Ready to resign himself to a life of flipping burgers, Kieran is offered his dream internship at a political campaign. While being an out trans man in the office is stressful, it only gets worse when Kieran meets the humorless campaign strategist, Seth, who also has an extremely obvious crush on their (straight) boss.

Why this book?: I love Austin Chant’s work, and this was the last of his that I hadn’t read.

Being written by Austin Chant, I knew that I would be enjoying this one a lot. I’ve always found his writing to be immersive and enjoyable, and I’ve loved the characters and getting to know them. Ever since reading Peter Darling, I’ve been eagerly awaiting anything new coming from Austin. Coffee Boy, while being Chant’s first published work, is the last of his that I have to read. I put it off because I just didn’t want it to end, but my friend Corey finally pushed me into reading it when they recommended it . . . 3 times? I think? And I have to say, Coffee Boy did not disappoint.

I fell in love with Kieran’s character right off the bat, finding him hilarious and relatable in the greatest sense. I’m not personally out in real life, but still reading Kieran’s experiences in this novella put all of my thoughts into one story. All of my fears and wants and hopes all put into one story. I have to admit that it made me very emotional, especially as it went on and we saw Seth, a cis man, defend Kieran from other workers.

While I really enjoyed the transgender representation, I had a little trouble with the romance. This is me, personally, as I’ve been struggling with my feelings on sex scenes and romance for a while. While I loved the slow burn romance between Kieran and Seth, I couldn’t help but feel . . . awkward. The characters, individually, were amazing, especially Kieran. Seth was hilariously awkward, and I reveled in that. But when it came to when they finally hooked up? That was full-on secondhand embarrassment for me.

Final Rating: ★★★★☆

Overall?

Reading Austin Chant’s newer works before this one really shows me how he’s evolved as a writer. His characters are just as amazing later on, but the romance is definitely less awkward and more genuine in his later works.

Would I Recommend?

I cannot wait for Austin Chant to release more works. I will have to tide myself over by rereading all of his works, but if that means another one of these masterpieces, I’m willing to wait.

Additional Information:

Published: October 31st, 2016

Publisher: NineStar Press

Page Count: 89

Genre: Romance/Contemporary/New Adult

Synopsis: via Goodreads

After graduation, Kieran expected to go straight into a career of flipping burgers—only to be offered the internship of his dreams at a political campaign. But the pressure of being an out trans man in the workplace quickly sucks the joy out of things, as does Seth, the humorless campaign strategist who watches his every move.

Soon, the only upside to the job is that Seth has a painful crush on their painfully straight boss, and Kieran has a front row seat to the drama. But when Seth proves to be as respectful and supportive as he is prickly, Kieran develops an awkward crush of his own—one which Seth is far too prim and proper to ever reciprocate.