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Astrid isn’t a superhero, not like the ones that are constantly on the news. But she does have an unusual gift. She has a perfect sense of time, and she’s determined not to waste a single second of her life.
Her plan for college is clear. All friends, classes, and extracurriculars have been carefully selected to get her into medical school.
Then she meets Max Martin, a nerdy boy from her high school days, who has suddenly crashed back into her life. Things with Max are never simple. He doesn’t keep her schedule and he disappears in the middle of dates or cancels at the last minute with stupid excuses. But when a supervillian breaks into her bedroom one night, Astrid uncovers the truth. Her boyfriend is a superhero.
Now, on top of double majoring as a premed, Astrid struggles to balance a double life. This wasn’t a part of her plan for the future, and falling for a superhero is more dangerous than she has time for. She’ll have to be willing to risk a lot for love. And when things go wrong, she’ll have to trust he’ll be there to catch her.
I absolutely love the idea of a superhero story that chooses to focus on the significant other, instead of the hero himself. It’s an angle I’ve never seen before in fiction, so I was really excited when I first picked up How to Date a Superhero.
Instead of an action-packed story one might expect featuring a hero, How to Date a Superhero features a character-driven plot. It explores the life challenges that come with being in a relationship with a superhero — including the need for mental preparation and ways to cope with trauma.
That said, anyone under any form of time pressure or stress may struggle with this book; I know I did. I found Astrid to be a frustrating overachiever (the kind who even scheduled her panic attacks). Many chapters were preceded by a timetable of what Astrid has to accomplish in the coming week. They made me feel exhausted, not to mention stressed, as I followed her through her daily life. Instead of enjoying the story, I often found myself putting aside the book to do more productive things I didn’t want to do (but probably should have been doing anyway).
Astrid and her story did grow on me eventually — enough to motivate me to finish this young adult romance book. Truth is, Cristina Fernandez brings readers a well-written debut full of strong emotions, plenty of angst, a fair bit of trauma, a hero some may find too relatable, and the message to remember to live life fully despite the potential consequences.
Rated: High, for 22 uses of strong profanity, 32 uses of moderate language, 10 uses of mild language, and 44 instances of the name of Deity. A character gives the middle finger. Reference is made to frequent college parties where drinking and carousing happen. Astrid visits two such parties — one where she drinks tequila and gets drunk. Sexual content is high — though more often featured through frequent jokes, comments, and insinuations. Astrid admits to never having gone past “PG-13” in her relationship, though there are quite a few makeout sessions and kissing scenes, and she contemplates doing more in the future. Her roommate is often missing, and it’s clear he sleeps around with many girls. In one scene, Astrid walks into her dorm room to find her roommate making out with someone. A couple moves in together.
