Title: Not Your Sidekick
Author: C.B. Lee
Genres: Science Fiction
Pages: 262
Publisher: Duet Books
Availability: September 8th, 2016
Summary: 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 town’s most heinous supervillain. On the upside, she gets to work with her longtime secret crush, Abby, who Jess thinks may have a secret of her own. Then there’s 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. [Image and summary via Goodreads]
Review: The moment I heard about Not Your Sidekick, I bought it — and waited. I waited for months (months!) until its release date, and then happily read the whole thing in one go, as one does when there’s work tomorrow but consequences and sleep debt are for other people. The moment my brain registered “superhero intern” and “that’s an Asian girl!” all those months ago, I knew I had to get the book.
In the world of Not Your Sidekick, Jessica Tran is the daughter of two small town superheroes. In an all too relatable twist, Jess struggles to figure out who she is as a powerless daughter of superpowered parents and ends up in the first paid internship she trips upon. Her internship is for the supervillains who regularly keep her parents busy with their criminal doings. Conspiracies and crushes continue from there.
The mix of superhero intrigue and adorable blossoming romance was just perfect. I shipped Jess and Abby — and, well, you’ll just have to read the rest. Basically, the adorable romance was my favorite thing about the book. A close second was the set-up and worldbuilding of a superhero populated future world not too different from our current one. I would love to read more in this world, and fortunately, the ending left plenty of room for a sequel.
There are quite a few LGBTQIA young adult novels coming out this fall. Of that number, a tiny but awesome fraction center around/are written by PoC. This is one of those books, and I was happy to discover that it lived up to, and exceeded, my expectations.
Catch this book, for sure. It’s got Asian and LGBTQIA representation, superheroes, and the struggles of a first internship. What’s not to love?
Recommendation: Buy it now! Especially if superhero YA is your thing.