A review by wardenred
Not All Himbos Wear Capes by C. Rochelle

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

He decided he liked me and wanted to stay. I decided I liked him and wanted him to. And that was it.

This is a fairly sweet and fun romance story that by no means should be taken seriously. Honestly, the whole superhero universe painted here was almost too cartoonish and slapstick to my liking, but I still stuck with it because I found Xander just so damn entertaining. He's a bit of the "only sane man" in this entire setting—or rather, practically the only living, breathing kind of character who wouldn't be out of place in something just a tad more serious/grounded. He's also witty, has a nice balance of "a bit of a wreck inside, but projects infinite confidence when necessary" going on, loves cats, and wants to murder people for hurting his boyfriend. A man after my own heart, really.

Butch was... very much a himbo, yes, but not the best rendition of the trope ever. I like my himbos the way I like golden retrievers: seemingly ridiculously goofy, but with a lot of emotional intelligence going on and actually smarter than they seem. I'm not sure Butch delivered in that second department. Also, I found his habit of substituting words like "sugar" and "honey" for curses utterly ridiculous and annoying. Not only don't they sound like any expletives I can think of (come on, just say "fudge" instead or something!), but they're also fairly common endearments, so quite a few times I was like, "Is he randomly calling Xan Sugar, because this doesn't seem to fit their dynamic??? Oh, right, he just doesn't know how to say damn like a normal person," lol.

Anyway, there were quite a few entertaining moments, even more sweet ones, and I mostly liked how kink was handled. The relationship developed a bit too quickly, but it also matched the overall vibe of the story in a way, so I'm not really complaining. I might have expected a bit more enemies-to-lovers vibes for some reason, and it was barely present even when Xan and Butch were in costumes and didn't yet learn about each other's identities. But the mistaken identities trope without that vibe is good, too, I guess.

All in all, I wouldn't say this book is anything to write home about, but it sure was a nice distraction for a few evenings!