Heroine Worship

Sarah Kuhn — 2018

Asian-American superheroines Evie Tanaka and Aveda Jupiter protect San Francisco from perilous threats in the second book in Sarah Kuhn's snarky and smart fantasy trilogy * "The superheroine we've been waiting for." --Seanan McGuire Once upon a time, Aveda Jupiter (aka Annie Chang) was demon-infested San Francisco's most beloved superheroine, a beacon of hope and strength and really awesome outfits. But all that changed the day she agreed to share the spotlight with her best friend and former assistant Evie Tanaka--who's now a badass, fire-wielding superheroine in her own right. They were supposed to be a dynamic duo, but more and more, Aveda finds herself shoved into the sidekick role. Where, it must be said, she is not at all comfortable. It doesn't help that Aveda's finally being forced to deal with fallout from her diva behavior--and the fact that she's been a less than stellar friend to Evie. Or that Scott Cameron--the man Aveda's loved for nearly a decade--is suddenly giving her the cold shoulder after what seemed to be some promising steps toward friendship. Or that the city has been demon-free for three months in the wake of Evie and Aveda's apocalypse-preventing battle against the evil forces of the Otherworld, leaving Aveda without the one thing she craves most in life: a mission. All of this is causing Aveda's burning sense of heroic purpose--the thing that's guided her all these years--to falter. In short, Aveda Jupiter is having an identity crisis. When Evie gets engaged and drafts Aveda as her maid-of-honor, Aveda finally sees a chance to reclaim her sense of self and sets out on a single-minded mission to make sure Evie has the most epic wedding ever. But when a mysterious, unseen supernatural evil rises up and starts attacking brides-to-be, Aveda must summon both her superheroine and best friend mojo to take down the enemy and make sure Evie's wedding goes off without a hitch--or see both her city and her most important friendship destroyed forever.

Reviews

Becky A@allreb

Dec 16, 2022

....but why isn't Annie/Evie endgame, though?

Connor @cgbart

Oct 5, 2022

Okay I was a bit concerned going into this because, you know, I LOVE EVIE TANAKA AND WHAT DO YOU MEAN THIS ISN'T HER POV, right? NEVER FEAR. THIS BOOK IS INCREDIBLE AND CREATIVE AND FUNNY AND HEARTFELT AND WONDERFUL. 10/10 would recommend for more Asian Lady Superheroes being amazing in all aspects and ALSO for use of one of my favorite tropes. I wasn't expecting to relate to Annie so much--she is, after all, a total diva in book one--but I found her incredibly empathetic and her search to balance identity with work incredibly compelling. Bonus points for literally everything because seriously I loved this book so much why are you still reading this LOVE YOURSELF AND FIND A COPY. (On a less emotional note: I wasn't sure how Kuhn would carry this off, even though Complex gave me every confidence in her. I needn't have feared; this book is possibly even more fun and even better written than the first, and I cannot wait for the third one.)

Aditi@phoenixs

Aug 15, 2022

I didn’t know this was going to be following Annie and that’s on me for not reading the synopsis. I don’t think knowing that would’ve helped though because even after adjusting to the fact I just didn’t care about this book at all. Annie’s story could’ve been interesting but the side plot with the wedding stuff was very boring to me. I like these characters but the direction this series is going is not for me.

Ella Zegarra@ellieroth

Jan 9, 2022

Original de: El Blog del Gato - El Extraño Gato del Cuento En Heroine Worship ahora tenemos como protagonista a Aveda Jupiter. Y me moría por leer por el dramón que nos dios en Heroine Complex entre ella y Scott, ese tipo de romances son mis favoritos, los que al parecer están destinado a vivir miserablemente. No voy a negar que eso era lo que quería de este libro, sentirme como porquería y llorar. Aunque no conseguí eso, Sarah Kuhn si me hizo identificarme de nuevo con Aveda, la chica que nunca encaja y que siempre siente que sobra, al leer primer libro, no voy a negar que lloré mares porque DAMN, ERA YO EN AVEDA. Siempre intentando caer bien, pero fallando miserablemente. No voy a negar que me decepcionó un poco que resolvieran sus problemas como adultos maduros. Twitter • Tumblr • Tvtime • Goodreads • Instagram • Blog

Christina M Masters@xtina127

Nov 17, 2021

If interested, please see my review at Girls with Books

Ben Nathan@benreadssff

Sep 15, 2021

Great writing, fun story, characters I love. I think she is a really quality writer who's having a whole lot of fun with this series. I liked the change of perspective for this book (to Aveda/Annie from Evie) because it was refreshing to do so. The only thing that keeps it from being a 5-star for me is the whole bodice ripper thing. I know that's what she does and where this is coming from, but I never like reading graphic sexy stuff, it's just not appealing to me. That said, she does a great job with it, but everything else in the book is totally 5-star material to me.