Mild-mannered Stan Morris is a loving husband and father. The catch? He’s also a superhero. But saving the world is a piece of cake compared to salvaging a marriage in turmoil and raising his six-year-old son. Stan struggles with adjusting to bachelorhood again, moving into a cramped apartment and getting relationship advice from his loyal friend and financial manager Barry. He does battle with his nemesis, Brainfart, as well as an emerging threat that call themselves the Society of Modern Maniacs. All this while desperately trying to reconcile with his wife. Stan has always excelled at being a superhero. It’s being human that’s the hard part.
J.W. Bouchard is the author of over twenty novels spanning horror, mystery, and science fiction. When he’s not writing stories that pull readers into the dark, the strange, and the unknown, he’s exploring them firsthand—spelunking underground or scuba diving below the surface.
In the past, he has been a grocery bagger, waiter, hearing aid consultant, promotional products salesman, telemarketer, janitor, security guard, law enforcement officer, treatment facility supervisor, healthcare fraud investigator, business manager, and serial entrepreneur. He is a licensed real estate broker and a formerly licensed private investigator.
His latest hobby is teaching his kids bad habits. He lives in Iowa.
In the interest of full disclosure, I won this kindle book through Goodreads, so thank you to Goodreads and the author for a very entertaining read.
This book is simply entrancing. In the tradition of some of the best sci-fi writers, while this book is nominally a "superhero" tale, it is truly a story about the nature of our human relationships. The focus is on how we cope with our daily struggles, and how those struggles are similar across social hierarchy and income level. Seriously, I meant to read on my first opening the book for just 20 minutes or so, to get started before I left for an appointment, and found myself having completely missed the appointment, having gotten sucked in so completely by the book. The book made me really look at myself, with how my life has changed recently, as the primary character is going through similar life events (obviously not exactly the same), and it really gave me insight as to how my life events can be seen by those in my social network. In its own way, this book evoked self-reflection like I haven't had since some books by Ray Bradbury and Harry Turtledove. Both authors similarly make such characters of such depth that you can almost feel yourself settling into their skin, facing their problems yourself, asking what you would do differently, and trying to coach the character. Now, I'm left to wait for "next season"...
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway, for which I'd like to thank the publisher and the author.
I give this book five stars for the concept - what is it like to be a Superhero, yet have to fit in with "normal" society. It is part of what I find interesting (and funny) in the Disney movie, The Incredibles.
However, while the concept was interesting, the way this book was written, not close to five stars. The book is a bit crude - I'm not sure why the author went in that direction, but he did. I didn't really feel a connection with any of the characters other than the main hero for more than a few pages. There were also some typos.
There is potential with this book/story line, but between the language, long swaths of dialogue (possibly potential as this does read like a pilot for a TV show), and seemingly weird side stories that do fit together (mainly) at the end, it's a bit of an uneven read.
It's almost disconcertingly realistic. Stan isn't the best of guys, but he's not the worst, either. And he's a superhero, which gives him a little bit of leeway. But his life is almost entirely normal, other than having to stop giant radioactive earthworms every once and awhile. He breaks up with his wife, misses his son, has conversations with his best friend about all those things, and then drags his arch-enemy 1000 feet into the air when a horde of his clones starts marching down the street.
Overall, it seems like a really good mix of regular novel with just a little bit of fantastical. Reasonable read for fans of either genre.
*I received an electronic copy of this book in a giveaway*
I read the book over the duration of few weeks, when I had time at work. The premise was okay, I was curious from the beginning how the story will play out and it flowed nicely. The dialogues are good, something I can imagine people saying in normal life and I like that kind of humor. As this is "First Season", the story ended on big cliffhanger and I'm curious as where it will go. Overall, the book was interesting and funny but to get 5 stars it was missing something that would put this story on another level.
What happens when a superhero’s marriage hits a rough patch, a new enemy arises, and an old enemy changes things up? You get an interesting, entertaining book by J.W. Bouchard titled Superhero Ex: The Complete First Season. This book is like reading a behind the scenes tell-all about the everyday life of a superhero, in all its messy, very human details. If you enjoy superhero stories with a big dose of humanity, then I recommend this book to you.
This was a GoodReads giveaway of an electronic Kindle version.
I liked the emotionally confused hero's mild mannered alter ego. Just the same as every other mere man. I didn't enjoy the superhero's interactions with his arch nemesis. It just seemed a bit too over the top corny. It did read like a TV series. Kind of wandering from one episode to the next. And there was a nice cliff hanger season ending to get you to come back for more.
But unfortunately for my tastes, it was a weak premise and did not captivate me enough to bring me back for me. It was just okay.
Great book! This turned out to be a really funny action hero satire that was a fast, fun read. The characters (Stan, Barry and Brainfart in particular) had me laughing out loud and nodding my head in agreement. Can't wait to see what happens next season. Oh, one thing I didn't realize when I started this book, it is not something that kids should read. I won a copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway for this honest review.
Love the concept. Definitely feels like it was written by a guy. Characters had human flaws and we're all perfect, especially best friend Barry. The arch nemesis isn't all that scary and is more 1960's TV Batman style villain than Dark Night style. Not sure I'm interested enough to read the sequel, not very invested in the lead characters. Also, several typos throughout.
Everything is putting this superhero in a slump, from a troubling ex wife, kids, and work- the alter ego kind. Just how much can one man/superhero take.
Superhero-ex presents what comic books don't or won't: the mundane human problems of someone trying to pass. This twist made what would normally be a dull broken relationship tale enjoyable. I received a Kindle edition from a Goodreads giveaway.
A superhero splits with his wife and finds that life is not what he thought. Fast reading and good, exciting plot. A cliffhanger ending. I received this book from Goodreads for free.
There are so few super hero novels out there and even fewer great ones where characters are well formed and built that a book like this where they are deserves a great rating.
I received this as a gift so I hate to be negative but I just could not get into the story. I thought the story would be different than it was - I was looking for an ex-super hero from the start. I'm sure others will enjoy it, this just was not my 'cup of tea'.
This is not your average superhero book. This tells the story of what happens to a superhero in their "real life" and how being a superhero impacts it. I won this book thru a Goodreads.com giveaway.
I felt like this book had an interesting premise--a superhero and his personal life. But I didn't feel like this was an amazingly well-written book. I finished it because I wanted to know what happened and even then it was a cliff-hanger.
This book is essentially Superman marries Lois Lane and they have a child, their marriage has difficulties after a few years and Lois cheats on Superman. They separate and Superman continues to take L after L.
Not a bad written book but it's just frustrating as hell, oh, also ends on a rage bait cliff hanger.
If the sequel actually comes out and there is some get back I may raise this to 3* / 4*