The hurt and humiliation of finding your fiancé and your best friend en flagrant delicto on your wedding day is compounded by also discovering that the two people you have considered closest to you have secret identities as Superhero and Ubervillain of your hometown.  Carmen Cole doesn’t stop at getting mad; she gets even by using her role as an investigative reporter to publicize the unmasked two who betrayed her. 

Since then she has made a livelihood of unveiling such secret identities, eventually hitting Bigtime and working there at The Exposé.  Her latest coup is the revelation of Tornado, one of the Fearless Five superheroes, as Travis Teague a wealthy man of the city.  Tragedy ensues with his suicide after being uncovered. 

Carmen is relegated to working the society beat but her previous accomplishments have drawn some unwanted attention.  The Ubervillains known as the Terrible Triad want the identity of Striker, leader of the Fearless Five, and they won’t take no for an answer. 

Now it is a race against the clock to save herself against retribution by the bad guys while helping on the side of good.  But with all of the terrible karma that she has racked up from her long career of revenge, will she succeed? 

Ms Estep does not put a foot wrong in her gentle parody of superhero drama/romance.  It is a deftly written piece that balances the idiosyncrasies of such characters with a fresh take.  We have the spandex or leather outfits, which seemingly poorly disguise such characters, interesting superpowers, and the habit of superheroes appearing and disappearing very unexpectedly.  However, we also get thoughtful ideas and traits with which one is not generally conscious.  It is the subtleties that really make this work a success. 

Our heroes and the main villain are rather easy to spot even in their disguises of normal persons about town.  They are generally conspicuous to the reader in some way or another.   

Striker and his alternate personality particularly have enough charisma to make a woman melt.  It is fun to watch Carmen and this member of the Fearless Five dance around their mutual attraction.   

For all of the bitterness that drove the heroine to act as she had done in her past, we are firmly on her side.  She is sympathetic, warm, smart and funny.  All things with which we like to identify.  The first person point of view is not generally a reader favorite but it works well and with charm in this book.  

KARMA GIRL is like no other book that one has read before but we look forward to repeating the experience with future instalments in this super series.

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