Thoughts on Second Chance Superhero

Hey'a, all! First of all, today is the final day of nominations for the Silmaril Awards, so if you haven't already gone in and nominated and seconded your favorite characters, make sure you do that before it's too late! Moving on: as y'all may know, I've been following H.L. Burke's Supervillain Rehabilitation Project universe for a while now. While I'm not totally caught up, I did manage to snag an ARC of the latest book in this world, Second Chance Superhero. This is the third in a set of standalone spinoffs that focus more on the superhero side than the supervillain side of things. I really enjoyed this book — as I have pretty much all the books in this universe — and since Second Chance Superhero releases tomorrow, I thought I'd stop in and share my thoughts.

About . . .

Second Chance Superhero

Once a slacker, now a superhero, but will his ex buy the change?

Eleven years ago, Brayden Water's high school sweetheart slammed the door in his face. Floundering, he found purpose first in the military, then by volunteering for genetic enhancements and joining the Department of Super-Abled as a full-time hero. Just when everything's looking up, a family emergency summons him back to the hometown he gleefully put in his rearview. And guess who else is back in town?

Rachel Blum has had it with men in general. A single mom who managed to scratch her way through medical school, she's accepted that she can't depend on anyone ... especially not her sometimes criminal baby daddy, and definitely not her high school ex who has popped up out of nowhere after a decade of radio silence. Dang, though, Brayden's even hotter than she remembered, and there's ... something different about him now, though she can't quite put her finger on what. Could he really have finally gotten his act together? Can she take the risk?

Brayden's bitterness over Rachel's rejection slowly turns to admiration and begrudging affection. But even if he drops the fact that he can now fly and shoot lasers out of his eyes, will she ever see him as anything but a small-town loser? When her son's father starts causing trouble, though, Brayden realizes, she might just need a hero in her life after all.

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H.L. Burke

H. L. Burke has written more books than she can count—because she's written a lot of books, not just because she can't count very high. Easily distracted by shinies, she has published in many subgenres including fantasy romance, Steampunk, and superhero, and always creates story worlds with snark, feels, and wonder.

Married to her high school crush, she spends her time writing, spoiling her cat, and supervising her two supervillains in training (aka her precocious daughters).

An Oregon native, she wilts without trees and doesn't mind the rain. She is a fan of delicious flavor, a follower of the Light, and a believer in happily ever after.

Find Heidi online at: Author Website || Facebook || Instagram || Twitter

Thoughts on Second Chance Superhero

1. This is definitely a romance first and a superhero story second. Some of you are looking at me and saying "No duh, Sarah, it says Superhero Romance Project right there in the series name. What did you expect?" Whether or not you are one of those people, I would like to point out that many of H.L. Burke's superhero or supervillain romances are superhero and romance in equal part. Second Chance Superhero, on the other hand, is primarily a romance that happens to involve a superhero as one half of the romantic pair. There's a little bit of suspense and action, and what's there is very well-done as always, but it's far from the main focus of the book. That's not a bad thing by any means, but it is good to know what to expect going in.
2. Speaking of knowing what to expect: pretty much everything you love about H.L. Burke's writing and the SVR-verse is here. Well, unless you read these books exclusively for the Powell and Park families. But otherwise, this book has everything! Superheroes! Snark! Humor! Characters who feel like real people, with all the messiness that entails! Excellent relationships of both the romantic and non-romantic varieties! So much good stuff!
3. The romance is very sweet and shippable. Well, it ends up sweet. It starts with heartbreak that both parties are still feeling fifteen years later (even if they deny it). Basically, you have childhood/high school sweethearts who broke up but still care a lot about each other, and I am so here for it. Burke handles the relationship so well — acknowledging the inherent awkwardness of the situation without dwelling on it too much, letting the feelings well back up at a good pace, allowing for the inevitable period of I'm-totally-just-being-friendly-I'm-not-in-love-what-are-you-talking-about without dragging it out. (Side note: the "Noooo I'm totally not in love" in-denial trope is hard to do well, but when it is done well, I actually really love it. It gives such delicious irony.) And, as in all of Burke's books, the romance is a good balance between physical attraction and admiration of the other's character.
4. I love that the parent/child relationships in this book are almost as important (if not just as important) as the romance. Like, yes, the romance here is the main draw. But this is very much also a book about parent-child relationships, some good (like Rachel and her son, Danny, or Rachel and her father, Joel) and some awful (like Brayden's relationship with his mom, who is going to end up one of the most despised characters in SVR for the same reason that everyone hates Umbridge in Harry Potter). Burke spends a good bit of page time exploring the ways that these relationships have shaped the characters. Also on this note: I absolutely love Joel Blum. I'm a sucker for granddad characters, and I also loved the interactions between him and Rachel. I could be forgetting things, but I feel like positive relationships between parents and adult kids are really rare in speculative fiction? And here we have one that's loving and healthy and important, and it's so good.
5. I would definitely read more about these characters. Do Brayden, Rachel, and Danny need another book? Not really. But would I read more about them anyway, if Burke came up with another storyline featuring them or decided to bring them into other stories. I love the characters as individuals, and I love their relationships and dynamics together.
   

Does Second Chance Superhero sound like your cup of tea? If so, make sure to preorder it on Amazon and add it on Goodreads. And before you go, tell me in the comments: in the balance of superhero and romance, do you prefer an equal blend or more of one or the other? Also, if you know of any spec-fic books featuring positive parent-and-adult-kid relationships, please let me know of that too.
Thanks for reading!