deke, noun
/diːk/ — a deceptive move or fake used to trick an opponent out of position, most famously in ice hockey. The word is a Canadian abbreviation of “decoy”.
It’s a fitting title for book three, because the entire Fake Boyfriend series runs on exactly that: people faking one thing to get the thing they actually want. Naming this one after the move itself might be the most honest title Aussie author Eden Finley has given the series yet.
Deke was published on January 5, 2019, and after three books and a bonus novella into my read, it’s my favourite of the series so far.
READ MORE: Trick Play was book two of the Fake Boyfriend series — here’s how it went
Who are Ollie and Lennon
Oliver “Ollie” Strömberg is a 24-year-old winger for the New Jersey Dragons. He’s out to his family, but not to the NHL, and his parents. They’re a close family who have lived around Boston their whole lives but think he can’t be happy until he’s out to everyone. He’s the youngest of five brothers, grew up in Milton, Massachusetts next door to the Carmichael family (more about them later), started his career with the Boston Beavers, and is best mates with his old Beavers teammate Tommy Novak. He’s also a member of the Gay Brigade and (as we’ll discover in the Puckboys series) Queer Collective, and a client of sports agent Damon King.
The book’s blurb sets him up from his own head: “Word of advice: don’t come out to random guys in public restrooms. Even if they’re charming and adorably nerdy and offer to help. My family believe I can’t be happy if I’m not out to the world. I have a bitter ex-boyfriend and an unstable NHL career to show for it. A fake boyfriend seems like an easy and quick solution to get my family off my back, and this guy is volunteering. I take him up on it without asking his name.”
Lennon Hawkins is the other half of the pairing, a sports journalist who was covering football for Sporting Health Magazine before getting reassigned to the hockey beat. He’s not supposed to see Ollie again, and Ollie’s not supposed to find out he’s a reporter. Lennon later gets let go from the magazine, picks up a part-time PR gig with the Dragons, and freelances for Sports Illustrated before eventually joining them full-time. Like Ollie, he’s a member of the Gay Brigade.
His side of the blurb: “Word of advice: learn how to introduce yourself properly. In my defense, I don’t recognize Ollie Strömberg right away. I cover football, not hockey. I’m not supposed to see him again, and he’s never supposed to find out I’m a reporter. That all changes when my editor reassigns me. It’s a lesson I should’ve learned by now. Nothing’s changed since high school. Jocks still hate nerds. But even worse, athletes hate journalists. Especially ones who know their secret.”
A bathroom, a bad decision and a stolen name
The set-up is a classic: Ollie comes out to a stranger in a public restroom, panics about his family’s dinner pressure, and talks the guy into playing fake boyfriend for the night. He never asks his name. He should have. When Lennon turns up on the hockey beat weeks later, both men realise exactly who they’ve been dealing with, and the two jobs that hate each other most — athlete and journalist — end up stuck together anyway.
The detail I keep coming back to is the name Ollie made up on the spot: Clarke. It sticks. Ollie’s family keep calling Lennon “Clarke” long after the fake relationship stops being fake, which feels like the whole book’s thesis in miniature: the deke was supposed to be temporary, and none of it stayed fake for long.
The bonus story: It’s Complicated
Book 3.5, It’s Complicated, is the second novella in the series, and it might be my favourite piece of bonus content Finley’s written so far. It follows Max Strömberg, Ollie’s brother, and his childhood best friend Ash Carmichael, who grew up next door to each other in Milton and, by this point, live together above their tattoo shop.
The novella picks up just after the New Jersey press conference that closes out Deke, and plays out over the following seven months. Ash had been engaged to Taylor at one point, and was Ollie’s boyfriend for a stretch before that, which makes Max’s long-buried feelings for him exactly as messy as they sound. It was published on September 26, 2019, and also appears in Finley’s short story collection Fake Boyfriend Breakaways.
Finley admits in her author’s note that she never actually planned to give Max and Ash their own story — it was reader demand that talked her into it, and she says she’s grateful readers pushed. I couldn’t agree more. Knowing what happens to Ash adds so much texture to the earlier books, and it shows a side of him — and of Ollie and Lennon’s relationship — that I wasn’t expecting to get. Maybe it’s the boy-next-door thing, but Max and Ash might be creeping up on my favourite pairing in the whole series.
What’s next
Next up is Blindsided, book four and if Deke is any indication of where this series goes once it stops being about the fake part and starts being about the boyfriend part, I’m not in a rush to finish it.
READ MORE: This is where I started with the Fake Boyfriend series — the Fake Out origin story