Peter in Progress, by Andy Barrow

When COVID hits, Peter Hughes finds himself unemployed, out of shape, and living in his mother’s basement. Not where he thought he’d be in his mid-thirties.

Then he discovers Ryan’s Fabulous Fitness, a gay-forward online workout program. Peter can’t look away, and before long, he’s not only transforming his body: he’s reckoning with his sexuality, too.

Peter emerges from the pandemic newly out and totally unprepared. Nevertheless, he dives headfirst into gay life, stumbling through app-fueled hookups, steamy underwear parties, and New York’s chaotic dating scene. His renewed rite of passage gets even more complicated when romantic tensions pit Peter’s loyal college roommate against the charming fitness coach who changed everything. If he can’t choose between them, he might lose them both.

Told with wry humor and aching honesty, Peter in Progress is the comic and crushing portrait of a man remaking himself in the aftermath of denial. It’s about the bodies we build, the stories we outgrow, and the courage it takes to start over—from within.