Spoiler warning: this one covers the full arc of Hat Trick, book five and the last of the main five, in Australian author Eden Finley’s Fake Boyfriend series. If you’re not caught up, bookmark this and go read Blindsided first.
I’ve been waiting for this pairing since Trick Play. Jet Jackson has been hovering at the edges of the Sadenverse for three books now: Matt’s little brother, the Gay Brigade’s youngest member, the one with the band and Hat Trick finally hands him the lead.
Who are Soren and Jet?
We’ve actually met both Soren and Jet in the previous Fake Boyfriend books. Caleb “Soren” Sorensen started his career on the west coast with Vancouver, had a short, unhappy season in Anaheim, then was traded to New Jersey. He’s Canadian and, like most of this universe’s leads, is a client of Damon King, plus a member of both the Gay Brigade and (as we learn later on in Puckboys) the NHL’s Queer Collective.
The book’s blurb, from Soren’s side: “You know what’s not fun? Going on a Fiji vacation with four other couples. Especially when recently single. What’s even worse is when a past hook-up arrives unannounced. Not only do we have a history, but he’s ten years younger and a famous rock star. Most importantly, he’s my friend’s little brother.”
Jet Jackson is Matt’s younger brother, grew up about an hour outside Nashville, and was thrown out by his parents when he came out as gay. He’s now the guitarist and lead singer of rock band Radioactive, signed to Joystar Records — JJ to his brother, Jet to his friends, and Jay professionally, a nod (per the wiki, at least) to the old Nickelodeon show The Famous Jett Jackson.
Jet’s side of the blurb: “You know what’s not fun? Escaping one guy who broke my heart only to run into another. Being on the road for three years has left me exhausted. The last thing I want is for Caleb ‘Soren’ Sorensen to try for round two. I can’t fight my draw to him. I’ve never been able to. I’m suddenly back to being the naïve kid who stupidly lusted after a hockey player.”
Soren is 33 in this book, Jet is 23, the 10-year gap the blurb flags up front, and one the book doesn’t shy away from either.
The premise: a Fiji trip nobody asked for
The setup is classic reunion-tour energy. Soren, recently single, gets roped into a group holiday to Fiji with four other couples from across the series. Jet turns up unannounced. The two have history — a hook-up neither of them has fully processed and now they’re trapped on an island together, made worse by the fact that Jet is the little brother of Soren’s close friend.
The book opens in spring and runs through into hockey season before jumping a year later, and it covers a genuinely sprawling map along the way; Chicago, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Montreal, New Jersey, New York, Ottawa, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Vancouver, Washington DC, Winnipeg, and, of course, Fiji.
Two careers heading in opposite directions
What I liked most about Hat Trick is the shape of it: Soren is a almost-retired player who’s quietly losing his love for the sport that defined him, while Jet’s career is doing the opposite, ballooning into real stardom. Watching the book bounce between a man stepping back from the spotlight and one being pulled further into it gives the romance a bit more weight than “will they, won’t they” alone, there’s a real question of what each of them is walking towards, not just who.
The ensemble reunion, and the Puckboys crossover
Because Hat Trick pulls together couples from across the series for that Fiji trip, it plays a bit like a reunion special, a nice way to close out the main five. And at the time of writing this, I’m diving deep into Final Play, which takes place on the same Fijian holiday. This book is also a good one for anyone following along from the Puckboys side, who just like me is reading these books in reverse(ish) order: Soren has cameos in Egotistical Puckboy and Clueless Puckboy, and Jet himself popped up in Clueless Puckboy too, so the crossover runs both directions. It’s also Jet, in this book, who claims credit for coining “the Gay Brigade” as the group’s nickname in the first place.
READ MORE: ‘Blindsided’: the Fake Boyfriend book that quietly retires its own name-sake trope
Where Hat Trick leaves the series
Hat Trick is the fifth and final ‘main’ book in Eden Finley’s main Fake Boyfriend series, closing out a run that started back with Fake Out. Between the five main books I’ve now also picked up all three of the Fake Boyfriend Breakaways novellas — Rebound, It’s Complicated and Winning You — so as far as the Sadenverse’s central series goes, I’m properly making my way through the series.
What’s next isn’t a straight sequel so much as a new branch. A few Hat Trick faces, notably Ryder Kennedy and Harley Valentine, are the leads of Spotlight and Popstar respectively, from Finley’s Famous series, and I’m looking forward to following the universe out that way next.
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