I don’t know how you spent your Valentine’s Day this year. Maybe you were with a partner or having a Galentine’s brunch with your friends or spending it with other singles. Whatever you did, I hope you experienced some form of romance or love. As for me, I receive my daily dose of romance from one place in particular: books. I am a HUGE reader – I read 106 books last year (I’m not kidding). And I spent my Valentine’s Day doing what I do everyday — reading!
I have recently been swept up in the world of Eden Finley. Eden Finley is a MM romance writer who sells books via Amazon and her website. I personally became a fan of hers through Kindle Unlimited (which is how I afford my addiction).
I am a huge fan of MM romance books; I just love it. To make a long backstory short, I was looking for frat romances (don’t ask) and I stumbled upon a three-part series by Saxon James called Frat Wars. From there, I discovered the series that he wrote in collaboration with Eden Finley, Puckboys. I’m a huge fan of hockey romances – as so many of us are after hockey romance boomed in popularity this past year. As such, I was super excited to read a MM hockey romance series.
I devoured the whole series in a matter of days. The series follows five different MM couples in the NHL and all the complications and struggles that come along with that. The characters were loveable, but real, and I quickly became obsessed. However, throughout the series I kept noticing side characters popping up and lines that seemed like inside jokes that I wasn’t in the know of. On top of that, all of the NHL boys were in something that they called “The Queer Collective” – a friend group made up of all the queer hockey players in the NHL – and there were characters in the collective that I had never met. It was then that I realized that Puckboys was a follow-up series from Eden Finley’s CU Hockey series.
I was thrilled! I had just finished the Puckboys series and I was so sad that I was leaving the Puckboys world behind, and now I didn’t have to. I launched into the world of CU Hockey, once again following five MM couples through their journey of college hockey. But it wasn’t over yet. There were two characters from “The Queer Collective” whose stories weren’t told in the CU Hockey books. This is when I discovered that CU Hockey wasn’t the beginning, but the middle! There were five more books called the Fake Boyfriend series that predecesed the CU Hockey books.
I once again launched into a new world, and yet the same one I had been reading in all along. In fact, I was reading the origin stories of some notable characters all the way back in Puckboys. You have no idea how excited I was!
You may be thinking this has got to be where it ends – but guess what? It’s not! The last book of the Fake Boyfriend series had a side character that I quickly fell in love with. And he gets his own happy ever after in another four book series about him and his bandmates called the Famous series. And you’ll never guess (or maybe you will at this point) – the first book in the Famous Series has a character that is the origin of another series called the Mike Bravo series. And the second book of the Famous series has a side character that launches one more duology called Cash Me Outside. Phew! *wipes brow* Are you still with me?
So, why am I telling you all this? Well, for one, I need to tell someone; anyone! I can’t keep ranting in my car aloud to myself about my love for this series on my way to school; people are going to start thinking I’m crazy. Two, I’m hoping to inspire some of you to possibly go read these books because they’re seriously incredible. I’ve read them all and am impatiently waiting for the new releases. And three, I need to express my love of Eden Finley. So, this Valentine’s Day, this is my love letter to her.
Eden Finley makes relatable characters. They are loveable and inspiring and yet, they’re real. They’re not perfect. They make mistakes. I’ve laughed and I’ve cried and I’ve experienced heartbreak. I’ve fallen in love (so many times over) and I’ve railed against the injustice of the world. Eden Finley, through her books and characters, has made me feel things. I’ve read so many books from so many different authors, and yet she stands apart. I am truly one of her biggest fans!
And if you are at all interested in reading her books, let me give you the best order (according to me): Fake Boyfriends series, Famous book 1 and 2, Cash Me Outside duology, Famous book 3 and 4, Mike Bravo series (still in progress), CU Hockey series, Puckboys series (still in progress).