Title: Rebel BellePublisher: Putnam Juvenile
Source: Borrowed from the library
Rating: 4 out 5 stars
Synopsis: Harper Price, peerless Southern belle, was born ready for a Homecoming tiara. But after a strange run-in at the dance imbues her with incredible abilities, Harper's destiny takes a turn for the seriously weird. She becomes a Paladin, one of an ancient line of guardians with agility, super strength and lethal fighting instincts.
Just when life can't get any more disastrously crazy, Harper finds out who she's charged to protect: David Stark, school reporter, subject of a mysterious prophecy and possibly Harper's least favorite person. But things get complicated when Harper starts falling for him - and discovers that David's own fate could very well be to destroy Earth.
Just when life can't get any more disastrously crazy, Harper finds out who she's charged to protect: David Stark, school reporter, subject of a mysterious prophecy and possibly Harper's least favorite person. But things get complicated when Harper starts falling for him - and discovers that David's own fate could very well be to destroy Earth.
Review: I'm pretty sure that I would have normally avoided a book like this one if it hadn't been for the consistent raving reviews I kept finding for it. Needless to say, thanks to the book-loving, blogging community, I decided to give this one a go and I'm pretty glad that I did. Thank you to all that have raved about this book - I wouldn't have read this one if not for you :)
This book delivers. Seriously, it delivers so many different aspects that bring it into one great story. I loved the story of the Paladins, it was completely unique to me and I haven't encountered any type of supernatural/mythological even remotely similar. I'm really intrigued to see how this aspect of the story will develop in the next book, I'd say I was most invested in this part of the book.
I really enjoyed the characters. Admittedly, at first I had a very hard time relating to Harper and I felt that the story wasn't going anywhere, I almost put the book down. BUT, after Harper became a paladin, I felt she was much more sensible, humble, and smart which made me really like her. David was a bit annoying at times mostly because it was hard for me to understand exactly why he was acting the way he was acting at times. However, I still think that Harper and David balance each other out well and are rather perfect for each other.
This book kept me surprised. Nothing that I thought would happen actually happened. Things that did happen were things that I didn't see coming. I found myself having a hard time putting this book down because I wanted so desperately to know what was going to happen next. Hawkins, you know how to hook a reader in, oh yes you do.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It had a buffy-ish feel to it that gave it extra points for me. And I loved the southern setting and feel of the book that I haven't encountered all too often in books. I would recommend this one to any fans of Buffy, or those that are looking for a good, entertaining read.
I finished Rebel Belle myself about a week ago! It was a trip, start to finish! In the past year or so I have such a hard time with books because they start off so slowly but this one kicks off right on the first page. Or at least it did so for me, I really loved the character interaction. I didn't/don't relate to Harper directly either, but it's so refreshing getting the POV from the ~popular girl~ instead of the ~nerdy loner~ like YA books usually go. Great review, glad you enjoyed it too!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, it was refreshing to get a different point of view, and the interaction between the characters sometimes had me literally lolling. It took me a chapter or so to get into, once the "incident" with the janitor happens, the book shot right off, that was one of my fav aspects of the book.
ReplyDeleteThank you :)