Ever heard of a "rabbit hole"? The beginning of Erin Mayer's new novel reminds me a lot like this. Bored with her day job, drinking sorrows away... Hearing a song that strikes a cord... Next thing you know, you're online doing a search and then hours later you're hooked and have visited site after site.

The narrator in "Fan Club" does just this when she becomes obsessed with Adriana Argento. However, the deeper she gets into the online world of Adriana superfans, the more things start to spiral.

This book is a look at what can easily happen in today's modern world - and it's mind bending and twisting. And honestly, I loved it. I found myself wrapped up in page after page, unable to put it down... which almost felt like my own personal rabbit hole! ( )

I almost gave this book 3 stars. I was right there, even though it felt a bit disjointed, and was unbelievable much of the time. It was fascinating to see into the minds of the rabid fan cult. To see deep into the people who become so obsessed with a famous person, that they think they OWN that person. Erin Mayer mentioned more than a few times that these types of people want to crawl into the skin of their idol. Make their life their own. That they feel they have full power over that person's life. Truth be told, since I entered the world of KPop fandoms I understand how this can manifest. It's not hard to cross the line from fan, to obsessed.

Despite how slow this felt at times, and how much I wanted to shake some sense into our unnamed narrator, I carried on. I guess I kind of understood where she was coming from. To have nothing, to belong to nothing, and then to suddenly find meaning and belonging is a feeling that is too easy to sink deeply into without much thought. Even when she discovered that the people she was spending time with were terrible, she kept choosing them over and over. It's sad, but it's not beyond the realm of reality. I will saw though, it was so very frustrating. If that's what Mayer was going for, then it worked well.

The ending killed it for me though. All that time invested, and then the ending was just so lackluster. I almost rated this three stars, but I couldn't forgive that ending. ( )

2.5 Stars

An unnamed millennial becomes a part of an over-the-top fan group called ‘The Ivies’ who are obsessed, to put it mildly with Adriana Argento, an Ariana Grande clone pop star.

This is probably the hardest review I’ve ever had to write. I always can find something I like about any book I’ve read, but this one left me flat and wishing I could get my time reading back. The writing was over the top, to the point where I would have to reread full passages. I did not like any of the characters, at all. I seriously hope there are no millennials that act like prepubescent girls gone psycho, out there! God help us if there are! This book is listed as a Thriller, but I found it anything but thrilling. Predictable. Slow. I do applaud the author for the premise, I just wish the follow through was better.

Thanks to Harlequin Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC. Opinion is mine alone. ( )