Fan Café

The Idolized #3

by Samantha Ann

Bridgette wanted nothing more than to see her favorite K-pop group CLAR1T in concert when they came to her city on their first US tour. Unfortunately, the universe had different plans and instead she was stuck working at the late-night café she owned. Just before she was about to close for the night a young man walks in to order a coffee. Despite his face being concealed by a baseball cap and face mask, something was familiar about him.

Woo Shin needed to escape the pressures of producing CLAR1T’s next album. While trying to find a bar to numb the anxiousness he found solace in a café and with the kind and rather stunning café owner.

The fangirl takes her bias wrecker on a late-night adventure through her city’s streets and with her in his arms he not only finds inspiration but someone who can help him fight his inner demons.

This book contains 18+ content.

Genres: Romance, Asian Literature, Novella

112 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 14, 2025

Reviews

[Gil · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 Stars. I appreciate what Fan Café was trying to do. I loved the concept of having the character speak (and in turn dialogue) in Korean. I appreciated the cozy setting. But I think this is a case where the romance elements did not connect with me. I wanted more build up in the café, more time to breathe, more emotion and less brutally paced sex. Also, while I was interested in the Korean at first, it became distracting to try and remember what each word was, to the point where I gave up on understanding. I think ultimately, this work wasn't for me. I appreciate what it trying to do, I wish it had more time and space to breathe, drink in the cozy vibes, and simply vibe. I also wish there were more footnotes of the characters used. But if K-Pop escapist fantasy romance is your vibe, give it a shot.

[Christina Close · Rating 5 out of 5]

Samantha Ann has done it again with this series, wait to feed the k-pop fans delulu thoughts, lol.



If Bridgette wouldn't have missed the concert because of her cafe I feel like this book would have been completely different and I'd have to say I wouldn't want it any other way. I love that Woo Shin and Bridgette were able to be extremely open with each other from the very beginning and that she made him feel like a normal person and not the least favorite member of the group.

I feel like he went from being bias wrecker to being her Ult bias, lol. I can't wait to see which member is next to fall in love in the next book.

[Bridget Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beta Read!

This was my third time beta reading for Samantha, and honestly, I'm so, so lucky she continues to trust me with her stories early because I love them so much. I absolutely adore her writing and I have now read almost every single book by Samantha (Matching Set, you're the last one I need to still read hehehe) and I need more, more, more.

This was spicy, it was fluffy, it empowered the fmc, it was just so good, and I highly recommend this entire series if you're looking for some really good smut with sweet mmcs that know exactly how to sweep you off your feet, and fmcs you can't help but love and relate to.

Thank you for letting me beta read this novella, Samantha! I'm so proud of you.

[Caitlin Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute and spicy. I do love this series! Can’t wait for the next member’s story. (Would love a slow burn in there sometime)

[Gabby Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

by far my favorite of this series!! so… when will the next one be out??

[Maggie Boyd · Rating 2 out of 5]

To be clear, two means it was okay, not bad, and that's exactly how I felt about this story. We begin our tale with Bridgette missing the CLAR1T concert because her employee called in sick, and she doesn't want to close her cafe for the night. When a masked, hatted stranger walks in, she doesn't think armed robbery but starts speaking Korean to him based on his accent. (Oh, COVID, what have you done to our crime instincts?) He accepts the coffee and heads to the window to stare out at the night. She offers him a croissant on the house and returns to clean up and closing rituals. When a couple of drunks confuse her coffee, tea, or me facility for a bar, her customer chases them out. During the altercation, his mask comes down, and it is revealed that he is Woo Shin from CLAR1T. While bagging up the leftover pastries together and taking them to a donation center, they both discover they would be down for some smexy times.

The author doesn't do much to build the connection between these two besides both of them considering each other hot and having an issue du jour in common (in this case, mental health). There were enough interesting factors here that I would have loved to see more exploration of. Like what it would be like to have a one-and-done with a man who has featured heavily in your fantasies. What it would be like for the idol to worry that there were pictures or videos he could be blackmailed with later (it is a big deal for these guys to date). Taking it to a traditional (and super fantasy) of an idol marrying his American lover was sweet, but it was like too much frosting on a cake.

[Arizona Harvey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really did like this series. It was short, spicy, and fun (Though I will admit that the spice level died down by the third book). I appreciate that while the series tackled issues within in the kpop industry and body image, they tackled them in a way that didn't feel repetitive. I love how each MLI had different ways of handling the issues and how they had different tastes when it came to spice (you know what I mean...). So, it made a short, repetitive story still very interesting. I ALSO ADORE THE ARTWORK ON ALL 3 COVERS!! I hope there will be more in the future. I also noticed that in this one there were footnotes (I read on kindle and don't know what it looks like for the printed copies) for some (but not all) of the Korean phrases. It was a whole lot nicer to click on the footnotes and read what was being said rather than going back and forth to the end of the chapter to my current page. It was a lot nicer than the first two books (but I also am not sure if I just missed the footnotes).

[Ali · Rating 1 out of 5]

I cringed more reading this than I did reading Mothman smut 😭

Trying to keep track of the Korean was so annoying. I appreciate what the author was trying to do but it did not work. Every time Korean is on page it needs to have a footnote, which it did not have half the time. You’re expected to remember what it meant from a previous chapter. This story needed more time to breathe, too. It was just way too fast and ridiculous. I felt like I was reading a first draft with only very minor edits.

[Ragdoll Stitches · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars. While I did enjoy reading this as a fan of k-pop as a whole, I did not get as lost in the pages as I would have liked. I wish there had been more time for the character relationship to play out in real time. With more slow burn element instead of diving head first into kink styled intimacy straight out the gate. I would, however still be interested in reading the other books in the series and recommend this book to fans of k-pop!

[Adrienne · Rating 5 out of 5]

More books please!

I am so ready to follow the rest of the members.find love! This book was full of heart and emotions, and not all of them were happy. However, this made the book even more immersive and the story richer. I cannot want to read more!

I am so purchasing all of Samantha Ann's backlist of published books! Auto buy author for sure!

[Tinkerbell Nolan · Rating 3 out of 5]

More cutesy than the other two but still enjoyable

[W Flower · Rating 2 out of 5]

18+ is right . There’s no way I could suggest my library would approve this book for Young Readers( teenagers) .

[Tawnie S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

did i finally buy physical signed copies of this series? ...yes, absolutely yes.