I was excited for the superhero theme of this book but I had a really hard time liking the FMC. I did not love how anxiety ridden she is yet she is supposed to be a CEO of her company? This was a DNF for me sadly.

Just wow. Where do I even begin with this book?
First off the title, cover, and blurb drew me in and I just had to know more about it.

My heart has been so touched, so in love, so elevated by the beautiful story it holds. It’s immersive, it’s meaningful, its passionate. It’s unique and transfixing, and it’s poignant and emotionally resonant. Roland and Vanessa have captured my heart and soul—theirs is a once in a lifetime, extraordinary story.

I genuinely loved the writing, the characters and sitting was simply magical. Roland and Vanessa were brought out the best of each other and I enjoyed reading about them.

I would sell my soul for this book…..I’m kidding…or am I ;)

Huge thank you to Netgalley and Elizabeth Stephens for this ARC.

When I read the synopsis of this novel I was eager to pick it up because it sounded so unique and fun. Roland is known to the world as a villain called The Pyro, but he's looking to switch sides and become a hero. Enter Vanessa, the CEO of her own PR firm, tasked with fixing his image to the masses. Vanessa and Roland are opposites in many ways, she's more shy and reserved and Roland is strong with a larger than life persona. I liked the romance between them, I found their more tender moments to be charming and heartfelt. I will say that this book has a lot of explicit scenes that I didn't always feel were necessary but I still had a great time reading this book.

Thank you Net Galley for this ARC. The story starts off with Vanessa, who is the CEO of a marketing company, getting Roland as a client. Roland is one of the 48, who are aliens that landed on Earth as children. Roland aka Pyro wants to be seen as hero versus a villain. He thinks Vanessa is the person to do this. Additionally, Roland wants Vanessa to be his girlfriend as part of their marketing strategy. This leads to Roland and Vanessa spending time together, learning about each other, and of course falling in love. This story was filled with lots of great and diverse characters including Vanessa's family and marketing team. If you are looking for a fast paced, funny, and spicy alien romance, this is the book for you. :)

I've never read an ARC as fast as this one! I'm a big fan of Elizabeth Stephens, so hearing she was writing a superhero romance was very exciting. This book did not disappoint.

I absolutely loved the world-building in this. It was unique, yet had all the familiarity of a superhero story. I loved learning more about the backstory and lore of the 48. Stephens is so talented at building an interesting world while not bogging the story down with info-dumping. The only thing I wanted more of were the superpowers! While we get descriptions of a few of them, I look forward to learning more about them.

The romance in this book was definitely tropey, but the superhero setting was so different than typical romantasy, that I didn't mind. "He falls first", "only one bed", and "touch her and you die" all make appearances. I often find these overused and unoriginal, but they really didn't bother me in this book. I actually enjoyed the connection began Vanessa and Roland. They were times it felt a bit "insta-lovey", but I was still invested. The spice in this book is *chef's kiss*.

I absolutely loved how the characters in this book are unapologetically Black. It continues to be so important to have stories that center Black love stories and joy! I also loved Margerie, Vanessa's Trans BFF and coworker. All that being said, Vanessa's clumsiness became cartoonish and I found myself eye-rolling every time she tripped. Additionally, as someone with anxiety, I personally did not relate to how Vanessa was depicted. It felt her anxiety was reduced to panicking, counting to 5, and then "overcoming her fear" towards the end. This feels a bit cheap and inauthentic, but other readers with anxiety may feel different.

Overall, this was a very fun, light-hearted, endearing romance that I would recommend to all romance readers.

Thank you netgalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

HOW DO I GIVE THIS BOOK 100,000,000 STARS!?!? It's so good!!!!!!!!!! A villain in need of a redemption arc rebranding falling IMMEDIATELY AND STUPIDLY in love with the owner of his new PR company??? Literally sobbing and feral for this book and all I want is a sequel!!

He calls her wife! (They're not married. She literally just met him two days ago.)
He hates everyone but her! (With the exception of some neighborhood kids and maybe her brothers.)
Touch her and die! (SO MANY TIMES, SO MANY WAYS, SO MANY NOT EMPTY THREATS.)
He's HER hero! (Literally saves a mountain of people just to fall down at her door!!!!)

I CAN'T DEAL WITH NOT HAVING MORE OF THIS WORLD. PUBLISH EVERYTHING IN ELIZABETH'S DRAFTS!!!!

I wasn’t expecting monster smut, although I maybe should have given the author’s other works. I greatly enjoyed this though - it gave me Bride vibes. I enjoyed the superheroes setting as it’s not one commonly seen in sci-fi/fantasy. I would definitely recommend it.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this book!!

Wow!! What a great book!! This one was a page turner! Had me hooked from the first page! This was a first for me by this author but will not be my last. I enjoyed the plot, characters and the writing style!!

I’m an Elizabeth Stephens stan, let’s get that over with first. But I was super (😏) excited when I heard she was writing a superhero romance. Mariana Zapata wrote one and I find them such a unique concept. A way to write a contemporary but allow your superhero MC to have such paranormal leeway. I’m an avid alien romance fan and I love when we are set in the world when the humans are already aware of the humans and accept the idea of aliens which we are here with the superheroes. None of the tedious yes there’s superheroes shock…can we move on to romancing them now 😂

If this is your intro to alien/paranormal romance I think you’ll enjoy it and if you’re a paranormal fan I think you’ll enjoy it since it’s a twist. I can’t wait for more in the series!

👩‍🚀 "Wait, it's just p*rn?" 🔫👩‍🚀 "Always has been"

OK be warned that this is actuallyyy monster smut (in the back half of the book). I was not really expecting that and even as someone that normally reads that type of stuff, it felt almost out of the blue (unless you look at what this author has written previously, then it makes perfect sense). I wish it was more fleshed out with the other heroes & villains (and the unknowns), though this is most likely a set-up for a full blown series.

The first 50-ish percent of this book I really enjoyed! I loved seeing Roland not really care about humanity, but be a hero for Vanessa. Yeah, I was annoyed by the lack of actual PR happening, but Roland being alien to our world and being kind of a weirdo was fine. And sure, Vanessa is so horribly clumsy and traumatized that literally everyone in her life babies her to the point that I genuinely don't understand how the eff she is a CEO. But!! I was happy to get over that because the superhero shtick with the Wyvern was cool, and I was invested in it. (Even if the premise supposedly being his "rebrand from villain" but he is never explicitly a villain, just a neutral party???)

But then. Then we find out the super alien kids that we know are aliens but look human (so it was fine!) are actuallyyy alien alien. Like giant claws and horns and alien-genitalia alien. Like repressed memories to be able to become part of society better and then take over alien. And I'd honestly not hate it at all if I was mentally prepared for full on alien smut, but the description does NOT prepare you for that in any way. The most sane part of it all is that Roland is like "why the heck is she cool with this?"

There also is very little reasonable romantic progress from fake dating to full blown sexy time. And yeah, I see it making sense for Roland, but Vanessa with all the PTSD and anxiety around men and couldn't even TALK to Roland without having a breakdown just is cool with it and then this becomes hornier than most monster smut I have read. We lost the plot for a bit there because it was breeding time.

SO. Did I mostly enjoy this? Yes! Do I think people may read this expecting superheroes and then accidentally get alien stuff instead? Yeah, because that's what happens when you tell me this is superheroes NOT aliens.

Thanks to NetGalley and Montlake for providing an eARC of All Superheroes Need PR in exchange for this honest review!

I was intrigued by the title when I randomly saw this as a "read now" arc on Netgalley and I'm so glad I took a closer look because this is my favorite read of the year!

Twenty-two years ago 48 alien pods fell to Earth. Today, those aliens are heroes and villains, and Vanessa, she just won the bid to do the PR for the newest hero everyone thought would be a villain, Rolland.

Unfortunately for Vanessa, their intro meeting couldn't go worse, yet for reasons she doesn't know, Rolland wants her to run his team...and be his wife!

Quickly, being his fake girlfriend for the cameras is not enough, but who could stay from a body that seems to glow from within, muscle for days, and eyes that change color which are focused intensely on you?

I thought the pacing and individual and couple development were well done, as well as the balance between their relationship and the plot/mystery.

Also, so glad this was dual POV so I could read how desperate Rolland was for her *swoons* - they both are so into each other and I loved them!

I'm new to Elizabeth Stephens, but learning more about her other books this does fit in (which may be surprising because they're dark and spicy and this cover is so cute). Not to spoil, but it looks like her favorite tropes are set in this superhero contemporary world and she did such a good job!

Overall, the world was great with amazing side characters (which always improves a book imo), the story was interesting and engaging, there was humor and spice, and the relationship was desperate, adoring, and safe.

Thank you to Netgalley and Montlake for an arc in exchange for an honest review!

Read for: Black lead, social anxiety and ptsd rep, human x alien, possessive and obsessive MMC, dual POV, non-human physiology (pro), nicknames, "he would be a villain if not for her so expect some dark murdery thoughts", morally-grey MMC, "they're so cute and so hot", "good girl"

5 stars
3 spice

Romantic comedies are a trope I enjoy. I just finished All Superheroes Need PR by Elizabeth Stephens. It was a four star read.

This was more of a 3.75 stars but that's not an option so here we go...
This was a fun read, it wasn't serious and no part of me needed to engage fully to know what was really going on.

All of this to say I had some issues, Vanessa as a character was actually really fun, that saying can you get drunk off half a glass of wine to the point you can't stand? If so I'm worried it wasn't just wine in there. Also Roland was obsessed with her from the start like literally the very very start it was hard to engage with him or get attached to him because of this. he seemed more of a red flag than anything.

Once I got past the firs 70 pages I was in it, it was cute I was rooting for their relationship to see if Vanessa can really pull it off because lets face it the girl is a bit all over the place. But it was so much fun, it was cute and spicy and funny and none of it felt forced. I actually wanted to see what would happen to their relationship and screaming at Roland to stop being creepy and just ask the girl out like a normal person, but their not human so who am I to judge.

My favourite part of the book was the diversity!!!! It's not hard to make a book diverse but so many authors fail at this yet Elizabeth did a fantastic job as none of it felt forced and it wasn't until after when I realised the diversity we actually had in this book, it felt like it would when you walk down the street. lots of people form different places coming together to meet by chance.

Overall I would recommend this book to anyone who is starting into fantasy but can't let go of romance just yet... this would be the book for you. (also if you love spice!)

Horny with a side of worldbuilding.

I enjoyed several concepts here, but overall it wasn't a slam dunk for reasons many recent romances haven't been a slam dunk for me. I love that we have more diverse (*cough cough* Black) protags in monster/supernatural romances now. It was a club we were firmly kept out of for a long time. I wish so many of them weren't 70%+ porn though. With a lot of what BookTok focuses on being how "spicy" books are, I wish there was more of a balance with actual plot and the characters getting to know each other. When this ended, I felt like Roland and Vanessa skipped several steps and I get why he may have done that; I don't understand Vanessa though.

Vanessa was so clumsy I was concerned it was a medical issue. Coupled with her extreme, debilitating nervousness and everyone constantly babying her and describing her as childlike - Roland's attractiveness to her and the sex scenes made me feel icky. For me, it wasn't hot - especially women who are babied in their life (?), maybe that's their jam. I'm younger than Vanessa and I found her strange?

Roland was super growly, strong, big guy. Him being described as disheveled, constantly in sweats, with dirty hair wasn't a turn on for me. I was set on this not being one of my favorite couples or romances. For me personally, that's a complete dealbreaker. From then on, I just tried to imagine if this could be someone else's jam. And it's possible,it would be.

There are some elements I wish were touched on more:
- From the title and set up, I'd hoped more of this would be centered around the P.R. campaign. When the story started, we're told there's an in depth plan Vanessa put together to rehabilitate Roland's image. Much of what happens in this story is told to us after the fact and Vanessa's not involved in a lot of his actions, which bummed me out. I wanted more of her plan in action on page and centered
- I wish we got more of the impact of the Forty Eight. We hear about Teranis and a villain or two, but there's a lot more we don't even get glimpses of. This appears to be set up for a series, so I'm sure those will delve into them, but I wish there was more references to them in this book or even interactions so we could see more of the world and contrast with Roland's image
- I wish we got more of Vanessa sticking up for herself, in any way at all. In much of this book, she's damseled. Roland and Margerie describe her as a badass, but we don't get to see it a lot
- As mentioned above, I wish we got more on page of Roland and Vanessa getting to know each other before they went to Bonetown and never left. The dynamic was interesting.

Overall, I think the world set up here was really interesting. It is a diverse cast and one that I feel gives the female lead a support system. I wish the relationship had been developed more on page and I wish we saw even more of the world. I'm positive this would be someone else's jam.

Vanessa is the shy CEO of her own PR firm and, despite her desire to personally avoid other people, is very good at her job. The Pyro (Roland) is a supernatural being and free agent, neither villain nor hero at the beginning of the story (but leaning towards villain in the public eye). He works with Vanessa's firm to rebrand himself as a hero. As shy Vanessa and ultra-grouchy Roland get to know one another professionally, the line between work life and personal life blurs dramatically, especially as forces out of their control conspire to threaten their world. This was such a great premise! I thought the superhero/civilian tension worked well. And Roland and Vanessa work very well together as a couple (but I also really liked them both individually). Roland and Vanessa's initial meet-cute gone bad masks strong feelings between two individuals who both think themselves incapable of love and of being loved. Vanessa and Roland were sweet together as each learned to let down their guard. Dual POVs. Open-door, very insta-love (but because he's a sexy alien you roll with it), with a very fated-mates feel. Great supporting characters, Vanessa's family was fantastic and very believable as her dedicated support system, as was her employee and best friend Margerie. I wish Roland had more social support of his own, but then I guess he has Vanessa and her family/friends for that.

This is a new-to-me author, I would definitely read her again! With the mystery of who the Forty-Eight really are and where they came from (and why they came to Earth in the first place), there's a lot of leeway for the author to get creative, which she did. This kind of sci-fi is perfect for me, there's minimal world-building to follow since it's really just an alt-universe Earth that has supernatural superheroes and villains. (It also helps that they all seem to be ridiculously stunning.) Do pay attention to content warnings, as there are some heavier themes that the author handles with care. Written with wit, this was just a lot of fun to read, and there was an HEA for Roland and Vanessa that satisfied my mushy side. This book made me want to abandon all responsibilities and read all day instead. And it feels like the start of a series, so I really hope there's a next installment! Publishes May 27, 2025. 4 stars but it's closer to 4.5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley and Montlake for providing an eARC of this story, all opinions are my own.

Been wanting to read a superhero romance book for a really long time and this premise was super fresh for this genre in my opinion! I liked the writing, but there were some parts that felt very out of place in the context of the author's diction.

Hace 20 décadas, 48 niños aterrizaron en la Tierra sin ningún recuerdo. Sin embargo, debido a que poseían extraordinarios dones, fueron recibidos por la humanidad. Fueron estudiados y se creó un programa para que se integraran a la sociedad. Funcionó durante un tiempo, hasta que algunos comenzaron a mostrar comportamientos preocupantes y destructivos. Fueron etiquetados como villanos y crearon una Red de Villanos, ofreciendo sus servicios para robar, matar o cualquier cosa que pudiera causar caos. En contraparte, formaron su propio grupo para combatirlos: la Coalición de Campeones de la Tierra. El gobierno intenta que todos se unan a este último grupo. Una de sus últimas incorporaciones es Pyro, quien tiene la imagen de ser alguien incivilizado y brusco. Para cambiar su imagen, se contrata una empresa de relaciones públicas, cuyo directora es Vanessa. Ella acepta fingir ser su novia para que él se vea más accesible. Lo que no esperaba es que su falsa relación no se sintiera falsa, y que Roland la tratara como una reina.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.