This week on First Dates and Soulmates, Nikki and Meg dive into the first three books in Eden Finley's Fake Boyfriend series — Fake Out, Trick Play, and Deke. Same author, same trope, same shared universe, and three completely different answers to who's actually being fooled and by what.

If you want the full breakdown with per-book analysis, read the written review — or go back to our interview with Eden Finley herself for more on how this universe all connects.

Listen in as they break down:

* What works and what stresses us the hell out

* The joys of chaos gremlin side characters

* The ethics of journalism in romance novels (looking at you, A Christmas Prince),

* and what it means when your characters start bossing you around as a writer!

Damon, read aloud by Nikki, on setting a boundary with Maddox [45:38]:

"I get what you're feeling. That's not mine to take on. I'm not doing this. I am not gonna be an experiment for you. I am not gonna put myself in a situation where I could be emotionally hurt again. So no."

Nikki, on Noah as a character [17:09]:

"I so love that openness and care and a character that's like a little bit deep, demonic — I'm gonna stir some shit, but also like, I see you, dude, you're going through some stuff. I'm just gonna be here."

From Eden Finley's own acknowledgments in Deke, read aloud by Meg [24:26]:

"This is technically supposed to be the last book in the series, but some characters who weren't even supposed to exist are attention whores... These boys are definitely leaders of their own fate."

Nikki, on the structural insight of the episode [41:11]:

"The theme of exposure is always present in fake dating."

That last one is short, but it's the load-bearing line of the whole episode's argument (the public/private breakdown that follows it), so it's worth pulling on its own even without a long clause attached.

Books & Media We Mention

* Fake Out, Trick Play, Deke by Eden Finley

* I Can’t Say Goodbye by Eden Finley (next-gen spinoff)

* Rebound and It’s Complicated (mid-series novellas)

* Puckboy and Mike Bravo series (Eden Finley)

* Franklin University books (Eden Finley & Saxon James)

* Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

* Calling Chaos by Grae Bryan

* A Christmas Prince (Netflix)

* Lady Whistlethreads on Substack

Pre-Order Meg’s next book, All Twerk No Play: https://amzn.to/3Ee2O9Z releasing May 15, 2025!

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Nikki: Welcome to First Dates and Soulmates, the podcast that is bringing you the powerful triad of our fake dating trope. It is fake relationships because I'm scared of my parents. It's fake relationships because of, oops, I did a bad thing, and it's a fake relationship because surprise. I'm a secret journalist.

Really, this is the trifecta. This is the Stanley Cup, Heisman Trophy insert sports ball reference of all things. I am your host, Nikki McKnight.

Meg: And I'm Meg case, Walt.

Nikki: And today s uh, fake dating month continues, uh, with a little bit of a, a filibuster, if you will, of books. Um, we are diving into the first three books of Eden Finley's Fake Boyfriend series. And I have to say, I just, I can hear myself saying it, my head boyfriend,

Meg: I'm my God boyfriend.

Nikki: a fake boyfriend series. Uh, Meg, what is your history with this series?

Meg: I think I started reading this because you were like, Meg, you need to read more Eaton Finley. You would really like Eden Finley. And I'm like, Hmm, I guess I should read Eden Finley. But I wanted, I wanted to dip my toe. Into the Eden Finley verse. So I tried to find a standalone

Nikki: Mm-hmm.

Meg: to be like, do I like this person's writing?

Do I like their tone? Do I like their steeliness? Um, and so I picked a completely different Eden Finley book that is based on this series.

Nikki: Which one was it?

Meg: Oh God, I would have to look it up. Um, but it is the child of Talon and Miller.

Nikki: Oh, is it, uh, the football royalty one from Franklin University?

Meg: It wasn't in Franklin University. 'cause I don't like university books.

Nikki: one

Meg: was the Polly one.

Nikki: it was, uh, one of their kids with the Navy Seals.

Meg: correct. Correct. And so

Nikki: that

Meg: I loved that book. Of course I can't figure out what the name is. And then I'm like, well now I wanna know Tale and Miller and now I wanna know Damon and Maddie and now. And so that was my introduction to it. The series was called Fake Boyfriend, and I texted you and I was like, Nikki, should we, like, I'm so intrigued that there are five books in the fake boyfriend series.

How can one author take the same trope and do it five ways? And you were like, well, you're about to see. And then I got through the third book and it stopped being fake boyfriends.

Nikki: Yeah. so the book we were talking about is, I Can't Say Goodbye.

Meg: Yes.

Nikki: Yeah.

Meg: Very much enjoyed that. It's sort of the next generation, so you've got, you know, all of the kids, all of the cousins of these, this original generation. It was so overwhelming because at one point they have like all of the guys from this series come and like have a picnic together, and I'm like, who are these people?

Nikki: Yeah, it's so funny. I think my first Eden Finley series was her fandom series, like

Meg: Mm. Mm-hmm.

Nikki: and loved that. But then I kind of kept moving after that. So I had actually never read the Fake boyfriend series. I.

Meg: This was your first time on Fake boyfriend.

Nikki: This what, because again, as we said in our, in our trope deep dive, it's not really a trope that if it's advertised

Meg: Hmm.

Nikki: dating, it's a chardonnay for me.

I'm not really gonna pick it out. Um, 'cause when I opened up, fake out the first book, and we'll kind of give y'all a log line of the books, but when I opened up that first one in my, my Kindle said, you've never read this before. And I went, oh. And I started reading it. I'm like, you're right. I haven't read this before.

Meg: wild.

Nikki: but I had, uh, when we got into, I forget, it's either Trick Play or Deek when you meet. The guy, or no, it was, it's Jet's book. It's a thick book, four or five. Um, when you have Harley,

Meg: Yes. He shows up in the fifth book.

Nikki: first book in the fandom

Meg: Yes.

Nikki: I knew him from. So it was, and I knew because I, I didn't, I hadn't read Shane and Talend's book, but I had read both the ones involving their kids later on in the

Meg: Mm.

Nikki: adjacent series.

So it was a bit of an interesting kind of like, go back for me 'cause I'm very familiar with Eden's work. I had not read this series.

Meg: That's wild.

Nikki: I read all of them

Meg: I,

Nikki: ago.

Meg: I read a book before you Did

Nikki: Mm-hmm.

Meg: I read an queer book before. This is wild.

Nikki: I was like, okay. True. Mm. Book. I'm usually the one that reads them first.

Meg: Yeah.

Nikki: a lot of straight romances, but

Meg: Well, and also because you recommended the author, so I just make this assumption when you recommend an author to me that you've already read everything in their back catalog.

Nikki: Wow. I'm feeling a lot of pressure now to be like, yes, of course. I've read her entire, because um, so Eden Finley does a lot of co-writes with Saxon James, uh, into, into a universe called the Sadan Verse. So that has, like, some of this stuff is in there. You got the egotistical, uh, well, not just the, the whole Puck Boy series is a part of that, which is, you know, kind of adjacent to some of these two. Um, you know, Eden Finley's, Mike Bravo series has like a couple characters show up. So it, it's really kind of interesting to look at just. Eden's, like body of work is quite large. Um,

Meg: prolific.

Nikki: she's very prolific between her, her, her solo rights and her co-write. She's very, very prolific. Um, and I believe she recently just started Patreon too, uh, which I think I'm on the freeze here for.

But lots of updates coming through there, which is always kind of nice to see that like authors are still, um. Kind of able to write in a world that feels like everything's going to shit, uh, with create, with creative things and with queer stories. So,

Meg: Yay.

Nikki: things. Um, awesome. Okay, let's, uh, give a quick log line of the three books we're gonna cover.

'cause as Meg said, only the first couple of books in the series are technically fake boyfriends. Um, before it kind of goes into just a characters, not necessarily in the fake boyfriend framework. So the first book is called Fake Out. Uh, straight guy fakes a boyfriend because he runs into his ex-girlfriend.

She's getting married and he, when he broke up with her, he said he did it because he was gay. So of course his ex-girlfriend is like, you should come to my wedding and bring your boyfriend. He's like, of course I will bring my boyfriend. Mm. And it's like, best friend's

Meg: Mm-hmm.

Nikki: Uh, loved it. Trick play is number two.

So a football player is outed. Uh, against his will and he loses his contract in the NFL because of a morality clause. So a friend that we met in the first book whose uh, family is in politics, volunteers to be his boyfriend to kind of say, no, no, no, he's not a football player who's just out getting laid on the daily.

He's in a stable relationship. You should give him NFL contract. That's book two. And then book three is Deek, uh, which you have hockey player, Ollie. Um, meets this guy. They kind of hit it off and it turns out that guy is a journalist.

Meg: And he's closeted. Ali is CLA closeted and he meets this journalist. Yes.

Nikki: Yeah. And he's an NHL player. Uh, can I tell you the rollercoaster of emotions I went through with this series?

Meg: Did you read all five books or six books or seven books?

I

Nikki: read the first

three

Meg: all the

Nikki: way through. Uh, book four. I skimmed

Meg: and Book

five. I like read at like, I read at three speed.

Nikki: So like, I was just kind of like, okay, I

Meg: just kind of skipping pages until I got to the main plot points.

Nikki: 'cause I just wanted to kind of

Meg: That's so disappointing. 'cause book four is my favorite, of the bunch, but that's okay.

Nikki: Um, so for me, fake out the first book. Loved it. Maddox and Damon loved the whole thing. I thought it was so great. I have so many good things to say about it. Trick play immediately stressed me the fuck out.

Meg: Yep, that is not yours. forced Outing.

Nikki: Oh my God. And then even when they're together, because Noah's family is into politics and there's like, and there's paparazzi everywhere.

I'm like, they're gonna get outed. They're gonna get outed. Somebody's gonna overhear something in a restaurant or anything. I literally had to skip ahead to the end to read the last couple chapters just to. See what happened before I could go back and read the middle, because I kept going the entire time. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God, it's so stressful. Um, and in book three it was fine. Not necessarily my

Meg: Not my favorite.

Nikki: Um, I liked the characters individually. Story wasn't quite for me, so I, I read that quite quickly, but, oh my God, I was up and down at fucking all over the place with this series.

Meg: Yeah, exactly. And I feel like, and that's, that's exactly what I wanted to talk about is how can you take something that is such a clear trope and figure out a way to make it so completely different, even within the same universe, you know?

Nikki: Mm-hmm.

Meg: having fake out, which opens up the series, opens up the world.

Um. And we talked in our last episode, we talked about how the protagonist, uh, in the movie when we were talking about, um, just go with it. We were talking about how Adam Sandler's character, whose name I've already forgotten because I have blocked out.

Nikki: Maccabee. I don't know why I remembered it.

Meg: But we talked about how he makes this bad decision at the beginning of it, and he's very unlikeable because of the bad decision that then has these sort of, um, ramifications and dominoes falling and he's sort of chasing it the whole time. And so it's interesting to take fake out where Maddox has made a bad decision.

Um. He's covering for it, but he also feels bad about it, and he doesn't wanna drag Damon into it. And he feels like he's stuck in this limbo. But, and Damon even comes out and says like, I don't wanna like this guy,

Nikki: Mm-hmm.

Meg: um, because he's a liar. Right? And none of that happened in the movie last week, but here it starts with Damon going, I, I, I don't wanna like this guy.

I'm doing it as a favor because he offered me something for my career. Um. You know, we find out that Maddox's brother is a professional, no, brother-in-law is a professional hockey player, so he's gonna make that introduction to an up and

Nikki: sports

Meg: Yes. Um, and so there it, in the, the framework that we talked about last week, it's like there's definitely something in it for both of them.

It's definitely stronger on Maddox's side of things, but Damon's like, great, it's just a weekend. It is just a, like a wedding. I can do that. Um.

Nikki: Um, I wanna talk about Maddy's, Maddy, Maddy Maddox, uh, his reason, like the, the situation that got him into this in the first place, because when we talk about hothead later on,

Meg: Mm-hmm.

Nikki: uh, later, I

Meg: In two weeks we'll have that episode.

Nikki: I messaged Meg when I, when we were reading hothead. and we talked about this with, with, just go with it. Are you entering into fake dating to better your situation

Meg: Mm.

Nikki: of like systemic problems or some things that are not your fault? Or are you fake dating to fix a mistake you made?

Meg: Yes.

Nikki: you are an asshole technically on paper, what Maddie did was not cool, grant it, but it, you know, it was, it wasn't like yesterday, it was a while ago, but he, he felt trapped in his hometown.

He was dating this girl, nothing. It didn't feel right. Everybody just expected they were gonna get married. So when he broke up with her, he said, it's because I'm gay. So when she runs into him again, it's, oh, you're gay. Come to my wedding, bring your gay boyfriend. So if you

Meg: And, and it's not just you are gay, it's, it should have been us. Right? So even then, she still has this awkward feeling for her. He says at some points, like he tried to break up with her multiple times and it didn't take, like it didn't work. Like she didn't take it seriously or she was like, well that's fine.

You can go off to college, but we'll end up together. She was sort of delusional. Um, but that didn't actually become very clear to me. There weren't, there weren't many examples of that. It was just like, oh, she was really clingy and so I told her I'm gay. Um.

Nikki: it's almost like he felt like that was the only thing that would deter her. It wasn't him being able to put down a boundary of, no, I want us to break up. Because they were in a cycle of like on get off again. So he is like, the only thing that will make sense to her is I'm gay. he is like, I just need this to stop. So if I look at that on paper, I'm like, oh, that's, that's a dick

Meg: I hate this so much.

Nikki: I hate it so much, so I don't know why I found it so charming with Maddie

Meg: Mm-hmm.

Nikki: I was like, Aw, sweet baby angel. I'm so sorry. Like why?

Meg: I think there's something about him being backed into a corner and that was the only solution that he came up with. I think there's something about feeling trapped in a small town and not, not fitting in that he sort of needed to escape from in addition to that. And I think there's also something about, um, the fact that he's not surprised when he turns out to be bi,

Nikki: Okay. Maybe that's why

Meg: you know?

Nikki: the

Meg: It sort of does, where it's like, you know, he, he had never been with a guy until college. Um, but he's, the moment he sees Damon, he's like, oh, actually he's hot. Am I supposed to be thinking that he's hot? Maybe I'm not. Maybe it's just 'cause we're fa, you know, like, so I think there's something there. And also he does feel bad about the lie and he has been avoiding the lie, which may not be the appropriate thing, but like, they're so young, they're like 23 at this point.

Nikki: when they actually stated their age, I was like, oh, I think this is too young.

Meg: Yeah, I am.

Nikki: I don't, I think we've said before, we don't necessarily like new adult as an age. 'cause in my mind I'm like, you're just outta college. You got no money, you got no life skills. This is awkward, but I totally forgot actually until you just said it, that yeah, we, it does get dripped out over the book that Maddie had had. Physical sexual relations with dudes in the past, like in college. He just, it was like, oh no, it's, it's totally just something guys do, right? Like, I forgot that

Meg: Yeah.

Nikki: that that was in the story. So that kind of does help. It doesn't justify it because he still lied. I get why he lied. Um, but it's interesting as it gets dripped out that he's like, right.

When he does realize that, I think Damon's really hot. It's not like a, oh fuck, I'm having a, I'm having a crisis mentally over my, my sexuality. It's like, oh, if I look back, and then when he talks to his friends and they look back and go, dude, it kind of makes sense.

Meg: it makes a lot of sense. Yeah. But I do understand the part of the resistance of Damon being like, you know, I. Don't wanna, like this guy is, not only did he lie, but he lied about something that was incredibly difficult for me to come out with and has been harmful to me. That people have, um, you know, told me that I hit on straight guys and now here I am being forced to hit on a straight guy.

Um, and it was a very uncomfortable situation to put Damon in. Um, but then Damon Damon gets there and he's like, oh, I don't wanna like him. Why is he so likable?

Nikki: why is he so likable and nice and sweet? I hate, but just like Maddox is back in his past going, I actually have like fooled around with a guy Damon's, like his whole relationship with, what's his name? His friend, Eric.

Meg: That sounds right.

Nikki: Yeah, call him Eric. That they were like good friends.

They kind of had something ish it, and

Meg: They hooked up.

Nikki: they hooked up and then Damon's like, yeah, I'm gay. And then Eric immediately was like. You're fucking hitting on me. That's gross. And then he kind of turned super homophobic, but their parents were best friends, so they, so it's all, you know, they both had occurrences in college that set them on the path of Maddie wanting to be like, oh, maybe being bi is actually something I can be, and it's not all wrong. And Damon's like, I've been screwed literally, metaphorically by straight, straight when it was straight Jews before. So like the reticence and kind of like. Um, unstable ground beneath both of them.

Meg: Yeah.

Nikki: liked it wasn't as stressful as some of the other

Meg: Yeah. It was a good character matchup that their, their wounds matched each other.

Nikki: Ooh, that's a great way to put it.

Meg: You know, there, the, the reasons that they were resisting a relationship were, were aligned in a way that was interesting for the conflict. You know, that, that Damon was like, I need to focus on school. I can't get distracted by this guy.

I don't wanna be his entry into like the gay world, you know, I don't wanna be his.

Nikki: give him the membership card, teach him the secret handshake. Be like, here's your gay T-shirt. Welcome to the club.

Meg: Right. So he is like, oh, I can introduce you to other gay guys, but I don't want to be that role for you. I don't want to be the one that you experiment with, which I respect. Um, and then Maddox is like, but he's the only one that I want. Like I, I'm realizing that I'm bi but I'm basically like only attracted to Damon.

This isn't just a, you know, anyone will do situation. So then when Noah hits on him, he's like, no, I don't want you 'cause you're not Damon. Um, which is an interesting way to introduce Noah as this. Flirtatious character that shows up in book two,

Nikki: Mm-hmm.

Meg: that we're sort of getting Noah, Noah pushing Maddox and Damon together without seeming like he is.

'cause Noah would never do that intentionally.

Nikki: I really like characters like Noah, who are kind of like the mysterious trust fund

Meg: Mm-hmm.

Nikki: secretly a squishy marshmallow. Um, so I really liked how the, uh, how Eden introduced Noah in book one. And then he does get, you know, center stage main book for book two. Um, it's just funny, like there's a scene in fake out. Um, I think it's, it's after they've gone to the bar and I think Damon and Maddie have, they've had some kind of fight or like a disagreement, but they don't leave together. And Maddie's going home and Noah's like, Hey, like, I'll give you a ride. And he's like, you know, beep beep on his keys. And he's like, of course he's driving a super fancy BMW. And he's like, dude, I'm not hitting on you. Like, let me just drive you home. And they have just like such a nice conversation that I was just like, oh, it's so nice when you have like a sounding board that is like a, he, they're not, he's, Noah is not Maddie's friend yet. Like, they're not friends. They're, him through Damon.

So like, just like Noah kind of saying, Hey, I'll give you a ride home.

Meg: Yeah.

Nikki: like he's there. I so love that openness and care and a character that's like part, like a little bit deep, demonic. I'm gonna stir some shit, but also like, I see you, dude, you're going through some stuff. I'm just gonna be here.

Meg: And, and I know Damon, I know because they're, they're close without, without admitting how close they are.

Nikki: Mm-hmm.

Meg: so you get this moment of Noah saying, um, I know that if I drive you home, it will make Damon take action

Nikki: Yeah.

Meg: he cares about you, but he's not willing to say it. Right. So he's sort of like, he's, he is a little bit of a chaos gremlin character, and I like this for him.

Nikki: chaos gremlins.

Meg: I love

Nikki: love chaos. Gremlins. I wanna do. A whole, if we could do a whole episode on like chaos gremlin type characters. Uh, 'cause they're usually in the best friend role 'cause that's how they cause

Meg: Yeah,

Nikki: Um, and I just really enjoy it.

Meg: I just read Calling Chaos. You recommended that series to me. Um, gray something. And so there is actually a chaos Ging called Chaos as one of the main characters.

Nikki: It just

Meg: It was the newest book.

Nikki: I just read it the other day.

Meg: Yeah.

Nikki: it was great. I

Meg: Yeah, it was.

Nikki: series.

Meg: so let's, let's take this and go. Okay, so we have book one, we've introduced this breadth of characters.

Damon has Noah who's basically, I would say Damon is Noah's best friend, but Noah's not Damon's best friend. You know, like, you

Nikki: Yeah.

Meg: know, you just,

Nikki: like, I feel like Best Friend is a tier

Meg: yeah. Yeah.

Nikki: It's not necessarily like it has to be one individual.

Meg: No, but I would say like Damon has more people in his life that support him and care about him and would be willing to be the best friend for him versus Noah. Really, he grates on people and, and Damon puts up with him. Um, and

Nikki: out why in Noah's

Meg: we sure do. Um, and then we also have, and this naming convention, I hate Maddox and Matt hate.

Could we have named anyone? They, they're too similar. It's way too similar, especially because they were friends prior. So we have Maddox and Matt and I'm like, Hmm, that's too confusing. But, um, when Maddox has this bio awakening, he sees that the guy that he hooked up with in college is an NFL player who just got publicly outed against his will.

And so. Uh, they become friends again and Maddox reaches out, you know, and so that's how we sort of get Matt brought into the story is he's an NFL player who just got dropped and Maddox is trying to get Damon to take him seriously as a, you know, boyfriend partner role. Um, and he gets him, his first client signed this NFL player who's looking for a contract.

And so that's what sets up Trick play our second book.

Nikki: Yeah, and I just, as you were saying that, I, it's interesting again, how like past friendships come into play, right? Like. Matt, Maddy Maddox, fool around with this guy who we later get to know Matt. And that's like kind of the forms, the basis for his, like by awakening and his, his, his emotional journey there. Damon had Eric, it went very badly. And by the end of the book, he does drop Eric, like, fuck him. And his whole family's on his side. So when we shift over to Matt, from Matt's point of view, it's this guy that he thinks he treated kind of poorly in college, coming outta nowhere. They have not talked since college.

And he's, so, he's kind of like, why are you reaching out to me? Like, what you wanna like get in on this? What do you want? 'cause he's very defensive and he is, you

Meg: for good reason. Yeah,

Nikki: good

Meg: very prickly.

Nikki: when Maddox is like, well I'm going home. Come with me. Like, get outta the city. 'cause you're, you're surrounded by paparazzi, they're everywhere.

Your car is very recognizable. Come home, we will get you a motel room. Just get outta the city. And it just, again, like the whole, like this, this boo, this slingshotting effect between like past and present friendships and how they get handled very differently. I, I really like is a, a story

Meg: Yeah. Yeah. Especially because I think, you know, sometimes when you're reading a series like this, it can feel like. Dominoes are falling, or it's like, oh look, every brother fell in love a month after each other. You know, like, and I like that this sort of has the history of relationships that exist already, and it makes sense that.

Matt and Noah might end up together. It makes sense that Ali and Lennon might meet each other at this benefit based on what happens in book two. You know, like it, although they, that's the time they come back together, but like the, the ways that people are meeting aren't always as prescriptive as we get going from book one to book two, where it's like, we're gonna set you up.

It's like sometimes people just meet. And they, they live in the same universe because they're going to the same things. They're hanging out at the same bars. Like there's a logic to it that makes sense. That works for me as a reader, where it's not just like everyone just gets trapped in an elevator.

Nikki: Yeah, it definitely feels a lot more organic sometimes it can be very pre prescriptive. Oh, this character pops up. Clearly they are only popping up because they are gonna get hooked up with this person now. And the author just has to lay that pipe so that at book four they can finally have their moment. But this did have a really nice organic. Feels it made sense that these people are sharing spaces. Damon uh, Damon's sister is Maddox's best friend. Matt was from college and Noah's from here and Ollie's from here. And, um, uh, Maddy actually met the journalist in his book at the bar. And then he comes back around.

So I, it the, I feel like you being the author of the two of us, you notice so much more of these things as soon as you say it. I'm like.

Meg: Oh my God.

Nikki: so

Meg: Yeah.

Nikki: The craft. I didn't notice, but I definitely noticed the effect as a

Meg: Yeah. I think about Kay Sterling when we interviewed her saying like, well, everyone has to have a brother. Like,

Nikki: Yeah.

Meg: and then sometimes people, people like, arrive on the page and you're like, oh, now I have to postpone the rest of it because this person comes next. You know, like you can, as you're writing, you can sort of see these things align.

You know? Like just this morning I was. Emailing my list about my book that comes out in May, and I told the story of like, I wasn't expecting to write a book for Victoria. Um, she was supposed to be just like, kind of like a stand in for the patriarchy and just like she was, she had a job to do in Alex's book to get Alex where he needed to be for Grace.

And then she arrived and she was like, oh no, I will get a book. Like she, she showed up and she was like, she just like lifted up her freaking defiant chin and she was like, I come next. No one else comes before me. Right? Like, and you just have these characters who come in. And so I, I was laughing when I was reading.

Um, and, and as an author, since I started publishing, I started reading acknowledgements in books. Um, and I was cracking up because at the end of book two, at the end of Trick Play, Eden Finley's, um, acknowledgements, say Jet's book was supposed to come next.

Nikki: Mm-hmm.

Meg: Um, you know, we meet Jet as Matt's little brother, which makes perfect sense why he appears

Nikki: Mm-hmm.

Meg: the end of book two.

And then she's like, but he's too young. Like he can't even drink yet. Yeah. Um, and so she just like pushed him off and, and brought in Ali. 'cause we intro, we got introduced to Ali at the end of Damon's book. Um. And then, so that was supposed to be Ju Jet's book was supposed to be book three. And then at the end of book three in the, um, in the acknowledgements, she says this, thank you for reading Dick Deak, not Dick.

Thank you for reading De,

Nikki: It was full of Dick Deek was

Meg: it was so much Dick. Thank you for reading Deak. This is technically supposed to be the last book in the series, but some characters who weren't, weren't even supposed to exist are attention whores, cough, cough tale, and Cough Jet. She says, so even though there are more books coming in this series, they will not contain a fake boyfriend trope because there's no way in hell I'd be able to tell Talen or Jet what to do.

These boys are definitely leaders of their own fate. Um, and I think as authors it's like we can plot as much as we want to and we can say, okay, it's gonna be Damon's book then Matt and Noah's book. Then you know, jet and I can't even remember Jet's, partner's name at this point. Um. But, uh, Caleb. Caleb Sorenson.

Yes. He's introduced to the end of book three. Um, but then you start writing and at the end of I think book two, she's like, TALEN was supposed to just be the quarterback. Talen was not supposed to get his own book. Talen should not have shown up that way. And then all of a sudden he's having threesomes with his teammates and she's like, oh, talent,

Nikki: I know, and it's so funny because Talent and Shane, they get their own book, but both of their kids get books and they show up in so much more of the other series. So I, I think that's so funny.

Meg: But, but I think, you know, as you as a writer, I definitely see that in my own writing and having published, I've only published one book, but the response that I got from it was people going, but what about this person's book? What about this person's book? Um,

Nikki: was one of those

Meg: you were, everyone asked for Elijah's book and a couple people asked for Connor's book.

And so as I was writing Victoria's book, I was like, I think I want Connor to be. A larger player in, in the way that the third act plays out so that people start to care about Connor. It's definitely, it's still in service to Victoria, but it's like you sort of start to think in terms of what would be.

The, the role of this person and what, who would be the right match for this person? And, um, then you start to build that into the, the interconnected universe. And it's really beautiful to read, um, when you start to think about how do all of these different pieces align. It's really fun as a reader and a writer, but especially as a.

Reader, same case. Sterling was like, you know, a character arrives on the page and people are like, next book. Like, call it

Nikki: Yeah,

Meg: you get to play in the universes. Yeah.

Nikki: Well, it's funny, um, with the, the second book, again, as I said, this book was the most stressful for me. I. I just, anytime there's like a, for like outing is one thing and it's bad, but in this sense it was like a forced outing that led into I have to do this PR stunt in order to become a palatable gay, which, oh my God, it gives me the ick. So the entire time I'm, you know, there's a ploy, there's a device of, hey. Matt, we, uh, as your new agents, Damon and a senior agent at his firm who's an asshole, um, we have booked you on this cruise to take your boyfriend and you're gonna do a photo shoot and you're gonna do all these things without magazine or whatever the Indian Universe equivalent without magazine was. And like all these things so that you can become like a palatable gay, um, and get another NFL contract and Noah. Has his own reasons for doing this. But getting to know Noah's backstory, I thought was, it was a little weird at first 'cause it's like his dad is a senator who is likely gonna be running for pre the presidency in a couple of years.

So very political. Um, his, his dad's relationship with his mom kind of almost like an arranged political thing, like he says at some point. Like they don't have a. A good relationship. It's very much for political reasons. She is his Michelle Obama, I think is how he puts it at one point. Um, Noah's also biracial. Um, so like that comes into as like that's one of the reasons why his dad brings him on the campaign trail is he's gay and he's biracial and he's quite smart, but his dad's really only giving Noah like, bullshit stuff to do on the campaign. No one's really listening to him, which kind of gave me shit, uh, shades of red, white, and royal

Meg: Mm. Yep.

Nikki: Um, with the, you know, trying to work on the presidency campaign. Um, so it was just like this weird relationship and I was like, is Noah's dad a good person? Is he not? Does he love his son? Does he not? He's kind of saying, oh yeah, you can absolutely start this charity, but it's gonna lead to my campaign so I can still have my hands in it.

And then Noah kind of says, fuck you dad. Like history was so. It was weird to me when it was first introduced. It got better as it went on, but I was, wasn't as strong enough for me initially why Noah would do

Meg: Mm.

Nikki: because the, how Noah presented to Matt is, I have my own reasons for doing this.

I'm doing this because Damon asked me

Meg: Mm-hmm.

Nikki: and I'm gonna help him. But like, going back to the framework of like, there has to be something in it for both sides because Noah's reason wasn't super clear at the beginning. I also just felt like really uncomfortable that he had to be there, though it was his choice.

I'm like, I don't, I don't love this dynamic. And then, of course, Matt's a dick in the, in the beginning of the book, rightfully so, but it was just like, it was a weird note to start on for me.

Meg: Yeah, the, the sort of forced relationship without agreement by both parties, I did not love, uh, you know, Noah Agreed. Yeah. Yeah. It was, it was a little uncomfortable. Um, and I think also I liked the, the distinction of, you know, Noah being poor, little rich boy. And not coming from a place of poverty and trying to take care of his, his homophobic, racist family.

Um, and seeing the fallout of that and him learning that he can't take care of everyone. Like, I liked where everything went, but probably the first act I was just like, I don't like this. I don't like this. I don't like this. Just 'cause it was such an uncomfortable situation.

Nikki: drop. Oh. Oh. I was just like, no, I want my romance to be nice and fluffy. This is so stressful.

Meg: You know, that was not the most stressful book of the three that we're talking about. To me,

Nikki: Did you think book three was

Meg: I thought Deke was way more stressful for me.

Nikki: was very stressful. 'cause I don't like lies and that book has lies.

Meg: Well, so, so let's talk about that. So book three is Ali, who is a hockey player. Um. He was on the team with Tommy, who is Damon's brother-in-law,

Nikki: Mm-hmm.

Meg: and Ali is out at home but not publicly, and that.

Was the big concern that was making everything go in my brain, I'm just like, oh, you have this giant family, you have five brothers. They're all super supportive of you to a fault. Um, and we can talk about that. Um, all of your grandma and your cousins and everyone knows about you and your ex-boyfriend and nobody's said anything.

Nikki: Yeah, for me, like it's, it's, it's it, type of situation feels like when you have those, it's a best kept secret in Hollywood where you have someone like Steven Fry, for example, gay. Was out but not out. You know what

Meg: Mm-hmm.

Nikki: people knew but they didn't know, uh, 'cause it wasn't official and they shouldn't have to make a statement on it.

So like that aspect of it didn't bother me too much because I was like, at least if Ollie is forced outed, he has, he already knows, he has support. He's not worried about, oh my God, if my parents hear about this, or Oh my God, what am I strapping? Big brothers gonna think of it. So like for me that. Made it not bother me as much because I knew he had a really great safety net.

But you're right. There's no way a grandma or grandpa or aunt or uncle wouldn't have posted something on Facebook by accident.

Meg: Yeah, exactly. And that's what I was expecting to happen the whole time is that he would be outed, um, and then the journalist Lennon would be like fired because he didn't come out about it. That was my expectation for it the first time is that, um, and then Eden went a very different direction with it, which is that he got to choose when he came out.

Um, but this idea of his family. It's, it's the opposite of what you hear so often in, in these books is, you know, come out because then we can support you and you're hiding who you are without the recognition of, you know, that's fine. Especially in Boston. You can go to the Gay Pride parade, but it's different in a locker room.

Nikki: Yeah. That's always the uncomfortable part is how is the team gonna

Meg: Mm-hmm.

Nikki: And especially in sports romances, like it's the locker room aspect of like masculinity. And then when you layer in. expression and sexual orientation on top of that. Oh my God, it's a fucking powder keg that as a reader, it, it, sometimes it can be so lovely and so supportive and, you know, the captain will give a speech on if anybody, you know, fucks this up, then you're out and they kind of rally around them.

But there's also ones where it's like, it's always gonna be tense and there's gonna be people that, uh, don't support it, but it's neutral. Like, you know, they don't like it. But you're like, I'd rather it be nothing than it be violent. And then you have the other option, which is like, everybody is lovely and supportive. So like it, it didn't quite go an extreme that I was like, would make me like fear for his career and mental wellbeing on day in, day out. Because in sports romances, we talked about this with Alexa there. is based on proximity to the

Meg: Yeah.

Nikki: and that it goes for partners as well. Um, which is another thing I thought the series did really well, was, um, proximity to the team and the travel and being on the road and training camp and like, I just like that as an element too. Um, but like Lennin was the far more stressful character for

Meg: Yes, just the fact that Lenin, uh, was sitting on a secret as a journalist.

Nikki: I'm so sorry. You said sitting on a secret that is like a mini game on RuPaul's Drag Race, where the queens are blindfolded and they put random shit like on a throne and the queens have to like sit on it and then guess what they're sitting on. And sometimes it's like a color printer, a pineapple, a chocolate cake.

So I'm so sorry.

Meg: I have never seen an episode of,

Nikki: on?

Meg: never Seen an episode of RuPaul's Drag Race. That's not gonna convince me that one.

Nikki: No, it's a stupid game. It's very funny though.

Meg: Yeah, I'm sure.

Nikki: with you, Leonard. It's sitting on a secret, uh, not a chocolate cake or, or a laser disc printer.

Meg: Well, I mean, you know, we've talked before about how even in a romance where there are these two equal characters, um, one of them's always the protagonist. One of them is always the main character, and the other is the antagonist who adjust their perspective or pushes them in certain ways or challenges them.

Right. And, and each of them in a, in a romance, each of them should have some sort of transition and character arc. But typically one of them has a larger arc. One of them is. The primary person in the story. So, you know, in Book one it's Maddox,

Nikki: Mm-hmm.

Meg: has the bigger transition of, he's sort of this player and he thinks he's straight, and then he realizes he's bi and then he decides to be monogamous and then he moves in with Damon.

And so he goes through this big adjustment. Right? And in the same way, uh, you know, in book three, Ali is by far. The protagonist.

Nikki: Mm-hmm.

Meg: we get Ali's entire backstory. Every, every moment he had with his ex-boyfriend, we get all of his brothers, which end up playing out in future, you know, future books. Um, but we, we get so much Ali and then Lennon gets sort of shoehorned into Ali's life, even from their meet.

Cute, which is Ollie's out to dinner with his family and he goes to the bathroom to take a break because they're being so high pressure about coming out. Um. That's when we get Lenon walking in. So, you know, Lenin as a character still has this arc, but he's. On the knife set the whole time he's going. I don't have a consistent career.

I'm in a very, uh, unpredictable field. Um, and not only, you know, we know, we know how hockey works, but as a journalist for a small magazine, there's never been an out journalist with a player. So what does that mean for his career? There's a lot more question marks with Lennon being in this relationship than Ali, even though Ali has more to lose financially.

Nikki: I loved that he was a journalist in, in that there are certain jobs in romance stories that pop up a lot. You know, if they work in fashion, they're a baker, they're a journalist, and I feel like journalism is the one that is misrepresented the

Meg: Mm-hmm.

Nikki: It's like, that's not how magazines work. That's not how journalism works.

That that's not how journalistic ethics work. Like we only need to look at Netflix's, a Christmas Prince series with Amber, who's a journalist to say that's not how journalism works. Like at like that, that movie is hilarious to me and I would love to do a Christmas episode on it in the future. Uh,

Meg: it on the list. I'll write it down.

Nikki: Uh, she's not like other girls because she wears Converse. Um, but like how she took her notes and how she proposed the article and how she was writing, it was just like, this is not how journalism works. with Lenin, it was still, it didn't still strike for me. And I think maybe part of that was the, the magazine he's positioned as working for, and he says this a couple times, even in the early books where he shows up, he goes, I we're not a gossip brag.

We're like a sports health.

Meg: Yeah. Yeah. Sports Health Magazine, I think it is Sporting Health.

Nikki: sporting hat, that name. Come on,

Meg: Bad, bad name.

Nikki: Uh, but I guess great for SEO but also probably fighting for SEOI, as I say to Meg, the SEO Queen, um, like, it was just like, it was an, it was a interesting setup because again, journalism is not journalism as it's explained in most books and, and movies. But that was the stressful point for me the whole time. 'cause. It's like, off the record, on the record, journalistic ethics being connected to your story versus like keeping a distance, reporting the truth. And, um, like what happens in a Christmas prince? Is she, you know, pub, she gives a story to her editor after she's had this big romantic moment about how the king is the, the king is not an asshole.

He's a kingly AST king. He's the nicest king. And her editor is like, this is not what we publish here. I wanted gossip. So then she goes and publishes that on her blog, right? So I always, I was, I kept expecting, you know, certain plot lines. As soon as I hear journalists in a story, I'm like, okay, they're gonna write a story and it's gonna be the true story.

But because it's not what their editor wants, they're gonna like dink it. And that'll be their big grand gesture to the person be like, you're writing a story on me the whole time. Surprise. I told the real story like it. It's just my brain goes in so many different directions As soon as a journalist gets introduced into a

Meg: Y Yeah. And I think the choice to make a, to put a journalist into the series is also an interesting choice. Um, because there are so many secrets. There are so many dis. About outing. Um, and I, I think about, I'm trying to remember who said it, it may have been Sophie Jordan, it may have been Sarah McLean. Um, but I heard this quote once that was like, if you're going to write a firefighter, you have to match them with an arsonist.

Um. You know, this idea of you, you match your characters, not just their personalities like we were talking about, and their, their wounds, but you also sometimes can match their careers so that they make sense. Um, even like, what was it, uh, the Goliath of wrestling where it's like, you know, a Holt owns a, a wrestling meet.

Wrestling company and then Taylor is in marketing so he can hire him. You know, like you, you sort of, sometimes these careers can really align very well and I think anytime that you have a journalist, you mean to match them up with somebody who has a secret. And that's what makes it interesting is that they then have to hide their own.

And I think there's a reason that journalists often show up, not even just in romances, but in like cozy mysteries because

Nikki: Mm

Meg: they are. Taught to ask questions and taught to be curious and taught to follow a lead, um, and chase something, especially if it doesn't seem quite right. And so I think that's, you know, bakers are just like sweet little, you know, they can, they can do whatever they want and they have these cute, you know, cupcakes that they can lure people in with.

But journalists, when you put a journalist in a book, um, it's because you want to unravel a secret.

Nikki: The, the, the theme of exposure is always present in fake dating.

Meg: Hmm.

Nikki: talked about it in, in last week's episode. This idea that there are people who think they're bullshitting, and then there's like a, it's either a reveal or it's a conversation of, okay, we're done. And I think one of the reasons why I found Book two and three so much more stressful is the threat of exposure was a large circle, right?

Like with Matt and Noah, they're going in front of pr, they're showing up in national, international magazines, they're showing up with multimillion dollar contracts, like, so the threat of exposure is, is huge. When you look at. Lenin and Ollie, it's the same thing. The threat of exposure is coming from journalists and where's the story going to break first and what could the story say?

So I think this idea of public and private, 'cause that was another thing we talked about in our, our last episode, was this idea of what we are displaying publicly in the beginning is not what we feel privately, but then over time those start to match as the relationship happens. So with here, it's like the threat of exposure, like. When you bring in outside forces, being the ones who will do the, the exposing, like that's where so much of the stress and the stakes come from, and the pressure that then causes people to crack under said pressure, which makes the threat of exposure higher. This is exhausting

Meg: and

Nikki: emotionally.

Meg: to, with the, the premise of this episode being same trope three ways, right? Where it's like Damon and Maddox's, fake date, but pub, but. Publicly, they, no one knows that it's fake. Right? And then

Nikki: they, if someone finds out great, he doesn't wanna go to his hometown anyway, so the stakes are so

Meg: they're not really high stakes.

Nikki: of ex the, the ring of exposure.

Meg: Right. But with, with Matt and Noah, they're publicly dating and his private life, people know that it's fake, right? Damon set it up. Maddox knows that it's fake, and then when they start to catch feelings, those people who know that it's fake are like, this was really not fake.

Right? And then in Deke, you have the opposite, which is that. Publicly, they are not together. They are secret. They are hiding. Even like, um, Ollie's roommate comes back and they're like, Nope, you can't be here. Nope, nope. Get, get out. Like, hide, hide, hide. Right? And then privately is where the fake dating is happening.

It's happening with Ollie's family.

Nikki: Mm.

Meg: Whereas in the other books, the family know knows that it's fake. And in that book, the family thinks that the fake is real, but nobody knows publicly that they're together. So the public and private is also, you know, when you have these levers that you're pulling, especially in something like a sports romance where these are public figures, you have this lever that you can pull a publicity of media reactions, um, that you can't pull.

You know, nobody gives a shit. If Damon, who is a sports agent who lost his career is dating someone or not, but once you get into these are professional athletes, therefore their life becomes public. Um, that's when some of these, these other levers you can pull to say, let's raise the stakes by putting them in a press conference, you know?

Nikki: Mm-hmm. Damn, when you put it that way, Eden damn girl. a good craft.

Meg: Alright, so

Nikki: craft.

Meg: let's wrap up with the question of what do you ship most about? These three books or about the fake boyfriend series or about sports fake dating or what? What's the The shippable

Nikki: for

Meg: element.

Nikki: the shippable thing, uh, I'm gonna Damon in book one is probably my biggest ship and I'm thinking specifically about a couple scenes. I like, we've, we've, this is a recurring, another recurring theme for me. Adults having fucking adult conversations and talking about boundaries. Maybe it's because I know I have shit boundaries, so to see it modeled so well, like, oh, so aspirational.

But like Damon saying to Maddie, like, I get what you're feeling. That's not mine to take on. I'm not doing this. I am not gonna be an experiment for you. I am not gonna put myself in a situation where I could be emotionally hurt again. So no. And then he has the inner turmoil, which is the thing that I love, um, when he's like, finally unleash. Um, I just love Damon's character and how he approached the relationship because I felt like he struck such a great balance between being vulnerable and being open with Maddy about what potentially could happen, but also being very much like, it's like that metaphor of you gotta put your, your mask on before you

Meg: Oh, I love that.

Nikki: I, I need to do this because even though I like you. And you put yourself in this dumbass situation because you lied. am not gonna risk it again. Like, no, it's just, it's not going to happen. And then that when it does develop and the trust begins to build between them and the intimate intimacy to grow between them, when it, it just so emotionally hits and resonates for me that. Hands down. That's, I think that's probably why, like just those couple of scenes where Damon is in that situation. That's why that made, um, fake out the, my favorite book in the series for me. Meg, what did you ship?

Meg: I shipped. The chasing of what the characters do. I shipped the, that idea that Eden Finley put into the, um, the acknowledgements of just like, these characters didn't do what I wanted them to do. And that's okay because they are their own people. They are these attention whores. Um, this one I thought would work, but it didn't work.

So I pivoted. Um, but it all works within the greater context of the series.

Nikki: Mm-hmm.

Meg: and I love. The, you can see the threads of each character showing up in Book one. Um, I'm not a big reread-er I don't like rereading multiple times, so going back and rereading this and actually for you, and I read five books to batch edit today, and I have read all five of those books.

We've never been in that situation before where I reread five books in a month. Um. And this was the reread that I enjoyed the most because of that, because of knowing, oh, you know, when Jet gets his book in book five and I've also read the next series that's a spinoff. From that, I can start to see those threads showing up.

Um, and that was really just like a satisfying thing as a reader to see all the pipe that's been laid.

Nikki: Yeah, master Master Craft person, Eden Finley.

Meg: Absolutely.

Nikki: Big ups. Alright, well, before we get into the final question of what we are shipping this week, uh, some gentle reminders, uh, that if you wanna make us happy and give us some exposure, not in the forced outing kind of way, we would appreciate you subscribing to the show, pod, uh, substack Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts from. Leave us a review. Leave us a rating. We like words of affirmation. It makes us feel nice. Uh, and then you can see our happy smiling faces on social media. Give us a follow Instagram, TikTok, the YouTube at first dates and soulmates. Uh, and if you have questions, comments, suggestions, or you just wanna chat about your opinions, hi over to Substack.

Or give us an email at first dates and soulmates [email protected]. Listen to what you think. We read all of the emails we like. I'm one of those people who likes getting emails. I'll take your emails 'cause I'm an inbox zero girly,

Meg: Oh,

Nikki: scare me. on this challenge,

Meg: emails like this. I don't like emails where people are like, where's my SE strategy? But this, I could do this all day.

Nikki: That's just you. Uh, all right, Meg, what are you shipping this week?

Meg: my ship comes directly out of the episode, which is that I ship Mider novellas.

Nikki: I love those.

Meg: And this ties in so well to what I shipped about this particular series. But I'm gonna specifically point out that there are Mider novellas that Eden Finley wrote, um, and put into a, uh, an anthology. Called the fake boyfriend breakaways.

And so it's on Kindle Unlimited in the same way. It's basically she wrote Mider Novellas. So between book two and three is a, is a series novella or is a novella called Rebound, which is Aaron and Wyatt, who Noah had been hooking up with Aaron and sort of broke his heart and Wyatt went after him. And then they, they, she picks up from that moment where they walk outside the bar.

Um. There's a novella called It's Complicated, which is about, uh, Ali's ex-boyfriend Ash and Ali's brother Max. And the, you know, max is pissed throughout Ali's entire book that, you know, what a waste that you guys dated and didn't get married because Max secretly loves Ash. Um, and that also introduces Jordan.

So Ash ends up hooking up with Jordan, who is the love interest in book four of the Boy Bed series, uh, which I didn't realize. That was gonna happen. You know, so these mider novellas to give us those side characters who don't necessarily need a hundred thousand words or 80,000 words, they can do it in 20,000 words, 30,000 words.

You get just like a little bit of a dip. You get to stay in the world. And then the next time you see them, you can be like, all right. Oh, they're, oh, they're cute. They're, they're sweet. But like it doesn't need to be the big public, everything. It can just be like a sweet story, self-contained, close the loops.

Um.

Nikki: it.

Meg: I love that the loop's open in the book, but I don't need to read eight full length novels.

Nikki: True. Or do you.

Meg: I really don't. Nikki, what are you shipping this week?

Nikki: I am shipping, uh, a substack that I've been following for a while. It's Lady Whistle Threads.

Meg: that's a great

Nikki: seen

Meg: Substack name.

Nikki: So she, um, it's a, it's a, a, a a book Threader, and I cannot remember her, her original Threads name 'cause she has her own separate account. Um, so it started showing up on my suggested threads on Instagram.

So, you know, you, you're in Instagram, you see suggested threads. You go over to Threads and you read shit there. Uh, so Lady Whistle Threads, um, is on Substack. on Threads. Um, but she like reports on all the book Drama in the World each week. So, and she'll talk about, it's a book, drama discourse, terrible Behavior.

So she talks about, like, authors doing bad shit, um, reviewers, certain conferences. Uh, she talks about AI and piracy, like when meta the, the news broke that Meta had used, uh, a pirating site to train their AI on a ton of like romance authors. Works. Um, she talks about like book politics. She talks about book cons. It's so funny because she writes it like Lady Whistle

Meg: I love it.

Nikki: Uh, so it's goes dearest, gentle book threads. It's time for our weekly wrap up of book drama discourse and terrible behavior. Uh, so it's great. The one. I'll say, I guess criticism that I have is because she doesn't name names.

That's like the difference between Lady

Meg: Mm.

Nikki: we have things like libel and defamation now,

Meg: Right.

Nikki: that if you're not like fully in the pulse of the book world, you don't really get who it's in reference to. Um, because people don't wanna like say authors names on threads or on Substack because the, the chances of shit happening is just not great. Um, but. Uh, it's still very, very funny. Uh, and it's still kind of like a fun way to like keep yourself on the thread. 'cause it'll say things like, after the author s saga from last week, many people weighed in on the issue. And I'm like, I'm not on straight book

Meg: Yeah.

Nikki: 'cause I know it's a straight author based on context.

But like, I don't know who it is. So I don't get like the full context. It's the only like little bit of a complaint I have, but I also kind of like it 'cause y'all, I don't need more drama in my

Meg: Mm-hmm.

Nikki: I am good to just absorb and let the drama wash over me and go, oh my God, this drama is existing and it has nothing to do with me. Uh, so yeah, lady Whistle threads, highly recommend checking it out if you like book drama and knowing what's going on in the book world.

Meg: I love that we will add it to our recommendations on our substack, so you can click to it right from there. We'll put it in the show notes for this episode, which Nikki does an incredible job of putting together. I haven't called you out on that lately, um, but I love, I love all the work that you're doing on it, and if you are missing that, then come on over to our substack and you can weigh in and.

See what Nikki's been up to in all of the ridiculous calls to action that you put in there. That correct me up every time. Um, and join us next week. We'll be back. Uh, we decided to do, since we are doing a full month of fake dating as a trope deep dive, I went and googled what is the fake dating, what are the top fake dating ones?

And we are reading the one that shows up on. Every single list that I found, usually the first one we're gonna read Ellie Hazelwood's The Love Hypothesis, and I have big feelings about the love hypothesis.

Nikki: to discuss this with you.

Meg: So tune in next week for the Love Hypothesis.

Nikki: bye.

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