Reviewed by Larissa

TITLE: Can’t Say Goodbye

AUTHOR: Eden Finley

PUBLISHER: Self-published

LENGTH: 330 pages

RELEASE DATE: January 25, 2023

BLURB: 

BRADY

Our quick hellos are followed by drawn out goodbyes.

What started out as one fun night turned into a regular thing none of us ever planned for.

I can’t walk away from Kit and Prescott. Kit is the stern nurturer I need. He’s the caretaker, the solid presence. Prescott enables my wild ways. He’s someone I can have fun with. They couldn’t be more perfect for me.

But come graduation, I have to move across the country, and geography isn’t our only obstacle. Being in a relationship with two men isn’t good for my public image, my brother’s NFL career, or the media frenzy that surrounds my famously queer family.

We have a plan to meet up once a year, but with every reunion, every brief visit, we fall deeper.

There has to be a breaking point, something that will end it for us, or soon it will be impossible to say goodbye at all.

REVIEW: 

Eden Finley’s Fake Boyfriends series holds a special place in my heart because it is the first MM romance series I ever read.  I adored it then, and reading Finley’s latest, Can’t Say Goodbye, is like coming home.  Brady Talon is the central character in this deliciously sexy, sweet and funny MMM romance, but you need some context on Brady to really understand his motivations and appreciate one of the biggest challenges to his developing relationship with his two Navy SEALS, best friends Kit and Prescott.

Brady and his older brother (by one year) Peyton Miller are the sons of ex-NFL football greats Marcus Talon and Shane Miller, the first out-gay couple in the NFL.  Their (fantastic) story is told in Finley’s Blindsided.  They are a charismatic couple, and Talon, in particular, is larger than life, a bit of a wild child but with immense talent and an even bigger heart.  Miller is his calming force, although he got up to his share of trouble too. 

They say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, and we see that with Peyton (who carries Talon’s DNA and Miller’s last name) and Brady (who carries Miller’s DNA and Talon’s last name), and not just in their names.  Peyton’s the football prodigy with the great Marcus Talon’s DNA – the anticipated next GOAT following in the footsteps of his father.  Peyton’s story and romance with his now-boyfriend Levi are told in Football Royalty, Finley’s aptly named contribution to the Franklin U multi-author shared universe.  Brady also loves football, played alongside Peyton growing up, and is an extremely talented player in his own right.  However, he’s the steadier, calmer of the brothers, and his decisions have always fixed on Peyton’s best interests, even at the expense of his own dreams. He gives up playing football to become Peyton’s agent, but that’s not the even the greatest sacrifice.  He’s also buried his sexual identity – he’s gay and poly, yet can’t go public with either, but especially the latter. He feels obligated to keep his relationship with Kit and Prescott a secret, even from his own family and Peyton himself.  Given that Brady and Peyton have a bond like twin brothers, you may wonder why he couldn’t tell Peyton. Finley lays it out such that it makes perfect sense without feeling trite or tropey.  

We first meet Brady, Kit, and Prescott in Football Royalty, and while we know almost nothing about the context of their relationship then, we get it all in Can’t Say Goodbye. (If you’ve read Football Royalty, it’s a bonus, but not necessary for this book.) Despite the name, this story is not as angsty as expected. Finley tells the story through the three POVs of Brady, Kit, and Prescott. It’s a well-balanced, even presentation that lets us really get to know all three of them, see how they are similar and different, and why they connected with each other so quickly.  They may start out as a hookup, but from their first interaction, the magnetism is irresistible, and they fit together like the three missing pieces of a puzzle. Brady enters an established best-friend relationship, but Kit and Prescott are not together romantically, despite mutual pining. They only hook up with each other when there’s a third, and they never do repeats, until Brady.  Finley finesses the integration of Brady into Kit and Prescott’s dynamic without making him feel like an “extra”. Despite the ten-year age gap between Kit/Prescott and Brady, there’s no struggle to understand why their throuple works.

Can’t Say Goodbye is chock full of everything we love about Finley’s writing –  sexy scenes,  sizzling chemistry, sharply written banter, humor and silliness, and even some romantic swooniness. The story approaches this trope from a different angle, focusing on the maturity of the three men and the tough decisions that need to be made for them to be together and then stay together long-term.  Notably, she relies on mature communication (*gasp*), although Kit may disagree about Brady and Prescott’s maturity level given their fits of adolescent sniggering.  These men are carefully and vividly drawn, so they feel real and are instantly likable and relatable. 

The icing on the cake, though, is the deep texture she gives to Brady’s life.  He’s got an extensive spiderweb of “created” family (the Fake Boyfriends couples and their kids) and an enviable twin-like bond with his brother Peyton.  Seeing Talon and Miller in their “Dad” and “Pop” roles is absolutely hysterical. The crazy interactions between the Fake Boyfriends couples are some of the best parts of the story.  I particularly appreciated the extensive amount of on-page time given to high-profile sports agent “Uncle” Damon (from Fake Out, the first book in the Fake Boyfriend series). He’s Peyton’s agent and Brady’s sports agent mentor and serves as the anchor point for the previous series.  You’ll enjoy all of this found family humor and heartwarming warm fuzzies even if you haven’t read that series, but it is SO much funnier if you have.

I loved everything about Can’t Say Goodbye and wholeheartedly recommend it whether you’ve read the earlier books or not.  This is a book that I see myself rereading over and over.  It’s everything you could want in an MM or MMM romance and then some.  Highly recommended.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

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