R.J. Sorrento and I are friends on Twitter, and I really enjoyed their cute regency romance mystery novelette Death at Sagehollow. When I heard their debut Captain Stellar was out, I bought a copy as soon as I could. I'm so glad I did!

Cal struggles. He struggles to be a good son to his divorced mother and a good boyfriend to Jin. He struggles to fit in time to build his photography portfolio between grueling shifts at his construction job with a truly terrible boss. You'd think, maybe, getting superpowers would make things better. But when those superpowers are granted without consent by a mad geneticist, when they introduce him to smokin' Fernando and his bubbly sister Margo, when superpowers mean a whole other set of responsibilities & tough choices...his world is turned upside down instead.

The writing sparkled in Captain Stellar. All the characters felt incredibly realistic and three dimensional, with organic flaws and true strengths. Cal's character in particular was fantastic: he looks like a hero from comics, with the typical blonde hair, strong-jaw, and muscles. Scratch him though, and he subverts the cliche. He's gay, afraid of commitment, and prone to running. He's a good, imperfect man. Besides the characters, Captain Stellar boasts a very lived-in and realistic depiction of Chicago and several yummy food scenes. Reading made me hungry. The pacing was excellent, the plot gripped, and the world-building was well-polished.

Captain Stellar is a brilliant novel with memorable moments, well-drawn characters, and a lovely romance. I definitely recommend it to superhero fans everyplace!