Title: Not All Himbos Wear Capes
Series: Villainous Things: Book One
Author: C. Rochelle
Publisher: Amazon/Kindle Unlimited
Length: 407 Pages
Category: Fantasy
Rating: 4 Stars
At a Glance: C. Rochelle’s Not All Himbos Wear Capes won’t just threaten you with a good, it delivers.
Reviewed By: Lisa
Blurb: Xander
Big City is supposedly the place where dreams come true. As someone just trying to live my life, I can tell you, it’s more like a recurring nightmare where dreams get c*ckblocked at every turn.
Especially if you’re a supervillain like me.
The irony is that I have zero powers, despite coming from purebred villain stock, but try telling that to Big City’s beloved hero, Captain Masculine.
This himbo is ruining my research, and if his firepower doesn’t kill me, the sight of him in Lycra surely will. Luckily—or unluckily, in my opinion—my bestie just signed me up for the Bangers dating app and found my perfect match.
If this isn’t the start of my villain arc, I don’t know what is.
Butch
It’s hard feeling like I have to wear a mask every day—that the only value I bring to the table is the sparkling image others have created for me.
Such is the life of being Captain Masculine, Big City’s greatest superhero. This is the existence I was destined for, and I will gladly defend this city against every threat to its people.
Except Doctor Antihero.
I’ve seen countless villains come and go, but something about Antihero intrigues me more than the usual hero-villain encounters should.
It’s because of him that I impulsively signed up for a dating app, hoping a meaningless fling with a local normie will help get my head back in the game. The truth is, what I really want is someone who sees me—the man behind the mask.
But that’s a luxury no superhero can afford.
Review: If you’re a fan of superheroes, supervillains, tongue-in-cheek humor, opposites attracting, or any combination of these things and more, C. Rochelle’s Not All Himbos Wear Capes won’t just threaten you with a good, it delivers.
Butch Holt and Xander Suarez meet thanks to Xander’s nosy but well-meaning bestie, Kai. She, unbeknownst to Xander, created a dating profile for him on an app where, surprise!, he matches with Butch, the hot himbo. From the moment Butch and Xander meet, it’s evident something is brewing beneath the surface. They connect in a way that feels like addiction, and the remainder of the story is watching them grapple with the fact that each thinks the other is a “normie” while, in reality, they’re both far from it. That is, of course, not the entirety of the story. There’s villainy afoot in Big City, not to mention the pressure of them standing on the shoulders of the world’s most famous parents, and feeling like failures for not living up to the family legacies.
Butch’s parents expect more from him than he’s inwardly committed to, and Xander’s expect absolutely nothing of him because he’s their greatest disappointment. Scratching the surface reveals Xander is compassionate, something a supervillain isn’t, while Butch has a dark side that is a little less than wholesome despite how much he tries to follow the rules. These burdens weigh on them in different ways, but it also is a connection between them that makes their bond seem even more inevitable.
This book is unexpectedly sweet, with little to no internal relationship angst, and delivers a few chuckles as the author introduces her main characters, Captain Masculine (aka Butch, aka Big City’s guardian against all things villainy), and the ostensible villain, Dr. Antihero (Xander), the guy with a passion for saving marine wildlife and the outcast in a family full of arch supervillains. While Butch and Xander hide their secret identities from each other, they connect in ways much deeper than mere names or inherited expectations. Their connection is sexy and it’s unapologetically smutty and, for lack of a better word, it’s instinctual while exploring Butch’s previously undiscovered need to give up control, specifically to Xander.
As secrets always out, Butch’s and Xander’s are revealed, which leads to the Big Drama Arc. Xander’s brother Wolfgang, aka The Hand of Death, plays an unexpected role in getting them there. That sets him up as the MC in the next book, Gentlemen Prefer Villains, which I’ve preordered because color me hooked. Wolfgang doesn’t do anything that won’t benefit him in the long games he plays, and I loved his completely charming confidence and dark audacity.
Not All Himbos Wear Capes gives some perspective to the concept of superheroes and supervillains. The concept of Good vs Bad is filled with some gray areas in which the heroes have a dark side and the villains mean to shake up the status quo because it needs a good shaking. Human villainy, of course, gives as good as it gets and proves that absolute power corrupts absolutely.
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