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A review by skylarkblue1
The Love Interest by Helen Comerford
adventurous
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Representations: https://trello.com/c/qezVGup9/112-the-love-interest-by-helen-comerford
While I really quite liked the idea, it kinda just really feels like a re-hash of The Boys but with teens and less sexual harassment/assault (but all the misogyny). Ron was literally just highlander but a bit less.... explicit? And the plot by the sounds of it seems pretty damn close to the book Renegades. But it was fun for the most part, and pretty funny in some points too.
The characters were quite a mixed bag. Jenna wasn't the worst protagonist but she didn't feel like an actual person, her whole personality and everything mainly just revolved around the other characters and the plot. Her sister is.... certainly something. I've read a lot of feminist fiction but this is the first time I've read a feminist character that reads like 4chan's view of an SJW. I did like the rest of her though, and I thought her foreshadowing with her contributions to the plot later on were really well done, even if a fair bit obvious. Blaze is fairly flat I think, mainly just superhero in a corrupt place who's very naive and that's about it for him.
I've mentioned a bit about the plot, and it is very cliche (which, the main cliche for romances is mocked at the start of the book, but then the plot goes on to follow those cliches anyway and doesn't seem self-aware about that fact lol), but it is fun. It's well foreshadowed, the "twists" made sense (even if quite obvious) and it was easy enough to read through in about a day without issue. Can't really think of any major plot holes, but that's also partially because basically no explanations where given for anything. I think there was too much done to set up the next book, and not much done for this book. I really hope a lot of it all is explained in the next book but with just how much there is I'm a tad concerned the whole thing will just be lore dumping.
The world was an interesting one. Like mentioned before, it's kinda just exactly the world of The Boys. A bureaucratic system of superheros ran by a washed up insane super that cares more about money than sense/caring for anyone but themselves. One weird thing though that didn't quite sit right with me is that it seems to be a very queernormative world (there's a pretty badass non-binary character for example), but incredibly misogynistic. All I could think about for that is when TERFs keep saying that when queer people get treated properly, cis women would lose rights - which..... I'm not saying that's what the author believes at all, but I think if you're going to put queernormative world alongside trying to discuss misogyny to this level, I think you need to be careful about that with how prominent that point is for TERFs currently.
Another main point of the book is Jenna's panic disorder and anxiety. Personally, as someone who's dealt with this a lot, I thought it was incredibly well portrayed and very respectfully done as well. I read a book last year where the MC also had a panic disorder, and the way it was done there was... she just keep popping pills anytime she felt weird. I'm not against medication to help with mental health as I know it can be a lifesaver for many. But the way it was done here, with breathing exercises, grounding techniques and such, much healither and very good, practical advice for anyone reading the book who also has the same issue and a lot of very very lovely words about it all too.
I think if you enjoy superheros, you like that kinda "company" style of a superhero group, and the plot interests you, you might like this. Do absolutely wait until the second book has releases though, I think it's just a duology (and there's seemingly only really enough plot for a duology as well imo) and it really does need that second book to make this one stand a bit stronger - I hope.
While I really quite liked the idea, it kinda just really feels like a re-hash of The Boys but with teens and less sexual harassment/assault (but all the misogyny). Ron was literally just highlander but a bit less.... explicit? And the plot by the sounds of it seems pretty damn close to the book Renegades. But it was fun for the most part, and pretty funny in some points too.
The characters were quite a mixed bag. Jenna wasn't the worst protagonist but she didn't feel like an actual person, her whole personality and everything mainly just revolved around the other characters and the plot. Her sister is.... certainly something. I've read a lot of feminist fiction but this is the first time I've read a feminist character that reads like 4chan's view of an SJW. I did like the rest of her though, and I thought her foreshadowing with her contributions to the plot later on were really well done, even if a fair bit obvious. Blaze is fairly flat I think, mainly just superhero in a corrupt place who's very naive and that's about it for him.
I've mentioned a bit about the plot, and it is very cliche (which, the main cliche for romances is mocked at the start of the book, but then the plot goes on to follow those cliches anyway and doesn't seem self-aware about that fact lol), but it is fun. It's well foreshadowed, the "twists" made sense (even if quite obvious) and it was easy enough to read through in about a day without issue. Can't really think of any major plot holes, but that's also partially because basically no explanations where given for anything. I think there was too much done to set up the next book, and not much done for this book. I really hope a lot of it all is explained in the next book but with just how much there is I'm a tad concerned the whole thing will just be lore dumping.
The world was an interesting one. Like mentioned before, it's kinda just exactly the world of The Boys. A bureaucratic system of superheros ran by a washed up insane super that cares more about money than sense/caring for anyone but themselves. One weird thing though that didn't quite sit right with me is that it seems to be a very queernormative world (there's a pretty badass non-binary character for example), but incredibly misogynistic. All I could think about for that is when TERFs keep saying that when queer people get treated properly, cis women would lose rights - which..... I'm not saying that's what the author believes at all, but I think if you're going to put queernormative world alongside trying to discuss misogyny to this level, I think you need to be careful about that with how prominent that point is for TERFs currently.
Another main point of the book is Jenna's panic disorder and anxiety. Personally, as someone who's dealt with this a lot, I thought it was incredibly well portrayed and very respectfully done as well. I read a book last year where the MC also had a panic disorder, and the way it was done there was... she just keep popping pills anytime she felt weird. I'm not against medication to help with mental health as I know it can be a lifesaver for many. But the way it was done here, with breathing exercises, grounding techniques and such, much healither and very good, practical advice for anyone reading the book who also has the same issue and a lot of very very lovely words about it all too.
I think if you enjoy superheros, you like that kinda "company" style of a superhero group, and the plot interests you, you might like this. Do absolutely wait until the second book has releases though, I think it's just a duology (and there's seemingly only really enough plot for a duology as well imo) and it really does need that second book to make this one stand a bit stronger - I hope.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, and Violence
Moderate: Blood, Car accident, and Abandonment