Book Review | Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins

Series: Rebel Belle #1

Released: 8th April 2014 
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Pages: 345 pages
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Fantasy

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.

After having this book recommended to me over and over by one of my friends I did have quite high expectations for it and I was not disappointed. Rebel Belle is one of the funniest YA books I have read in a long time. Although technically fantasy the book was written in a way that makes it read almost like a contemporary but with some mythology mixed in. Whilst being quite action-packed it had a whole lot of funny moments, a cute love story, and a wide cast of quirky characters that I really grew to care for. If you weren't aware Rachel Hawkins is also the author behind the Hex Hall series and the spin-off series School Spirits which were both quite popular three or four years ago. 

“Looking back, none of this would have happened if I’d brought lip gloss the night of the Homecoming Dance.” 

 This was the first sentence of the book and a I think a wonderful introduction to our main character, Harper Price. Harper is so absolutely hilarious and snarky and reading from her perspective is one of the best parts of this book. Harper Price gets perfect grades, is the head cheerleader, president of her SGA and homecoming queen (something I don't entirely get but know is a big deal according to high school movies). So naturally being presented with superhero abilities is not exactly an ideal situation for Harper but she really does step up and becomes super awesome and powerful with her ninja fighting skills.

One of the things I really enjoyed about this book was how there were a lot of characters that were involved in the story and none of them were just introduced for a particular plot point and then ignored. Unlike a lot of other YA books, the protagonist's parents were actually part of the story as were Harper's three aunts and David's aunt, all of whom had quite an important role in the outcome in the final climax.

While I did like this book the writing was simple and to the point which would have been fine had the plot not been a little slow at some points. The characters and comedy helped to keep me reading but at some points the story was kind of dragged out with some unnecessary scenes. I also felt that the villain was introduced quite late in the story and then wasn't given a lot of backstory. I'm still not quite sure exactly who David and Harper's actual enemy is however that's probably because this is the first book in the series and the real villain will be revealed in the sequel.

Overall I really liked this book because even though the trope of an unlikely hero learning to use their powers is very common, this particular story is just  s o  much fun and doesn't take itself too seriously. I would recommend this to any of you who want a short, lighthearted fantasy read which still tells a good story and has quite a lot of character development.

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Have you read Rebel Belle? What did you think of it?