Not Your Sidekick (1) (Sidekick Squad) Paperback – September 8, 2016

As a bisexual girl who didn't know that was a thing until her 20's I got all emotional wishing this book existed when I was 16. I cannot express to you how wonderful it felt to see a character identify ON PAGE as bisexual as a young adult. I understand that some people don't need labels or don't like them, but as a bisexual person you are constantly represented in the media by the "oh, she just doesn't like labels" or "she just likes PEOPLE, not gender" etc. Not that these are bad things! But to have a character say, yes, I'm bisexual...it's very powerful, even reading it 23 years past the age of 16. I'm so happy this book exists just for that, but beyond the awesome bi-rep it's just a *really great book*.I'm never one to rehash the plot in reviews, so here's what I loved:Jess. JESS. OMG she was amazing! I loved her intelligence and her sense of humor, her self-doubt and her resiliency. I loved how she never stopped being true to herself, not one time, in the book. Jess was very relatable to me for a lot of reasons, and I just loved her. I thought she was such a wonderful character, and I loved the way the author delved into her background and brought up issues that, even in spec fic set in the future, were still incredibly important and affected her. And thinking about how joyfully she embraced her bisexuality makes me happier than I can actually express in words. I hope someone who's 16 and confused like I was reads this book. I wish I could have been joyful about being bisexual longer, is what I'm saying. Jess was super funny, I loved her sense of humor, and such an individual who really embraced her individuality beyond the moments of believable self-doubt. Just a great character. I want to go shopping and watch contraband DVDs with her.HER FRIENDS. Bells <3 I loved him! I'm so stoked the next book is about him. OMG I loved the three of them together, and I love how Abby just fit right in.ABBY. Okay, Abby was AMAZING. Her and Jess's romance was so lovely, and I loved LOVED LOVED that they became friends first and then girlfriends. I loved how Abby was (view spoiler). The romance in this was so sweet and natural, and they really connected as characters both separately and apart. I loved when they got to team-up and work together, how they helped each other...ugh, it was just perfect. Abby was a great character, too -- not the stereotypical "popular girl" caricature, but a fully developed character.THE ROBOTS. No, look, I loved the robots.The world-building -- so smart and it was portrayed so well, I could *see* it in my head. There were also a lot of really important and somewhat heavy issues that were woven into the story and esp. in the super hero element, and it was incredibly well-done. Sometimes that can feel a bit heavy-handed, but the author handled it perfectly -- so that you understood and appreciated how those issues affected the characters, instead of using the characters to tell the reader, if that makes sense.This is a wonderful book that features a kick-ass Asian bisexual teenage girl as a heroine, and I absolutely adored it. It's authentic, the writing is engaging and fun, and there's a lot of joy in the narrative -- you can tell CB Lee loves her characters and that's the best thing to read, when an author just really *loves* what she's writing and it shows. This book is wonderful and I plan on sending a request to my library and would urge anyone else who enjoyed it to do the same.Also, I'm holding out hope someone approaches CB Lee for the film/tv rights. (*cough*Netflix*cough*) This would be a fantastic show, is all I'm saying :D

There is a lot going for this story. There are some major plot holes, but the over all concept is sweet and engaging. Jessica Tran is just turning 17 and hasn't shown any indication of having super powers. Both of her parents and older sister have powers, and her little brother is a genius, so ordinary Jess is feeling like she's a disappointment to her family, but decides to try and have the best life she can. She lands an internship at a local robotics company in a mysterious and weird experimental department that only consists of herself, her secret crush Abby, and M. Its also a job where she'll be working for her super hero parents' nemsis, the Mischiefs. Fun right?For the most part the story is light, and where it shines is the sweet romance between Jess and Abby. It explores the insecurity of new love, being a teenager, being mixed Asian and bisexual in a future world where a lot of the old fashioned mind sets still prevail. The world building of a post World War 3 is light but mostly believable. The rarity of meat, deeply pervasive government control, upgrades in technology, downgrades in personal freedoms, all being a part of normal life that everyone takes for granted.Jess learns that a lot of the super hero culture that pervades her world media is staged, a bread and circus distraction for the masses to cover up more ethically dubious actions of the government. Lately super villains have gone missing, kidnapped by the government to be subjects to scary experimentations, and joins up to try and rescue the victims, and expose the truth to the public. It doesn't go so well.The characterization is very good. I was very quickly caught up by Jess and her quirky but sweet personality. However I felt there were some major plot weaknesses when it came to the Big Brother-esque government and the unrealistic lack of retaliation on Jess, her parents, and her friends after they go against some big shady doings. They simply go on with life as usual for the most part. The sense of danger and suspense on going against the governement and trying to rescue people in supposedly dire peril loses it's wind when there is no real sense of consequences should they fail.I would recommend the story for reading. I do want to know if there is any resolution to the plotline dealing with the kidnapped supers. The story line that IS resolved is whether or not Jess and Abby will get together. The hook for the next book with one of Jess's friends as the main character is also the love life of the character. This may become a series, and I think the genre type is high school romance first, comic book superhero adventure second. I love that the main character is a bisexual Asian girl who is struggling with finding her place in the world.

Amei cada instante de leitura, cada capítulo.A personagem principal é muito cativante e me fez animar por sua busca por ser sua própria pessoa.Estou muito excitada pelo próximo volume!ps: A diversidade do livro, gosh! Uma personagem principal bissexual e seu melhor amigo um garoto trans...!Gosh, preciso de mais livros neste estilo.

I really like it.It is really fast to read, once you start it you don't want to stop (so if you're going to read it, please!, start it in the morning or you don't sleep until you finish it)I want to say more, but you better read it.For me, rigth now I'm going to start a piggy-bank for the second. I WANT IT! I WANT 'NOT YOUR VILLAIN' NOW!!!

This story is absolutely incredible. Start to finish, Jess hooked me in. I love learning about her as she learned about herself. I love the LGBT characters in the book, the fact that Jess is a WOC and bisexual - and that she clearly states she bisexual. I love that Bells is trans and Emma is Emma. I love the friendships built here, how much I could relate to these characters, and how beautiful the ending is. I'm going to reread again now. I'm not ready to leave this universe.

A few decades after a world war triggered by a solar event that gave rise to meta humans the protagonist Jess's in a comfortable high school with her best friends, Bells and Emma, hanging out, watching media and trying to work out who they want to be.Jess wants to be a super hero, like her parents, B-class superheros who protect the town of Andover, mainly from a pair of super villains Master and Mistress Mischief who are more pranksters than anything nefarious, but by seventeen displays none of her parents powers unlike her sister Claudia who is already being trained in the league of heroes, and with a younger brother who is powerless but also a genius so Jess a high school student with OK grades and no powers at all, feels totally ordinary and totally left out.As a daughter of Chinese/Vietnamese refugees she doesn't really fit in with either community, and being bisexual also makes her feel outside the gay and straight community. But when she lands an internship with high tech Monroe Industries who makes the ubiquitous service robots, things are looking up. Then when she discovers Abby from her high school is also working there, the same Abby she has had a crush for as long as she has known her then things are looking better. If only she could tell what her boss the mysterious armored M is up to, and if Abby is into girls?Jess is a character that a lot of teens can identify with the book describes her "On paper, Jess doesn’t seem to be the brightest of students, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t intelligent. She just gets nervous when taking tests, what with all those bubbles and the whole thing being timed, and she’s left-handed, so essay questions make her smudge graphite all over her fingers. Unfortunately, Andover Heights High School is all about standardized tests: pass this test to get into this class; take all the approved tracks for your career of interest; finish all these prerequisites to apply to this college."I loved the world building and am looking forward to the rest of the books in the trilogy, the second Not you Villain is already out. The SciFi elements and the silver age comics vibe to the superheros make for a wonderfully engaging story. It's also delightful to see the gender diversity treated with care."She doesn’t try to be funny often; it’s better to leave that to Bells and sometimes Emma. “You’re not exactly a villain, are you? I mean, you work for Master Mischief, and you’re… sorry, my friend Bells would probably get me for not asking sooner, but um, what are your pronouns?” “Oh! Sorry, I—I forget that I look like a robot.” “No, not really. I mean, the suit’s really cool—and it is Master Mischief’s suit, right, but I want to make sure I don’t misgender you or anything.” “She and hers are fine, thanks for asking,” M says.As Carrie S of Smart Bit*hs Trashy books put it "tackles multiple marginalisations at once, packaged into one fine story about a girl discovering her own identity and where she fits in. I loved the intersectional diversity featured in the novel, and the adorable f/f romance in the book".

I enjoyed this book from start to finish. Jess was a very likeable heroine and her building relationship with Abby was adorable to read about. All of the characters seemed well-rounded to me, and even though it was a little predictable at times, that was easily forgiven. Entertaining, fast-paced and full of diverse superheroes - what more can you want?