Once upon a time, Aveda Jupiter (aka Annie Chang) was demon-infested San Francisco’s most beloved superheroine, a beacon of hope and strength and really awesome outfits. But all that changed the day she agreed to share the spotlight with her best friend and former assistant Evie Tanaka—who’s now a badass, fire-wielding superheroine in her own right.  They were supposed to be a dynamic duo, but more and more, Aveda finds herself shoved into the sidekick role. Where, it must be said, she is not at all comfortable. 

It doesn’t help that Aveda’s finally being forced to deal with fallout from her diva behavior—and the fact that she’s been a less than stellar friend to Evie. Or that Scott Cameron—the man Aveda’s loved for nearly a decade—is suddenly giving her the cold shoulder after what seemed to be some promising steps toward friendship. Or that the city has been demon-free for three months in the wake of Evie and Aveda’s apocalypse-preventing battle against the evil forces of the Otherworld, leaving Aveda without the one thing she craves most in life: a mission. 

All of this is causing Aveda’s burning sense of heroic purpose—the thing that’s guided her all these years—to falter. 

In short, Aveda Jupiter is having an identity crisis. 

When Evie gets engaged and drafts Aveda as her maid-of-honor, Aveda finally sees a chance to reclaim her sense of self and sets out on a single-minded mission to make sure Evie has the most epic wedding ever. But when a mysterious, unseen supernatural evil rises up and starts attacking brides-to-be, Aveda must summon both her superheroine and best friend mojo to take down the enemy and make sure Evie’s wedding goes off without a hitch—or see both her city and her most important friendship destroyed forever.

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I think I’m gonna stop making PROCLAMATIONS on this blog because I am trash and never follow through on them. I mean, that’s definitely one way of not feeling like trash, yeah? Ughhhh….back in late July, I reviewed HEROINE COMPLEX, the first book in Sarah Kuhn’s urban fantasy series of the same name. And at the time, book four, HAUNTED HEROINE, had just been released. So my plan was to get caught up on the series in time to read the newest one for Halloween.

And here I am. In January. Reviewing the second book. My reading-multiple-books-at-a-time situation has been changing a little, which sorely delayed me finishing HEROINE WORSHIP, but at any rate, this book was fucking delightful, as expected! Only two books in, and this series just feels like a big hug. But with like, demon puppies and evil wedding dresses.

So there’s a big change in this series going from book one to book two: This one is from Aveda Jupiter’s POV, as opposed to Evie’s! So that’s a really bold storytelling decision, and one that I see Kuhn makes again for book three (which is from Bea’s POV), and it works so well. As much as we get a sense of who Aveda Jupiter/Annie Chang is in the first book, HEROINE WORSHIP brings us even closer to her. She’s doing a lot of soul searching, really trying to understand herself and her place in the world, and her first person narrative really shows us that she’s a lot more introspective than we maybe thought.

It feels spoilery, but…it’s in the synopsis, so I guess it’s fair game. Evie and Nate are now engaged, and so while Aveda is still kinda struggling with her whole identity, she decides to put her best foot forward and be the greatest maid of honor she can be. As in HEROINE COMPLEX, the dynamic friendship between Aveda and Evie is at the heart of the story. There’s so much history between these two characters, but more & more they realize that they can’t just rely on that to keep their friendship alive. So they hit a lot of bumps in the road, but keep putting in the effort to be there for one another.

Aveda’s relationship with Scott continues to evolve, and it was interesting to get to know him a bit better in this one. This part of the story also shines a light on how much Aveda has prioritized being a superhero over having a relationship of any kind, because yeah…she’s kind of a hot mess.

Oof, I’m just such a huge fan of this series so far, and of Sarah Kuhn’s writing. The action scenes are just fun & weird & unpredictable. She has a great ear for funny/snarky dialogue, this cast of characters gives me wicked Scoobies vibes, and like the first book, HEROINE WORSHIP features some seriously sexy moments.

More & more, urban fantasy is absolutely my go-to genre for comfort reads. And while I’m only two books in, Sarah Kuhn’s HEROINE COMPLEX series is already starting to feel like a favorite! I just fucking adore everything about these books!