Hot Mama

This book is a full-force tribute to the super hero genre and is predictable at every turn, but also incredibly fun.

Fiona is a fashion designer by day, and fire-wielding super heroine by night. Her fiance, a fellow member of their super hero group the Fearless 5, was slain over a year ago, and Fiona still hasn't moved on. However, when she meets the seductive Johnny Bulluci, her body reawakens and yearns for some passion - and drags her heart along. At the same time, two nefarious ubervillains are causing mischief all over Bigtime and there's a suspicious fellow who keeps following her super hero gang around on assignment...

Fiona is arrogant and obnoxious at times, but she's still a likeable character. The romance is fun, and Johnny show more isn't a jerk like some "manly-man" romance leads. Actually Fiona is the stronger one in their relationship, which is an enjoyable twist. I don't read many romances, but I'd like to read more in this series. It was wonderful fun, and it felt like the author was having fun, too. show less

Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy:
www.allthingsurbanfantasy.blogspot.com

A skinny fashionista that eats everything in sight? An only child who doesn't play well with others? A name dropping insider to the world of superheros? I was worried that over-the-top, in-your-face Fiona Fine was going to be a hard sell as a sympathetic heroine, but Fiona’s loyalties and vulnerabilities won me over very early in the book.

On top of learning to love Fiona, Estep matches her up with Johnny Bulluci, a flashy hero with “heartthrob playboy” written all over him. Rather than dampen Fiona’s personality, he compliments it, and I enjoyed watching these two go head to head. Johnny’s grief over his father’s murder allows Fiona to show more demonstrate how much she’s grown since KARMA GIRL, further cementing my girl crush. Though my concerns about Fiona as a sympathetic heroine turned out to be unwarranted, her narration of the story ultimately didn’t work for me. The switch from an outsider narrator in KARMA GIRL to Fiona's “superhero born and bred” perspective led to a deluge of Bigtime name dropping, which amped up the silliness of the novel over all. That humor was, unfortunately, hit or miss for me. Add to that some obvious (and acknowledged) misses on the "Who's got a secret identity?" question, and HOT MAMA wasn’t able to stand up to KARMA GIRL in my estimation (though to Fiona’s defense, you’d go nuts assuming *everyone* has a cape and a secret identity).

While those few shortcomings knocked the book down a bat for me, I found Fiona and her Johnny charming enough to carry me through to the end (and their chemistry is noteworthy enough to warrant a look if you’re on the fence). I’ll leave it up to book three in the series, JINX, to see if the Bigtime series overall works for me. Maybe a heroine born to a superhero family without the useful powers will be the perfect mix of insider/outsider narration for me.

Sexual Content: Explicit sex scenes. show less

A skinny fashionista that eats everything in sight? An only child who doesn't play well with others? A name dropping insider to the world of superheros? I think I've met (and hated) this woman before (except for the "superhero" part). I wasn't sure if Jennifer Estep had bitten off more than she could chew trying to turn Fiona Fine into a sympathetic heroine, but she did a masterful job. She even paired her with a flashy hero that could keep up with Fiona's fire, rather than dampening it. My issues with this book stemmed from an unexpected source, switching from KARMA GIRL's "outsider" narrator to Fiona's perspective led to a deluge of Bigtime name dropping, which in turn amped up the silliness of the novel over all. Add that to some show more obvious (and acknowledged) misses on the "Who's got a secret identity?" question, and this book wasn't an out of the ballpark hit for me. Luckily, I found Fiona and her Johnny charming enough to want to keep going.

Full review at All Things Urban Fantasy. show less

Second in the Bigtime series, this one is a little more romance-y than the first, but it's still got that comic book feel as well. Estep plays with superhero tropes, poking gentle fun at the fact that NO ONE ever seems to recognize the superhero - even when it's someone they're around all the time.

1/22/2014:
More re-reading. I think I'll stop with this one. The first two in the series are my favorites.
I really hope Estep writes more in this series.

11/29/2011:
Continuing my re-read of the Bigtime books. I even bought ebook versions of the second and third books.

This was delicious, delectable fun. I had forgotten just how awesome these are, and it's great rediscovering them. It makes me a little sad that there's only one more to go. Especially since the author has let dropped there is a fourth book, written but not released. I'll live in hope that she will release it one day (soon).

January 22, 2009:
More superhero fun in Bigtime. If possible, I think I liked this one better than the first! These books are pure brain candy fluff but so show more enjoyable. show less

In this book in the Bit Time series we follow Fiera as she starts a relationship with Johnny Angel. Of course she doesn't know he's Johnny Angel and he doesn't know her secret identity either at first. But Johnny Angel wants revenge on the ubervillians who killed his father, and Fiera can't let him kill the bad guys.

No Carmen in this volume but it was a still a good, quick, light, sexy read.

In this book in the Bit Time series we follow Fiera as she starts a relationship with Johnny Angel. Of course she doesn't know he's Johnny Angel and he doesn't know her secret identity either at first. But Johnny Angel wants revenge on the ubervillians who killed his father, and Fiera can't let him kill the bad guys.

No Carmen in this volume but it was a still a good, quick, light, sexy read.