About the Book
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Author:
- Helen Comerford
Cover Story: Superhero and a Gentleman
BFF Charm: Eventually
Talky Talk: Needs More Backstory
Bonus Factor: Superheroes
Anti-Bonus Factor: The Patriarchy
Relationship Status: Scattered
Cover Story: Superhero and a Gentleman
We’re all tired of the illustrated cover craze, but I do have to say that I don’t think this cover could have been done—and done well—with actual photography. This illustration perfectly captures the main character and her utter disdain for the hero who saved her and the pining eyes of said hero.
The Deal:
Jenna Ray lives in a world filled with superheroes and prophecies, but she just wants to live a normal life in her small coastal town of Nine Trees with her father and older sister. But the town has long been overshadowed by a prophecy that foretells the coming of a new hero who’ll save it from devastation.
When Jenna gets stuck in a burning community center, she’s saved by Blaze, a new hero. While thankful for him saving her life, she’s annoyed by the fact that she’s now expected to become his Love Interest—a role that many women have died while playing. She also hates the organization he “works” for, the Heroics and Power Authority (HPA), because they had a hand in her mother leaving 10 years ago.
Jenna tries to cut ties with Blaze and the HPA, but when she’s contacted by the Villains and told that her mother is alive and being held in an HPA facility, it’s up to Jenna to become a spy—but pretending to be a Love Interest is far more complicated than she ever expected.
BFF Charm: Eventually
Jenna is a pretty prickly person, filled with unresolved trauma from her mother’s leaving and, yes, a bit of a hero complex. She doesn’t want to be a Love Interest and deal with all the fame that comes with it, and I can’t blame her, yet she’ll willing to do nearly anything to save her mother, including making herself known. While I ended up liking her a whole lot by the end of the book, it took a while to get to BFF status.
Swoonworthy Scale: 5
At the start, Jenna hates Blaze and everything he stands for, but she constantly gets involved in situations that necessitate his being near. She gets the warm fuzzies when they’re close, but she tells herself that nothing is happening between them. She eventually gives in to their chemistry, but all the talk about Love Interests and their Heroes being “destined” for each other makes their actual swoon feel forced.
Talky Talk: Needs More Backstory
In Jenna’s world, superheroes have been around for a long time, thanks to the Earth’s accelerated evolution (EV). But along with superheroes comes a lot of unexplained phenomena, from unusually large animals with electric blue eyes (and super strength) and forests taking back land that had once been “civilized.” The premise is cool, and the characters are fun, but the world-building leaves a lot to be desired. I had hope that my confusion at the start of the novel would be explained by the end, but it didn’t happen. Most of the time, I’m cool to just roll with a world featuring strange elements, but I felt more lost than intrigued by the one in The Love Interest. (Superheroes? I’m cool with that. But superheroes caused by “the accelerated evolution” of the Earth? And giant pigeons that could peck clean through you? The mix of horror and superpowers just doesn’t work for me.)
Bonus Factor: Superheroes
Even when I’m not 100% into a book, if it includes superheroes, I’ll give it a try. And The Love Interest featured a slew of very cool powers, from the “normal” superstrength, superspeed, and flight to controlling technology and seeing into the past of a person or object. There doesn’t seem to be a limit on what people in this world can do, and I love that for them.
Anti-Bonus Factor: The Patriarchy
In Jenna’s world, women with powers are seen as inferior to men with them. They’re never heroes, just Love Interests, even if they have powers. Even the most powerful of them, a line of women called The Diviner who can see the future, are only used for their gift, not treated like the actual heroes they are.
Relationship Status: Scattered
You tried to do a lot on our date, Book, and while I had a good time overall, it was clear to me that you were going in too many directions. And perhaps trying a little too hard? I’d love to get together again, but only if we can focus on one or two things, at max.
Literary Matchmaking
Cristina Fernandez’s How to Date a Superhero (And Not Die Trying) is another book that aims to mesh “real life” with superhero antics.
Marissa Meyer’s Renegades series takes a look at both sides of the hero-villain conflict and shows that not everything is black and white.
B.L. Radley’s Strictly No Heroics looks at heroes and villains through the lens of sidekicks and henchmen.
FTC Full Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from Bloomsbury YA, but got neither a private dance party with Tom Hiddleston nor money in exchange for this review. The Love Interest is available now.
