Bells Broussard is a shapeshifter and one of the strongest and earliest to manifest his super powers. He is excited to be asked back for hero training and ultimately inclusion in the Heroes’ League of Heroes as one of the youngest members ever. He becomes the superhero Chameleon and starts taking on hero duties, even if they are not quite as “heroic” as he imagined (mostly he rescues cats and has staged fights for League publicity).

When Bells’ friends Jessica and Abby discover that the beloved hero Captain Orion is really a super baddy kidnapping and torturing other supes for their powers, and that the Heroes League is behind a huge coverup to keep it all quiet, the friends realize that they need to do something. Along with Bells’ best friend (and crush) Emma, and Jessica’s brother, the group becomes the Sidekick Squad, determined to find the Resistance and expose the coverup.

Things aren’t all easy. Their parents are trying to help rescue the endangered superheroes from Orion’s clutches, but they don’t think it is the time to take on the government or the League. The Resistance may not be quite what they thought either. And new robot technology is making it harder for them to stay ahead of those who want to shut them down (or kill them). Plus, Bells still can’t work up the nerve to tell Emma how he feels. But Bells and the gang are determined to do whatever it takes to stop the corruption, even if it risks their own lives.

Not Your Villain is the second book in C.B. Lee’s fabulous Sidekick Squad, following the wonderful Not Your Sidekick. This story starts the summer before the main action of that first book as Bells goes to hero training. Then when he returns home, we get a little bit of a recap of the climax of the first book from Bell’s POV, and then begin to move forward with the next phase of the story. So while there is enough information here you could probably figure out what is going on, this story very much picks up as part two of the series and continues the main plot thread from the first book.

Once again, Lee’s world building here is great. I loved the details of the training facility, of Bells getting his uniform and learning the ropes as a hero, and seeing all the different super powers folks have. There is so much creativity here and everything has enough detail to make it shine, but not overwhelm the reader.

I really enjoyed following along with the kids as they are now more organized and all working together. The first book focused more on Jessica and Abby uncovering details of Orion’s plot, as well as their relationship, but this one gets all the teens together working to figure out what is going on and expose it. They are clever and tough and I particularly loved the bond among them all. They care about each other and take care of one another and I loved their little squad. You have to kind of go with the fact that they are absurdly self reliant for high schoolers. I mean, their parents go off to fight the bad guys and leave them home alone for weeks (months?) at at time with no communication. That is kind of part of the fun, the idea that these kids are solving the problems that the adults can’t quite hack, but you have to just go with the fact that they are basically on their own despite their age.

From the romance end, things are not quite as front and center as in Not Your Sidekick. We know Bells has feelings for Emma right from the start, but it is mostly on the back burner until the end of the story. So this isn’t quite as much of a romance, rather more of a buddy story, but the next book is Emma’s lead so I am assuming we will get more development in that third story. As with the first book, I really appreciated the diversity here of orientation, race, and gender identity. Particularly in a young adult story, it is wonderful to see such a range of people represented and for the diversity to be so seamlessly integrated.

So this is a wonderful second installment to a delightful series. While it is YA and tame enough for even the youngest readers, it is also more than entertaining enough for adults. I really enjoyed this one and can highly recommend the series.

Not Your Villain is sort of an origin story for Bells as well as a continuation from Not Your Sidekick. Bells has been secretly going to Meta-human training camp for the past three years, and is being hailed as the next greatest hero with a power scale that rivals that of their leader, Captain Orion. However, as we saw in the previous book, Jess and Abby inform him of what the League of Heroes is doing and he helps out. Now, they all have to try to find a way to expose the League, while also laying low. Their efforts are thwarted because the League is powerful and controls the media, and paints Bells as a villain to discredit him. Their only hope is in Abby's father being the one to disseminate the truth to the public, but he is being held in a location unknown to them. With so many things working against them, the Sidekick Squad looks for signs of the Resistance to have help.

Bells is the highlight of the book; he is adorable, cool and funny. His personal arc is about him starting with always believing in the heroes and one day hoping to become one of them too, and seeing that belief broken and then him being painted as a villain, to be called dangerous. He is not sure of his path and the limits of his powers, but he and his friends are looking for ways to prove themselves and to find a way forward that would keep them all safe and their family out of harm's way. He also helps out Abby when she loses the access to her powers, and through that, his own powers are explored. His crush on Emma is also played off well, considering this is also a time where she is questioning things herself, and it was sweet to see them together (though, I must admit, I loved the tension of the bowling scene). As for the world, we see a more expansive version of it than before, as the story takes them to different parts of the NAC, and also gives a glimpse into how common folk respond to the system.

Now, while Not Your Villain has a good plotline, with Bells' character arc and the combined efforts of all of their parents, as well as Orion bent on gathering meta-humans to power herself, the pacing of this story is all over the place. The first third rushes past because after introducing Bells and his life, it sort of recaps the events of book 1 from his perspective, which is super fast and mostly descriptive. When it finally catches up to the present, it has them running around in deserts, him going off on his own, then them catching up to their parents, and trying to convince them to let them be involved. Then again towards the ending it rushes things to put them in different places again, without much reason given as to why all the decisions from start to finish were made like that. Their parents leave them for months to go off save other meta-humans, and yes, they did make arrangements, it was still a risk to take when they could have just taken them to that bunker in the first place. There are many such other plot conveniences that grated at me (like Bells' lonely ride in the desert), even though I enjoyed the book as a whole.

I loved this book! The full review will be posted soon at kaitgoodwin.com/books! Thank you very much for this wonderful opportunity to connect books to their readers!

It's been awhile since I read Not Your Sidekick and, to be honest, I found the opening of Not Your Villain a little confusing because the events kind of overlap for a bit. Once I got the hang of the timeline though, everything sorted itself out.

I loved that this book ramped everything up.

The superhero/villain dynamic comes the foreground a little more obviously and a lot more quickly because all the groundwork for the conspiracy is already in place. The team quickly get involved with the investigation and rescuing villains. They're soon being hunted down and playing fugitive.

Bells is an awesome character and makes for a great protagonist. He's really relatable, charming and adorable. I love his personality: he came be self-conscious and make a fool of himself, but he’s also really proud of his achievements and keen to show off what he can do. It's nice to have that complexity. I loved how he supported as friends, especially mediating Jess and Abby or supporting Emma’s new relationship, even when he was feeling left out. I loved his relationships with his parents and his brothers. I really hope we get to see more of them.

I felt this one was more of an ensemble cast than Not Your Sidekick. Everyone has their part to play and where the first one focused a lot on Jess and Abby, this give us new characters like Christine (Crinoline) and Brendan (Jess’s little brother). I loved the banter between the team. The scene where Brendan came up with their superhero codenames had me laughing out loud. I loved the relationship between Bells and Emma specifically: will-they-won't-they, back-and-forth, secret-best-friend-crush.

This is a really good series, and I'm looking forward to reading next instalment.

I read Not Your Sidekick and Not Your Villain back to back and I highly enjoyed both of them. They were very fun, fast-pasted, action-packed books, with amazing characters. I do have to say that I enjoyed Not Your Sidekick a bit more than Not Your Villain (it felt a little rushed), but I still loved both of them and I can't wait to see where the story will go next.

Not Your Sidekick has been one of my most successful staff recommends and I am thrilled that Not Your Villain is just as fun and exciting!

A great follow-up to CB Lee's 'Not Your Sidekick', with a very likeable protagonist in Bells. Once again, the worldbuilding is excellent, and Lee manages to make the very well-explored territory of superhero stories feel fresh and exciting. It was particularly brilliant to see a trans character take centre stage here, and I loved how that part of Bells' life (and the support of his family) was woven into the story without being the main focus; the inclusion of other LGBTQ+ characters, many of them POC, was also really great to read. If I'm honest I probably would have preferred to have the story pick up from where the first part of the trilogy left off, rather than covering the first novel from Bells' point of view, as I felt the plot took a while to get going - but this was nonetheless an entertaining and enjoyable read.

The first third of this book seemed a little slow, but boy did it pick up! Bells is AMAZING, and I absolutely adore where this series is going. Can't wait for #3.

I realized after requesting this book that it was the second in the Sidekick Squad series. That being said, I had no problem jumping into this book and keeping up with what was going on in the story. The beginning went at a nice pace, but when Bells gets to Meta-Human Training and until everyone starts searching for Abby's father, things moved way too fast, in my opinion. I found myself re-reading parts to make sure I had not zoned out and missed reading something. Once the search for Abby's father begins and the conspierecy is revealed, things slow down to a nicer pace and again became more enjoyable. I am giving this book a 3.5 star which I am rounding up to a 4. The loss of the star was due to the way too fast pace, previously mentioned.

This is probably the fifth time that I'm writing a review for this book and I still don't know if I can do this beloved superhero/villain story justice. Let's start with the fact that we have a black trans guy on the front cover, which is an incentive for anyone to pick this one up from the bookstore.

Bells is definitely the most fascinating character, one that encroaches on the morally gray side which is what I love to see. He is just such a dedicated friend and he has such a big heart for those people he loves, and I love that about him. That’s what made this book so delightful, making me grin from ear to ear the whole time.

My favourite scene as a non-binary person was the normalisation of preferred pronouns; the constant use of him/his pronouns for Bells as well as the usage of the they/them. In fact, there was one scene where there was an introduction and everyone went around the room and just simply stated their pronouns. This made my heart so happy to see such in accepting save space for all of the characters.

Emma is the most relatable character in this whole series, because she is definitely ace and most possibly aroace; and that made me cry actual tears. I just want all the happiness from a fierce cinnamon roll whom I can strongly identify with. I have a feeling that the next book is going to be the best one yet, because it contains the queer of that I'm so desperately thirsty for.

Throughout this book Jess and Abby's relationship just grow stronger and more communicative like most long-term relationships tend to. I love how well they could read each other’s body language and how they adorably took care of each other through the ups and downs of their upsidedown life.

Nothing can live up to the first book in the series “Not Your Sidekick”, as that was the stellar five stars and my current favourite of the series; which is the only reason I gave this for starters. Still, this is a worthy sequel of the best,most action packed,epic, and diverse superhero story out there on the market.

**Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me a copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own**

This was such a fun action read, While I haven’t read the first book, I felt comfortable jumping in here and loved it. The whole plot is so well done and makes you want to read more. I love how strong the characters are both independently but their friendships are so strong. Plus who doesn’t like a good super power? Such a fun read.

Fun and enjoyable! I liked Not Your Sidekick slightly more than this, but still an amazing story and fun characters!

I read Not Your Sidekick not that long ago and absolutely adored it. Short after I finished reading it, I got approved for an eArc of Not Your Villain so imagine how excited I was to pick it up but… life got in the way and I only got to read it around a week ago. That being said, it’s okay, because I ended up loving it even MORE than the first but just a little though, which says a lot considering how enjoyable than one was for me. So without further ramblings, let’s dive into the actual review.

Like the first book in the series, the writing in this one is equally simple and pleasant to read, it’s pretty similar but I could feel and ever so slight shift in it to suit the shift in perspective since… it’s a different character narrating the events. One thing that I think was a pretty clever move is how the first few chapters sum up the events of Not Your Sidekick but from Bells’ perspective and I think it serves a few purposes like refreshing the reader’s memory since, if they’ve read the first book at its release, they will need it AND it gives a wholesome view on how things went down on Bell’s side because fact is, we don’t really know how he dealt with everything that went down.

There’s also the fact that that gave opportunity to get to know him a whole lot better, from his childhood, growing up, with his family, friends, how he discovered his powers and how delt with them, etc… I really appreciated that the story didn’t pick up right where the previous book left off (which can be pretty confusing when it’s been a while) and I don’t see that done in many books.

It’s safe to say that Not Your Villain is action packed from very early on because it doesn’t have the disadvantage of setting up the context of the story. Don’t get me wrong, there’s actually still a lot of worldbuilding done in here, but it’s less heavy, it’s rather shown through some research the characters do or through casual conversation. And we also get to see other cities in this post-apocalyptic America whereas in the first book, all we pretty much saw was small town Andover and that change was pretty darn awesome.

I don’t know if it’s the change of perspective, just a case of getting used to it or the series taking a more serious tone but I feel like it lost the silliness of the first book (which I talked about liking in my review). I don’t dislike this change at all, in fact, I love both equally but it’s just a difference I couldn’t help noticing and I thought it was worth pointing out. I had also said that Not Your Sidekick was -enjoyably- predictable and that too has lessened. Don’t get me wrong, I could still see some things coming but other events and choices characters made really took me by surprise and raised quite a few questions I can’t wait to have the answers for.

Bells is such an amazing main character. FREAKING BRILLIANT. He’s so caring, witty and smart. And he also has a vulnerable side that shows through his narrative and that he’s not scared of showing and I really admired that about him. He’s a trans guy and although I cannot speak on that particular rep, the echos I got from ownvoices reviewers were good. The book has brief mentions of body dysphoria, of Bells taking hormones as well as some other things. He honestly could’ve easily taken the cake for my favorite character in the series if Emma didn’t exist and I’ll tell you why.

Emma is the only character I could EVER relate to when it comes to how I function in my dating life. Every time she was talking about how it felt for her, I felt like it was me talking and that was such a validating feeling. She is latina and has such a strong personality, is funny but also has a quiet side, and there too I could see a little bit of myself. In this book, we get to know her a lot more than we did in the first since well… Bells is in love with her so he thinks about her, mentions her and interacts with her a lot. She’s either aro, ace, or aroace and THAT MAKES MY DEMIRO HEART SO HAPPY. I got so emotional when she was addressing how she felt about her romantic and sexual orientation and Gah. Feels.

Other than Emma, we got to see a little bit of Jess and Abby and how CUTE they are from someone else’s perspective, seriously, I just love them so much. We also got to know Brendan, Jess’ brother who is the freaking adorable as well as very funnily serious AND a bunch of other characters. Something I think is worth noting is how amazingly written all the relationships are either the friendships, romantic relationships or family relationships, they’re just so realistic and heartwarming because of how supportive all the characters are of each other.

I think I’m gonna end the review here with this: I NEED NOT YOUR BACK UP RIGHT NOOOOW!!!!! It’s from Emma’s perspective and we all know now how I feel about Emma, I just need that story and that perspective in my life asap.

This is a fantastic example of inclusive representation in YA: a black trans main character, and a diverse ensemble. The characters and their friendships and relationships are a high point of the book. The superhero adventure story unravels some of the good vs evil dichotomies, with its characters navigating a more complex world. On the other hand, the pacing is a little uneven (re-telling the first book in the series from a new character's POV, then racing through action at breakneck speed) and the writing style is somewhat flat. Still, this book has fun, appealing characters, and is a wonderful book to put in the hands of teens and readers of YA.

Reviews shared on Goodreads, Amazon, B & N and V's Reads: https://vsreads.com/2017/10/13/super-sequel-not-your-villain-review-and-giveaway/

Bells has grown up in Andover, a smallish town in the Nevada desert, several hundred miles from what remained of Los Angeles, after the Disasters and World War III are just stories in history books. Nearly 100 years ago, when humanity was still fighting to survive, there was a series of large solar flares that caused cataclysmic events, and generated the first generation of meta-humans, humans with super powers, of any type.

Bells is a black transboy with the power to alter his appearance, and that of anyone or anything he touches. He’s dealing with the meta-human stuff pretty well for a kid whose parents run a black market agribusiness. Oh, and who also has a long-time crush on his best friend Emma. In the beginning he keeps his identity as “Chameleon” one of the newly inducted member of the Heroes League of Heroes. Unfortunately, Jess, who has an undetected super power recognizes that Bells has been made a pawn in the game of heroes vs. villains. Jess noticed that the “villains” that Chameleon was impersonating on a series of “training missions” all had characteristics of her good pal, Bells, and Jess reveals the bigger plot that surrounds a group of missing villains, and Captain Orion, leader of the Heroes League.

This story overlaps NOT YOUR SIDEKICK and picks up with Jess, Bells, and their other pals trying to rescue Jess’ girlfriend Abby’s parents from captivity. Abby has a super power, but she’s been given a serum by Captain Orion to negate her mechanopath abilities.

Just as Bells is getting a handle on his powers and his feelings for Emma, life gets in the way. Ema finds her own boyfriend, and Chameleon’s activity in rescuing Abby’s mom leads to him being listed as Public Enemy ! by the Heroes League. That said, he finds some comfort in pals that didn’t have strong enough powers to make it into the League–and his mission to unmask the REAL villains of this world (think grown-ups in the government) brings some results. To a degree. If nothing else, Jess’ superhero parents take their mission seriously, and superheroes and villains are uniting to defeat the actual bad guys and bring justice to those who need it.

I love the multicultural cast, and the world is beautifully rendered. All to locales jump off the page, and Bells’ plight, in life, love and activity, is a sympathetic one. I love his sweetness, and his commitment to do the right thing even when it’s really, really difficult. It seems as if Bells’ perserverance wins him both the respect and validation he sought when he hungered to be a hero, and I was happy for that. I wonder who will lead us to eventual victory in book three. It feels like Jess’ sister Claudia is a strong candidate. This is an excellent book series for teens who are identified, or questioning, in the LGBT spectrum, as the relationships are all affirming and fluid. Bells is trans, Jess is bi, but seriously dating a girl, Emma has two moms, and there are many other examples of queer life, too. This world posits that nothing is unusual about those connections, and that felt pretty super, too.

Not Your Villain was so sweet. There’s some intense things happening in the story but there is this underlying adorable wholesomeness to this series that I adore, which is why I like it so much.

I do have to say that the first 40% or so of Not Your Villain is pretty much a recap of Not Your Sidekick but from Bells perspective. In some ways it did add to the story because Bells’s background in terms of his superpowers and his time as Chameleon were explored. But in some ways it wasn’t the best. The recaps of the parts that were from Jess’s perspective in Not Your Sidekick were brushed over incredibly fast, even though the events were through Bells’s eyes this time around. I would have preferred these parts to be a little more in depth because it felt very “this happened and then that happened”, which just didn’t feel like enough.

There were some awkward time jumps in other areas of the story, which sometimes left me confused. Scenes would end abruptly, a character would suddenly be there, a conclusion would be made without much conversation, and sometimes there was no real travel between places, either. This made the story feel disjointed at times and I had to try and figure out what had happened. It didn’t hinder my enjoyment by any means, but it was something that took me out of the flow of the story.

Bells Broussard is adorable. This black trans boy has my heart to the end. I love him to pieces, and unless the next book manages to blow me out of the water I think that Not Your Villain will remain my favourite of the series. Bells is popular with pretty much everyone but that’s because he’s sweet, not a jerky, unattainable job type. He’s kind to everyone, wants to make people happy (but not in a gross, self sacrificing way), and is supportive of the people he loves. I want the very best for my boy.

One of the things I love most about this series is the overall acceptance of the world these characters live in. It’s so refreshing to see queer characters not have to face hatred, bigotry, and discrimination. I really hope that one day the world is like this, and parents are loving and supportive (BELLS’S DAD IS EVERYTHING), and no-one misgenders people, and being queer is just accepted. I really appreciated that even the terrible people in this story never once misgendered Bells.

Another thing I loved about Not Your Villain was the introduction of even more LGBTQIAP+ characters! *cheering* Emma is exploring her sexual and romantic orientations and thinks she may be on the ace and aro spectrums, one of Bells’s brothers is ace and aro, his other brother has a boyfriend, and Jess’s little brother has a crush on Bells (which was so cute). I love seeing the lives of LGBTQIAP+ characters intersect because it is very true to life. Also, just yes for more than one (or tops, two) queer characters in one book!

I am honestly very much looking forward to the third book in the Sidekick Squad series. I’m hoping that it won’t be the last because this series is so sweet and diverse and lovely in all kinds of ways.

© 2017, Chiara @ Books for a Delicate Eternity. All rights reserved.

3.5 Stars. Was a lot of overlapped time with Not Your Sidekick, and that made it a little hard to get into, but I loved Bells and I love the whole setup of this world. I can't wait to see how it goes in the next book.

I was so excited to read this book, but unfortunately getting my hands on a copy of Not Your Sidekick has proven very difficult, and so I will not be able to review it at this time. I'm sure it is a great book, and I am excited at some point in the future to read and review it.

Despite not reading the first book, this spectacular sequel impressed with the racial and gender diversity in its delightful characters, their strong friendships coupled with strategic thinking, and suspense galore in this vividly imaginative futuristic world!