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Strictly No Heroics

Strictly No Heroics

Current price: $19.99
Publication Date: March 28th, 2023
Publisher:
Feiwel & Friends
ISBN:
9781250818478
Pages:
368
Usually Ships in 1 to 5 Days

Description

In Strictly No Heroics, a normal teen girl must navigate crushing on her best friend, starting a new summer job, and not being squashed during the next supervillain showdown in B.L. Radley's young adult debut filled with humor and heart.

A Normie’s guide to staying alive in Sunnylake City:

1. Keep your head down.
2. Don’t make enemies.
3. Strictly no heroics.

The world is run by those with the Super gene, and Riley Jones doesn’t have it. She’s just a Normie, ducking her way around the hero vs. villain battles that constantly demolish Sunnylake City, working at a crappy diner to save up money for therapy, and trying to figure out how to tell her family that she’s queer. But when Riley retaliates against a handsy superhero at work, she finds herself in desperate need of employment, and the only place that will hire her is HENCH.

Yes, HENCH, as in henchmen: masked cronies who take villains' coffee orders, vacuum their secret lairs, and posture in the background while they fight. Riley's plan is to mind her own business and get paid...but that quickly devolves when she witnesses a horrible murder on the job. Caught in the thick of a gentrification plot, a unionization effort, and a developing crush on her prickly fellow henchwoman, Riley must face the possibility that even a powerless Normie can take a stand against injustice.

About the Author

B. L. Radley wanted to be an astronaut or a penguin when they grew up. Neither worked out. Thankfully, fiction lets them live vicariously as both. Raised in rural England alongside several tame chickens and one feral brother, Radley still lives in the countryside, along with nine-hundred-and-ninety-nine story ideas, enough books to count as a fire hazard, and the occasional Oxford Comma. Strictly No Heroics is their debut novel.

Praise for Strictly No Heroics

"In this insightful, multilayered debut... Radley subverts classic comic book tropes to craft an imaginative futuristic setting grounded in realistic interpersonal challenges." --Publishers Weekly, starred Review

"Riley’s journey in this world populated with queer and racially diverse characters is both thrilling and galvanizing." -- Kirkus

"It’s not easy being a Normie in a world where superheroes and villains take up all the attention... so Riley’s hesitance to just embrace her own badass self is understandable...the book ends on a celebratory note as she finally realizes that she can have love, a great job, a close and honest connection with her family, and a meaningful place in the world, regardless of her status. " --BCCB

" Radley's debut smartly winds critical issues into the propulsive plot. A thrill ride for socially conscious teens." --Booklist Online