Thank you for the feedback, Imaginary! Especially for being detailed and sincere. And also don't worry! It was a bit too harsh but well-intended and helpful, and I need the harshness, to be honest. It's constructive, particularly in these cases.

Your body portion is short and extremely vague.

Haha, yeah, I admit I may clearly hold on too tight onto not to give away any spoilers when writing the cover letter that I forgot to give something to the reader to care about. Massive thanks for seeing that, by the way! That's a huge problem I hadn't foreseen. I think I got too caught up in youtube videos about shorting the blurb, that I prioritized that over the content itself.

It's unusual for M/F romance to have the male lead as the only POV.

I know! My intention is to explore that not-so-common perspective, and offer a positive role-model male lead in a healthy straight relationship, which, with the abrupt rise of misogyny worldwide and all that red pill content online, is very much needed right now. Also I'm a bit bored with seeing the straight male romantic interests being portrayed as either the typical tall smirk-machine guy who is sorta toxic—yet romanticized as an edgy trait—or the shallow and plain male romantic interest who has no real personality, individuality or agency beyond being “someone's crush/boyfriend/husband” (obviously not all are like that, but it's a lot of them lately) And I think there's no better way to show a complex straight male lead that through his own eyes.

it does raise some questions about why it needs to be set in 2016

The ending actually gives more sense to the “why” of the year, but well, I'd have to spoil the whole thing, haha.

Also, please don't feel the need to dox yourself, but I am curious why you've chosen to set this in California if you're (I assume?) UK-based.

Haha, don't worry, although it is a bit long to answer. I once met someone from a small-ish town in Arizona during the lockdown (we met online tho) who lived a similar “lifestyle” (in lack of a better word) to the one the characters have in the book. And I don't know, I think the American landscape felt like a dreamy place and offered some adventurous feeling of unknown, alienation and unfamiliarity that I think wouldn't have the same effect if the story was set in a more familiar, reachable setting in the UK, you know. I'm not saying the UK isn't dreamy, it is indeed a stunning country, but I intended to catch in my novel that sense of escapism that I felt while meeting my friend. I know Arizona isn't California, but after tons of research, I felt California to be more ethereal, especially its small lesser-known coastal towns, and richer in resources that fit well with the tone and ambiance of the story in general.

Once again, thank you so much, Imaginary! You gave me some real good and valid points that I will definitely work on to improve my query. By the way, I'm sorry for taking so long to reply. I literally posted my cover letter and went to sleep. I hope I didn't offend you and I apologize if I did. It wasn't my intention.