Liviania’s review of Sidekick by Auralee Wallace
Superhero action/adventure romance published by Harlequin Escape 1 June 14
I absolutely love superheroes. Some of my first reviews for TGTBTU were of Jennifer Estep’s Bigtime series: Karma Girl, Hot Mama, and Jinx. The summary of Sidekick made me instantly think of that series. I was looking for a light-hearted, upbeat, and campy read. I did get most of what I was looking for, but I had a few serious issues with Sidekick.
Our heroine is Bremy St. James. She’s a former heiress who left her family because she discovered something sinister about her father. With no practical skills, she’s living in a slum apartment and struggling to make ends meet. If she doesn’t make rent this month, her landlord might get violent. It’s the worst time in the world for her to be robbed, but that leads to Bremy meeting local superhero Dark Ryder and deciding she wants to work with her. (I say local, but there’s no indication whether there are other superheroes in this world.) Bremy’s determination to do the right thing at great risk to herself is admirable. However, Bremy is the definition of too stupid to live. She has a hair-dye mishap worthy of a terrible sitcom because she tries to dye her hair four colors at once. And, when she does jump in to help, she rarely thinks about how she might make things worse.
I wouldn’t go into Sidekick looking forward to the romance either. Bremy’s beau is Pierce, a reporter, who knows that Bremy is lying to him about her identity (probably because she can’t even remember her fake name). (He can’t, however, recognize a famous socialite due to a dye job, which makes me question his otherwise good reporter skills.) He must like her, because he does continue to date her, despite the fact she acts like a crazy person and never tells him anything personal. She does listen to him talk about his work. Their relationship is a fairly small part of the novel, and I wouldn’t say that there is a true HEA. More like the start of an actual relationship.
Sidekick isn’t all bad. Bremy does evince actual character growth. Her slapstick relationship with her terrifying next-door neighbor Queenie is hilarious. I think that Dark Ryder, a sort of female Batman, is terrific. Honestly, I don’t mind that less attention is given to the romance because that means there is more time for costumes, weapons, training, and other superhero antics. But talking about minor elements brings up Bremy’s tech guru. He’s a pick-up artist (“negs” women to get him to go out with him), and I’m clearly supposed to find him funny. I think I hated him more every time he showed up.
Sidekick is currently a standalone novel, although there is clearly lots of room for a sequel. Auralee Wallace is a debut author, so maybe her next novel will smooth over some more of the rough edges. I probably won’t pick it up, however. I didn’t entirely hate Sidekick, but I kind of wish I had just set it aside instead of finishing it. It isn’t really my sense of humor, so Bremy really got on my nerves.
Grade: C-
Summary:
Heroes meets Bridget Jones in this brilliant, hilarious debut novel about a girl who just wants to save the world…
Bremy St James, daughter of billionaire Atticus St James, has been cut off from the family fortune and is struggling to survive in a world that no longer holds its breath every time she buys a new outfit. To make matters worse, her twin sister is keeping secrets, loan sharks are circling, and the man of her dreams — a newspaper reporter — is on assignment to bring down everyone with the last name St James.
Things are certainly looking bleak for the down-and-out socialite until a good deed throws her into the path of the city’s top crime-fighter, Dark Ryder. Suddenly, Bremy has a new goal: apprentice to a superhero, and start her own crime-fighting career.
Ryder has no need for a sidekick, but it turns out the city needs Bremy’s help. Atticus St James is planning the crime of the century, and Bremy may be the only one able to get close enough to her father to stop him.
Now all she needs to do is figure out this superhero thing in less than a month, keep her identity secret from the man who could very well be The One, and save the city from total annihilation.
Well, no one ever said being a superhero would be easy…
Read an excerpt here.
