Spoiler alert: Don’t read this review if you haven’t yet read the first book.

This is another adorable love story (dolled up to look like a superhero drama) with the most clueless (but getting better) and charming protagonist ever.  Nick lives in Nova City with his best friends Seth, Jazz and Gibby.  Nova City is ground-zero for two of the most well-known Extraordinaries: Pyro Storm  (whom we thought was the bad guy last book and turned out to be Nick's love, Seth) and Shadow Star (who was really the bad guy played by Nick's ex, Owen, who has since disappeared).  Extraordinaries are, of course, super-powered. 

Now that Nick knows what Seth can do, he's even more enamored.  And just about everyone knows, as well.  So, mostly Nick and his friends are concerned about high school but, at the same time, TeamPyro has to figure out how to help Seth do all the saving that the city seems to need…all the time.  But setting up their secret lair takes a lot of money, money that Jazz has a lot of.  What they didn't count on was Jazz's parents taking an interest in what she was spending all that money on.  So, now more people know. 

The one person who doesn't know for sure is the nasty self-absorbed news reporter, Rebecca Firestone.  The woman is persistent, for sure.  She's sure there's more to the story and to Nick than what was presented to the press.  And she's not above setting up a scene to prove her point; unfortunately, she decides her scene will be during the Prom.  And she has help from some really bad people.

Meanwhile, Nick has other new problems.  He accidently discovered some old VHS tapes of his parents when they were young; which led to the discovery that he's more like his mother than he imagined.  But it also causes more grief between him and his father; a fragile relationship, at best.  He also starts to figure out just what his superpower is; but control of it still eludes him.

The debacle at prom threatened to out more than Seth; it could have been an unintentional out for the other Extraordinaries that the team has met, namely Miss Conduct (who is a drag queen who conducts electricity through her whole body) and TK (a mysterious figure who has telekinesis but refuses to talk to Nick or help him.)  On the other hand, one had to wonder just how much of a coincidence was it that all the Extraordinaries in Nova City just happened to be in the same place at the same time.  After all is said and done and the survivors patched up, that is exactly the question the team is asking themselves.  And the answer always tends to be:  Simon Burke (father to the afore-mentioned evildoer, Owen).

But Simon Burke is nothing if not resourceful…and rich.  So to the public, he appears to be nothing more than a concerned parent who wants to help other parents in the same situation.  What the public doesn't seem to grasp (or care about) is that Simon is deliberately identifying children with the potential to be Extraordinary and is either "curing" them or turning them to the dark side.  The team has a lot of questions about whether a "cure" is a good thing or not; it smacks a lot of the fallacy of gay-conversion therapy.

The story does have an epic superhero/supervillain battle; I'd be sorely disappointed if it had not.  And Nick learns more about what he's capable of.  One of the team graduates and is poised to leave the group; causing much grief and uncertainty. Owen is still missing; whereabouts unknown.  I rather suspect we'll hear more about him in the next story and it will be interesting to see where the author takes him.  Simon Burke and his political agenda to control all the Extraordinaries will certainly test Team Pyro and their families.  These kids have totally charmed me and I look forward to more from them.  Klune has a deft hand in defining his characters with action and little-to-no exposition.

Again, I have to include these comments: despite the book being marketed for teens, I wouldn't recommend it to younger readers below the age of consent.  Maybe it's my age showing but I thought the glorification of sex could be galvanizing for younger readers on the fence about "will I or won't I".

Oh, and one more thing:  the dustjacket is reversible as if Nicky had designed it for his own fanfic; totally cute.  ~~  Catherine Book

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