Reviewed by Larissa

TITLE: Football Royalty

SERIES: Franklin U, Book #8

AUTHOR: Eden Finley

PUBLISHER: Self-published

LENGTH: 263 pages

RELEASE DATE: October 13, 2022

BLURB: 

If you never fooled around with someone of the same gender, did you even go to high school?

PEYTON

My whole life I’ve had the pressure of being Marcus Talon and Shane Miller’s football prodigy. I’ve been destined to follow in my NFL-playing fathers’ footsteps since the day I was born. I usually thrive under pressure, but as senior year looms, it all gets too much, and I need an outlet. The last place I thought I’d find my release is at Levi Vanderbilt’s graduation party. In his bed. With him.

It’s a one-time thing. An experimentation. And while it was fun, we agree that being with guys isn’t for either of us. I’m happy to accept that until he turns up in California.

I haven’t had to think about him for four years, but now I can’t get him out of my head.

LEVI

Coming to Franklin University for grad school to follow a boy I hooked up with once is the stupidest thing I could have done.

We said that high school didn’t mean anything, but the truth is, that night made me realize who I truly am, and since then, I’ve been trying to find that sense of freedom again.

I’m hoping it can be with him, but everything I’ve heard around campus points to Peyton not having the same life-changing revelation I did.

And if that’s the case, did I just move across the country for a straight guy?

Kill me now.

REVIEW: 

Football Royalty, Eden Finley’s contribution to the excellent Franklin U shared author universe, stars Peyton Miller, the son of famous ex-NFL football players Marcus Talon and Shane Miller, stars of Finley’s Blindsided from her Fake Boyfriends series. You don’t need to read that book to enjoy Football Royalty, but I encourage you to read Blindsided anyway.  Having read it before, I got a kick out of seeing Talon and Miller in their “Dad” and “Pop” roles, and, admittedly, the parts of Football Royalty I enjoyed most included the Talon-Miller family dynamics.

That isn’t to say I didn’t also enjoy Peyton and his romance with Levi, his high school bisexual “experiment”.  Indeed, Finley does a fine job of creating a sweet, sexy relationship between Peyton and Levi.  However, I feel their relationship took a bit of a back seat in the early parts of the book, perhaps in deference to establishing the context for Peyton’s life as he approaches college graduation and the impending NFL draft.  Peyton is in no distraction mode – no time for relationships and certainly no time for exploring his bisexuality.  He’s made it this far, and he can’t let up now, not when he’s speculated to go as first draft pick.  

Peyton is undoubtedly “football royalty” with his pedigree. He carries Talon’s five-time Super Bowl Champion QB genes. His younger brother Brady Talon is no slouch either, as he carries the build and talent of Miller, an uber-successful defensive lineman in his playing days. Can you imagine the pressure on these two?  Despite the one-year age gap, Peyton and Brady were raised like twins, and their bond also emulates that.  Who else could possibly understand their life? The microscope they live under? The crushing expectations on them?  Brady manages to avoid the football pressure when he – much to his dads’ dismay – gives up playing football to focus on being a sports agent like his high-profile Uncle Damon (from Fake Out, the first book in the Fake Boyfriend series). No such luck for Peyton, though, who not only is as good as his father, but is possibly better, and happens to love the game just as much.

Football Royalty is the last book in the Franklin U series and likely the most anticipated.  I couldn’t wait to see what direction Finley would take the story.  I really enjoyed the familial relationship between Peyton and his brother, as well as the boys with their dads. The scenes with Talon and Miller are hysterical and remain true to their personalities from Blindsided.  

The second chance romance between Levi and Peyton took a bit to get off the ground, though.  Maybe it’s just a “me” thing, but the first third of the book didn’t grab me. It kept me interested but not invested. That all changed in the second half, and then I was all-in with Peyton and Levi. I think the reason for that dichotomy is the prologue. The years of Levi and Peyton’s respective pining are anchored by one very brief hookup at a high school graduation party. We don’t get much background on either Peyton or Levi at that point, and it doesn’t seem like they had much interaction with each other to that point. They hook up and then write it off as if it meant nothing to either of them. My takeaway from that intro is that it really didn’t mean anything, because I didn’t feel much chemistry between them to make me feel why Peyton and Levi were so hung up on each other for years after. The prologue was too abrupt and didn’t provide enough background on Levi or on Levi and Peyton’s connection back then to translate into this all-consuming, can’t-shake-it, need-to-connect-again-even-all-these-years feeling they each carried with them. As I got further into the book, though, the Levi/Peyton relationship made a lot more sense.  This is especially true as we get to know Levi more. Then it’s easy to understand the attraction between them. 

On the positive side, Finley’s characteristic writing is displayed throughout Football Royalty along with her sexy scenes, banter, humor, and even some romantic swooniness. The story is a low-angst, easy read, and the chance to visit Talon and Miller at a later stage in their life from the vantage point of their children is a treat. Finley does a great job capitalizing on that aspect of the story. There’s much more to explore with Brady, though, including his MMM relationship with two Navy SEALS.  I can only hope Finley is setting us up for a Brady book because I’d be there for it in a heartbeat.

Overall, Football Royalty is a book I enjoyed with a couple I grew to like.  Notwithstanding my issues with Peyton and Levi’s relationship progression, I wholeheartedly recommend this fun, frisky, sweet story whether you’ve read the earlier books or not.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

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