American Fantasy

by Emma Straub ★★☆☆☆

Annie Miller is fifty-years-old and about to embark on her first-ever celebrity cruise. This one happens to feature "Boy Talk", a fictional version of the ubiquitous boy bands that were so prevalent during the late 1980s and 1990s (think New Kids on the Block / Backstreet Boys / 'N Sync) aboard the American Fantasy cruise ship. Her sister, Katherine, is the true Boy Talk superfan, and the cruise was supposed to be a way for the sisters to unite around something they had been obsessed with during childhood. But Katherine broke her leg just days before the cruise, and Annie is left to attend on her own.

She decides to make the most of her non-refundable ticket and attend anyway. Recently divorced and being nudged out at work, Annie needs a break from her everyday life. She's paired with a roommate named Maira, who is a Boy Talk cruise expert, having attended several in the past. Maira indoctrinates Annie into the machinations of the cruise and gives her an insider pass on how to get the most out of the experience.

Meanwhile, the men of Boy Talk arrive, and represent a set of stock characters that could have been fused from any of the boy bands mentioned above. There's the popular one, the talented one, the buff one (who's now out of the closet), the partier, and the brooding brother. They're all hovering around fifty and there for various reasons: money, image rehabilitation, or in at least one case, because they still love it. Keith Fiore is the Boy Talk member we get to know the most, and his deep-seated challenges with his brother Shawn (also in the band) are gnawing away at his ability to enjoy the adoration of thousands of fans.

As someone of a similar age, who may or may not have gone to see Backstreet Boys at Sphere earlier this year, I had plenty to be interested about with the storyline. In addition, I liked Straub's previous novel This Time Tomorrow quite a bit. My expectations were high, but unfortunately there's something missing here. The novel explores aging, and fame, and fandom, but it never truly finds its way. Annie's character arc isn't even an arc—it's more like a shallow molehill—and I kept waiting for something of significance to happen. Keith's isn't much different. The other supporting characters (Maira; Sarah, the cruise director; the other members of the band) all felt like they fit into a weird nether region where they had more backstory than a simple supporting character, but the backstory seemed unnecessary and incomplete. It's billed as a romance, a "teenage fantasy come true", but there is almost no relationship as part of the book.

In short, it's an unexpected miss from an author I have enjoyed in the past. Skip this one.

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Quick Facts

• Title: American Fantasy

• Author: Emma Straub

• Publisher: Riverhead Books

• Release Date: April 7, 2026

• Format: Audiobook

• ISBN-13: 979-8217046867

• Pages: 294