#PRproduct #AD #gifted || Thank you so much to Marvel, Aconyte Books, and to the Book Network for giving me the opportunity to take part in this Book Tour. This book was given to be in exchange for an honest review.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Publication Dates: US On Sale Date: March 15 2022; UK On Sale Date: June 9 2022; Global Ebook On Sale Date: March 1 2022

Felicia Hardy always puts her own interests first, but the appearance of a mythical golden apple in New York has everybody with a hint of power scrambling for it. And who’s everyone’s number one choice to nab it for them? The Black Cat, of course. Yet that isn’t the only job on Felicia’s radar. When a smart aleck kid turns up demanding her help, Felicia finds herself caught between the mob, her morals and some very insistent supervillains. It’ll take all nine lives to wriggle out of this one intact, but Felicia has more than one trick up her sleeve.

Review (spoiler-free)

From the first page, Cath Lauria demonstrated her writing style with vivid descriptions, incredible puns, and in doing so, takes the well-loved, yet somewhat under-appreciated, character of Felicia Hardy, and puts her own spin on her narrative voice. 

“An antihero or antiheroine is a main character in a story who lacks conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism, courage, and morality. Although antiheroes may sometimes perform actions that are morally correct, it is not always for the right reasons, often acting primarily out of self-interest or in ways that defy conventional ethical codes.” [Wikipedia Definition]

To build and establish a character who is both a convincing anti-heroine, who is still likeable, is a hard task, but one that Cath Lauria pulls off so successfully. age or morality, Felicia is extremely courageous, and definitely has a moral compass, however, it’s not the moral compass of your typical hero archetype. Felicia Hardy, also known as Black Cat, is cunning, witty character and I could immediately root for her, even when the way she goes about doing the right thing isn’t always the typical route, or for the typical reasons, breaking laws on her way to do what she thinks is right. I think this is why I loved reading from her perspective compared to traditional heroes’ perspectives – because she never does the predictable thing, instead opting for unconventional tactics, making the plot much more engaging…

Another element of this book which I adored was seeing how Black Cat’s relationships between herself and those around her were fleshed out. Even for the characters I was not as familiar with, I immediately understood her history with them, whether it be with her exes, her (somewhat begrudging) allies, her found family, and her enemies, every relationship was given the time to understand, without it feeling overly explained or repetitive. 

Within such a large multi-media universe, like the Marvel universe, where a large number of contributors are involved, there is bound to be cross-contradictions and inconsistencies because of the wide numbers of interpretations of events and characters. This is a fact that comic book and marvel nerds have always accepted, the same way that musical theatre fans understand that every production is different but all are equally valid. 

I have to admit, this book includes some of my most favourite Marvel literary interpretations of characters such as Black Cat, the Storm Siblings, Daredevil and Kingpin, and I think that is down to Cath Lauria’s writing. I could not put the book down, it was incredibly gripping, and the book ended full-circle, leaving me speechless and desperate to read more of Lauria’s view on the Marvel world.

Publisher Link & Purchase Link: https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/Black-Cat-Discord/Cath-Lauria/Marvel-Heroines/9781839081354

CATH LAURIA is a Colorado girl who loves snow and sunshine. She is a prolific author of science fiction, fantasy, suspense and romance fiction, and has a vast collection of beautiful, edged weapons. Twitter: Cath Lauria (Twitter: @author_cariz).