We Could Be Heroes was a fun and quirky tale. Jamie and Zoe were well-crafted characters who tried to overcome their personal problems to do what they thought was right, choosing to use the powers they'd ended up with to help others. The pacing of the story was spot on and I flew through the pages, always keen to see what would happen next. The villain was perhaps a little weak and two-dimensional; however, I feel that this book was more focused on the journey of the two main characters, and therefore the fleshing-out of the villain was not as vital. All up, if you enjoy superhero stories, I am sure you'll find something to love in We Could Be Heroes. It was a solid 4-star read for me.

(This review will go live on my blog on 25 January 2021, at which point I will also share on Goodreads and across social media.)

This story features two people with superpowers: Jamie, aka the MindRobber, a villain who robs banks but who always returns his library books on time and really just wants to retire to the Caribbean with his cat and Zoe, aka Throwing Star, a superhero with a bit of a drinking problem.

And if you are a Doctor Who fan you'll probably recognize that "The MindRobber" was the name of an episode from the 1960s and Jamie and Zoe are both Doctor Who character names as well. Many of the character and place names in the book were taken from vintage Doctor Who characters or actors.

This is a really fun book and not at all your typical superhero story. There's some great humour in this book, particularly at the beginning where the characters consider the more mundane aspects of being a superhero such as coming up with a descent catchphrase, how your superpowers are affected when you are hungover and how to get your supersuit dry cleaned without revealing your secret identity.

But even with that style of humour, this is no Mystery Men. There are real characters in this story. What makes the story interesting and sets it apart from so many other superhero stories is that this isn't an origin story - in fact, the two main characters are trying to find out their own origin stories themselves.

The book starts off with a bang, although it loses some momentum in the middle. In my opinion it could have done with more presence of the villain to build a little more tension. That being said, the focus of the story really wasn't about the battle with the villain but instead about the relationship between the two main characters and discovering who they really are.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced reading copy.
#WeCouldBeHeroes #NetGalley

Book: We Could Be Heroes
Author: Mike Chen
Rating: 1 Out of 5 Stars

I would like to thank the publisher, Mira Books, for sending me an ARC.

I’m just going to be honest. I did not like this one. It’s not that it’s a bad book by any means, but I just could not get into. I really think that I am not the intended audience for this one. I gave it a go and it just didn’t work out for me.

I felt like the big reason why I didn’t like this one was because of the way that everything was carried out. We have two twenty something year olds who both have a lot going on. Plus, they have superhero powers. However, we really aren’t given a chance to kind of bond with them and get to know them. It felt like the author was trying to withhold this information to make him seem all knowing. I have read books where this is done and done well. However, here it felt kind of slopy and really took away from the plot. I know it was supposed to be big reveal at the end, but it just made for a mess. We needed to have just a little bit more background information in order for the whole plot to work. We were just missing that information that would have made the whole thing work.

The fact that information was withheld and not done very well had a big effect on the plot for me. There were times in this book that I had no idea as to what was going on. I know, I know, it was all done for the sake of the big reveal. However, there was some information that was missing that we kind of needed to know in order to have a better understanding of the story. You can withhold information and still make the plot work. You have to give your readers clues and hints to make them guess as to what is happening. I wasn’t able to do that here. As a result, I lost interest in what was going on.

Mike Chen isn’t a bad writer. However, the way he carried this one out made me not want to pick up anyone of his books. The writing could have been good, but it was very clear in this one that he was trying way too hard to hide information that we kind of needed to understand what was going on. Maybe this makes me a poor reader, but I don’t think so. We need background information. We need something to give us a chance to kind of piece together what is going on. We need a reason to see if our theories are right and, sadly, that did not happen here.

So, anyway, I think I have said just about all I can say about this one. It comes out on January 26, 2021.

Wildly fun spin on the superhero mythology with villain Jamie and hero Zoe meeting in the San Delgado Memory Loss & Dementia Support Group after both wake up in apartments with similar leases and no memory. A rather large plot hole requires the reader to jump past needed explanations but does not distract from the fun of what this author does with all the superhero tropes.

I think Mike Chen is a big fan of comics and superheroes and I like that he did something different with the genre. This might have been a little bit better as a comic? By the end of the book I felt it was a little repetitive in action.

We Could Be Heroes was not the book I anticipated by the cover and description. The first few chapters worked really well, and I really appreciated true inner turmoil of Zoe and Jamie, showing bank robbers aren’t all bad and heroes aren’t all good.

For me, the book was very muddled in the middle. The plot seemed disjointed and not very cohesive. You would be thinking they were going one way and all of the sudden they were arrested and shifting. There were memory flashbacks that weren’t clean on the transitions and left you confused about which timeline it was happening in.

Overall I wanted to pan out towards the end and show that there was a larger purpose to it, but that didn’t seem to happen. They saved the city by bringing power back to them, but it kind of seemed lackluster. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Cute regular guy is a super hero story. Fun, but not too deep. The plot got a little too circular in the second half, but overall a quick and entertaining read.

Our story opens as a young man is holding up a bank. Not with a gun mind you but by controlling the minds of the bank personnel and the people currently at the bank intending to do the normal business one does while there. A woman he has just mind controlled falls down and our hero Jamie begins to fret about what happened to her to cause her collapse. Just than Zoe a part time deliverer of meals and a woman possessed of super strength and the ability to fly jumping off tall buildings with a single bound appears on the scene with the obvious intent of capturing Jamie and delivering him to the police. In the melee occurring with the robbery and the fainting of the woman Jamie escapes and Zoe goes back to delivering the meal she is carrying.
Shortly after the dynamic duo quite unexpectedly meet in a memory loss support group that both have been attending. You see superman and wonder woman each have the same experience. Their memories only go back two years when they awoke in an apartment and began trying to resurrect a past that is beyond them while coming to grips with the super powers they have. The bright idea of teaming up to work on recuperating their memories hits them both and so they begin. Hard to tell if Mr. Chen is writing a comedy or attempting to begin stories of super heroes but both our leading characters turn out to be more than a little neurotic. Their search for their roots and subsequent falling in love is entertaining and charming. What happens to them and the results of their search is documented in a plot grounded in science fiction and the description of two flawed characters seeking out their roots while handling a really diverse world not too friendly to them. An attractive book and one conducive to cause readers to look for more of the same in future novels.

3.5 stars. This book was a little frustrating to me—on one hand I love the two main characters and the initial set up. Jamie and Zoe are lovable and sympathetic and their dynamic is absolutely the best part of this book. And the idea of two super powered screw ups—one a neurotic and cautious villain, the other an impulsive and reckless hero—meeting in group therapy and forming a friendship (with no chance of romance) is awesome. During the first half, when the story was just about that, I really liked it. But the second half was a lot bigger than I wanted it to be, too much about "Saving the City" from a villain that didn't really make sense. I would much rather read more about these two having buddy cop adventures, robbing banks and solving mysteries than them saving the city from a very vague evil threat.
Thanks to Netgalley for the eArc!

The Author acknowledges his pulling from the CW universe of shows, and it is evident. The storyline was fun and the characters interesting, but it wasn’t exactly original and I kept having the feeling that I had seen this story one too many times. Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3597195031?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

If you are looking for a great escape read, We Could Be Heroes is a great choice. The book begins with our two narrators, Jamie and Zoe, who both remember only the last two years of their lives, going about their lives as "hero" (Zoe) and "villain" (Jamie). Jamie is a mild-mannered man who robs banks using his powers to wipe the minds of the bank employees and users. He is trying to get enough money to move to the Caribbean and retire from crime. He considers this a victim-less crime, since banks are insured and no one (really) is losing money. Zoe can hover/fly and has superhuman hearing, strength and speed. She rescues people in distress and stops crime while holding a job as a food delivery person. Unfortunately, things don't always go perfectly, and she's seen as a vigilante that does harm as well as good.

One day, Jamie robs a bank and gets flustered when a bank teller collapses from a heart attack. He feels extremely guilty. Zoe happens on the scene and chases Jamie through the city, but loses him. But soon after, both Zoe and Jamie attend a Memory Loss/Dementia support group, and work together to save everyone after there is a fire. They realize each other's secret identities, and form a truce to figure out what erased their memories two years ago.

I really enjoyed this book because you can't help but to root for Jamie and Zoe to figure out what happened to them and get the real "bad guys." The book is much more lighthearted than many superhero books, and is one I would read with my 13-year-old without hesitation. It is a fun read!

Thanks to NetGalley for advanced copy of this book!

Jamie has the ability to read and then erase minds and working as a part-time bank robber. Zoe is super strong and travels at hyper-speed working part-time as a superhero thwarting bad guys. They meet at a support group and come to an uneasy truce to discover their past, the origin of their powers and save the world. In this new crop of unreliable superhero stories such as HENCH, A BEAUTIFUL FOOLISH ENDEAVOR and THE CITY WE BECAME comes a story of misguided goodness and a bit of badass superpowers. Mike Chen has the ability to take a story of people with unbelievable powers and present them as ordinary, semi-lost twenty somethings. Very readable, fast paced and laced with humor, you will find yourself liking these guys flaws and all. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.

The title of Mike Chen's novel We Could Be Heroes drew me in immediately! I mean who hasn't pretended to be a superhero a time or two while growing up! Jamie and Zoe are two normal people who have gained extraordinary abilities but they have no memories of how these abilities came to be. Jamie, the villain, and Zoe, the vigilante, cross paths when both attend a meeting for people with memory problems. Typically, these characters would be enemies, but as they learn more about each other and how they can help each other, their friendship blossoms. #wecouldbeheroes

The Mind Robber can steal your memories but makes a living robbing banks. Throwing Star makes a living delivering fast food but secretly fights crime on the side. Both are connected by a complete loss of memory, powers they never had before a desire to figure out what's happening to them. While the Mind Robber and Throwing Star are cast as adversaries, Jamie and Zoe might turn out to be great friends.

Fun, fast and adventurous, We could be Heroes is a plot twist filled action adventure thrill ride not to be missed. The dual narration is sure to appeal to a wide audience. Unpredictable outcomes, questionable motivations and evil plots make this a fun read. Flawed supers trying to adjust to new powers, lost memories and figuring out what they are supposed to do with themselves or for others will make this a popular pick with readers who enjoy Xmen, the Marvel Universe or the Maze Runner Trilogy. Fluid trading of the hero and villain roles add a layer of thoughtful complexity to this high action, fast paced read. The conclusion is wholly satisfying. But, the characters are likeable and the universe interesting enough, that readers would happily look for a sequel.

A clear 9-12 hit, the only pause for offering this to 7/8 audience are light references to drinking and healthy use of profanity. Otherwise, this is a well paced read sure to be a hit with a broad spectrum of readers.

Jamie and Zoe are two twenty-somethings with special powers. Jamie can read minds and erase people’s memories. This, of course, comes in handy when he robs banks for spending money. Zoe has super speed and strength, which she uses to combat crime…when she isn’t working for a food delivery service. One evening, they meet at a memory-loss support group. Obviously, SOMETHING has happened to each of them, since neither can remember their past. They realize that they have some things in common and decide to figure out their mutual mystery. Eventually, they realize that they are part of a medical conspiracy that may have far-reaching effects on the world around them.

The superhero aspect of the story was fast-paced but somewhat confusing. If Mike Chen’s goal is to have the reader only know as much as Zoe and Jamie, the lack of exposition is understandable, but the additional background would have made the story more enjoyable. The real plus of the story is the friendship between the two protagonists. They are flawed but real individuals, and they might be able to save the World despite their shortcomings.

This book would have enormous appeal to older teens. It certainly “reads” like a young adult book. Unfortunately, many secondary school libraries may need to steer clear of We Could be Heroes because of its language. The book contains several “f-bombs”, which could cause it to be a no-go in certain communities. This is unfortunate since the world can always use a good story about friendship.

Thanks to NetGalley for a free ARC of this book in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

Two people each wake up w/ no memories, but super abilities. One reads & erases memories and robs banks, the other is strong & fast, so she delivers food & beats up bad guys. What happens when they meet and try to find out about their past? For fans of Hench by Walschots or Vicious by V.E. Schwab.

A fun take on heroes and villains. Great for fans of Sarah Kuhn or anyone who wants action packed with laughter.

This is not a book I’d normally pick up, but I found the premise intriguing: two people have superpowers, but they have no memory of how or why they have them. Jamie is known as the villain, Mind Robber. Zoe is a vigilante with the ability to hover. After a bank robbery gone wrong, the mismatched duo discover one another’s identities at a memory loss support group But where did they get their powers? And is someone trying to weaponize them? Astute worldbuilding, a fun premise and fast-paced adventures make this an entertaining, feel-good superhero read. Thank you to Harlequin / Mira publishing and NetGalley for the advanced review copy of the novel.

Two people wake up in rooms with no memory of who they are and with superpowers. Jamie only knows he can erase other's memories and begins using those talents to rob banks to pay for his essentials. Zoe woke up with speed and strength abilities and has becomes the best dasher to ever deliver food to doors. But when she puts a stop to some muggers, she finds people calling her The Throwing Star and she is suddenly a superhero. And what's a superhero without a supervillain? But when Jamie and Zoe run into each other at a memory loss support group, they find some common interests and start to think maybe they should join forces to figure out the clues to their mysterious pasts and maybe even a friendship. This is a new take on the superhero/villain relationship that a lot of fans will enjoy.

This book was a lot of fun, and refreshing in a way I needed after a fantasy heavy reading year.

This was my first Mike Chen novel but, after WE COULD BE HEROES, it will not be my last.

I enjoyed the succinct writing that made the story easy to digest and the banter between to two main characters was a joy to read while dealing with some complex topics.

I’m excited to write a longer review and feature this book on my blog as publication date draws closer!