Spoiler warning: This review discusses plot points from Encore, its bonus scene On Tour With Eleven and earlier books in Eden Finley’s Famous and Fake Boyfriend series.
“Never make a bet with Jordan Brooks.”
That’s the lesson Blake Monroe learns the hard way in Encore, the fourth and final book in Australian author Eden Finley’s Famous series – and the one that finally gets the boy band back together.
It’s also the book that sent me scrambling back through my own reviews, because it took me until chapter nine to work out I’d met Jordan before.
READ MORE: My review of Fandom, Famous book three
The bet, the movie and the PR nightmare
Blake is Eleven’s “quiet one”, the former boy band member who swapped arenas for film sets.
After losing a bet to out-and-proud actor Jordan, he signs on to star opposite him in a queer romantic comedy.
Blake identifies as straight and isn’t sure he should be playing a gay role at all. Then production is put on hold, an ill-timed photo lands in the media and Jordan’s bitter ex-boyfriend Ben Randt, who also happens to be the film’s director, helps turn it into a full-blown scandal.
With the press convinced Blake is the reason Jordan’s relationship fell apart, the pair go into hiding.
Jordan’s plan to bury the hurt is to keep the on-screen romance going off camera, which even he knows is a bad idea. Blake, meanwhile, settles into the role a little too easily.
The cameo that blew my mind
I got excited early when Ash and Max popped up. Their story was told in It’s Complicated, the Fake Boyfriend novella that sits alongside Deke.
Jordan even mentions they’re his best friends. I thought “wow, that’s cute” and kept reading.
Then they were mentioned again, and at chapter nine it finally clicked.
I have met Jordan before. He was Ash’s best friend in It’s Complicated – and yes, he’s the one Max hooked up with.
Omg. A book in a series I thought I had figured out actually blew my mind.
Checking in on Ash and Max reminded me how much I loved them. Best friends becoming lovers, by way of your brother’s ex, is still one of my favourite stories in this universe, and it took me straight back to how much I loved Ollie and Lennon in Deke.
READ MORE: My review of Deke and It’s Complicated
Faking It looks a lot like Fake Out
Jordan’s story works as a parallel, and occasionally the opposite, to Damon’s way back in Fake Out.
Damon didn’t want to date or sleep with a straight man after being hurt many times before. Jordan has been burnt the same way and keeps going back for more.
Then there are the Easter eggs.
The movie Blake and Jordan are starring in is called Faking It. Their characters are Madden and Eamon.
That’s not so different to Fake Out, the first book in the Fake Boyfriend series led by Maddox and Damon.
The film is pitched as The Wedding Date, only the gay version with less prostitution.
For anyone who missed it, The Wedding Date is the 2005 rom-com starring Debra Messing as a single woman who hires a male escort, played by Dermot Mulroney, to pose as her boyfriend at her sister’s wedding and dupe the ex-fiancé who dumped her.
Fake Out, a reminder, is about a man (Maddox) who ropes in his friend’s gay brother (Damon) to pose as his boyfriend at his ex’s wedding.
OK, maybe not identical. But it’s damn close, and I love this little joke from Finley.
I’d happily read a full retelling of Madden and Eamon’s romance. Can we have a Faking It book please? While you’re at it Eden, can we please have a Cody Godspeed series too?
READ MORE: Starting Fake Out: the origin story
Getting the band back together
I also loved that this book pulls the whole Famous series together.
There’s a scene early on where Blake takes Jordan to meet the other members of Eleven and has to explain everyone’s relationship status.
It doubles as a recap of Pop Star, Spotlight and Fandom, and it’s a handy one if it’s been a while between books.
Readers have been kind to it, too. Encore holds an average rating of 4.13 from 6493 ratings on Goodreads.
A goodbye and a playlist
The book ends with a note from Finley, who says the Eleven guys took her on a journey she wasn’t expecting and that she’s sad to farewell them.
She thanks reader Jeannie Cooper for suggesting the name Eleven, and Samantha Blundell for naming Harley, Ryder, Denver, Mason and Blake.
There’s also a thank you to her friend Todd for suggesting the way Jordan and Ben’s relationship crashes and burns. Literally, she says.
And then, to my surprise, a playlist of the songs that inspired the series.
Pop Star / Harley
I Will Always Love You – the Whitney Houston version
Anything by Lewis Capaldi
Spotlight / Ryder and Lyric
Into the Unknown – the Panic! At The Disco version
Take Me to Church – Hozier
It’s Time – Imagine Dragons (really, anything by Imagine Dragons)
Fandom / Denver and Mason
Jealous – Labrinth
More Than Words – Extreme
Encore / Blake
Afterglow – Ed Sheeran
Kiss Me – Ed Sheeran
Anything else by Ed Sheeran
But wait, there’s more
Finley has also published a bonus scene, On Tour With Eleven, available to newsletter subscribers.
It’s five short chapters, one each from Harley, Ryder, Mason, Denver and Blake, set on the reunion tour.
The thread running through it is Harley stewing over an article that says Eleven can’t keep up with younger boy band Why Don’t We. His answer is to make the band learn a cover of their song Fallin’ (Adrenaline) on the day of the show.
The playlist pays off here as well. Ryder and Lyric duet on Take Me to Church, and Blake drags a very reluctant Jordan on stage, sits him on a stool and sings Kiss Me.
There’s even a small treat for Aussie readers: Harley talks about throwing a spanner in the works. Finley’s bio describes her as an Australian girl who apologises for her Australianisms, and that one sailed straight past the American setting.
It was nice to get a little more time with each of the boys. But I was a little disappointed reading it, because I wanted more.
Read the bonus ‘On Tour With Eleven’ scene here.
Can we get a Final Play-type book, with all the members of Eleven on holiday together, planning their next reunion?
What’s next
There’s still a little more of the Famous world to go.
Rockstar Hearts combines two novellas, Locked Heart (Cash and Locke) and Thorned Heart (Seb and Thorne), which are loosely connected to Spotlight and Fandom.
After that I get to start Mike Bravo Ops, which picks up with Iris and Trav, the Mike Bravo team members we met in Pop Star.
Then it’s finally CU Hockey, the series Finley co-wrote with Saxon James, followed by the King Sports universe and a proper dive into James’ own world.
I’m also tempted to re-read Puckboys once I’m done, just to see which references I missed the first time around.
Encore by Eden Finley is available on Amazon Australia. You can also find it on Goodreads, The StoryGraph and at EdenFinley.com.
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