Not Your Backup

This series is such a joy to read, truly the epitome of a mood booster. I absolutely loved reading from Emma's perspective. She's a somewhat anxious perfectionist with a heart of gold who just wants to do right by the ones she cares for (which is pretty much anyone who's been wronged.) However, with the stakes being so high, this care and loyalty leads to her putting a huge amount of pressure on herself to get things 'right' and prove herself to be worthy of helping, even without powers. I absolutely loved this part of her character and the growth that came alongside it. I also adored following her journey when it came to questioning her sexuality and exploring her aro-ace identity. It was written in a sensitive, honest way and the conversations she had with herself and others on the topic were wonderful. As I've come to expect from this series, the discussions and exploration surrounding socio-political issues were superb. It's critical and honest and pretty terrifying at times in the ways it mirrors issues in our own society. The character, as always, were also wonderful. We got to see a lot of Bells (who is an absolute gem of a human) but we not too much of Abby & Jess in this book but from what we did see has me incredibly intrigued to see how Abby's character is going to grow and where the story will take the squad. With a fast paced, addictive and aware plot and a cast of characters you want to both fight alongside and wrap in bubble wrap, it's impossible to read this series without feeling that little bit better and I can't wait to get book four in my hands.