Rebel Belle Review

Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins
Narrator: Amy Rubinate
Series: Rebel Belle #1
Published by Penguin on 2014-04-08
Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Young Adult
Pages: 352
Format: Audiobook
Goodreads

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.

 Julie’s Review:

** spoiler alert ** This review contains spoilers, I just don’t know how to share my feelings without sharing something about the plot. So you’ve been warned.

Rebel Bell was a so-so read for me. I liked it, but not a whole lot, and I also did not dislike it. I struggled with it at first because it took me a while to like Harper and her debutante attitude. She was so obnoxious for the longest time, and that type of personality is so not my thing! I feel like it took her too long to accept her destiny, and I’m not a fan of the books where the special snowflake takes so long to realize she’s a special snowflake after all, that half or more of the book has passed by with no actions being taken. So she was forced to turn into a superhero by being in the wrong place at the wrong time (aka the bathroom putting on lip gloss) when the previous Paladin (the janitor) got killed, but was able to breathe the gift into her via soft of kiss (not creepy at all people, getting kissed by the janitor) before he died. 

The person she is supposed to protect, David, is her arch-nemesis, or is he? Well, they are rivals in everything they do in their high school. I suppose that makes them frenemies or something. Anyway she has to protect him, because he’s some special snowflake of his own, which it takes a while to discover what kind. All she knows is she can’t hurt him, therefore he must be her duty. Later we discover more secrets about David’s family and background and all that good stuff, but it does take some time to get there. David is in danger because of what he is, and the fact that he’s a male what he is. Some of the special want him dead so the next one can be born. Others want to change him into something they can control. So David keeps getting attacked, and Harper protects him, and people die, and the mages clean it all up so no one notices the trail of death and destruction. 

I found the ending disappointing because really Harper failed in her mission to protect David from the people who wanted to change him into something else. I’m kinda conflicted on that plot line, though it does set up further books in the series.

I did enjoy the slow burn relationship between Harper and David. They eventually stopped being frenemies and competing in everything they do. As they started working together, their feelings finally came out. Or is it because they were forced into all these life-threatening situations? Hard to tell. But they were cute.

What did you think of this book? I know a lot of people read it, so I’m curious to see what people think.

Subscribe to Chapter Break posts.