Spoiler warning: This review contains spoilers for Fandom, including a major development late in the book.
Content note: Fandom deals with addiction, death and suicidal thoughts.
My copy of Fandom opens with a message from Eden Finley: “Immy, love is ‘more than words’.”
By the time I finished the third book in the Australian author’s Famous series, I understood exactly what she meant.
Fandom is the story of Mason Nash and Denver Smith, two former members of boy band Eleven who used to be best friends and now can’t be in the same room.
First published on April 7, 2021, it’s the heaviest book in the series so far. I loved it.
The warning at the front
Finley is upfront about what you’re getting into.
In a note at the start of the book, she says Mason and Denver ended up being heavier than she anticipated.
The story still sits within her usual brand of snark and light-heartedness, she writes, but it addresses or mentions addiction, death and suicidal thoughts. If those topics are likely to trigger a negative response, she suggests it might be best to skip this one.
Take her at her word. This is not the breezy pop fantasy of book one.
READ MORE: Spotlight: my review of Famous book two
The night Eleven broke up
The book opens with a flashback to Eleven’s last concert, then picks up with Denver and Mason long estranged.
“I made a mistake, and I’ve been avoiding bandmate Mason Nash ever since,” Denver says in the book’s blurb.
Mason’s side is just as raw: “Two and a half years ago, he ghosted me, and I still don’t know why.”
When Eleven reunion talks start, Denver wants nothing to do with them. He could use the publicity, but he doesn’t want to face Mason.
Mason doesn’t want to hear about a reunion either. Then his former bandmates turn up on his doorstep, and his eyes land on Denver.
From there the story plays out over a single television season, a few months all up, ending two days after the finale of the show that gives the book its name.
Mason, the mountain man
I was fascinated by Mason’s “retirement”.
Eighteen months before the story starts, he walked away from Hollywood and went home to Montana, where he grew up and where his father died when he was 10.
He’d moved to Los Angeles for college and ended up in Eleven. He was engaged once, until he caught his fiancee cheating.
With his Eleven money he built a sprawling cabin-style house on his family’s land near Lone Mountain, not far from Big Sky.
Now he has gained weight, cuts down trees and insists he doesn’t miss LA or anyone in it.
I understood it completely. There is something very believable about a former pop star who simply opts out.
Denver, the reality TV judge
Denver, occasionally Denny, has gone the other way.
He’s from South LA, was abandoned by his mother, who struggled with addiction, and was raised by his grandmother, who died when he was 16.
He owns a home in Malibu and is working as a judge on Fandom, a reality singing competition.
I enjoyed the look inside his career, and how much he feels he needs the exposure.
The book delves into Denver’s relationship with alcohol, never quite putting a label on, but is clear that the musician thinks it’s best to stay away from it.
Best friends to lovers, handled with care
Best friends turned lovers is a common trope in MM romance, and particularly in Finley’s books.
Here it’s handled with real care. Mason and Denver aren’t just falling for each other, they’re entering a world of exploration together, and Finley gives them room to do it.
I have a soft spot for these two.
‘Sorry Cameron’
Then comes the part the warning was preparing you for. Please don’t read any further to avoid spoilers.
…
Cameron Verikas, Eleven’s manager, dies suddenly at the end of the book.
Finley addresses it in her thank you note. “What a ride, huh?” she writes, saying Mason and Denver led their own story and took it to places she didn’t think it would go, before adding: “Sorry Cameron.”
What’s next
Book four is Encore, and it belongs to Blake, the fifth member of Eleven and, as of the end of book three, the only straight one.
Since this is an Eden Finley series, I suspect he won’t be staying straight for long.
Finley’s note points to Blake and a man named Jordan, and to “that pesky boyfriend of Jordan’s”.
I’m looking forward to it, and I’m hoping it finally delivers the Eleven reunion.
READ MORE: Where the Famous series began: my Pop Star review
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