But Evie and her superheroing partner, Aveda Jupiter, insist on seeing Bea as the impulsive, tempestuous teenager she used to be–even though she’s now a responsible adult. And that means Bea is currently living a thoroughly normal life. She works as a bookstore lackey, hangs out with best friends Sam Fujikawa and Leah Kim, and calms her workplace’s more difficult customers. Sure, she’s not technically supposed to be playing with people’s mental states. But given the mundanity of her existence, who can blame her?
When a mysterious being starts communicating with Bea, hinting at an evil that’s about to overtake the city, she seizes the opportunity, hoping to turn her “should haves” into the fabulous heroic life she’s always wanted. But gaining that life may mean sacrificing everything–and everyone–she holds dear…
The cover for the sixth and final HEROINE COMPLEX book was revealed the other day, and while I’m just now reading the third…it made me realize that these books have all felt intensely comforting to me, at a time when I could really use more & more of that vibe.
HEROINE’S JOURNEY continues the story of Evie Tanaka & Aveda Jupiter & co, but this time, from the POV of Evie’s sister, Bea Tanaka! A few years have passed since the end of HEROINE WORSHIP, and we find Bea working in a very cool bookstore called It’s Lit (which I gather is loosely based on The Ripped Bodice, which wow…I’ve ordered a few different signed Sarah Kuhn books from there!)
Bea has slowly been developing her own superpowers, and using them in some…questionable ways (like trying to psychically influence bookstore customers to flirt with Leah, her best friend) She’s desperate to properly join the superhero team with Evie & Aveda, as opposed to helping Nate on the research side of things (a job she’s actually left behind in favor of working at the bookstore)
Evie sees Bea as…not super committed to any one thing in particular. Bea tends to dive into things with total reckless passion, and then after a bit…move on to the next thing.
And this goes for her love life as well.
Bea starts receiving some mysterious & upsetting messages, which kick off the book’s central mystery. More than in the first two books in this series, the Big Bad in HEROINE’S JOURNEY represents something deeply personal & painful for Bea, and there is a whole lot of exploration of her grief around her mother’s death.
This book & the subsequent writing of this review have turned into something a lot more meaningful & challenging for me. Watching Bea & Evie truly grapple with the messiness of grief in this book was a really vivid reminder of some of the things I went though (and still go through) when I lost my own mother.
And in the interim between finishing the book & writing this review, I’ve lost my father as well.
So, yeah. Oof. I don’t want to bring this review to a screeching & emotional halt, because HEROINE’S JOURNEY also brought me an intense amount of joy. There is just something so unbelievably vivid & real to me about this series, even with all the monster cupcakes & demonic unicorns and stuff. This cast of characters that Sarah Kuhn has assembled just feels like home to me…when they are all hanging out at HQ, bantering, eating together…I’m just there, with them.
This series has captured my whole entire heart, and I think HEROINE’S JOURNEY is probably my favorite so far! I just love Bea so much…this book is like a love letter to embracing the messiness of grief, and the chaos of life. Bea is very much a work-in-progress, and so much of this book is about her learning that that’s ok. Also, I need to take a moment to acknowledge how fucking sexy these books can be, because…damn.
*fans self*
Sarah Kuhn tackles the friends-to-lovers theme here (and in this whole series, actually) and it feels so real, and sweet, and yeah… ridiculously hot.
Hey, I’m halfway through this series! And I can say without a doubt that it’s one of my favorites!
Grimdark Dad 