Nemesis: A Girl's Guide to Supervillainy

by Joynell Schultz

Emily Tate never planned on becoming a supervillain.
Grief will do funny things to a person.

One minute she's mourning her sister, the next she's plotting revenge with a team of superpowered women she met at a wine bar on a Tuesday night. The Wonderful Wons — the city's beloved superheroes — saved millions by redirecting a missile. They just forgot to check for casualties when it hit a chemical plant. Forty-two people. Gone. Including Emily's sister.

Now Emily can float dramatically (essential for villain entrances), she has a leather costume that makes her feel like an absolute badass, and she has a plan. The Ladies in Leather — storm-summoning Hannah, fire-wielding Madison, mind-reading Nessa, and telekinetic Jasmine — are going to make the Wons face real consequences. Finally.

But first , they need Elijah.

Emily's notorious supervillain ex-husband is currently rotting in maximum security prison. The same gorgeous, infuriating man she helped put there. The same one whose dark secrets once shattered her world. He's also the only person with the expertise, the connections, and the absolutely unhinged confidence their plan requires.

Breaking him out should be the easy part.
Surviving the crackling, inconvenient, deeply annoying chemistry between them?
That's the real mission.

Between Hannah's accidental tornadoes, Madison's tendency to set things on fire when flustered, and the undeniable pull of a love she never quite got over, Emily's plan for justice is becoming a recipe for beautiful, chaotic disaster.

But hey, if they accidentally level the city while getting revenge? No plan is perfect, right?

Sometimes being bad feels really, really good.
And sometimes the hero of your own story wears leather and holds a grudge.


Perfect for readers who love second-chance romance, found family chaos, morally gray heroines, and stories where the villains are clearly the good guys — packed with humor, heart, and enough crackling chemistry to power a city.

294 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 2, 2025

About the author

Joynell Schultz spends her days working in a “reliable profession” as a veterinary pharmacist, which pays the bills, but isn’t nearly as exciting as creating alternative worlds writing speculative fiction. While shivering through the long northern Wisconsin winters with her husband, two children, and numerous pets, she enjoys reading, writing, and planning her next vacation.

Reviews

[Chad Barrus · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from the author and even though I didn’t have to post a review, I wanted to offer my honest, voluntary impression of it after finishing it.

Joynell writes stories with humor and wit and this one is no exception. In a city where there is superheroes, they are careless when they divert a missile heading for the town and send it crashing into and obliterating a chemical plant resulting in 42 casualties which the “heroes” and town write off as collateral damage for the good of the city.

However, little do they know that the explosion coated 5 women outside the plant that day who had loved ones inside when the missile hit and the fallout in the air changed them all and gave them each different superpowers.

This first book in a new series is about them but centers on one woman, Emily, in particular.

You’ll find how her life was changed that day and events leading up to it and what the “Ladies in Leather” do to begin their journey of making these super zeros pay for taking their loved ones that terrible day!

This was a fun romp with humor, snark and five women who banded together because of sharing their own grief over what happened to each of them that day.

I wholeheartedly and enthusiastically recommend you get and read this first book in this new series and I feel sure you’ll come to love the “Ladies in Leather” just as much as I did! It’s fast- paced and will have you smiling with a few lol moments thrown in throughout to break the tension building as our supervillains plot and carry out prison and jailhouse break outs and come up with ways to expose the super jerks who took their loved ones lives!

I enjoyed this first book and look forward to reading the second book, Rebel, when it comes out!

[Adena Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is as fun as Estep's Bigtime series - lots of mayhem, lots of angst, lots of social mishaps, lots of unconventional, off-the-wall humour. This is a great start to what promises to be a hilariously romantic series.

I received an ARC from the author and I am voluntarily leaving a review.

[LizJ. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nemesis book 1 of A Girl's Guide to Supervillainy! by Joynell Schultz is a fun and campy read!

I received an ARC from StoryOrigin and am leaving my review freely.

[Kate Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes Queens of Leather!

Hilarious read! Must clear your afternoon because you will not be able to put this book down. Cannot wait to read the rest of the series.