Not Your Sidekick by C.B. Lee

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Title: Not Your Sidekick
Author: C.B. Lee
Series: Sidekick Squad #1
Published by: Tantor Audio
Release Date: May 31, 2018
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Emily Woo Zeller
Length: 8 hours
Genres: Action and Adventure, LGBT, Romance, Young Adult, Coming of Age, Post-Apocalyptic, Science Fiction
Source: Libro.FM
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2022 Audiobook Challenge, Lenoreo's 2022 Backlist Reader Challenge, Lenoreo's 2022 COYER Spring, Lenoreo's 2022 Diversity Reading Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ IndieBound ✩ iTunes ✩ Libro.FM ✩ Chirp
My rating:

Blurb:

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.

My Review:

4.5 stars — There’s just something about this story that just made me so happy while reading it.  Sure, I was able to predict quite a few “twists”, but honestly?  It didn’t matter ONE BIT.  I was delighted to watch Jess figure things out on her own.  And she was so wrapped up in her own struggles and crushes and whatnot, she missed a lot of really obvious clues.  And yet I didn’t get too frustrated with her!  It was a miracle.

OK, this pretty much finalizes it, Emily Woo Zeller is one of my favourite narrators.  She just does such an amazing job of different voices, her emotions are always spot on and make me feel so much…she just does it for me I guess.

Jess was freaking adorable!  She was a typical teenager in so many ways, wrapped up in the things going on with her, but not so much that it was frustrating.  Just enough to make her really believable I guess.  And there was a lot going on with her — from dealing with her lack of powers, feeling like an outsider in her family, trying to find a path now that the obvious one wasn’t open to her…not to mention crushes and friendships and new jobs, and all that good stuff.  It was really interesting seeing her navigate that path of her racial identity, not feeling comfortable enough speaking a language, and feeling on the outside on some occasions too.  They were tiny little moments in the book, but it was a perspective I don’t have to deal with.  Not to mention being bisexual — how do you know if another girl is into girls?  How do you know if it’s flirting or friendly?

The romance was so adorable.  I mean, seriously, it was basically squee-tastic.  It was everything I want in a YA romance.  And it was enough for my romance loving heart without being the whole plot.

The superhero stuff was fascinating!  How do you judge heroes from villains?  How do you know the truth?  I love the questions this book made me ask about their society, and how I can see parallels.

Abby was pretty adorable too.  Even though we don’t get her POV, it was interesting to see the different things she was dealing with, and how they could contrast with what Jess was going through.

I honestly could write a whole bunch, but most of it would be just happiness writing.  I’m not saying it was a perfect book, but I am totally sucked in and can’t wait to read Bels’s story and find out how things play out for our group of friends.  Highly recommend.