Review: Rebel Belle by: Rachel Hawkins

Rebel Belle by: Rachel Hawkins (April 2014)

345 Pages

Publisher: Putnam Juvenile

Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy

Source: The Library

Purchase: Barnes and Noble | The Book Depository | 

Goodreads Summary: 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.

My Review

Rebel Belle and I didn’t always see eye to eye. I was actually really annoyed when I first started reading it. I wouldn’t necessary say it’s the book’s fault that we got off on the wrong foot so much as I was expecting something different than what Rebel Belle ended up delivering. I was expecting a more serious story, I don’t know why I just did, but really Rebel Belle is more of a comedy than anything. Once I became accepting of this oh so very wonderful trait Rebel Belle had to offer I enjoyed the novel a great deal.

The main character, Harper, is always trying to be the best and is always trying to be polite and proper, but when she becomes a Paladin, an awesome ninja type guardian, her life starts becoming just a little more complex and difficult to manage. Although Harper can be annoying with her very high school demeanor and attitude it was hard not to like her, especially with her always hilarious commentary on her Paladin abilities and situations she finds herself in. I did however 100% sincerely enjoy David and his snarky adorableness that he brought to the story and Harper’s life.

As for the overall plot of Rebel Belle, it was unique and very strong. Not to mention that Rebel Belle has a lot of good full blown laughing fight scenes in it and the ending was fast paced and full of little twists. Basically, Rebel Belle may be a comedy, but it’s also full of some awesome action that just added to its quirky weird funny charm.

Don’t pass up Rebel Belle. Pick it up this summer for a book that is just too much fun to ignore. I wasn't a huge fan of Hawkins’ Hex Hall series, (which was good but not great for me), but I’m glad I read Rebel Belle. Therefore, if you had the same feelings as me about Hex Hall don’t let that stop you from giving Rebel Belle a chance. I'm glad I did.

Review: Demonglass by: Rachel Hawkins

Demonglass (A Hex Hall Novel) by: Rachel Hawkins

Publisher: Hyperion Book

384 pages

Genre: Young Adult/Romance/Fantasy

Spoiler Alert! This review contains information from the first book in the Hex Hall series.

Summary: After discovering she is a demon, Sophie must make a choice. Her powers are dangerous and she believes that the only way not to hurt anyone she loves is to go to London with her father for the Removal. All the while she is missing Archer Cross, her crush who also happens to work for the group trying to get rid of supernatural creatures, The Eye.

Review: The first book in this series, Hex Hall, wasn’t one of my favorites, but I have the need to finish a series once I start it so I went ahead and checked out the second book. I found Demonglass to be more attention grabbing and actually make me care a little bit more about these characters. Even though this still isn’t one of my favorite books it was a nice quick read and I will still read the next book.

There are two things I really enjoy about this book. One, there are a lot of interesting creatures and people in Sophie’s drama filled life. Although some of the supernatural creatures are not new to the young adult supernatural fantasy novel there are a few things that are different. Not many of these books focus on demons and this book’s main character is a demon. Second, Sophie has a unique and witty personality and I enjoy the banter she has with the other characters. I would have to say that Sophie is a pretty good female heroine in a young adult novel. She is strong, becomes more mature as time goes on, and of course she is funny.

Luckily although this book doesn’t take a lot of mental energy to read, it does have some pretty exciting action. On the other hand, the one big twist in the book was completely easy to call in advance. This was disappointing. I know I read a lot and can easily foretell the plot twists in most novels but there is usually still a small surprising little something that happens, but not in this book.  I will however tell you that the ending does leave you with enough mystery to want to read the next book.

When and why you should read this book: Read this book if you read the first one. Read this book if you want an easy read. Read this book if you like young adult fantasy books with a lot of interesting supernatural creatures.

If you haven’t read the first book in this series I’m not sure I would say it is worth it to read this one. It was unique compared to other young adult fantasy novels, but nothing too exciting. I really enjoy reading young adult novels but this one just doesn’t stick to my mind as much as many others do. 

Also, you definitely need to read the first book in this series before reading this one. There is a quick recap of the events that occurred in the first book but not enough to be very helpful. 

Rating: 3/5