Okay, so I came across this book on Amazon called Love for the Cold-Blooded: Or The Part Time Evil Minion’s Guide to Accidentally Dating a Superhero by Alex Gabriel. I was hooked pretty well immediately but before I go too far in this, I give you fair warning that there is quite a bit of explicit m/m sex in this book. If this squicks you, don’t read even though it was a damn fun book.

This is a world where villains (who call themselves challengers) and superheroes (whom the villains call hoagies. It took me an embarrassingly long time to get that joke too) are a normal part of every day life. So in that way, its kind of like the movie Mystery Men. The book stars young Patrick West (Pat to his friends, Patpat to his family), the youngest child of infamous supervillainess Serpentissima (yes, she is part snake/part woman).

Pat doesn’t want to follow his mother’s footsteps like his sisters do. He loves his mother and he loves being a part time minion to other villains but his love is architecture and urban design and that’s what he’s going to school for god damn it! The children of the challengers/villains are often lent out to other villains as part time minions. They can work themselves up to Trusted Lieutenant and Right Hand, so its sort of like a whole business.

Pat is going to college, is on the swim team and has a part time gig as a night manager for superhero Silver Paladin, rich, genius and eccentric (and hot, let’s not forget that) billionaire Nicholas Anderson. Nicholas Anderson is completely out of touch with societal norms. There was very little of Anderson’s back story so I can only guess that this young genius was home-schooled or was just Doogie Howser-ish because he really doesn’t have any way to connect with people, he’s incredibly insecure and he has absolutely no game.

And by no game I mean, he hires hookers (“companions”) in order to get laid. Well, handling that sort of thing is actually in Pat’s night manager manual…which he neglects to read because he’s got homework.  Naturally, hi-jinks ensue when Anderson asks for a guy to be sent up to his lab. Pat sends himself because he has no idea that Anderson’s looking to get laid.

You can guess what happens. 😉 Pat gets one of his sisters to get him a fake ID complete with fake bank account and he takes the money because text books won’t buy themselves. This continues on for a bit until Anderson comes down to the night manager’s post and discovers Pat at work. Pat freaks and jumps at a chance to minion for the gentlemanly Sir Toby because there’s no way he fell in love with a hoagie. None at all. Honestly, he doesn’t miss Anderson and his cheesy lines and “would you rather” questions.

I found this book cute and hilarious. Its got romance and shenanigans and a happy endings. I would highly recommend this book and I’m really hoping this young author does more in this world because it was really fun. If you don’t mind the sex scenes (or enjoy them, whatevs), I suggest you check this out. I was fun and light-hearted and the world building was pretty darn good. And I loved that it was done from the point of view of the “villains”. You can see what they feel about their position in society and that was refreshing. Rating: A+