How to Date a Superhero (And Not Die Trying)

By: Cristina Fernandez

Narrated by: Chloe Dolandis

A romantic coming-of-age story about growing up, falling in love, and surviving life—all set in the world of superheroes—from debut author Cristina Fernandez, proving that you don’t need a superpower to be the hero of your own origin story, perfect for fans of The Rest of Us Just Live Here and Renegades.

* Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year 2023 * CCBC Choices Best of 2023 *

Falling for a superhero is dangerous. You have to trust that they’ll catch you.

Astrid isn’t a superhero, not like the ones she sees on the news, but she has something she thinks of as a small superpower: She has a perfect sense of time. And she’s not going to waste a single second.

Her plan for college is clear—friends, classes, and extra-curriculars all carefully selected to get her into medical school.

Until Max Martin, a nerdy boy from high school, crashes back into her life. Things with Max were never simple, and he doesn’t keep to her schedule. He disappears in the middle of dates and cancels last-minute with stupid excuses.

When a supervillain breaks into her bedroom one night, Astrid has to face the facts: Her boyfriend, Max Martin, is a superhero. Double-majoring as a pre-med was hard, but now Astrid will have to balance a double-life. This wasn’t part of her plan.

Fun premise, but I didn't enjoy it, sadly

I found this to be both plotless and aimless. There was no character development (or at least I didn't find any). And even when a conflict was introduced - which, imo, was perfectly reasonable and actually a really good topic to discuss - I felt that nothing was done with it and there was no proper resolution.

Additionally, our protagonist is one of those overachievers that have to be the best at everything, or else, that also have problems with understanding empathy and human emotions. Such characters really grate on me.

I think that the audiobook narrator, Chloe Dolandis, was good, but even she couldn't help all the repeated name calling in the story. Characters would call out the names of other characters three, four, five or more times in a row. And that happens often. Often enough that it gets real annoying real fast.

All in all, I didn't enjoy this book and I am sad because it is such an interesting and fun premise and it has so much potential.

Boring

I felt like I was listening to the daily life of a regular degular person. I wanted to like it since I already spent a credit on it, but it's so dull.

So good

I love a good superhero story and this was such a sweet fluffy romantic read!