Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Fan Service by Rosie Danan Published by Berkley on March 11, 2025
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 352
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
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The only place small-town outcast Alex Lawson fits in is the online fan forum she built for The Arcane Files, a long-running werewolf detective show. Her dedication to archiving fictional supernatural lore made her Internet-famous, even if she harbors a secret disdain for the show’s star, Devin Ashwood. (Never meet your heroes—sometimes they turn out to be The Worst.)
Ever since his show went off the air, Devin and his career have spiraled, but waking up naked in the woods outside his LA home with no memory of the night before is a new low. It must have been a coincidence that the once-in-a-century Wolf Blood Moon crested last night. The claws, fangs, and howling are a little more difficult to explain away. Desperate for answers, Devin finds Alex—the closest thing to an expert that exists. If only he could convince her to stop hating his guts long enough to help....
Once he makes her an offer she can’t refuse, these reluctant allies lower their guards trying to wrangle his inner beast. Unfortunately, getting up close and personal quickly comes back to bite them.
Have you ever been a part of a fandom? I have been involved in a few over the years some focused on books and others on tv series, one for Buffy the Vampire Slayer was my first. They are really fun communities that you share a love of a show or book and dig down into the minutia of some of the subplots and characters. Fan Service builds on what if one of the characters you used to fangirl/boy over needed your help years later? Could you help them, would you be able to remember they are not just the character they played on tv, but something real as well?
Fan Service is a stand alone enemies to lovers story, with a happy/grumpy trope. It stars a former actor whose claim to fame was a series that hasn’t been on air for about a decade and the girl who used to be the moderator of the fan page for the show. The down on his luck actor is about to meet the girl that dug into all the lore and knows all the superfluous details of his former show. He is hoping she can help because he might just be becoming the monster he used to portray. Devin wanted desperately to bring the Arcane Files back, but he was hoping that he wouldn’t need to actually become a werewolf to do it.
“But fair warning, whether or not this works, it’s probably going to be really unpleasant.”
“Oh, you mean different, then,” Devin said, “from the blackouts, public humiliation, destruction of my career prospects, and the complete upending of my physical and mental health?”
Alex has a love hate relationship with Devin. He might have broken her heart a little at a Con years ago, but that didn’t dim her enthusiasm for the show he was on and the character he played. When he shows up in her little town in Florida, she is a bit reluctant to help him. But he has a lot of money and she is in a little bit of a financial pickle since her dad’s heart issues years ago. She might have agreed to help him, but she is going to definitely keep him at a distance. That is a little harder than initially anticipated as he starts to turn up the charm and insert himself everywhere in her life.
I have mixed feelings about the romance in this book. I only liked the characters about half of the time. Devin is supposed to be forty-two. I had to remind myself of that constantly because he still acted like a person in their twenties. Part of that can be explained a little by how he grew up on a set and surrounded by adults with no really solid role models. But there were multiple times that his selfishness overshadowed any redeeming qualities and I struggled a little with his motivations. Alex too spends so much time shut down or off emotionally that I had a hard time forming an attachment to her. She is lashing out at the world with tattoos, piercings and black garb. She also seems in her early twenties emotionally and I struggled to picture her in her thirties. At a certain point, I gave up on the age of the characters, resolved in my head they were emotionally 22-25 and went on with the story. It was a lot more fun that way.
I thought the premise of the story was interesting and I liked how they tied in Devin becoming a werewolf now to the lore of the original T.V. show. The eventual development of the romantic relationship eventually grabbed me and dragged me along as well. Devin was so broken that I was really rooting for him to find something else to care about than the show he was on over a decade ago. I liked all of his backstory as it was teased out that gave us some insight into his stunted emotional growth and need to be something for other people.
After a lifetime of seeking the approval of the anonymous masses, he’d wound up completely alone. Devin wouldn’t know real love if it was standing right in front of him.
Remarkably, even though I had a few issues with liking the characters and all the ‘woke’ stuff throughout the book, I actually ended up enjoying it overall. I was satisfied with the ending and how Devin and Alex changed their lives. Getting to see the softer side of Alex helped as she worked through some of her issues and learned how to open up. Alex and Devin were good for each other and were able to soften out some of the broken pieces so each became a better people. I grew to like the characters they became in the end.
About Rosie Danan
Rosie Danan writes steamy, big-hearted books, articles, and tweets about the trials and triumphs of modern love.
The New York Times calls Rosie Danan’s debut novel, THE ROOMMATE “a book about people expanding into their best possible selves…warmly funny and gorgeously sexy.” The rom-com has been optioned for film, and a companion book THE INTIMACY EXPERIMENT is forthcoming April 6, 2021 in both the US and UK.
After participating in the writing mentorship program Pitch Wars as a 2018 mentee, she was thrilled to rejoin the organization as a 2019 and 2020 mentor.
When not writing, Rosie enjoys jogging slowly to fast music, petting other people’s dogs, and competing against herself in rounds of Chopped using the miscellaneous ingredients occupying her fridge.
As an American expat currently living in London, she’s developed an incurable fondness for electric kettles.
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I’ve got this one on my TBR list already because I do like Rosie Danan’s books, but I’ll have to see how I end up liking the characters in this one. They sound a little frustrating.
It’s my first book by her so I’ll be interested in seeing what you think. I want to try one of her other books to see how they compare. Not my favorite couple characters, but I did like the story overall.
How fun!
Yes. If you just wanted a good time this is a great read for that. I did enjoy the play on the werewolf aspect of the story tied to a fandom a lot.
I’ve been wanting to read one by this author, and this one is on my TBR. I was also a big Buffy fan! So we’ll see if I get around to it. I have a copy of her book, Do Your Worst. I’ll start with that one! Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I hope you enjoy it. I am going to try out another book by her to see if I enjoy the characters just a little more. It was nostalgic in a way though.