces, I never expected to become unlikely best friends with the most popular boy in seventh grade.
At eighteen, I gathered the courage to tell him I was gay and admitted I’d never kissed a guy. He offered to be my first. Straight or not, that kiss had burned with nearly tangible fire and tattooed the moment on my heart.
I’ve spent the last four years trying to forget it.
Now we’re seniors in college, and I’ve learned why secret relationships are a bad idea.
My brother is getting married, and my cheating ex is the best man. Honestly, Rook is more upset about it than I am. He comes up with this crazy plan to be my fake boyfriend for the week of the wedding.
If we’re doing this, then we need to set some rules. Between fake kisses and sharing a bed, things could get messy. Because I’m in love with my best friend—and he has no idea.
The rules are simple. I never expected Rook to be the one that started breaking them.
The Faker Rulebook is a high steam, low angst standalone novel.
REVIEW:
The Faker Rulebook presents a combination of my favorite MM romance tropes all wrapped up in a sexy, steamy, sweet package.
It’s (sort-of) a sports romance:
Rook is an exceptionally talented basketball player who, by the end of the book, is positioned to go pro. It’s not a central theme of the story, but provides a nice framework for the story and interactions between Rook and Noah.
It showcases best friends to lovers:
Rook and Noah have been friends from childhood. At the age of eleven, Noah had just moved and hadn’t made any friends. Through a simultaneously heartbreaking and hysterical turn of events, Rook gets roped into attending Noah’s birthday party (that no one showed up for). They bond over pizza, cake and video games and become fast friends.
Fast forward seven years: Noah comes out as gay to Rook at 18 years old. By that point, the two are inseparable and Noah fears Rook’s reaction. What he gets is something completely unexpected: Rook is not fazed by Noah’s admission. In fact, he goes one further: he decides to “help” Noah have his first kiss with a boy by volunteering himself.
Neither anticipated the electric chemistry that arced between them in that first kiss. Then they mutually (and stupidly) agreed to pretend it never happened. Well, maybe they could pretend to each other, but not to themselves. In fact, they both relive that moment in their minds for years, of course unbeknownst to the other.
You’ve also got a fake boyfriend charade:
The story jumps forward again in time to senior year of college. Rook and Noah, still inseparable, now live together. Rook’s basketball teammates constantly tease him about Noah being his boyfriend. Noah, for his part, is completely in love with Rook and has been since they first met all those years ago.
Noah’s just broken up with his cheating ex-boyfriend, who happens to be Noah’s older brother’s best friend. Noah’s brother’s wedding is approaching and Noah’s ex is the best man. No one knows what a scoundrel he is because Noah was dating him in secret.
Noah perseverates about whether he should tell his brother about his best friend’s treatment of Noah. Ultimately, Noah stays silent because he doesn’t want to ruin the wedding. But now no one knows Noah was actually dating. They think he’s been all alone and lonely all this time. As a result, his mother and future sister-in-law consider it open season for unsolicited, unwelcome matchmaking attempts.
Rook, ever the problem solver, proposes the perfect solution: they go to the wedding as fake boyfriends. Noah initially resists, but ultimately relents in the face of pressure from his Mom to “meet” someone she wants to introduce him to at the wedding.
And let’s not forget about the forced proximity/only one bed dynamic:
This is thrown into the mix when they arrive at the ski resort where the wedding will take place. Bed sharing during a 5-day stay at a ski resort will certainly add complexity to a fake relationship between two people who love each other and want to be together, but refuse to acknowledge either is the case.
But the main plot driver is Rook’s GFY/bisexual awakening:
It isn’t entirely clear from the story if Rook identifies as straight but Noah is the exception (GFY), or if Rook realizes that his attraction to Noah indicates bisexuality. Rumors indicated Rook hooked up with a number of girls back in high school (which Rook denies), but we only know about Rook’s preoccupation with Noah. Rook is unconcerned with labels, though. He only cares about the authenticity or truth of his feelings. Rook is attracted to Noah. He wants Noah. He loves Noah. For Rook, Noah is his first, last and only.
That first kiss with Noah at age 18 piqued Rook’s awareness of his sexual attraction and romantic love for Noah, but the realization dawned on Rook slowly and belatedly. That journey forms the backbone of the story told in The Faker Rulebook.
It’s all about the rules:
The journey to love is not always smooth. Rook’s awareness and Noah acceptance do not dovetail, even though you might expect that they would. Noah has lived a life lacking in an abundance of love and affection. He fiercely guards his friendship with Rook and locks away his own feelings and desires for more. Rook is straight (or so Noah thinks), so no good can come of his indulging in false hope. The only way to survive this fake boyfriend arrangement is if he keeps everything locked up where it belongs. What better way to do than a mutually agreeable set of rules meant to keep things in check concerning their “fake” relationship. To remind him it’s not real. Hence, The Faker Rulebook is born.
Noah clutches onto the Rulebook tightly with two hands, brandishing it like armor. Who can blame him? He’s been abandoned and separated from people he loves his whole life. He needs to protect his heart from having it happen with Rook – the person who means the most to him.
Rook, for his part, abhors that Rulebook. He didn’t want to agree to it in the first place and now he can’t get Noah to relinquish it. Well, what’s a guy to do? Break those rules. Break any and rules that interfere with the organic development of feelings between them.
Consistent with Rook’s endearing, honest character, he fully accepts his truth once he realizes it. Noah, however, refuses to hear it or believe it. It’s too good to be true. Falling into that trap could cost him everything. Noah pushes back out of fear.
The tug of war between them on this point – is Rook experimenting or is he all in – is exaggerated to some extent, but it magnifies the issue in an effective way. It also produces some seriously hot sex scenes. 🔥🔥🔥
The journey focuses only on the conflict between Noah and Rook. We don’t see any negative external conflicts or viewpoints vis-a-vis their relationship. Rook’s teammates readily accept them as a couple. As do Noah’s family and Rook’s family. Realistic or not, the book’s focus is on them, not on anyone else.
The Faker Rulebook is a well-written, warm and fuzzy, heartwarming, low angst story featuring two adorable, sweet men who clearly belong together. It’s all about self-discovery and acceptance. Learning to recognize and accept authentic feelings and love. Rules can’t contain that. Nor can you fake that kind of love. So throw out the rulebook. There’s no place for it here.
RATING: 
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