Book Review: We Could Be Villains

We Could Be Villains

-Megan McCullough

Contemporary Sci-fi Superhero

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Avoid spoilers. Don’t get fired. Defeat a not-so-fictional supervillain?

Seventeen-year-old fangirl Rosemary Collins lives for VIGIL & ANTE Studios movies. From action-packed superhero fights to sweet character moments, she’s here for it all. But in a real-life crossover no one saw coming, the fandom’s heartthrob supervillain, Ironfall, isn’t as fictional as the film studio wants her to believe. Beyond the glamorous red carpet lies the government’s most guarded secret: the movies are real.

Armed with a devilish grin and a wit as sharp as his knives, Ironfall needs her help, and refusing means he’ll kill her parents. Her only other option involves spying on him for the government’s secret superhero division. Suspended between fact and what she thought was fiction, Rosemary must join her heroes and create an impenetrable web of lies—or guarantee her parents’ safety as she watches the world burn at its adored villain’s hand.

Perfect for fans of pop culture and comics, WE COULD BE VILLAINS packs an entire cinematic universe into a book. Join Rosemary and the not-so-fictional heroes (and villains!) of the VIGIL & ANTE films in this imaginative science fiction where superhero battles equal publicity stunts, fictional characters become family, and the villain just might steal your heart.

Howdy all you beautiful people! Welcome back to today's edition of "Mac's fangirliness." *Stares at the cover of this book* May we please take a moment and just look at this cover. Just look at it! *Sighs* By far the first thing that struck me about this book. C'mon, is that not a cool cover or what? I have to say, for a debut release, Megan sure knocked it out of the park. 'Cause if you think the cover is cool... it's got a blurb to match. Fictional movies and characters that are actually real? Um, yes, I'll pre-order that, thank you. (No, really. I loved how this sounded so much I pre-ordered it! And lemme tell ya, the attention to detail on the postcard goodies—more specifically, Ironfall's eyes—were too cool for school).

I'm not gonna lie to y'all, I had some doubts, reservations, what have you, about going in blind with a book like this. In my eyes, it could go either epically awesome, or drastically horrible. I decided to take that chance and I have to say... it leans towards the epically awesome end of the spectrum. 😉 Like most books, there were a few things that stood out to me, and that's what I wanted to share with y'all today. So let's dive in! This book was quite the story.

Plot

Okay. Plot. In my personal opinion, the plot was on the slow side. Not that that's a bad thing, but I tend to like a faster-paced storyline. It seemed to take quite a while for the characters to get to the point they were striving for (to put it spoiler-free) and I feel like if a certain someone was as good at a certain something as he was told to be, it would have taken faster to... achem, get to where they needed to go. Catch any of that? I'm trying really hard not to spoil this book!

That being said, this wasn't a slow book. Plenty of things were happening, especially after Rosemary... ugh, no spoilers. *Mutters and taps head* Okay, after she shifted from defense to offence, how's that? 😁 Abd that cliffhanger. UGH. When's book #2 coming out again?

Characters

Rosemary... I see a lot of people I know in her. She's a very relatable character in that aspect, dealing with a job, her insecurities and "freeze" mode, and her parents. I was slightly concerned when I read she didn't have a good relationship with her parents, as I feel that's a trend in secular genres, and I personally do not like it. However (yes, there's a however to this), this wasn't an "Oh, my parents are stupid and they don't know me" trope. It was an "I just want them to love me but they can't/won't" one. I understand that's not for some people, but I found it was well written. 😉 I also loved to see her character arc go from insecure to trained. The fact that she grew through her capabilities and wasn't a hot shot right out of the gate was a nice touch.

Ironfall. I gotta say, he's a pretty good MC for being a villain. Then again... you know my track record. I always love the villains. He definitely had a different feel to him than your average run-of-the-mill baddie. He was... searching for something, and while he was tough, he had his weaknesses. I appreciate that in a guy. I did feel his skills lacked a little in places, like things he should've known/planned for. But that's just me. 😉

Sam. SAM! Ok, Sam I am, I am Sam. WE LOVE SAM! That was chant in my house when I read this book (Points if you know what book I'm referencing). From the minute I knew of his existence, I knew we would hit it off. Best. Side character. Ever. And I've read quite a few. He's the best! He's goofy, sarcastic, pathetic at times, annoyingly insane the others—Megan could not have picked a better person to fit the role of Sam. No, what's the chant? WE LOVE SAM! There ya go. Great job.

The Vigil Team. Okay, quick run-down since I do not have the time or your patience to rant about them all. 😜 Agent Liam: Kudos to him for wrangling this entire set of agents. He gets the Head Agent of the Year award. Agent Ver: Not your average tech whiz. She's totally in the running with Sam as funniest character in Vigil & Ante. Agent Manda: I liked seeing a strong female with emotion problems. Uh, I mean, problems displaying emotion. I think I like her cause she reminds me too much of a character of my own. 😎 Cloaker: Why does this guy not have an agent name? And why did the cliffhanger ending have to do with him?! Oh, shoot, that was too close to a spoiler. *Clamps hand over mouth*

Romance

Okay, down to my least favorite part of books. In all honestly, it wasn't that bad. She is falling for Ironfall (her and about ten thousand of his fans), and you see them grow "closer" but then again not really 'cause all they know about each other is mostly lies and cover-ups (on a life-or-death situation, not like lama drama lies and cover-ups. Think of the double agent variety. 😏). Sam does tease her about him falling head over heels for her, asked her if he kissed her once, etc. The annoying stinker. They do kiss, but it was for a theatre act, if that makes a difference for anybody. 😜

Content Labels

There were a few things here, besides action content like knives and fist fights. Rosemary aquires a stalker in the beginning that freaks her out a bit (who ends up being the one and only villain, our boy Ironfall). A few words were said that I could have done without (One rhymes with "wrap" and the other with "stinking") both appearing only two or three times. There is a not very descriptive kiss, and Ironfall does put his hand on her back several times as a comforting gesture. There were multiple deaths, and one particularly descriptive death *SPOILER* Her mother put a gun to Rosemary's head and Ironfall shot her in order to save Rosemary. There was some description that might not be suitable for sensitive/younger readers. *END SPOILER* Ironfall does have a healing power, which is not described in a weird or magical way, and Cloaker can change into any person he comes in contact with. This aspect of the book was portrayed in a scientific way, not a magical one.

Final Note

Was this the first of this kind of book I'd ever read? Close to it. Did I enjoy it? Yes. Will I be getting the rest of the series? *Blinks* Can Sam break through the Vigil firewall in less than five minutes? (That's a yes, by the way). This was a very cool read! Actually, just what I needed at the time. Do you ever get to where you just need to sit down, shove aside the regret of doing so, and read a good book? This book met me at that point. And... I can neither confirm nor deny that I stayed up way too late to finish it. 😎

So there you have it! We Could Be Villains. What do you think? Are you going to give this book a try? Let me know down below!

Catch on the flip side!

_Mac