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Chick lit meets comics lit in Estep's fresh debut. Carmen Cole, "reporter extraordinaire" for the Exposé in Bigtime, N.Y., is on a mission—to unmask all superheroes and über villains—after catching her fiancé, Matt Marion (aka the Machinator), in bed with her best friend, Karen Crush (aka Crusher), on Carmen's wedding day. But after Carmen outs a member of the Fearless Five, Travis Teague (aka Tornado), and Travis kills himself, she's not only devastated, she's demoted to society reporter. When the Terrible Triad nabs Carmen, their snarky Malefica insists she unmask the Fearless Five's Striker or suffer dire consequences.

Estep has perfectly captured the campiness and humor that made so many of us love the superheroes of our youth. There are no real secrets here as the so-called "secret identities" of the Fearless Five and the Terrible Triad are fairly obvious, but that is part of the fun. After all, everyone should have been able to see that Clark Kent and Superman were one and the same and yet no one could figure that out. "Karma Girl (Bigtime #1)" uses those same basic principles to great effect.

Although one must admit that the author's gimick of giving every single character an alliterative name maybe intended as a wink at the audience, but it comes across as being condescending of the very genre she is asking the audience to suspend their disbelief for.

There's nothing too dark and unpleasant, and even the villains tend to feel more Sunday comics than dark comic book. Nefarious plans and wicked plots abound, as do irrepressible superheroes and sexy millionaire playboys. Over all, a great premise that needs to be stolen by different authors who can all do different spins on it.


Book Details:

Title Karma Girl (Bigtime #1)
Author Jennifer Estep
Reviewed By Purplycookie