BOOK REVIEW: REBEL BELLE BY RACHEL HAWKINS

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

Contains spoilers!

I'm going to be honest here, when I put this book on my TBR, I didn't really read what it was about. I saw the cover on Instagram and BookTube, so many people were saying how amazing this book is so I just put it on my list without looking. Sometimes though, that's the best way to do it. Go into it completely blind.

Then the incredibly kind Dennis sent me this book along with another bunch of books and I finally got the chance to read it! Well, I expected it to be about a rebellious girl? (Just judging by the title and the cover) but I got a paranormal book.

I definitely didn't expect that.

However that's not a bad thing, I wasn't into those type of books until I picked up Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout - which I adored! - so I decided to broaden my horizons with book genre's. I read this and I really loved it. I was so pleased it was paranormal. I kept thinking that I was reading the same type of books all the time so I got excited when the story mentioned words like 'Oracle' and 'Prophecy'. Yay!

The story around the 'magic' and paranormal aspect was great! It was an easy and fun storyline that kept me hooked and I really have to know what happens in the next book. Book two is on my list! Harper was quite kick-ass. I didn't blame her for not wanting to get involved with the job she was given but I was thrilled she wanted to do it. I obviously knew she would otherwise the book would be a lot shorter..but still. You can't blame the girl for wanting out. There's a possibility that she could die over somebody she doesn't even like! I guess being given superpowers is a tough pill to swallow, it's not something I could wrap my head around.

So she's been given the job to protect David Stark, her enemy, a guy she's not gotten along with since they were tiny children. Well, you know where that's going to go, they'll spend time together and she'll end up falling for him...... ha! I love it! Gosh, I love enemies to lovers stories, the development of the relationship is always so interesting, I always wonder how they're going to do it. Rachel Hawkins did it well.

I loved her relationship with David, you have the banter, the chemistry and they're both quite alike so they have a lot in common. They're also not shy to tell eachother how they feel, if one's annoying the other, they'll say.

Her and Ryan weren't really compatible, I felt like she really matured and became her true self at the end of the book, when she was with Ryan, she was one person and with David, she was another.

At the start of the book, I wasn't sure if I was going to like her. Everyone kept saying in reviews that she was badass but I was thinking 'I'm not sure they're reading the same book as me' because she was quite snobby but when things started to happen, when she had a true responsibility and the time spent with David, she grew up. She actually very likeable and brave! I like her.

And I hope David's going to be okay in the next book. Please, Rachel! Don't kill David.

More people died in this book than I expected so if you're going to pick this one up - you've been warned.

Mary Beth was certainly a dark horse! She seemed so nice and then - BOOM! Total bitch. The things guys do to us girls, eh? But I love little twists like that. The other characters like Bee and Harper's family were great too, although Bee did sometimes get on my nerves but that's just the typical 'best friend' character in a book. 99% of the time in YA, they're irritating.

The part when Harper got the ninja powers - as she sometimes calls it - was super weird. I was reading it like 'la la la yeah this is a good book', minding my own business, Harper was innocently putting on her lip gloss and then BAM. The janitor comes in all bleeding and "kisses her" as in he gives her his powers and then she nearly gets murdered by her teacher. This book was all kinds of entertaining. You won't be bored reading this one!

But the story really flowed well, it was interesting from start to finish, the characters and the plot were great and I'm excited for the next book. I have theories so I'll have to jot them down to see if I'm right.

If you like YA books with a bit of paranormal, some romance and funny banter, this one's for you. It's a big book but it's so easy to get through. I definitely recommend it, I can see why so many people loved it and told me to read it.

4 stars from me.