Rebel Belle

Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins

Blurb:

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. 

Review:

"Paladin: an honorable knight; defender of a noble cause." 

"Laaaaaame," I whispered. I much preferred superhero.

Honestly, I am kind of disappointed, which makes me even more disappointed because I'm disappointed for being disappointed in a Rachel Hawkins book. Maybe it was because I loved Hex Hall so much and my expectations were way too high, maybe it was because I've been sick and that made my heart freeze up for a while. I don't know.

The thing is, I know that this book was funny. But there were only about 5/6 passages, that actually provoked any kind of reaction from me. That's great! for your average book. When I read Hex Hall I was trying so hard not to break into hysteric laughter in public that I ended up shrieking ("quietly") while I tried to continue reading through tears of utter joy. Compared to that, snorting a little bit while reading about Harper testing her abilities to hit people just seems severely underwhelming. It actually confused me that I didn't think it was more funny. I was constantly waiting for the book and me to click but that moment never really came. 

Luckily, Rachel Hawkins' books are such easy reads, especially when they're action packed (and this one is) that I flew through it, even without the constant jokes glueing me to the page. If I compare it to Hex Hall (for the last time, I promise), I'd say it's mostly like the third book - still funny but it's the action that kept me reading. The only difference is that I expected more from this than from the third book. 

Maybe I'll reread this book next summer or something and, hopefully, I'll realise what I missed and suddenly I'll find it just as funny as I had hoped for. But for now I am pretty disappointed. 

So I dedicated myself to my mission, and by the time Monday morning rolled around, I had definitely figured some stuff out. First of all, I had gotten totally screwed on the "origin story" front. All superheroes have origin stories, like how Bruce Wayne's parents get killed and he goes to Tibet or whatever, and Superman is an alien, and Spider-Man had that radioactive spider. Me? I kissed a janitor in the school bathroom.

Rating:

Well, there really isn't much to say. It's a pretty average 3/5 stars for me. Sadly.

Details:

Name: Rebel Belle

Series: Rebel Belle - however I don't plan on continuing with this series because the general consensus seems to be that the rest of these books are kind of a waste of time and that you should treat this as a standalone. Considering I've already been disappointed with this one, I'll do just that.

Author: Rachel Hawkins

Publisher: Speak

Pages: 368