Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn

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.

This is not a Young Adult Novel. The cover sets this up to be attractive for Junior High readers to be attracted to it, but it is an adult novel. Swearing and Mature Themes abound.

That being said. It's a fun story, and you become attached to the characters as they figure out how to break their own molds. And it's not everyday the most annoying character in the book saves the day. You are allowed to decide whom I speak of.

Un libro para niños?
No.
Entonces Young Adult?
No
Pero la portada...
LO SÉ.

Original de: El Blog del Gato - El Extraño Gato del Cuento

Heroine Complex me encantó porque hay una gran amistad en el libro que, a pesar de tener un montón de problemas, tratan de resolverlo de manera adulta... claro, luego de mucho berrinche de Aveda en algún momento Lee este libro por el simple placer de leer un buen libro, es rapidísimo de leer.

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This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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A few years back, the city of San Francisco was visited by trans-dimensional demons – they were unable to stay long before being driven back, but in their wake certain individuals were left with superpowers. Some powers were impressive, others were . . . well, let's just say less-so. Most didn't use their powers much, but some heeded the call of Ben Parker and used their abilities to serve the common good. Chief among them was Aveda Jupiter – who spends her days defending SF from further demon incursions as well as more mundane menaces.

Aveda is helped in her quest for justice (and good PR) by a fighting coach, a scientist studying demons and a PA. Her PA, Evie Tanaka, is her childhood best-friend and the only one who can weather her mood swings, demands for affirmation and schedule with good humor and grace (at least externally).

Events transpire, and Evie has to pose as Aveda at an event – and things go awry in a pretty significant way. Demons attack (while displaying some new characteristics that require a new long-term strategy for battling them) and Evie demonstrates a super-power of her own. In the next few weeks, Evie has to continue the ruse while learning how to use (and hopefully lose) her own power and learning how to adjust to a newfound confidence, level of esteem, a change in her friendship with Aveda, and even a love life – while trying to beat back the invasion force once and for all.

I'll be honest – the plot was okay, but almost entirely predictable by page 50 or so. But name the super-hero story that's not, right? Especially origin stories. What matters is how Kuhn told the story – with heart, charm, and wit. So that you aren't getting to various story beats saying, “Yup, right on time,” (or whatever unintentionally pompous thing you say to yourself when you get to a point in a book like this), rather you're saying, “Oh, I like how she did that,” or “that's a great take on X.”

The characters and the relationships between them are the key to this – none of them act their best, none of them are really hero-material, all of them ring true. These could be your friends (not my friends, mind you – there's not enough book talk, and a whole lot of things that happen outside of a house), or at least the friends of someone you know. If, you know, your friends are known for dressing in leather, beating up inanimate objects inhabited by pan-dimensional beings, and fending off the prying and gossiping eyes of a fashion/lifestyle blogger.

I don't think I've done the best sales job on this, but I'm not sure what else to say. Heroine Complex is light, breezy and fun – a quick and enjoyable read with characters you want to spend time with. A great way to kill a couple of hours – I'm looking forward to Book 2.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

WOW, so this book was a really awesome surprise..

Aveda Jupiter is San Francisco's most loved super heroine. Swooping in to vanquish all sorts of demonic baddies. Alas, she doesn't prove indestructible and ends up being hurt and needing to take some time off. In steps her much put-upon PA and best friend Evie (awesome name choice)

What ensues is a fast-paced, humorous and absoluting entertaining ride. Demon cupcakes with fangs, animated statues, THING like hands that attack, and karaoke offs, are just a few of the things Aveda, Evie and a plethora of amazingly written side characters have to face off against. It even had a nice little dose of sex and romance.

I LOVED this one. It was just plain FUN