A fun start to a new series!
Synopsis:
All kindergarten teacher Peyton Pearson wants is a nice, quiet life. Unfortunately, quiet isn’t something she’s had a lot of after tainted medicine turns her into a superhero. She’s single, and saving the city from criminals—which is increasingly dangerous as the anti-superhero movement in St. Louis gains traction. Then there’s her hot next door neighbor who makes her think super-dirty thoughts, and has no idea who she really is.
Police officer Dylan Wilson is trying to make the world safe by working to unmask all superheroes. When his sexy neighbor, Peyton, is evicted, Dylan offers her his spare room, unknowingly opening his home—and his heart—to the city’s most reluctant superhero.
Can love survive when the masks come off?
Review:
A fun and cute read! There’s also an important message in here about tolerance and prejudice, but on the whole this novel doesn’t take itself too seriously, which is good. Superhero books need to be campy and fun. Throw a hot cop into the mix, and hey, you’re golden 😉
I enjoyed the world that Ms. Eimer has created here. Superheroes and villains exist, and are (somewhat) out of the closet–though there’s a great deal of mistrust and fear surrounding those with supernatural powers. (The S.I.R.–Superhero Information Recording Registry–had me particularly concerned, though. How could Dylan and Jimmy, not to mention the other relatively intelligent “normal” people of St. Louis not see the parallels between it and other goals of the Safer America Party and what happened in Germany in the 1920s and 30s?)
Poor Peyton’s powers come from tainted birth control pills she was tricked into taking by her totally vile ex-husband–as she admits at one point, it’s not anywhere near a good origin story. The following quote pretty much sums up how she feels about her “gift” for a lot of the book:
Superpowers, much like uncontrollable diarrhea from bad Mexican food, are one of those unfortunate things that happened to good people.
One of the parts that really made me giggle were Peyton’s choice of exclamations–they’re all superhero based, and it’s a cute detail. Really, Dylan should have caught on earlier based on that alone. Favorites include: “For Stan Lee’s sake!”, “Why in the name of Spiderman’s underpants”, and “Sweet and merciful Superman…” Speaking of clueless, Dylan can’t be too well-versed in superhero lore or he would have already known that Peyton was a superhero. Don’t all the good ones have alliterative names? Peter Parker, Bruce Banner, Clark Kent–Peyton Pearson. So obvious! 😉
All in all it’s a cute read, though the plot ends up being a tad bit convoluted and there isn’t a whole heck of a lot of action on the romance front, it was still ultimately enjoyable. My love for the masked boys and girls in spandex will definitely have me coming back for book two.
Rating: 3 1/2 stars / B-
I received a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.