Just when she thinks life can’t get any better, Evie learns she’s pregnant. Everyone around her is overjoyed…but Evie has major doubts about whether she’s cut out for motherhood. Before she can dwell on her dilemma, a local women’s college reports a string of mysterious “hauntings,” and Evie and Aveda are called in to investigate, going undercover as grad students during the creepiest time of the year: Halloween.
As she confronts terrifying ghosts and lives out a bizarre version of the grad school life she left behind, Evie can’t help but wonder about the road not taken: what would her life be like if she’d stayed here instead of pursuing superheroing with Aveda? And can an overwhelmed pregnant superhero trulyhave it all?
She’s about to find out.
Once upon a time (I am either too embarrassed to check when, or too lazy, or maybe both), I had A PLAN. A plan to get caught up on Sarah Kuhn’s brilliant HEROINE COMPLEX series so that I could read the fourth book, HAUNTED HEROINE (which takes place around Halloween) during spooky season.
Well, things didn’t exactly play out that way, so here I am in the middle of June, holding spooky season in my heart, and telling myself that THIS TIME! This time, I’ll get caught up so that I can read the upcoming sixth and final (*sobbing*) book, HOLIDAY HEROINE around the holidays!
This one shifts back to Evie’s POV, which we haven’t seen since the first book. She’s early in her pregnancy and things are…a bit tense? Her life is ostensibly great. She’s a fully badass superhero, and she’s surrounded by an incredible group of friends & family. But while things have been good in her marriage, Nate is a bit overzealous in his protectiveness of Evie at this stage of the pregnancy, and she’s feeling somewhat smothered.
So it’s fortuitous when she receives a slightly puzzling invitation to return to the small liberal arts college she dropped out of, where there’s been some…unusual paranormal activity.
Morgan College has a reputation for being haunted. But the hauntings have gotten a bit more extreme of late, so Evie and Aveda take a (short) road trip & go undercover as teaching assistants (with the help of some glamoured disguises from Scott!) to get to the bottom of things.
While trying to “blend in,” Evie & Aveda befriend several students that have either seen ghosts or are actively pursuing their own ghostly encounters. Parties, late-night trips to Taco Bell, and spooky shenanigans ensue. It’s through this new group of friends that Sarah Kuhn introduces the first nonbinary character to the series, Tess. Tess is a great character, and one of the aforementioned ghost-hunter types. They have a sizable role in HAUNTED HEROINE, so I’m hopeful they’ll make a return in the series at some point!
One of the (many) things that this book does well is really highlight not just the strength of the bond between Evie & Aveda, but the work that it took to get here. Yes, they’ve been best friends since they were little kids. But their friendship was miles away from perfect (and was actually pretty toxic in book one), and it’s just such a rewarding thing as a reader to see them on this adventure together, being so supportive & open & honest with each other. The character development is so strong, but also subtle. There’s these little moments where Aveda seems able to kind of laugh at herself a bit & that is definitely not something we saw from her in the early stages of this series.
This was just so much fun. It’s got a delightful cozy/spooky vibe, and there are some moments where Kuhn really effectively ratchets up the ghosty tension. It was great to see Evie & Aveda a bit out of their element (though not terribly far from San Francisco, which allows for other members of Team Tanaka/Jupiter to stop by as needed)
This series continues to go to some big places emotionally, and HAUNTED HEROINE hits pretty hard. Evie has some trauma in her past, tied into her time at Morgan College. So there’s some depictions of emotional abuse/gaslighting that folks should be aware of before diving in.
These books kind of mean the whole world to me. I’m sad to be closing in on the end of the series, but I’m going to always treasure these stories & this group of characters!
Grimdark Dad 