Superfan

By: Sarina Bowen

Narrated by: Aaron Shedlock, Virginia Rose

Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

A new stand-alone novel in the Brooklyn Bruisers world! 

Sometimes lady luck shakes your hand, and sometimes she smacks your face. Sometimes she does both on the same day. Three years ago, I met the most amazing girl in the world. We were both down on our luck. Then I got that call - the one that tells you to get your buns on a plane to go meet your destiny.

But the girl was left behind. I didn’t have her phone number, and she didn’t know my real name. While I became a professional hockey player, she became a superstar, with platinum records and legions of fans. And a slick music producer boyfriend who treated her badly. But fate wasn’t done with us yet. 

When Delilah turns up at a hockey game, I can’t resist making contact. The internet swoons when I ask her out on a date. She might not remember me. But her jerk-face ex does. He’ll do anything to keep us apart. Good thing athletes never give up. This time I’m playing to win.

©2019 Sarina Bowen (P)2019 Sarina Bowen

Good guy gets his HEA!

Been waiting for Silas’ story since the first Brooklyn Bruiser book. Virginia Rose is Delilah with all her sultry voice and Aaron brought the sweetness that is Silas. Love the banter and the awkwardness. You can hear the baggage and distrust in Delilah interaction with Silas and it colored their relationship. For BB fans it also helped that there is quite a bit of Becca in this book and it’s nice to hear VR narrating as her again.

Superfan

Ok first the narration is fantastic, Aaron was the perfect Silas. Also Virginia is fast becoming a favorite female narrator for me. So that isn’t the issue the issue for me was her actual character.

This is where the story fell a little flat for me. Yes the ending worked out but it was all the in between with Delilah she was too naive for being someone who seemed to have a good head on her shoulders. She trusts the wrong people even knowing they are shady. I just didn’t understand any of that. I guess even the people around her who saw the shadiness and still didn’t help her. I just well it all fell a little flat for me. It makes me sad because I loved the last 2 books before this one.

I guess you can’t love them all even when you really, really, want to.

Again the narration was great it was just the characters, characteristics I just didn’t agree with. There was so much potential.

loved it!

Narration was great. I enjoyed the male/ female alternating. it helped me visualize the characters. the story was great. Silas was a sweetheart. Delilah and he met when they both were struggling at a crossroads in life. overall very sweet story and how they come together and grow

Sparkle On Forever

Overall 4 stars
Performance 4.5 stars
Story 4 stars

Superfan was the blending of so many of my favorite tropes - second chance romance, sports, rock star, and even a touch of suspense thrown in for good measure. I couldn't wait to find out more about good guy Silas and what his story was with Delilah Spark. This is part of the Brooklyn series, but can be enjoyed as a standalone. I do recommend reading the previous books, however, because they're awesome and also because characters from those books do appear throughout the series.

Silas was just as wonderful as I thought he would be and more. He was sweet and thoughtful, but also assertive when he needed/wanted to be. There was a gentleness and vulnerability to him that I found so endearing, but what I really loved was how well he listened and how patient he was. Yes, there were times he was unsure and nervous, but he was confident enough to give Delilah the control and independence she so desperately needed. I loved that he was all in from the very start and that devotion never wavered.

It took a bit for Delilah to grow on me, but I really felt like she had the biggest transformation in the book. She matured so much and went from a naive and somewhat helpless young woman to a more independent and confident one. I really enjoyed seeing her come into her own and take control of her life. She did make some questionable decisions, but I felt like by the end she was working to make better choices in the future.

Delilah and Silas were adorkably sweet, but also very sexy. I would have loved to have more history between them though to warrant the Delilah obsession by Silas. They certainly had chemistry, but I'm not the biggest fan of instalove and this seemed to go from zero to sixty in record time. I understand that their relationship was never going to follow a conventional timeline, but I still would have liked to see and feel them reconnect more after so many years apart. I'm also not entirely sure why Silas never reached out to Delilah in all that time, considering how they had left things. The drama with Brett and the suspenseful aspect of the story didn't entirely work for me and the resolution to it was a bit abrupt and almost too neatly tied together. I did love seeing all the Bruisers again though and that they played such a big role in setting things in motion. The nuptials that take place in the book had me squealing (I will NEVER tire of that couple!) and were such a treat! The epilogue left me with a huge smile on my face and it was the perfect way to bring Silas and Delilah's story full circle.

I originally read Superfan when it first released and it was so fun to revisit the story via audio. Aaron Shedlock was so wonderful as Silas and was just the right amount of sweet and sexy. Virginia Rose really sparkled (Sorry! I couldn't help myself!) as Delilah. Their voices complemented each other very well and this was the perfect way to reread this book. Superfan is a wonderful addition to the series!

*I voluntarily listened to a review copy of this book*

An excellent sequel

You need to start at the beginning of this series because there is so much interaction. BUT! Wherever you begin, you're in for a treat. I so LOVE this series!

OMG so good

This book will quite possibly steal your breath. It was so incredibly good. The characters are so well written and developed that they seem real to at least myself, not so sure about others. This was also a suspense but with tons of romance. Just buy this book, you won't be sorry that you did.

A sure hope this isn’t the last Brooklyn Bruisers!

Finally got to listen to Silas’s story and Sarina Bowen didn’t disappoint! Loved the interaction with the characters from previous books, whenever I think I have a favorite player, I fall in love with a new one. Please don’t make this be the end!

Loved this one very much

I loved this book so much. I loved the characters and the development of the story. I loved that we got a glimpse of Nate's wedding. This is a great one. The narration was perfect a great addition to this great series

Love the Brooklyn Bruisers

It was great to finally get Silas' story. At times I didn't always love Delilah and some of the dumb choices she made to drive the plot along, but I could get over those parts because I love the world of the Brooklyn Bruisers so much. Silas was terrific - kind, funny and sweet. It was fun to see the characters from previous books as well.

I enjoyed Aaron Shedlock's voice, except he had this very annoying habit of "sighing" out the last word of every sentence. I heard an interview with him, and he didn't do it then, but for some reason he does it A LOT when he narrates. I hope he can break this habit, or at least not do it quite as frequently. It detracts from his otherwise great performance. Virginia Rose sounded a bit too old for Delilah and something about her performance didn't match the way the character was written, at least for me.

Overall I enjoyed the book and hope Sarina Bowen will continue to write about the Brooklyn Bruisers. Great series.

Am I too old to relate? Hit & miss storyline.

Depending on which promo is read, this is billed as either book 6 is the Brooklyn Bruisers hockey series or a standalone set in that series’ world. Which is to say there is not much hockey. Since I’m not in this for the hockey, I’m ok with that but fans be warned. I loved books 5 & 2 but find that Bowen’s books can be hit or miss for me and this one had almost more miss than hit.

Most of the book was ok if a little less exciting than the opening sequence establishes. Problematically, it also has flashes of stupidity. It’s established that Silas is a Good Guy with a crush on Delilah. It’s established that Delilah, despite selling out stadiums on tour, is an insecure basket case much of the time. My problem was that the things she thinks make her A Diva are things she should be getting from her professional life and the things she glosses over are the actual problem - she repeatedly thinks she has no power where she has power and the reverse. This is what lakes me feel too old to relate - I see power dynamics differently than do people just starting their careers and don’t have sufficient patience with the people who let them be taken advantage of. People try to set her straight but this is part of her growth arc and I didn’t love it. The thing that is handled the best, most of the time, is her totally reasonable, if inconvenient, aversion to opened beverages. (exception os below in the spoilers) It’s an ongoing arc that gets addressed along with the romance and other issues. I liked the publicist character and the Manager character a lot.

Steam: medium-low M/F sex on page

Narration: competent & good quality

—-
The rest of this review is basically me telling the author where I think the book should be fixed to be more coherent. There was good stuff, it was just muddled in weirdness enough that I almost quit reading.

¡Spoilers lie ahead!
Real & True plot spoilers, no obfuscation. Stop if you don’t want spoilers.

(Spoilers) First, there’s a “blind date” that falls apart because…of course it does? Delilah accepts Silas’s blind date bet on a whim. Fine. However: (A) There is no chance she preps for the date without seeing a clear picture of his face when she has a security team, a publicist/friend, and Google and he is a minor celeb. It has only been 3 years since they hung out every day. No way does she not know him. 😐 That is just not believable. (B) The public date which was internet famous has no internet followup or backlash when it fails to materialize. One could claim that since the bff/publicist keeps a lot of bad news at bay & we’re reading from Delilah’s POV that we just don’t get shown the fallout but it vanished into the ether and shouldn’t have.

(Spoiler) Structural issue. Possibly feedback about previous books being a little confusing by mixing current story with flashback led to the decision to have all the flashback in one large chunk? It didn’t work for me, In part because the implication is that Delilah & Silas had one steamy night together so when the section starts, I was not prepared for it to cover WEEKS of interaction. To be fair, I really enjoyed this section. I loved their meet cute & repeat hangouts. I just expected it to be shorter or broken up into smaller bits, so I felt anxious -in a bad way- through most of it. Then it ended with a twist and that twist sucked. It sucked because is was cruel to someone who was already untrusting and emotionally insecure. Being ghosted by the one guy she trusts? Hurts her significantly enough to make some terrible life choices along the lines of “If I can’t trust the good guy, there are no good guys so I may as well stick with the bad guy I think I need because all guys are equally bad.” But ghosting her only gives Silas some regrets. She is left in the dark for three years while he is free to fangrrl her at will. The asymmetry of the hurt bothers me.

(Spoiler) The public date is deliberately scuttled by her ex. That Delilah lets the ex scuttle her date is annoying but not unbelievable. She tries to treat him as someone acting in good faith and he is not. Even knowing this, her habit is appeasing him and he has just enough leverage over her to make her think she has to keep appeasing him. This is common behavior when dealing with manipulative abusers. When it gets old is when Silas lets the ex manipulate them in a way that hurts Delilah most. The explanation of “she’s being watched so I’ll stand her up, again, is specious”. (A) He had a friend at the destination!! Danny could have let her know about the delay, and after his earlier failure, would have jumped at the chance. (B) Her ex had power but was not omniscient. Silas knew who was or was not in his pocket in their old town. (C) Silas has friends and a security expert who could have contacted Danny or the publicist or the manager or his mom on his behalf to get through to her about the change in plans so she is not both stood up AND ghosted. Being stood up with a message waiting that said literally anything would have saved the scene for me. True, part of the issue is that we’re dealing with two newly minted celebs who have not quite figured out all the perks of being celebs, but come on! Wanting to set up the main characters to relive the old error but get it right this time seemed like the goal of this oddity. I HATED it because the fallout was again asymmetric: emotionally *cruel* to Delilah and only vaguely uncomfortable for Silas. The other possible reason for this is Silas getting some dirt on the ex. The contrivance wasn’t worth it. I almost quit reading when Silas delayed his trip without telling her.

(Spoiler) When appeasing the ex gets stupid is when, having been warned by her new, kickass manager, to never meet privately with the ex, Delilah meets with the ex at his private home, alone. I can kind of see it because she still thinks she can manipulate him despite 3 years of evidence to the contrary, and people fall back to established patterns of behavior when given big enough incentives. HOWEVER! (A) being taken to his private home should have had her turning around. (B) Delilah doesn’t leave when business is concluded (where she says ~”I’ll have to let my lawyer look at this first.”). (C) She stays for a drink. (D) Despite noticing a problem with the drink upon opening and having 4 years of rejecting drinks from even this guy, she still takes a swig. (E) Despite a legit phobia about drinks, when she takes the swig and it tastes wrong, she doesn’t spit it out. (F) She tastes the problem immediately and does not call for her bodyguard and/or leave. (G) Uh… most date rape drugs take 15-30 minutes to take effect. Taken orally, Ketamine might work faster, but not so fast that she couldn’t leave. Also the drugs were diluted by the beverage. Either the full drink would have killed her or one swallow wouldn’t be that dramatic. She had time to get gone. (H) She deliberately ignored the three tries by Silas to contact her during which he was trying to warn her that the ex might be actually dangerous, not just petty. Might be something real people do but at this point I was screaming at her and the book and almost hit delete on the whole thing. I managed to bury my disgust long enough to see how they tried to fix it. That she was taken to a hospital was aces. Well done. and I mostly liked the rest of the book but what happened with her rescheduled concert? Did I tune it out while stewing over the previous annoyance? Did it not happen? What happened with the movie soundtrack? It was implied that the album release might scuttle that too - and the ex set it up to do just that so why let him win Yet Again? I would have been less mad if the emotional fallout of turning down (losing?) that gig was addressed, and actually happy if she was able to get/keep the gig.

(Spoiler) Emotional disconnects. Silas convinces the publicist that he’s a decent guy so she gives him access to her in private after the public date was scuttled. Silas was great, with one major exception, to old Delilah but we don’t know that yet. Their parting was sad on his side but *baffling* and *painful* on her side so I was not super on board for their first hook up. I wasn’t against it, but his apology needed more groveling for her to mentally rewrite 3 years of her life. In the flashback scenes, they connect really well. Delilah has trust issues that get worked on over the course of the book. But what are Silas’s issues? How did he grow? One scene where he contemplates leaving hockey for her might seem like full circle when hockey is why he left her in the first place, but it’s not equivalent to his past choice. Thankfully he chooses to keep his career but how did he grow from this relationship? Yes, I like them together but he has a crush and eventually his crush likes him back. He has to do some hustling to set things up and takes a couple days off from work but… there’s no significant growth for Silas. I like that they wind up together and they’re nice people but it wasn’t enough.

My current ranking of the series from best to worst: 5,2,3,4,6,1
Honestly, this almost got a 2 star rating but the bar hangout scenes and the vibrant secondary characters and general good intentions from most of the cast made some of the book worth reading.

Another addictive listen

I've yet to read a book by this author I didn't enjoy.

I listened to this in audio and absolutely loved it.

A hockey player and a hot rising star singer.

Brilliant characters.

I love reading about heroines who have a backbone, who can stand their ground and go after what they want but a swoon-worthy laid-back guy who says all the right words, always at the right time... damn... I melted to goo.

A second chance romance

Grew on me steadily

Initially I thought I was going to give this a solid 4 stars, but as the book went on I gradually got more invested and immersed in the story and it bumped it up to something special so I’ve given it 5 stars. I wasn’t expecting much because of some of the Goodreads reviews, but I was very pleasantly surprised.