Title: Rebel Belle
Series: Rebel Belle Book One
Publication Date: April 8, 2014
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.
With snappy banter, cotillion dresses, non-stop action and a touch of magic, this new young adult series from bestseller Rachel Hawkins is going to make y'all beg for more.
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My Thoughts
This book was exactly what I was looking for. It was light, it was fun, it had action, romance, and just plain silliness.
Rebel Belle had a definite Legally Blond vibe what with Harper being so little miss perfect and all about the right colors/wardrobe etc. Usually I dislike these type of characters because they just don't seem genuine to me half the time, but Hawkins did a wonderful job with Harper. Harper has a lot of things on her plate. She has been trying to be perfect ever since the ignominious death of her sister Leigh-Anne. So she been trying to make up for it by being SGA President, being chairwoman of the Committee, taking on Cotillion and of course being Homecoming Queen.
Even though Harper was very fashion and image centered she was also, clever, smart and had her head on straight most of the time. Sure she was a bit blind when it came to her own relationship but even that was well done. She didn't want to fully accept something but she wasn't on full on denial either and it also wasn't dragged out nor did it take the center stage and leave the plot behind.
Harper may get distracted with shades of lip gloss, but she knew when she needed to focus and be serious and when to indulge her girly side. I loved how Hawkins managed that perfect balance between too indifferent/cool about everything new that was happening to Harper and too freaked out/in denial to do anything about it. Harper, freaked out but kept her cool and had her nervous breakdowns when it was more appropriate.
While I liked both love interests they didn't exactly wow me either, they were nice solid guys, but that was it. I'm actually rather impressed they were both nice guys instead of the typical bad boy/good guy combo. Even though David is portrayed more as a nerd and Ryan as a jock, they really weren't. Although Ryan was all about the sexy times every time he was with Harper, he also seemed to actually care about her. I also had issues with Bee and the rest of Harper's friends. I didn't like any of them. They were all too much of the airhead stereotype for me. At least with Harper there was some substance to balance that out with, but her friends? Not so much.
My other issue was the ending. How Harper could have possibly slipped like that when throughout the book she was always on top of things and being right on point. In the end? She literally shoves David into the hands of the bad guy. It just wasn't plausible to me. Also, adding Ryan into it, NOT COOL.
Rebel Belle is a fast, funny and very enjoyable read, with a few missteps at the end, but the journey was quite pleasant.
So...
Would I Recommend it?
