Title: Rebel Belle
Series: Rebel Belle (book 1)
Author: Rachel Hawkins
Genre: Fantasy, Contemporary
Rating: 9 Salmon Fantasy lip gloss tubes out of 10
What it's about: A popular southern belle (Harper) becomes the Paladin (guardian) of a boy (David) she hates, because he's got the power to fuck up everything in the world, and people want to use him to do evil things.
Recommended for: Vampire Academy and That's So Raven fans (that's something I never thought I'd say)
Review: Starting with the characters, they were so fun. Harper is a really cool heroine, and it makes sense for her to feel wary about being David's Paladin, and to be fair, she shouldn't have to give her life for him. And like what any teenager would do after finding out they have super strength, she goes home and googles about superheroes and then waits for the wise man to come into her life and tell her what the hell is going on. David is kind of an asshole for a while, but you start to warm up to him around the middle of the book, which is the entire point. The characters in the supporting cast were distinct and felt fleshed out, even when they were just minor roles. I think that the sort-of love triangle was very well done, since it was obvious that Harper and David are meant to be the central love story. The mythology/fantasy elements were pretty new, and I didn't feel like I'd seen several books where a person had to protect someone else with mystical powers (the only thing that comes close is Vampire Academy). I like that it's a present-day contemporary style, but it's got magic put into the story, but it doesn't take place in a big city or a suburban town that "every girl" can relate to. I think making this one of those old-timey, southern settings was a good choice because it made the story even funnier. The characters and setting were very good, but I feel that the pacing was a bit off. Everything's going steady and then nearly halfway through the book, we stop for a HUGE information dump. The action picks up soon after, but that exposition was too much at once. I think a bit could have been sprinkled through the last half of the book. But despite that, Rebel Belle was fun, charming, and very different from other YA fantasy books. I really enjoyed reading (well listening - it was an audiobook) to this!
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