Rebel Belle Review: Harper

My life is perfect.

Perfect grades.
Perfect boyfriend.
Perfect reputation.

Homecoming changed it all.
Now, I have some kind of superpowers.
And I'm supposed to protect a guy I hate.

My name is Harper Price.

Hi guys! Today, I'm Southern Belle Harper Jane Price.

Book: Rebel Belle
Author: Rachel Hawkins
Series: Rebel Belle
Standing: Book 1
POV: 1st person by Harper, past tense
Genre: YA paranormal, urban fantasy

Source: Physical copy
Pages: 345
Favourite Quote: "Translation: I am head cheerleader and SGA president, and I could destroy you all if I wanted to. And that's not even bringing my superpowers into it."
Rating: 5 Stars





Blurb: (Goodreads)
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.

                        ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
Wow. I wasn't expecting this book to be so good!

Originally, I set Harper off as being one of those dumb blonde cheerleaders. I mean, she complained about lip gloss, and how she uses "Coral Shimmer" and not "Salmon Fantasy." My first thought: seriously? Isn't this sort of a superhero book? But as the plot rolled along, I got to like Harper A LOT more.

Harper is an extremely ambitious girl. She practically owns the school. She's NOT your average glam-queen you hear about in schools, the ones where they're super pretty, a cheerleader, and downright nasty and mean because of it. Harper knows what she wants, and is smart to get it. She doesn't at any point resort to blackmail just because she can't get her way. She's doing what she honestly thinks is best for the school, and is sincere about it.

I really loved Harper's comparisons of her life and other Marvel superheros. She'll be asking, "Where's my Professor X?" while wandering the halls of her school. Then she'll make some deduction that in superhero books and movies, the all-knowing mentor generally finds the superhero, meaning all Harper's Professor X should (hopefully) come to her. I found that really funny, as she's using superhero books as her base line, all in an attempt to keep her sanity. It's also realistic to me, because I'd probably do the exact same thing. The whole okay-well-this-happened-to-X-character-in-this-book-so-I'll-just-do-what-he-did-and-hope-for-the-best. See? Books are great. They prepare us for any situation.

Harper becomes a Paladin, which is a guardian blessed with super speed, power, agility, and knowledge of how to kick butt with or without weapons. Does it come to a surprise to Harper? Yes. I mean, she ends up killing a guy with her shoe! (This is why I'm always careful when I see people with pointy shoes...I mean, what if one of them is some crazy assassin?) But, as in most books, embracing her new powers generally result in issues with friends and family. I was preparing for the typical I-choose-my-powers-over-you-but-I-can't-tell-you-and-so-I'm-just-going-to-break-off-our-realtionship fallout kind of thing, where everyone starts to hate her, but this wasn't it. Harper is able to maintain her typical life, and though her love life changes a little, she's still able to keep her friends and family close. Yes, there are issues, but no, there were no huge fights that end up with people slamming doors and plotting nasty revenge schemes.

This book was smart, witty, and overall hilariously entertaining. It was not lacking in humour nor action area, which was a relief to me. It's a light-hearted story of a girl balancing both her life and her superpower duties, and at no point gets boring or frustrating. I can't wait to read the next book!