Power Through

Supervillain Rescue Project #3

by H.L. Burke

When family's involved, the line between hero and villain can get blurry.

15-year-old Marco Reyes has spent a year at a camp for at-risk superpowered teens, learning to control his fire throwing abilities in hopes of being a superhero someday. With his powers mastered, he wants nothing more than to return to his mother. His mother, though, may not be ready to care for him.

When Marco's Mom blows off their meeting in San Diego, Marco's guardians take it as a sign the woman isn't responsible enough to care for her superpowered son. Marco, though, knows that this time something's different from his mother's other absences. He's convinced someone's taken her.

Slipping away from the safety of his camp family, Marco follows a clue that leads to a supervillain recruiting agency and allies with a supervillain who is after the same agency for her own reasons. Marco's camp friends are on his trail, but will he find his mom before they bring him in? Or is his mother simply a pawn in a much deadlier scheme?

Genres: Superheroes, Found Family, Young Adult

289 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 30, 2022

About the author

Born in a small town in north central Oregon, H. L. Burke spent most of her childhood around trees and farm animals and was always accompanied by a book. Growing up with epic heroes from Middle Earth and Narnia keeping her company, she also became an incurable romantic.

An addictive personality, she jumped from one fandom to another, being at times completely obsessed with various books, movies, or television series (Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Star Trek all took their turns), but she has grown to be what she considers a well-rounded connoisseur of geek culture.

Married to her high school crush who is now a US Marine, she has moved multiple times in her adult life but believes that home is wherever her husband, two daughters, and pets are.

She is the author of a four part fantasy/romance series entitled "The Dragon and the Scholar," the Award Winning (2016 Realm Award for Young Adult Fiction) Nyssa Glass Steampunk series, and MG/Fantasy "Cora and the Nurse Dragon," among others .

Sign up for her monthly newsletter at www.hlburkeauthor.com

http://www.amazon.com/H.-L.-Burke/e/B...

Reviews

[Karen Eisenbrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an advance-review ebook from the author and was eager to dig in! it is the third book in this series, but completely enjoyable on its own. Loaded with tense action and thrills, it also has plenty of scenes of teen drama and comedy, as well as warmhearted superhero family life.

This episode focuses on Marco Reyes, a fifteen year old with fire powers who was sent to Camp Sable until he could control his powers well enough not to endanger himself or others. Now he feels like he’s there and longs to reunite with his overworked, less than reliable mother. When a family wedding takes the whole of Camp Sable to SD, Marco has plans to spend significant time with her. He soon suspects she has been kidnapped by a supervillain but no one believes him. Marco sets out to rescue her himself, stumbling upon unexpected allies along the way.

This story did a great job of showing the difficulties of parenting superpowered teens, even for superpowered adults. The complicated emotions and reasoning that lead to dangerous choices make perfect sense, with mistakes leading to consequences but also all kinds of growth. The backdrop of wedding prep was a humorous foil for the action and danger, and a believable distraction. I found the surprises at the end satisfying, including the stinger pointing to book 4.

[Gordon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series is basically a family drama with a sideline in superhero hijinks. Having sucked me into caring about all these characters, I find I don't mind the inherent daftness of the genre. And actually the villain's lair setpieces was kind of cool. Great warm fuzzy comfort reading.

Contains some spoilers for the main series.

[Tricia Mingerink · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series just keeps getting better and better! I thought I loved Prism and Fade when they were the main leads of their own series, but seeing them as mentors/stand-in parents for a bunch of troubled superhero teens is just as good, if not better.

This book brings back some of the favorite characters from Prism and Fade's series, yet the cameos are explained well enough that you can read this series without having read that one.

Marco takes the starring role in this one, and he has quite the struggle to work through. We finally find out what has been going on with his mom this whole time.

I can't wait for the next book! I'm not sure I'll ever get tired of diving into this superhero world this author has built!

[Lj · Rating 5 out of 5]

Power Through is the third book in the Supervillain Rescue Project series and would stand on its own if you haven't read the earlier books, but the experience is definately better if you've followed the characters on their journey to date. Loads of characters from the earlier Supervillain Rehabillitation series make appearances here and again, you don't need to have read those books to enjoy this one, but again the experience will be richer if you have. (And I still say there's at least one more spin off series there).

This book focuses on Marco, the youngest of the three protagonists of the series. Marco's mother is missing and everyone thinks she's just being her usual irresponsible self. Only Marco believes she is in real trouble and feeling unsupported by the adults around him and even by his friends he runs away to find her on his own. While his friends frantically search for him, Marco gradually uncovers a plot that puts not only his mother in jepardy, but himself and many other super-powered kids accross the country. Marco proves to be a real super star in a story that's more about heart, courage and determination than super powers. There's humour, action, explosions, friendship and family all mixed into a fast paced adventure. I thinl this is my favourite installment in the series so far . . . Can't wait for the fourth and final book.

[C.O. Bonham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Power Through is the third book in the YA Supervillain Rescue series and the tenth book in the greater SVR universe, so if you get confused on your own head be it. Please start with Power On for more about Marco, Jake and Laleh. Start with Redeemed for more about Prism, Fade, Aiden, and Tanvi.

Now that you know where to start in the series here's where to start in the book. Start with the dedication. Then proceed to chapter one. Now that you have started you won't be able to stop.

If you've read the previous books then you know that Marco is the adorable fire powered super teen who is a lot more like Ang than Zuko. And I love him, he is my Marco-mallow. Power Through is his turn in the spotlight.

This book has everything, family drama, action packed fights, and a Steampunk theme park.

*I was given an ARC of this book by the author. My opinions expressed in this review are my own honest evaluation of the book.*

[Erin Dydek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another Fantastic Super Teen Novel

I loved getting to see how much Jake, Marco, and Laleh are growing up! This third book in the series showed us the challenges that teens struggle with when major life changes occur. While not all decisions made by our three fledgling heroes were wise, I loved watching them learn from their mistakes. It was satisfying to see the growth and maturity as the book progressed. Themes like learning to trust and adapting to life, even when things don’t work out the way you hoped provide excellent examples for teen readers. I highly recommend this series to teens and young adults looking for an action-packed adventure with many applicable lessons. Burke’s books are always good for a quick satisfying read! Looking forward to book four after reading the epilogue!

Readers who have been following the main series and this teen spin-off will appreciate the return of familiar characters and exciting events!

[Sarah Ryder · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finally continued and this one was just as fun and exciting as the first two!

I like how throughout the whole series we focus mainly on Jake but the other teens get their time to shine as main characters as well. I have to say that even though I like the other teens Jake is by far my favorite and following him and the rest of the Camp Family as they chase after Marco were the best parts of this whole story because…

…Marco drove me absolutely BONKERS! Oh my gosh, I wanted to slap and shake him SOOOO many times it’s not even funny and if this book had purely been in his head it would have been a three star because he drove me NUTS. Not to mention the STUPID things he kept doing, but at least he cared enough about his mom to do such stupid things for her, I guess. They were still stupid though!

Super excited to read the final book and say I actually completed one of these series rather than just starting them all, lol. That epilogue has me nervous about what the bad guys are going to pull next…


‼️Content‼️

TRIGGER WARNING: a neglectful mom

Language: dang it/dang; heck; jeez; badass; crap; damn; sucks; what the; pissed; hell; screwed; jackass; dammit; what the heck; holy crap; freakin’; go to hell; what the hell; BS; hardass; darned

Violence: a man tries to hit boys with a baseball bat; fighting with weapons, superpowers, and hand to hand (not detailed); injuries and blood (not detailed); a boat explodes

Sexual: a character’s mom works at a bar as a dancer/stripper; a boy mentions that he knows his mom sleeps with men; mild suggestive hints; kissing (not detailed); guys are called hot

Drug/Alcohol: adult characters drink

Other: a neglectful mom; superheroes and supervillains; a guy’s superpowers resemble mind control

[Selina Gonzalez · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up. Not my favorite of Burke's superhero books, but I was less interested in Marco (nothing wrong with him, I like him, just less compelling to me personally. I'm mostly here for Jake's story, tbh), the whole situation with his sucky mom was sort of upsetting (because it was all too realistic), Marco spends most of the book making frustratingly stupid (but very understandable) choices, I cared less about the wedding-related stuff, and admittedly I've been in a bad mood the last few days, so I'm cutting the book some slack since some of lack of investment was probably just me. 😅 Still good, just didn't entice me as much.

[M.H. Elrich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marco gets his moment to shine

I have always loved Marco and reading his story was both heartbreaking and heartwarming all at once. A nice addition to the series!

[Pucktricks6802 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got the third book in the Supervillain Rescue Project early, I'm not going to complain because after pre-ordering it on Valentine's Day, I was impatient to find out what evils H.L. Burke was going to do to Marco in his spotlight story, you can't hurt that sweet boy.
I'm happy to say, Marco came through it all fine, though a little bit sadder.
While this book focuses on Marco, each of the main characters from the previous book all get their moments to shine, and I especially loved the struggles Prism and Fade went through as they tried to balance letting the teens grow up and take risks, with wanting to protect them from the world. It was a well-written struggle on both sides.
H.L. Burke continues to deliver her great balance of action and character-driven story with a thoroughly satisfying ending.
Sadly, I have to wait an unknown length of time to find out what happens in the next story (there are hints of a new problem at the end of the book)

[Annie Lima · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun and meaningful story, in turn heartwarming, tearjerking, and edge-of-your-seat exciting. The characters we've come to love from the previous books are almost all back, along with some interesting new ones. Anyone who has read the first two books in the series will definitely want to read this one, but it could be enjoyed on its own as well. My only complaint was that it needs professional editing (there were some truly cringe-worthy typos in this one), but the story and characters are good enough that that didn't stop me from enjoying the book.

[Katherine M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marco's story

Marco is an adorable cinnamon roll and I love him, although Jake is still my favorite of the three. Good story about the importance of family and friends.

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rtc 😊

[Jenelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

d'awwww Marco

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another solid story in the Supervillain Rescue Project series. I adore Marco, so this story was exactly what I needed. As the super teens embark on their journey, they will face an ending they couldn't see coming! (You won't either.) Highly recommended for YA readers who enjoy scifi and fantasy.