Review: Heroine Complex (#1) by Sarah Kuhn

Title: Heroine Complex (#1)

Author: Sarah Kuhn

Published by: DAW Books, Inc.

Released: 2016

Source: Library

Synopsis: Being a superheroine is hard. Working for one is even harder.

Evie Tanaka is the put-upon personal assistant to Aveda Jupiter, her childhood best friend and San Francisco's most beloved superheroine. She's great at her job—blending into the background, handling her boss's epic diva tantrums, and getting demon blood out of leather pants.
Unfortunately, she's not nearly as together when it comes to running her own life, standing up for herself, or raising her tempestuous teenage sister, Bea.

But everything changes when Evie's forced to pose as her glamorous boss for one night, and her darkest secret comes out: she has powers, too. Now it's up to her to contend with murderous cupcakes, nosy gossip bloggers, and supernatural karaoke battles—all while juggling unexpected romance and Aveda's increasingly outrageous demands. And when a larger threat emerges, Evie must finally take charge and become a superheroine in her own right... or see her city fall to a full-on demonic invasion. (Synopsis from Goodreads)

My Thoughts: I thought I was going to love this more than I actually did. It was fine, it was all right, but Heroine Complex didn't grab me in the way I was hoping for. It's a very light version of a super hero tale. It tries to hit in that spot of funny and cute, but it didn't really succeed for me. I found a lot of the story to be kind of cheesy and annoying. I wasn't ever on the edge of my seat for any of it. Some situations just felt really rushed and I questioned how we even got there, what was the thought process.

I think I was the most annoyed at the beginning of the book, and Aveda Jupiter was the main reason. She was the most self-centered super hero I've ever met. She was like a large child, with minimal super powers and good fighting skills, who would then throw super tantrums. I don't think she was a good friend to Evie, but at the same time, Evie let her walk all over her. I don't think their friendship is one that I'd aspire to. The situation that Aveda puts Evie to, and that Evie agrees to, is just so frustrating. And it just kept piling on after that. Aveda was very controlling of Evie, and what was more annoying is that Evie let her. She didn't stand up for herself at the beginning, she just let Aveda decide these things for her. That's not friendship to me. Aveda was selfish. The only reason she was interested in protecting the city of San Francisco was because of the fame and attention it brought her. What a shallow reason.

As the book went on, Aveda got better, which is good, I guess. I think the sequel is going to be focused on Aveda, and it helps that I don't hate her now as much as I did at the beginning of Heroine Complex. It would be tough to read that sequel if I did despise her.

I liked the romance between Evie and Nate, but I feel like it needed a little more development. One minute they hated each other, and the next they're sex buddies. I mean, I love a good enemies to lovers story, but you've got to give the time to develop it. This just felt rushed.

Evie as a main character was okay. I thought it was dumb how she let herself get walked all over by Aveda. I thought it was dumb how quickly she wanted to give up her power. But what irritated me more about her power was Aveda just expecting for Evie to give it to her, once it proved useful. I mean, how selfish can you be.

So I ranted a lot in this review, but I did (mostly) enjoy this book. I thought it was fun, but there were just a lot of things that irritated me. I wanted something different than what Heroine Complex provided. Probably the main thing that really drew me to this book was the cover. It has an awesome cover design, the whole series does. I was also intrigued by the synopsis. So, for all my irritation, I'll probably end up reading the rest of the series. Heroine Complex wasn't bad, it just wasn't the awesome book I was expecting it to be.

This was my third read for The Book Junkie Trials Readathon, Team Mage. It counted for the quest of Glimmer.

BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 3.5/5

It's all about the FAME baby!