Book Highlight: We Could Be Heroes by Mike Chen

Title: We Could Be Heroes

Author: Mike Chen

Publisher: MIRA

Publication Date: January 26, 2021

Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy

An extraordinary and emotional adventure about unlikely friends and the power of choosing who you want to be.

Jamie woke up in an empty apartment with no memory and only a few clues to his identity, but with the ability to read and erase other people’s memories—a power he uses to hold up banks to buy coffee, cat food and books.

Zoe is also searching for her past, and using her abilities of speed and strength…to deliver fast food. And she’ll occasionally put on a cool suit and beat up bad guys, if she feels like it.

When the archrivals meet in a memory-loss support group, they realize the only way to reveal their hidden pasts might be through each other. As they uncover an ongoing threat, suddenly much more is at stake than their fragile friendship. With countless people at risk, Zoe and Jamie will have to recognize that sometimes being a hero starts with trusting someone else—and yourself.

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Why This Book

We Could Be Heroes is one of the books that instantly sprang to mind when I settled on the theme of friendship for this month. The one thing I absolutely loved about this book was that it completely, totally, absolutely put the brakes on any romantic ideas around the two leads. There are no romantic feelings and no romance waiting in the wings. Other than the strange pairing of a superhero and super villain, this is a story of friendship, of how two unlikely people with no clue who they are somehow become the best of friends.

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Reviews

My review: “We Could Be Heroes is one of the stories I can’t get out of my head. Jamie and Zoe really did it for me. They’re brilliant together and the whole story tugged at my heartstrings in just the right way at just the right times. There’s incredible depth to two characters who have almost no history, who are thrown together out of need, and a deal. Overall, it’s a beautiful and incredible story of friendship without even the slightest hint of romance.”

bookshelfsoliloquies gave this 5 stars, saying “Mike Chen perfectly balances the mundane and the bizarre aspects of superhero life in a way that felt genuinely refreshing. I’ve described We Could Be Heroes to friends as “platonic superpowered unlikely buddies solving a mystery, basically” and if that doesn’t make you want to read this book, I don’t know what will”

Tessa Talks Books gave this 4 stars, saying “I loved the constant action that kept the pace very quick from the first to the last page. The words flow naturally and smoothly, explaining scientific concepts that can be hard to understand. And the third person focused narration that alternates between Zoe and Jamie all work together to tell a character-driven superhero story that will have you looking deeper into yourself and how you define yourself in this world gone wrong”

Confessions of a Serial Reader said “The story was great with good pacing and enough action to keep things interesting. I liked that the relationship that developed between Zoe and Jamie was platonic which left time for other things than romance in the plot”

The Irresponsible Reader by H.C. Newton gave this 4 stars, saying “The other expression of the Mike Chen Factor was the friendship that develops between Jamie and Zoe. This was something special. Too, too, too often when we look at relationships in fiction (in whatever medium) we focus on romantic relationships, familial bonds, or even that between enemies. We don’t see enough explorations of friendship”

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Purchase Links

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop | Thrift Books | Audible | Target | !ndigo (Canada) | Better World Books | Audiobooks | Kobo | Books-A-Million | Hoopla | Scribd | Chirp | Booktopia (Australia) | IndieBound | Square Books | Blackwell’s (UK) | Mystery Lovers Bookshop | Word Bookstores | Old Town Books | Google Books | Powell’s

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