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Dear Hero: Every Hero Needs a Villain, Every Villain Needs a Hero

by Alyssa Roat

A nemesis match made through messages

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Regular price $39.27 USD Sale price $25.13 USD
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AlbakiReads Editorial

A nemesis match made through messages

Cortex, a teen superhero in need of a new opponent, and Vortex, a villain seeking a more enduring rivalry, connect through Meta-Match, a pairing site for heroes and villains. Their staged clashes and shared concern for their public reputations give the story a comic framework, while a threat tied to their pasts raises the stakes beyond their weekend encounters. The entire narrative unfolds through texts, transcriptions, and direct messages, placing the mechanics of online communication at the center of this superhero rom-com. Its setup brings together digital matchmaking, performance, and the uneasy question of whether rivals can trust one another.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Teens and young adults interested in superhero fiction.
  • Readers who enjoy romances built around hero-and-villain rivalry.
  • Readers drawn to stories told through texts, transcripts, and direct messages.

Themes

Heroism and villainyRivalry and trustOnline matchmaking and communicationReputation and public image

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

There's an app for everything, even meeting a new nemesis.

Up-and-coming teen superhero Cortex is on top of the world-at least, until his villain dumps him. If he's going to save his reputation, he needs a new villain to fight, and fast. Meanwhile, the villainous Vortex has once again gotten a little overeager and taken out a hero prematurely. Will any young hero be able to keep up with her? Maybe she should work on finding a steady relationship with an enemy she won't kill in the first round.

Enter Meta-Match, a nemesis pairing site for heroes and villains. The two match right away, and after throwing punches at each other behind coffee shops, practicing their fight choreography, and hiring henchmen to do their bidding (mostly just getting them coffee), they realize they have a lot more in common than names that annoyingly rhyme. After all, they're still rising through the ranks in their respective circles, and their reputations need good press.

But not everything in the superhero world is as it seems. Can a hero really trust a villain to do the right thing? And can a villain trust a hero not to screw them over? As darkness from the past threatens them both, they may need each other for the fight to come-one with much higher stakes than their choreographed meet-ups on weekends.

Told entirely through texts, transcriptions, and direct messages, this darkly humorous chat fiction rom-com goes behind the scenes of the superworld.

 

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