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Super Harem #1

Lucky Strike

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I promised I’d never again wait to be saved. I’d become a hero. But first, I needed to survive.

Being a hero’s girlfriend isn’t really all it’s cracked up to be; especially when most of my free time is spent being kidnapped.

My life had been broken down into a redundant and boring routine of abductions, rescues, and overinflated egos before I took an involuntary swim in a giant health code violation.

Life was black and white to me then, but now? It’s a grey area.

Between monster invasions, conspiracies, and juggling my own core values, I’ll need all the support I can get. But who can I trust?

Something is amiss in the Association - a threat to the virtues and morals all heroes are sworn to uphold. I’m determined to expose it… Or them.

With three dashing heroes and a handsome villain by my side, there’s no way I can fail. The people, the heroes, and the world all depend on our success. It doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. But then, they don’t call me Lucky for nothing.

Caution: This book is filled with heroes, villains, and a boatload of OSHA violations, resulting in a fun-filled and fast-paced adventure of new beginnings and electric endings.

This is the first book in the Her Super Harem Series. Each book will focus on a different main character, but each of the main characters will make appearances in the other books as well.

256 pages, Paperback

First published September 5, 2020

47 people are currently reading
80 people want to read

About the author

Catherine Banks

93 books838 followers
Catherine Banks is an award-winning, USA Today Bestselling fantasy author who writes in several romance subgenres under multiple pseudonyms. She began writing fiction at only four years old and finished her first full-length novel at the age of fifteen. She is married to her soulmate and best friend, Avery, who she has two amazing children with. After her full time job, she reads books, plays video games, and watches anime shows and movies with her family to relax. Although she has lived in Northern California her entire life, she dreams of traveling around the world. Catherine is also C.E.O. of Turbo Kitten Industries™, a company with many hats including being a book publisher and store full of nerdy fun.

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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
Profile Image for Alice.
1,913 reviews104 followers
October 8, 2020
Lucky Strike follows our FMC Lucy who starts off as a constantly kidnapped normal human girlfriend of the hero Cobalt but ends up with superhero powers herself when some amateur villains drop her in a mysterious vat of goo. This changes her life and sets her up to battle against an evil organization and monsters as she's adjusting to the new superhero world.

The book is certainly a unique concept in the world of reverse harem with a society of villain and hero supernaturals, and I really liked the cover, but overall, it was a very light and silly feel-good book written like a bad movie plot rather than a serious planned out story with deeply developed characters. The world reminded me of juvenile superhero films like The Incredibles and One Punch Man with a questionable superhero registration organization, vigilante villains, and evil monsters. It didn't help my perception when Lucy's best friend hero Alura used terms like darkness and sparkles for descriptions when observing Lucy with her love power and told Lucy to start relationships with other hot heroes she meets because of these sparkles. Transistor was written like a sexy hot combination of Iron Man meets Batman.

There was pretty much no character development, just action. Almost all the characters were very 1-dimensional cardboard cutouts - either they were obviously good people and loved Lucy or they were evil and selfish with no relatable motives. The only exceptions were her , but even that was pretty superficial. We don't learn much about the history or personalities of the main characters involved - most of the descriptions are about their physical attractiveness and literal decisions. There's nothing about backstories on what led them to join the superhero organization or even why the Association was created to begin with.

Lucy's thoughts and emotions about the other characters are constantly told to us straight out, rather than shown with context for the readers to draw their own conclusions. This led to a very dry narration of A happened, then B, and they all went to C. Additionally, new characters kept appearing and were almost always immediately accepted by Lucy without much realistic drama. All the men in her harem just accept that they're super attracted to her and don't mind that she's dating others simultaneously. The only hang-up some had temporarily was that she was dating a "villain," and that was apparently crossing the line. The men were barely even dating Lucy before they already started exchanging "I love you"s.

Many scenes throughout the book also made absolutely no sense.

*For a short time when she first joined the organization, people kept referring to her as Jen instead of Lucy until she corrected them. Characters later also started calling her Lucky out of nowhere for some trivial reason that wasn't explained at all until the book was almost finished. She didn't even question why people kept calling her Lucky for the longest time and just accepted it.

* The obsession with OSHA compliance throughout the book was really weird and not well-explained. It's not a very good inside joke if the reader doesn't understand why it is one.

* Her ex Cobalt was

* What was Transistor trying to accomplish with kidnapping Lucy and fighting Cobalt multiple times in the beginning other than he thought Lucy was attractive and wanted to see her more? He became a villain and , but how did irritating and physically fighting Cobalt help with that cause at all? Plus, once he got together with Lucy, there was no sign of any additional villain activity towards any other heroes for this goal.

* If Lucy already knew that the organization , why the heck wasn't she more careful about going back and more emphatic about telling her friends to move out as well? You can take down an organization without needing to live in their building...

* Lastly, the hero Black Hole was just randomly thrust into the group with no explanation of his powers or even what he looked like. Same with other heroes they encountered. Shouldn't they be more discerning about who they trust with their secrets??? /facepalm A few snippets...
Ion, another electricity user had been assigned as my trainer. He was tall, thin, and the nicest man I had ever met.
...
It took a single hour before she said something sarcastic and was welcomed into our group of girls.

As a result, I skimmed the vast majority of the book (over 98%) just to see what happened for absurd entertainment value rather than any serious emotional investment in the story. The unique superhero/villain concept and pure cheesiness of the plot kept me from fully quitting for a 1-star, even though the writing and dialogue were quite juvenile and not well written for an adult fantasy novel.

As an FYI, for a reverse harem adult romance, there was absolutely no descriptive smut in this book - any intimate scenes were just fade to black, and the most we get described is of the men's hard-ons and some clothes getting taken off.

I don't plan on reading any future books in this series and likely won't read any more books by this author.
Profile Image for Che is Slowly Getting Back to Reading .
306 reviews19 followers
February 4, 2021
Meh

This book has two thing I like, reverse harem and super heroes, but thats about the only thing.
First of there's absolutely no explanation about the world. You get told that there's heroes and villains, the heroes work for the HA- Heroes Association (picture Marvels SHIELD ). All they do is fight monsters and do press interviews. There's minimal explanation of how different powers work, sooooooo many plot holes and inconsistency. The FMC (she has so many names some of them without again explanation!) I'll just call her Lucy, ends up getting powers because she was dropped into a vat of Goo. (no further explanation needed right) The plot if i'm even calling it that is so ridiculous, it makes no sense and the big bad ugh his motives were so stupid. There's no chemistry between her and the 4 guys, I still dont know what 2 of them's superpower is? One is called Hurricane but he's can summon lighting, create ice and wind??? and Vortex can control the wind?

The characters were all either whispering or shouting.

The book is all over the place, I was expecting a fun silly super hero RH but this feels like a first draft :( Luckily its short, so you know there's that.
Profile Image for Gypsy Madden.
Author 2 books30 followers
October 30, 2021
Lucy, the girlfriend of superhero Cobalt, finds out as he’s rescuing her from villain Transistor, that he actually rescued another girl first and that he was dating her as well. She breaks up with him, only to have a rookie kidnapper not get the memo that Cobalt wasn’t coming for her as she’s dangling over a vat of radioactive goo. She finds herself submerged in the goo before she’s rescued, oddly by her ex-boyfriend’s nemesis Transistor and a new superhero. She’s whisked away to the Superhero Association where they find that the goo has given her superpowers, able to electroshock people. Now imbued with superpowers, she is accepted into the Association and sent on missions, and befriends other superheroes. And after her fizzled relationship, she’s none too eager for commitment, and suggests that she would like to play the field and date several guys rather than just one.

I loved the beginning sample of this book! I adored that line where Lucy was unconscious and she could hear the hero who was rescuing her ask villain Transistor who was also on the scene attempting to help, “What are you even doing here? You’re a villain.” I just adored the idea of the girl having to change her way of thinking of heroes and villains to accept the idea of a romance with a villain. That’s the book I really wanted to read with a lot of superhero action and rescues starring a powerful superheroine who wasn’t a clone of either Black Widow or Scarlet Witch with a bit of romance in it. I was okay with the idea of a reverse harem since I loved the idea of the villain having to join a team of heroes and work together with them and I really wanted to see their different personalities clash or work together. And the “villain” does get top billing of the guys she’s interested in. But the other guys don’t have much in the way of personalities, like they had been added in as a second through after most of the book had been written to market on the reverse harem trend. In actuality, this book isn’t a reverse harem. It’s wrongly marketed to claim that it is. What it is, is a girl dating several guys, on their own, and not together in a group. Harems are supposed to be done as a team, together. And when she gets called out during an interview for dating several guys at the same time, she throws a childish temper tantrum. I kid you not. It made me embarrassed to call myself female. I honestly didn’t see why all of the guys were attracted to her, except that she was supposedly hot. Her personality really wasn’t developed much beyond being superficial, horny, and immature. I should probably mention that the “villain” isn’t really a villain. He’s more of a Batman vigilante. And I mean that other than his power set, it was like the author was just writing in the character of Batman and changing the name. Let’s see... his superhero name and alter ego both start with the same letter, he’s a famous handsome reclusive billionaire in charge of his own company, and he’s got an array of gadgets and inventions. What I really didn’t like was that Lucy broke up with Cobalt for dating a second girl at the same time as her, and for putting the other girl first. So what does she do? She dates several guys at the same time and then expects them all to be cool with the idea even though she’s totally doing to them what Cobalt did to her. Two wrongs don’t make a right. Not to mention once there was this scene where she was with one of the guys and a female superhero, and the two got attacked by robots, who did she jump to check on first? That’s right. The one who wasn’t her boyfriend. Pot. Kettle. Once I realized that I lost interest when she started looking at more guys beyond Transistor.
So, what was up with her name? Transistor calls her Lucy. But then the Association calls her Jen. I never did get why they called her that. There was absolutely no explanation. After a while, I started wondering if this book had been written by a guy. Because Lucy felt more like a caricature of a guy’s idealized girl or what he thinks girls are like. She thinks about sex constantly (though there really aren’t any graphic scenes in the book. There’s one scene that borders on it and another that actually cut away as they went into her room together. Like death scenes, if it’s not fully described, I don’t buy it as having happened). There was an odd conception that when girls get together they paint their nails. Each time Lucy hangs out with Alura, they’re painting nails, even if they got together just the previous night. I mean, seriously, how often does one really need to paint their nails. I can count on one hand how many times I’ve painted my nails over the last year while hanging out with other girls. Actually, I can’t since the number was zero. They also seemed to spend their time shopping and trying on clothes. OMG, stereotyping much? The relationships were the main focus of the book with the superhero scenes practically interchangeable and mostly written like outlines and not really described other than by actions. It was like fight group of robots here, fight monsters here, fight another group of robots here. There was this scene that read “I used my violet strike.” And that was the extent of describing what happened, almost like this was a video game and she just used a special attack without any graphics to go with it. When I buy superhero books, I want the focus to be on being a superhero, so I won’t be continuing with this series. Superheroes Anonymous by Lexi Dunne has a very similar opening concept with the superhero’s girlfriend breaking up with the hero and being attacked by someone who didn’t get the memo and gaining powers, but that one as opposed to this actually focused on her coming into her powers and her life as a superhero and didn’t have any scenes where she painted her nails.
Profile Image for Natalie  H.
3,801 reviews30 followers
September 5, 2020
This was one I was looking forward to. I’m always looking out for superhero romance or where the villain gets the girl. Blurb mentions kidnapping but it’s pretty quick and light. The entire story is light feel good with a little relationship drama tossed into the mix. I liked how quick the story progresses and how Lucy accepts her new life, boyfriends and friends. Sex is mentioned but nothing graphic or really on page. I liked the heroes but favourite character was T. I’m looking forward to the Aura queen’s story.
Profile Image for SnooRegrets.
553 reviews116 followers
October 8, 2020
Man, I wish I could rate this higher. I really liked the premise and some of the ideas in here and it finally was a little bit different then your typical RH tropes.

I was really disappointed that the writing was so unbelievable flat - the world, the characters, the plot, everything. There is zero development, their relationships go from "oh hey, let's date" to "I love you" in the blink of an eye and that just didn't work. And not only her romantic but also platonic relationship.

I think it is ment to be funny, but has the style of a rather bad cringey superhero comic. Oh and I always hate the "bashing the douche ex" thing, since you know, she has chosen him? She slept with him and supposed loved him, that says a lot about her too, when he is such a fuckboy.

So disappointing waist of interesting ideas, execution simoly wasn't good enough.
Profile Image for Nerdy Housewifey.
445 reviews2 followers
December 23, 2020
Not a real story

This wasn't really a book, it was a really big outline. There is absolutely no details and is rushed from plot point to plot point. Flesh this out, give each character their due and have some freaking details this in itself would have made an amazing trilogy. As it stands now I just couldn't keep reading it each character feels exactly the same and it's just so rushed
Profile Image for OneDayI'll.
1,596 reviews43 followers
November 28, 2020
Trouble magnet

Jen/Lucy/Lucky/Violet Strike/I lost count of names, is not having a good time lately. Dating a superhero is not what it's cracked up to be. No one warned her about what jerks they were, or that it put a "please kidnap me" target on your head. After about the dozenth time being held at laser point, the novelty is wearing off. Especially as she just dumped the jerk she was being kidnapped to draw in. Can life really get anymore ironic? Oh, yes it can. Because, the next time she's kidnapped, for the same jerk- some idiots hadn't gotten the memo yet, she gets dumped in some sort of toxic goop. Guess who has powers now?

Spoilers ahead
This was fun. A little too zany here and there but lots of fun. For those looking for more steam, yeah, it's pretty tame. As in, fade to black, happens off camera. This is a RH, but it's not an immediate one. I liked the slower build, that there wasn't immediate agreement. A couple mysteries, that readers didn't realize were mysteries, were solved, but it explained a few things that seemed a little too easy for the FMC to accept. The world building is a little slim. We have heroes, superheroes, some alien superheroes, directors, villains, and more. Apparently everyone knows about all the heroes, they have secret identities, but they all live in a compound? And it's fairly well known, because it seems targeted a lot by the villains. Not a single hero seems suspicious of all the samples, enforced cohabitation, or the odd drowsiness they experience periodically. Some know what's going on but haven't stopped it yet. Some heroes don't seem like they should be allowed to remain heroes. In the same light, some villains seem to only be villains because they did find out something and tried to stop it. It's a little light on details, twisty where it seems straightforward, but still a very enjoyable read. Lucy always has a quip at the ready, doesn't take crap, and calls anyone trying to feed her BS out on it. We get the barest of details on all but 1 of her men, as in all we know of 1 is that he's an extraterrestrial who came to help. Why? No clue. How he found out? No clue. Is he common for his people? No clue. Two are elementals, good for her shock abilities, but other than they pair up for strictly hetero (a lot of emphasis on that by them) menage that's the extent of what we learn. The other is the 1 we learn practically everything about. We dive into this world that's already established, and aren't given details on how the organization formed, when it did, how heroes decided to come out of hiding, why of they're so praised they hide identities, or anything else on how the world differs from the one we know. The plot is entirely character driven. Maybe more comes out later? I'm geek enough I want to know lol. And I enjoyed it enough I'll look for more.
Profile Image for Erin Penn.
Author 4 books23 followers
November 12, 2022
Looking at the author's other books, it explains so much about this manuscript and why it fails for its written genre.

Normally Ms. Banks writes YA (young adult) - this book reads more a coming-of-age than gathering-of-harem book, or even a superhero-origin-story. While public displays of affection in the form of kissing, holding hands, and some touching occurs, all active sex is the being-closed-doors variety. Which is really weird for a harem, even a reverse-harem, of adult variety.

The superhero action is equally lacking. The battles are all (nearly) against enhanced monsters. Teamwork mixing the powers with and against each other doesn't occur. The plot is fairly straight line. A couple surprises, but not really a sub-plot variety.

The book was written in 2020 (it is now very late 2022) and was the first of a "series" - none of which are appearing on Amazon at this time. The author released four other books in 2022, so I think she decided to shelve the series aspect, realizing this particular line isn't her forte. (She is really good at her forte.)

That said, the powers had great visuals, the male harem very supportive, and the characters could each be picked out as unique. An Okay book, but not a Good Superhero story or a Good Reverse-Harem-for-Adults story. There are better of both genres out there.

With more layering to the plot, pushing open the bedroom door a bit wider, and adding more interaction of superpowers in opposition (different types of villain powers) and as teamwork (I'll call this "rock-paper-scissors" in the superhero fighting), this book could easily move from okay to good.
Profile Image for Malkhai.
231 reviews2 followers
October 9, 2020
Original review: https://myshelfbooks.wordpress.com/20...

Paranormal Romance, Superheroes: If you enjoy superheroic stories with a spoon or three of romance you are going to love this book! The crazy story reminded me of some stories from Marvel during the 70s or so. There is a well built plot with plenty of action scenes to make it easy-to-read. The only negative aspect I can point out is the fact that those action scenes are a bit repetitive. Fighting giant monsters over and over again doesn’t leave a lot of room for variation.

The characters are nothing special, but they work really well for the light mood of this story. Also, the superhero/supervillain names are pretty cool: Violet Strike, Hurricane, Ion, Vortex, Galactic Gargoyle, Transistor… Classic naming convection in classic comics.

Ménage, Weak: When I picked this book I was in the mood of reading some naughty scenes with a bunch of hot guys. You won’t find that here. Not at all. Just a couple of kisses now and then. In my defense, I must say this is my first book by this author (so I wasn’t familiar with her style or preferences in Romance) and the title of the saga is very misleading. For the next one, I will set my expectations accordingly for a greater enjoyment.
Profile Image for Kit.
1,517 reviews16 followers
September 7, 2020
Read : September 7, 2020
Rating : 5 Stars

This was exactly what I was looking for right now, something relatively low on drama, high in action and with a super kickass heroine!

I hope for a lot more books in this series since I really liked the characters and I especially loved that our Mc didn't do the "putting other woman down to make herself look more amazing" since that's like nails on chalkboard for me.

The only thing I'm not quite sure about is that the harem developed pretty quickly, which means we don't really get to know all the different guys before they're in a relationship already.

I personally really like a slow burn start so we can get to know the guys more, which seems logical.

Besides that, it was a great start of a series and I look forward to the next one.
68 reviews2 followers
September 13, 2020
Totally 'super' new take on RH genre!

This book was so uniquely fun to read! I've always enjoyed the RH genre of romance , and also super hero fiction. Lucky Strike combines both into a humorous, action-packed, joy ride of a story. Lucy, otherwise know as Lucky or her hero name of Violet Strike, is snarky, smart, strong, fearless, and compassionate. Her interactions with each of the men in her life are just enjoyable to read and experience. Tyson and Austin are my favorites of the four, though Austin probably is my number one.I'd gladly read a series just about these 5 characters.
137 reviews
September 25, 2020
Funny!

I loved the interactions between all of the characters. The author brought them to life so well. This is a low heat story, so even if reverse harem is not your thing I don't think it would be an issue. The women are absolutely quick witted and strong on their own but the story does shine a spotlight on teamwork between all the good gals and guys. Even some of the villains showed their nice side!
Profile Image for T..
Author 13 books573 followers
February 4, 2021
Lucky Strike, the first book of the Her Super Harem series, is an ebook I downloaded from Kindle Unlimited. This book was a fun read. Outrageous world building (superheroes and villains are the norm), the plot is silly and full of twists and turns, and the characters were unique. I had a good time with this one because it was so unusual.
Profile Image for Adrienne McFarlane.
473 reviews36 followers
September 16, 2020
Quirky and fun

This book is a lot of fun. The characters are quirky and sarcastic. Interesting powers and world view. Although the book is a reverse harem, the book is plot driven. If you enjoy action with a side of humour, then I highly recommend reading this
1,281 reviews5 followers
February 26, 2022
Entertaining

Fun and light-hearted, with a few issues for the fmc. I feel like it needs a bit more backstory but otherwise I really enjoyed reading this story, I'll be checking more stories in the super harem world.
Profile Image for Daphnne.
1,313 reviews8 followers
September 8, 2020
A really fun read

This was such a fun and funny read. Full of action, angst, villains, evil plots and so much more. Excited to see who the next one is about.
1,514 reviews11 followers
September 8, 2020
Good read

This was a great read. A very unique plot and fantastic likable characters. There was absolutely no heat though and for me in a rh that is a must.
12 reviews
September 15, 2020
Loved it!

This book was soooo good, I couldn't put it down! The heroine makes sure she becomes the bada$$ she believes she is. She takes the bad and turns it into a win.
44 reviews
August 26, 2023
fun read

This was such a fun, lighthearted read… just when I was needing a break from all the dark romances I’ve been wrapped up in. I’m very much looking forward to the next book!
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