A review by faeriebell
For the Fans by Nyla K.

lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

 
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars. I enjoyed the way this book came together a great deal and really rooted for the MCs. 

For the Fans 
Woo okay. This book surprised the crap out of me, because it was much deeper than I expected. I tried to get into it several times before I finally did. Boy am I glad I pushed through. The characterizations were incredible and nuanced. 

The Odds Were Stacked  
First off, the tropes in this book are not my main go-to when it comes to mm romance reading. In general, I avoid reading about younger people, because I'm older myself. The believability of a plot diminishes when 19-20 year old main characters are falling in life-long love at that age. Remembering how I was, and I was not making decisions that were conducive to life-long stability to say the least! 
I don't read a lot of college romances because of that. I like older characters in general who have had more experiences in life, come with more baggage because of that, and have to work through old trauma to get to a place where they can be with their love interests.

Surprisingly, this book has all that even with younger characters! While my heart squeezed with empathy over the lives the young MCs has lived, I enjoyed that these guys had a lot of depth, weren't shallow caricatures of young people, and had believable reactions to events that transpired. 

Dirty Talk 
I found some of the dirty talk going on during the spice to be a bit over the top. That's fine, it's a mm romance book. But it didn't seem totally believable that the uptight in denial MC would be suddenly so free with their language during the smut. In fact, that seemed like a missed opportunity, like the author could have had him work through some of his barriers by becoming more open with the dirty talk. Just me? That's okay, it just seemed like it could have been a thing. 

Length 
I did find For the Fans by Nyla K. to be a really long read, like things were drawn out that could have been edited down a bit. It was a bit like oh my god what else can happen here why am I only 75% of the way through? I did power through it but there was a LOT going on that made it seem like a bit of a slog. 
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