Not Your Sidekick by C. B. Lee

Not Your Sidekick (Sidekick Squad, #1)

by C. B. Lee

Welcome to Andover, where superpowers are common, but internships are complicated. Just ask high school nobody, Jessica Tran. Despite her heroic lineage, Jess is resigned to a life without superpowers and is merely looking to beef up her college applications when she stumbles upon the perfect (paid!) internship—only it turns out to be for the towns most heinous supervillain. On the upside, she gets to work with her longtime secret crush, Abby, whom Jess thinks may have a secret of her own. Then theres the budding attraction to her fellow intern, the mysterious “M” who never seems to be in the same place as Abby. But what starts as a fun way to spite her superhero parents takes a sudden and dangerous turn when she uncovers a plot larger than heroes and villains altogether.

Reviewed by Chelsea on

5 of 5 stars

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Read for Popsugar's 2018 Reading Challenge #12: A book with an LGBTA+ protagonist

Actual Rating - 4.5

What a fun and entertainig read! I love that this wasn't your typical superhero story. In fact, the main character isn't technically a superhero at all! The story was fun, fast paced, and a little silly which made for a great reading experience. While there were some predictable elements, it was still such a fun story to read that it didn't matter.

Also props to the author for having all these diverse characters without making it feel awkward. They fit in the story perfectly and naturally, as they should always be! There were no issues along the lines of "well LGBTQIA+ can't be superheroes" and it just made me so happy to have all these characters included in every aspect of a greta story. This is where I hope to see LGBTQIA+ books get to in any new publications.

I found the romance to be especially adorable. It made me remember what it was like to get your first crush when I was younger and I found myself getting nervous and excited when our main character did. Even the side characters were written with so much detail that you felt like you knew them. It was just a great reading experience all around.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 7 February, 2018: Finished reading
  • 7 February, 2018: Reviewed