Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins

Rebel Belle

Author: Rachel Hawkins
Series: Rebel Belle #1
Release Date: April 8, 2014
Pages: 352
Review by: Max

Southern belle Harper is prepared for a lot--for every meeting she's required to have as president of every club/organization physically possible, dates with her perfect boyfriend, and most importantly, becoming homecoming queen.

What she's not prepared for is becoming the 'Paladin' guardian to her arch-nemesis David Stark, a job that comes with some crazy and  dangerous responsibilities.


If you're not aware, Rachel Hawkins is the author of the fantabulous Hex Hall series, which all of us here at Crazy for YA adore. You can read Tessa's review of the first book here. Rebel Belle had some, but not all, of the things I loved about Hex Hall.

To start, both the inner and actual dialogue was sarcastic and snarkilicious and utterly fantastic, almost exactly like it was in Hex Hall. Rachel Hawkins is the master of hilarious fantasy books like this. Don't believe me? Check out some quotes that also give you a taste of what kind of events took place in the book.

“'just . . . I don’t like crying girls, okay?' We were quiet for a second while I took that in. 'That was very nice of you, David,' I finally said. 'Now hold on because I’m about to drive into a fence.'”  

“I picked up the nearest weapon I could lay my hands on: a stapler. I lifted it, going for 'menacing.' I admit it lacked a certain elegance, but hey. It was worth a shot. David placed his hand on my arm and pushed it back down.
'What?'
'Just . . . that’s embarrassing for all of us,' he replied.”  

Besides being amazingly sassy, Rebel Belle was also really adorable. I'm not going to spoil anything and explain to you guys exactly what was adorable about it, but I'll think you'll like the relationship that seems pretty inevitable, even from the start.

I even actually like the best friend of the main character Harper, Bee. This is something I personally haven't seen a lot in books lately, so I was thankful or genuinely okay supporting character like Bee Franklin.

Those were my two favorite things about the book--the dialogue and Hawkins's overall writing style, and the romance-y aspect of it. Thankfully, these two factors almost overshadow the things I didn't like about the book and I can honestly give it 4 stars out of five simply for how much fun it was.  I

The first thing I didn't like--the whole Paladin thing. I don't think I ever really understood any of the mythology behind it, and it didn't seem to be incorporated into the book as much as it went on. Except for in the beginning, I didn't think there was enough action AT ALL. This could just be a personal thing for me, but I wanted some more fights or something.

My second problem wasn't even that big of a deal, but I really do not like love triangles. At all. Especially when they're not resolved quickly.

I really did enjoy Rebel Belle, and if you're looking for a funny book, with a bit of romance and a bit of mythology-based fantasy, I think you'll really enjoy this, too.

Fly on,
Max