Encore by Eden Finley

Narrated by Iggy Toma

Encore, the fourth and final book in Eden Finley’s Famous series about the members of the world’s biggest boy band, is Blake’s story. The record label gave him the “quiet one” persona, and he got used to being “the other guy”, the one people always forgot was even IN the band! But that’s sort of worked to his advantage now, as he’s become more well-known for the movies he’s made since the band split than for being in Eleven.

We met Blake briefly at the end of Fandom, when Denver and Mason went to see him in LA on the set of his latest movie, and we also met his future (unbeknownst to him) love interest, out and proud actor Jordan Brooks, who made a bet with Blake to get Blake to take a leading role in the queer rom-com** he’s about to star in. Blake lost the bet (Jordan insisted Mason and Denver were together; Blake knew they were but couldn’t say anything and had to deny it) and agreed to take the part. After all, maybe this is the role that will enable him to break out of his action-hero stereotype and allow him to grow and develop as an actor.

Filming starts and isn’t going so well. Blake is finding it difficult to get himself into the right headspace for the role –he’s already expressed his concerns about being a straight actor playing a gay character – and is starting to doubt his abilities, but luckily, Jordan is on hand to talk him down and (after a visit to an out-of-the-way gay bar!) things start to improve as Blake begins to realise he needs to take a different approach. Jordan’s vibrant, don’t-give-a-fuck personality and his outrageously flirtatious manner go a long way towards helping Blake to relax, and over the next few weeks, the two men become friends.

But things go suddenly off the rails when Jordan discovers his boyfriend – the (arsehole) director of the movie – has been cheating on him. He’s not exactly heartbroken – he hadn’t expected things to last and wasn’t deeply invested in the relationship – but he’s still pissed and upset. The problem is that when he and Blake get papped at the exact moment Blake takes Jordan’s hand in a gesture of comfort, the internet is suddenly alive with stories that Jordan is the one who cheated – how could he! And with his boyfriend lying injured in the hospital! Blake knows all too well that the truth is never as interesting as rumours like that, so with the movie temporarily on hold, he and Jordan head off to Mason and Denver’s Malibu hideout to wait for things to cool down.

Once there, they call in the big guns – Harley – for help, and soon he and Ryder and their significant others arrive. It’s not just for a visit though – Eleven is getting back together for a new album and tour (although it’s not been announced yet) and they’d planned to get together in any case to get started on their new material.

Being sequestered away for a couple of weeks means Blake and Jordan are together almost constantly, and it affords them the chance to explore the attraction that’s been humming between them for a while now. I liked that Blake doesn’t freak out about the fact he’s attracted to a guy for the first time; he’s open to the idea and willing to explore, and Jordan is only too happy to help him, even though he knows it’s a terrible idea and he’ll end up hurt. Jordan is constantly drawn to straight guys; he loves being their first, and even though sometimes things end badly, the pay off is worth it when they embrace their sexuality. But those men always move on; Jordan is the “in between” guy, the stepping stone to “the one” – and even though he says he’s fine with that (he gets all the fun without the relationship stuff) it slowly becomes clear that he isn’t happy at all, and that his avowed aversion to relationships is an oddly twisted form of self-protection. As Blake and Jordan become closer however, and Blake susses out Jordan’s M.O, he becomes determined to show Jordan that he deserves to be happy and that they could have something special together, if he’ll only give it a try.

The set-up also allows us to spend some time with the other Eleven guys; we’ve never really seen all of them interact together, and I enjoyed their dynamic and the reunion plotline. On the whole, however, this is one of the weaker entries in the series; Jordan and Blake are likeable but Blake is rather bland and despite their obvious chemistry, I just couldn’t feel a deeper emotional connection between them. I had to wonder why Jordan kept putting himself through the hurt of falling for straight guys – it wasn’t something that happened occasionally or accidentally, it was a conscious choice! I also had a problem buying Blake as an actor. There’s a lot of talk in the early part of the book about how he keeps fucking up on set, how he can’t find his character because he hasn’t experienced life as a gay man, and I was like, “dude – try acting!”

Thankfully, Iggy Toma isn’t deficient in that area (!). His performance is well-paced and expressive and he does a great job conveying the emotional content of the story. He strikes just the right note with Jordan’s cockiness and in the flirtatious banter between him and Blake, and their chemistry comes across really well, especially in the sex scenes (which are steamy and very well narrated). My main complaint is that Blake and Jordan sound too similar at times so I had to rely on the dialogue tags in their conversations, but Mr. Toma’s characterisation of the other Eleven guys is consistent with the way they sound in the other books, especially Harley who is as lively and exasperating as ever! Having Iggy Toma as the narrator is what initially drew me to this series, and he hasn’t disappointed.

Encore is a sexy, low-angst listen with plenty of heat and snark, and it makes a decent, if not outstanding finale to the Famous series. I enjoyed listening to it, althoughit isn’t going to replace Spotlight as my favourite entry in the series.

** Fans of the author’s Fake Boyfriend series might recognise the sly nod to Fake Out in the movie title – Faking It – and its two lead characters, Madden and Eamon ;)

Caz

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