Customer Reviews

Hot Mama (Bigtime)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A new set of ubervillains are about to wreak havoc on Bigtime and it's up to superhero Fiera, aka Fiona Fine, to save the day!

Ubervillains Intelligal and Siren are up to no good. Fiera and part of the Fearless Five (minus Karma Girl and Striker who are on their honeymoon!) are tracking them but Johnny Angel keeps getting in the way. Johnny Angel seems determined to destroy Intelligal and Siren but is he truly on the side of the superheroes? Meanwhile, Fiona's personal life is in total disarray as she finds herself wildly attracted to Bigtime newcomer Johnny Bulluci. Is Fiona ready to move on or will her superhero secret identity keep getting in the way?

Jennifer Estep returns with her second book in the campy but purely fun world of Bigtime. HOT MAMA is by no means a serious book about good versus evil or superheroes versus ubervillains. No, the Bigtime series is entertainment at its finest. Each story is full of those tongue in cheek moments from the comic book superheroes that make us laugh even as the obvious "secret" identities are right before our very eyes.

HOT MAMA offers readers a splendid romance in the midst of all the superhero humor. Fiona's pain over the loss of her beloved fiancé, Tornado, is a wound that hadn't healed in the first book, KARMA GIRL. Her willingness to reach out for love once again is heartwarming, even as events with the ubervillains spiral out of control.

Jennifer Estep has found her niche with the Bigtime series. I can't wait to see where this series goes, as the possibilities are endless. Besides, who can't help but love a book where the author lovingly pokes fun at a genre with characters such as Halitosis Hal? Kudos to Jennifer Estep for incorporating the joy of the comic book superheroes with romance to produce such wonderful books. HOT MAMA is a hit!

COURTESY OF CK2S KWIPS AND KRITIQUES

This is a fun read, just as you would expect. The second book in the series, with Karma Girl being the first one. If you're looking for a light book, a beach read or something for a long flight, you'll like this. Think a mix between Buffy and Superman.

Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy:
[...]

A skinny fashionista that eats everything in sight? An only child who doesn't play well with others? A name dropping insider to the world of superheros? I was worried that over-the-top, in-your-face Fiona Fine was going to be a hard sell as a sympathetic heroine, but Fiona's loyalties and vulnerabilities won me over very early in the book.

On top of learning to love Fiona, Estep matches her up with Johnny Bulluci, a flashy hero with "heartthrob playboy" written all over him. Rather than dampen Fiona's personality, he compliments it, and I enjoyed watching these two go head to head. Johnny's grief over his father's murder allows Fiona to demonstrate how much she's grown since KARMA GIRL, further cementing my girl crush. Though my concerns about Fiona as a sympathetic heroine turned out to be unwarranted, her narration of the story ultimately didn't work for me. The switch from an outsider narrator in KARMA GIRL to Fiona's "superhero born and bred" perspective led to a deluge of Bigtime name dropping, which amped up the silliness of the novel over all. That humor was, unfortunately, hit or miss for me. Add to that some obvious (and acknowledged) misses on the "Who's got a secret identity?" question, and HOT MAMA wasn't able to stand up to KARMA GIRL in my estimation (though to Fiona's defense, you'd go nuts assuming *everyone* has a cape and a secret identity).

While those few shortcomings knocked the book down a bat for me, I found Fiona and her Johnny charming enough to carry me through to the end (and their chemistry is noteworthy enough to warrant a look if you're on the fence). I'll leave it up to book three in the series, JINX, to see if the Bigtime series overall works for me. Maybe a heroine born to a superhero family without the useful powers will be the perfect mix of insider/outsider narration for me.

Sexual Content: Explicit sex scenes.

Fabulous fashion designer Fiona Fine is also superhero Fiera; masked crime fighting member of The Fearless Five. Living in Bigtime, New York keeps all the superheroes busy as Fiera and her friends find themselves battling new ubervillains Siren and Intelligal.

Fiona/Fiera is a high maintenance gal when compared to previous heroine Carmen (from "Karma Girl") but she certainly meets her match in Johnny Bulluci. She may still be mourning the loss of her first love, but Fiona quickly gets hot and heavy with Johnny. Ironically he too has a (not so) secret identity, but Johnny's own quest for vengeance may have him battling the Fearless Five.

Like its predecessor, this book is quirky and rather sweet, but with punchy action scenes and some red hot bedroom action. Overall the story line has a rather fun, breezy feel to it that makes it an easy read, yet the consistent action stops it from becoming too placid.

These books are light, fun and easy reads. I really just think of them as long comic books. They are silly and allow me to turn off my brain and just enjoy. A little drama is in there, but I can't take it too seriously when dealing with superheroes and uber-villains on every page. And while some of the characters have traits that annoy, they're not enough to turn me off the series.

I LOVE this book. I would suggest these books to any romance lovers. I'm usually into the more realistic types of series, but I love this superhero series!s

I love the world the Jennifer Estep has created. Fiera was my least favorite character in Karma Girl and I didn't think that I would enjoy her story. In fact, I started it, put it down, and didn't pick it back up for a week. I am really glad that I did. Fiona/Fiera isn't as hard and cold as she seems. After the death of her fiance, she has just cut herself off from feeling. When she meets Johnny Bulluci, Fiona, doesn't really seem to know what to do. I was very happy to find out that there was a lot more to Fiona, than a [...]-kicking superhero. She is a woman with insecurities, faults, and feelings. I can't wait for the next installment in the Bigtime series, Jinx (Bigtime).

The wedding was absolutely perfect in every way. And why not, she'd planned it herself down to the last detail. The only flaw was that it wasn't hers. It would have been had her fiancé Travis Teague a.k.a. Tornado of Big Time's elite superhero squad, the Fearless Five, not been murdered by their arch nemesises the Terrible Triad. A year later, she still missed him terribly.

She is Fiona Fine, one of Big Time's finest high fashion designers. Well, that's her day job, at night she's the Fearless Five's Fiera. Her powers include super strength and the ability to control and throw fire. Being a superhero himself Travis had understood her and accepted her exactly as she was. With him she hadn't had to keep her double life a secret and he hadn't been remotely embarrassed by her super appetite that was necessary to sustain her powers. Still she knew that Travis had loved her so much that he wouldn't have wanted her to morn him forever. Her big appetite isn't restricted to just food after all. She wasn't ready to find love again but she wasn't averse to finding a nice anonymous rebound guy to help take the edge off for the night. What better place to find one at a wedding?

Oh btw the wedding is Carmen Cole's. Carmen is the newest member of the F5 also known as Karma Girl. She is marrying F5 superhero Striker, whose alter-ego is billionaire Sam Sloane. While the pair is on their honeymoon, the three remaining heroes will be doing double duty.

It looks like its Fiona's lucky day. She's captured the eye of the model-gorgeous new guy in town Johnny Bulluci, older brother of Fiona's biggest rival, designer Bella Bulluci. The wealthy playboy doesn't waste any time putting the moves on her either. Unfortunately before Fiona has decided whether she wants to take him home or not they're interrupted by his sister and then the event is crashed by the newest ubervillain duo, Siren and Intelligal, who have come to cash in on all the jewels and other goodies worn by Carmen and Sam's wealthy guests.

Fiona takes advantage of the chaos to change into her Fiera duds but she isn't the only one inclined to tangle with the nasties. Johnny Bulluci enters the mix but his interference blows Fiera's opportunity to apprehend the pair. She's more than a little miffed about it and tells him so. Of course not knowing she's Fiona he pretty much tells her, "you're not the boss of me."

Fiona doesn't know it yet but Bulluci is also the new Johnny Angel in town, an occupation he inherited when his father was murdered by Siren and Intelligal. Of course he's not exactly willing to share his secret identity with Fiona or vice versa for that matter and although she's aware that Bulluci had also lost someone near and dear, she doesn't make the connection between the handsome hunk and the motorcycle riding, superhero vigilante.

Bulluci is charm himself on their first date sending Fiona a zillion flowers, wining and dining her at Quicke's and rounding the night off with a romantic Ferris wheel ride at the Big Time amusement park, a place that brings back happy childhood memories of times spent with his late father. Unfortunately nightly interruptions come with the superhero territory so of course just as things a starting to get steamy both of their cell phones go off. Coincidence? What do you think?

Each time the Fearless 5 goes after Siren and Intelligal, Johnny Angel seems to show up and get in the way. Unlike the members of the F5, Angel doesn't intend to take the collar and turn the villains over to the police. He wants revenge. He tells Fiera he doesn't trust the police after what happened to his predecessor. That makes Fiona like Angel even less since her father is the Chief of Big Time's police force and also a member of the F5. On the other hand as she gets to know Johnny Bulluci better with each successive date, the deeper her feelings for him grow.

Interestingly, Siren and Intelligal make a really unlikely team. They are basically polar opposites. Siren as the name indicates got all the beauty, while Intelligal of course got all the brains not unlike the civilian Songe sisters, Erica Songe, the pushy SNN reporter with the fake lips and boobs who Fiona suspects is getting plumb assignments by sleeping around and buttoned up Irene the frumpy uptight Scientist. Hm. Fiona despises Erica. Okay she pretty much despises all reporters, though she tolerates Carmen for Sam's sake. But Erica is shameless and won't stop hitting on Johnny when it's clear he's with her. Can you say brazen hussy? Fortunately Johnny only has eyes for Fiona.

Like Carmen Cole a.k.a Karma Girl is fond of saying, Big Time's superheroes and ubervillians aren't exactly good at hiding their secret identities. I myself have suspected Kyle Quicke as being Swifte for some time now. Perhaps someday we'll find out for sure. So naturally little clues will lead all the major players to know who's who by the end of the story. The question is, what will this mean for Fiona and Johnny's relationship if she can't convince the him to help bring down the ubervillian's in a law abiding manner? I will admit that it was great fun finding out. And as just about anything seems possible in Big Time, Lulu Lo, and Henry Harris a.k.a. Hermit get a delightful surprise as well.

As with all of the Big Time tales, this story is written in first person from Fiona's perspective, and let's just say the bitchy (her words) top fashion designer is far from modest in either persona. Watching her try to control her fiery temper and keep her gigantic appetite under wraps is just a hoot. HOT MAMA like its super-strong heroine packs a fantastic two for one punch, giving the reader a hot romance along with Ms. Estep's signature super humor. We'll see more of Fiona and Johnny in the third Big Time book JINX featuring Bella Bulluci, Johnny's little sister and Fiona's biggest rival in the fashion industry. Sparks are sure to fly! In the meantime, enjoy HOT MAMA and try not to burn your fingers turning the pages. ~ for PNR Reviews

I loved the first book Karma Girl, so I really, really wanted to like this one, too. I struggled through the first 100 pages, checked out the middle of the book and skimmed through the ending. (I hate Lulu and killing her off would have been fine with me.) It was exactly how I thought it would end and I am usually a dummy when it comes to mysteries. Gee, Johnny ended up being Angel? I figured that out before Angel was introduced. That took over half the book for Fiona to reveal to Angel she knew who he was and then she revealed herself to him. Big shock? The nosy reporter ended up being a the bad guy? Fiona doesn't take her dead fiance's engagement ring off till the last page? Another big shock? Fiona is too perfect and a bad character to write about. Hint: flawed characters are more interesting. Having a no bills and good looks, that's just boring. Oh yeah, Johnny's perfect too. I started reading Jinx, the third book and this one seems more to my taste.

I love Jennifer Estep and her writing. When I look for a fantasy I want something way out of the norm. I read all the PNR and like many others are running out of room on my book shelf (I'm afraid one of my animals will break a kindle so I dont' want to potentially waste money). I love the fact that this is sooooooo different from all the others. It has agreat story plot and the characters are always great and well written. I fell in love with her first book of this series KARMA GIRL. I also started her other series and am waiting for WEB OF LIES to finally come out. This is set around super heros continuing from KARMA GIRL. I grew up loving super heros (X-men all the way). The next book of the series is JINX, which I am happy to have already ordered. The characters are easy to figure out and that is the way Jennifer Estep wanted it to be. That was one of my favorite things about the book. It had great *hot* scenes that added much to the book. I really hope that these books get picked up again because I absolutely cannot wait to continue the series. These are one books that you stay up all night for because of the many twists in the plot and happy go lucky what will happen next. It does not have the gore or blood that other PNR has but it does have mystery. It is a very light hearted read that has humor in it too.