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Rebel Belle (Rebel Belle, #1)

Rachel Hawkins

Start date: May 7, 2014

Finish date: May 31, 2014

Discussion: Rebel Belle

Why we're reading this: This is our book of the month for May! Thanks everyone for voting!
[close] This is our book of the month for May! Thanks everyone for voting!

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Rebel Belle

FINISHED!!
By Pili · 4 posts · 16 views

last updated Jun 26, 2014 08:58AM

Chapter 1
By Pili · 5 posts · 10 views

last updated Jun 24, 2014 08:24AM

What Members Thought

May 16, 2014 Julie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: bookclub-reads, library, audio, 2014-audiobook-challenge, 2014-ya-audiobook-challenge

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. 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 ha 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. ...more

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Nov 23, 2013 Stormy rated it liked it

Shelves: passes-bechdel-test, read-in-2014, young-adult, genre-paranormal

Rebel Belle opens on the night of Harper’s Homecoming dance, and all she’s expecting is to be crowned Homecoming Queen, have some fun, and celebrate. She doesn’t expect that a make-up emergency will lead to her becoming a Paladin, a guardian figure with special fighting skills and ability tasks to protect a certain person, but that’s what happens. And from there, Rebel Belle takes the reader on a bit of a wild, but charming, southern ride.

Harper is a fun character, but she isn’t shallow. What st Rebel Belle opens on the night of Harper’s Homecoming dance, and all she’s expecting is to be crowned Homecoming Queen, have some fun, and celebrate. She doesn’t expect that a make-up emergency will lead to her becoming a Paladin, a guardian figure with special fighting skills and ability tasks to protect a certain person, but that’s what happens. And from there, Rebel Belle takes the reader on a bit of a wild, but charming, southern ride.

Harper is a fun character, but she isn’t shallow. What starts off as seeming like surface interests–makeup, perfect clothes, etc–really shows how wound-up Harper is. Harper is a character who has plotted out her whole life with precision. She stays up until 3 in the morning making dance decorations, she’s a member of every committee her private school has to offer, and she’s in the running for Valedictorian. She’s a perfectionist, but she’s savvy too–she’s not ready to say she’ll lay down her life to protect someone just because she ended up with magical powers. She has her own goals and ambitions, and she’s torn between what she’s suddenly become(a process she had no choice in), and the things she’s always wanted.

Harper’s charge, David, is also a great character. He’s smart and quick-witted, always a plus. Their energy played off of each other well, especially when Harper realized that David was the person she was suppose to protect. I was glad the reasoning given for this made sense, and wasn’t just purely made to complicate the plot(complications happened, of course, but it came around rather organically). It was great to see Harper and David come to grudging respect each other to becoming friends.

All that being said, Rebel Belle did seem to read exceedingly young, which shocked me. The plot was really standard–not a whole lot of twist, until the end–but I felt it could have easily played out with younger characters than Harper and David, except for the logistical aspects(driving cars, etc.) Harper’s voice in particular feels much younger–and not just because there’s a lack of “dark” issues in this book, which is fine–it’s more of her word choice and the way she approaches things. It threw me off the entire book.

The language censoring was weird, as well. Harper has a tendency to substitute “eff” into the story in place of real curse words. I’m not always a fan of books full of cursing if it feels forced, but this one just made no sense and kept pulling me from the story. I would understand it if it was just Harper’s inner narration, but there are times when other characters say it, and one time when she says she “says the real version”, but it still written in her watered-down substitute. It was jarring every time I came across it.

I expected this one to be fun and a little on the lighter side, but I was still shocked at how young it read. Considering the themes of protecting and potential sacrifice, I did expect a little bit of danger mixed in with my snarky dialogue. There was a little of that, but I never was really able to take it seriously. That being said, I did love the idea of this book! I mean, Paladins? Mixing southern culture(hello, cotillions, pearl strings, and hummingbird cake) with an adventure story? That premise and basic plot was the best part of the book, even when it took the predictable route.

This review originally appeared on Book.Blog.Bake. ...more

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Apr 04, 2014 Jess at Such a Novel Idea marked it as wishlist

Jun 13, 2015 CanSandera marked it as to-read

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