Justice by Jennifer Harlow [Review]

Justice (Galilee Falls Trilogy #1) by Jennifer Harlow
Format: ebook
Source: provided for review
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Date read: August 9, 2013

Galilee Falls Trilogy
1. Justice - Paperback | Kindle

Jennifer Harlow
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Synopsis (Goodreads):

It’s hard being a regular police officer in Galilee Falls, a city with the highest concentration of superheroes and villains in the country. It’s even harder watching your best friend, the man you’re secretly in love with your whole life, planning to marry another woman. Detective Joanna Fallon has to contend with both. When the vilest supervillain in the city’s history, Alkaline, the former crime boss who can shoot acid from his wrists, escapes from the maximum security prison, the whole city is gripped by panic. Leading the pursuit is Captain Harry O’Hara, Joanna’s boss and secret lover, and the city’s champion superhero Justice, who caught the villain last time, much to Joanna’s chagrin. Before her father was murdered in a mugging twenty years earlier, Joanna worshiped the hero, but when he disappeared and failed to save her father, that adoration turned to contempt for all supers. After Alkaline attacks too close to home and targets Joanna as his next victim, tough-as-nail Joanna has to contend with her increasing fear while struggling to choose between her life-long crush and her new-found love.

At turns vulnerable and fierce, equally mordant and winsome, Joanna is an earnest yet emotionally damaged heroine, who despite the tough breaks of her childhood sees the good in people and vow to protect her beloved city at all costs. An ass-kicking petite firecracker with no superpowers of her own, she charges after supervillains unflinchingly, never losing her wit even when facing her toughest fight. With a coy blend of whimsy and vivid imagination, she delivers both humor and thrills in an action-packed and edgy blend of comic book cool, fantasy-noir, and bitter-sweet romance.

My Thoughts on Justice: Oh, I liked this one. Also, I might be THE MOST emotional person on the planet right now because this is the 3rd or 4th book recently that reduced me to teary-eyed reading. Dangit. What can I say? When the truth gets dropped on someone like a ton of bricks and shatters trust, it gets to me.

Joanna. Joanna, Joanna, Joanna. Besides her unrelenting contempt for all super heroes, she was remarkably well balanced. Sure, she has an unrequited love thing going on and she's having an affair with her boss, but she's fearless and she steps in when she has to to do what's right. I can totally respect that. And that contempt she has toward those of the superhero persuasion? I won't say it's justified but I can see where she's coming from and I can see how it's driven her to be a better police officer.

Admittedly, some of the big secrets that drive the plot, I saw coming. For me, it was Joanna's utter devastation when she has to deal with these secrets that laid me low, rather than the reveal of the secret itself. Joanna's a good person. Other than keeping her affair with her boss secret and not telling her best friend that she loves him (which is understandable, in my opinion), she's remarkably above board. She doesn't pull her punches and she expects the same of those she trusts.

I'm going to point out that normally I'm not a fan AT ALL of secrets being kept from main characters. But it worked in this book. I could TOTALLY buy it. And maybe that's why it hurt so much.

I'm still kind of flaily over this book. It's sticking with me and I'm VERY curious where things will go in the next installment of the series. Between the heroes and the villains and Joanna herself, I want more.