Review: Hot Air by T.J. Land

Title: Hot Air: A Villainous Love Story

Author: T.J. Land

Publisher: Self-Published/Kindle Unlimited

Length: 181 Pages

Category: Fantasy, Superheroes

At a Glance: Adorably klutzy villain and his edgy hero—another Villainous Love Story book, and honestly, each one just keeps getting better.

Reviewed By: Jennifer

Blurb: Bluster is the most incompetent supervillain around. He’s a klutz. He’s forgetful. His schemes never work. He never remembers to plan his escape, which doesn’t matter given that most superheroes don’t even bother sending him to prison anymore. Hardly anyone takes him seriously. That’s why he decided to retire a while ago. It had nothing to do with the fact that his handsome nemesis, Judge Justice, was forced to hand in his superhero license after finally breaking one too many rules. And Bluster’s decision to give up his retirement on the same day Judge Justice gets his license back is purely coincidental.

Judge Justice is the toughest superhero around. He’s edgy. He’s grim. He wears a lot of leather. As far as he’s concerned, supervillains are criminals, nothing more and nothing less. They deserve everything that’s coming to them. Sure, maybe he’s got a reputation for being harsh. So what? His methods work. When you’re dealing with a town full of caped crooks, no amount of force is excessive…except maybe when it comes to Bluster. That guy’s hopeless. It’s not that the Judge has a soft spot for him, but anyone can see that Bluster’s a bigger threat to himself than to the city. Which isn’t to say the Judge isn’t outraged when Bluster comes out of retirement the same day he gets his license back. He’s furious. Not even a tiny bit thrilled, because he’s not one of those imbeciles who actually likes his nemesis. He’s a professional. That’s why, when the Judge learns that Bluster’s in danger, he immediately appoints himself his guardian. After all, it’s a hero’s duty to protect the weak.

Bluster, however, has other ideas…

Review: Ever since reading the first book in the Adrift series, I’ve been hooked on T.J. Land. I loved the author’s first book in the Villainous Love series, and even though I thought it couldn’t get better, I was proven wrong. Yet again. I love being proved wrong when it comes to awesome books!

Hot Air follows Bluster, who is pretty much the worst villain ever. He’s a complete klutz and fails at everything. Nothing he plans works. And so, he finally retires. That it just happens to coincide with the day his personal nemesis, Judge Justice, is forced to give up being a hero is just coincidence, right?

And well, if Bluster decides to come out of retirement when Judge is back to being a hero, that’s just a coincidence too, right?

I loved the relationship between the two of them. There was clearly something going on that hadn’t been said, and when it’s finally revealed, the interactions between the two men click and all of the events prior to the book make sense. I loved seeing little hints of the characters from the other books, but it was just enough to be a little nod without taking the attention away from Bluster and Judge. Seeing as this is about two new characters, the other books do not need to be read before this, and you can even read the others after this one. Order is not important.

Bluster and Judge are great because of how opposite they are, and yet they still manage to work well together. They might have the best dialogue, and their back and forth left me laughing several times. T.J. Land has that talent with developing characters and making them human. Even though these people have superpowers, they are utterly relatable. For example, who doesn’t have one-sided conversations all the time? Or, is that just me?

I’m pretty sure if I were a villain, I would be like Bluster. Just a lot of hot air. (Pun totally intended).

Fans of T.J. Land will want to read this book. If you like superheroes and/or villains, you’ll want to read this book. If you’re looking for a romance with comedy and surprisingly deep characters, don’t miss this one! That said, I really hope the author is planning another Villainous Love book because these are so much fun to read!