Reviewed by Carissa

TITLE:  Love for the Cold-Blooded. Or: The Part-Time Evil Minion’s Guide to Accidentally Dating a Superhero

AUTHOR:  Alex Gabriel

PUBLISHER:  Alex Gabriel Books

LENGTH:  300 pages

BLURB:  

Superheroes. Evil minions. And one hell of a conflict of interest.

Being related to a supervillain isn’t a big deal to Pat West. So what if his mom occasionally tries to take over the world? All Pat wants is to finish university and become an urban designer. That he moonlights as an evil minion sometimes – that’s just a family tradition.

Then Pat accidentally sleeps with superhero Silver Paladin, otherwise known as reclusive billionaire Nick Andersen. It’s a simple misunderstanding. Pat never means to impersonate a prostitute, honest. But soon Pat is in way over his head, and threatening to fall for the worst possible guy.

When Pat’s mother returns to bring the world to its knees, Silver Paladin races to stop her… and all of Pat’s secrets threaten to blow up in his face. How can Pat reconcile being a minion with wanting a hero? Will Nick’s feelings for Pat overcome what keeps them apart? Or will they both lose everything?

“Love for the Cold-Blooded” is a light-hearted jaunt through a world of superheroes and villains, android dolphins, mind control rays, eldritch artifacts stolen from the tombs of ancient gods, and young men loving not wisely, but well.

REVIEW:  

Some truths are inalienable: the sun rises in the east, coffee is the unholy elixir of life, and android dolphins are the most awesome thing ever.

Sadly, this book does not have android dolphins. 🙁

But it does have more than its fair share of awesome. Also it has a mind control ray–which might not be mechanical dolphin minions, but is still pretty dang cool (even if it is somewhat dependent on a dubiously amoral crystal of cosmic power).

Pat West (part-time minion/student/night-manager/pretend prostitute (the last one was totally an accident, he swears!)) never wanted to break into the family business (not that there is anything wrong with super-villainy), instead he intends to make his mark on the world as an urban designer. But school is expensive, so he takes a job as a night-manager to Nick Andersen (full-time billionaire/inventor/hoagie superhero/hirer of prostitutes of uncanny resemblance (ok, that last one is probably more part-time than full-time, but still…)). All this wouldn’t be much of a problem if:

1. Pat hadn’t accidentally been mistaken for a prostitute
2. Pat hadn’t stupidly started to fall for the emotionally stunted superhero
3. Pat wasn’t completely related and/or friends with most of the cities supervillain population
   • He also may or may not have also undertaken a few minion duties here and there (but what happens under the mask, stays under the mask!)

But Pat did, and Pat was, and so now Pat is trying to lead so many double lives that he might as well call himself Replicator Man and be done with it. And that is all without factoring in his mother’s Grand Return (w/ obligatory world take-over, of course). Oh, what is a man to do?

Well…what every part-time minion/student of urban planning would do: get very very sneaky.

Ok, if you can’t tell by now (and really if you can’t I don’t think you can blame me), I really loved this story. It was just hilarious. And action packed. And romantic. And nothing like the ‘serious’ superhero movies that are coming out. Except, maybe, in how much I enjoy them both.

I really loved how all these characters were so interesting, how the ‘good’ guys and the ‘bad’ guys were both so well crafted…but without them getting all stuffy and angst filled. This was a humorous look at the world of super villains and their counterparts, and while it doesn’t take the subject matter seriously, it does take story so. You could tell that the characters, the plot, the world was well thought out, because most of it just blends into the background and you forget about most of it. Except sometimes you remember and you see how ridiculous it all is, and you can’t help but laugh at these people (in the best way possible, of course). This story is irreverent, in a way that so many superhero movies these days just aren’t. It makes the story so bloody fun.

I don’t know how to talk about this book without giving away too many spoilers. I honestly think this is something that must be experienced for yourself. So if you are looking for something a bit different, something a bit fun, something very well written, then I heartly reccomend this book to you. It was nothing but a pleasure to read.

RATING:  

BUY LINKS:

Alex Gabriel Books

Amazon 

Amazon.UK

ARe