Neurotic Thoughts: The Rise of Renegade X by Chelsea Campbell

The Rise of Renegade X
Author: Chelsea Campbell
Release Date: May 11, 2010
Genre: YA Superhero
Published By: EgmontUSA
Source: The Lovely Jessica from ShutUp! I'm Reading
Summary from Goodreads:

Sixteen-year-old Damien Locke has a plan: major in messing with people at the local supervillain university and become a professional evil genius, just like his supervillain mom. But when he discovers the shameful secret she's been hiding all these years, that the one-night stand that spawned him was actually with a superhero, everything gets messed up. His father's too moral for his own good, so when he finds out Damien exists, he actually wants him to come live with him and his goody-goody superhero family. Damien gets shipped off to stay with them in their suburban hellhole, and he has only six weeks to prove he's not a hero in any way, or else he's stuck living with them for the rest of his life, or until he turns eighteen, whichever comes first.

To get out of this mess, Damien has to survive his dad's "flying lessons" that involve throwing him off the tallest building in the city--despite his nearly debilitating fear of heights--thwarting the eccentric teen scientist who insists she's his sidekick, and keeping his supervillain girlfriend from finding out the truth. But when Damien uncovers a dastardly plot to turn all the superheroes into mindless zombie slaves, a plan hatched by his own mom, he discovers he cares about his new family more than he thought. Now he has to choose: go back to his life of villainy and let his family become zombies, or stand up to his mom and become a real hero.


My Thoughts:


Damien Locke, future super villain has grand plans to attend Vilmore, the elite boarding school for up and coming super villains. Unfortunately the X that appears on his thumb the night of his sixteenth birthday turns his life upside down. Now he will have to prove himself a villain or a hero.


My absolute favorite part of The Rise of Renegade X has to be main character Damien. His hysterical sarcasm had me laughing out loud more times than I can count. Truly the characters of this book were amazing. From Damien's mad scientist mother to his shape shifting ex girlfriend they just don't get better than this. 


I also really enjoyed Chelsea's ability to make me feel like I was a part of each of the scenes as if I were standing in Golden City watching the events take place instead of just reading about them. Never have I had so much fun rooting for the "villain" of a story. I am super stoked that Chelsea is working on book 2. 


If you haven't picked up a copy of The Rise of Renegade X I highly recommend that you do, and then get ready for a wild ride and a lot of laughs! 


Get your copy at B&N or Amazon
Visit Chelsea at her site here
Read some more glowing reviews here and here and here