“If by ‘graciously
volunteered,’ you mean ‘was threatened and coerced,’ then yes, I did.” – Rebel Belle
My Synopsis:
Cheerleader, president of everything, Homecoming Queen, and true southern belle
Harper Price is suddenly a magically super warrior with a sworn obligation to
protect none other than her high school enemy and rival, David Stark. Neither
wants the roles they have been dealt, but neither can walk away. Because of
destiny, a word both begin to hate, or because of emerging feeling about each
other, only time will tell. Until then craziness, cotillion, prophecy research,
and history teachers wielding swords create a hilarious, yet surprisingly relatable
story ensue.
Most of
my complaints about this book are personal pet peeves. First, I hate the valley
girl, Patty Simcox, ‘like,’ ‘you know’, ‘ew!’ voice. It is a personal thing
because I was that girl in high
school. Cheerleader, student body president, homecoming court etc. and I get
unreasonably insulted when fictional characters in similar positions have this stereotypical
tone. However, this became less of a thing as the book went on and came to a
more realistic and true to character level. My only complaint that others may
agree is that Harper jumped to “I must have superpowers” a little quick to me.
It happens in a lot of books where characters jump to the needed conclusions a
lot faster than any reasonable person would in real life. Not that I think that
Harper reacted necessarily inappropriately when she came to the conclusion, she
just stopped looking for other more reasonable or does not defy laws of physics
etc. explanations for what happened. Further, I though David’s reaction to
every discovery was very realistic.
But
those are all my complaints. I really liked this book. I usually go for darker
fiction, but this book is a great light version of the books I usually read. To
be clear, it was not overly light. It was more than just fluff and rainbows. It
definitely has some sad, serious stuff, but everything is dabbed with humor
which honestly is probably how a lot of people would react to sad, serious
stuff in their lives, and definitely how a lot of people would respond to this
kind of craziness in their life.
As I
said earlier, I was basically Harper when I was in school, so I can say that I
really think (after the valley girl-ish beginning) she was very real and spot
on. I found her very relatable. A lot of the choices she made, I thought were
spot on for what a real teenage girl in that situation would make. In books,
the main character, while usually flawed in some way, is usually very honorable
and selfless. Ex. Katniss, Tris, etc.
One of my favorite things was that Hawkins wasn’t afraid to let Harper be a
little selfish and spoiled. She wants her own life and not to give it up for
someone else. That is true for any real teenager, particularly that girl, president of everything etc.
The
ending. I obviously do not want to spoil anything, but let’s just say a new
player gets added to David and Harper’s team that I think is going to add a very interesting dynamic in the next
book. Also, the closing scene and line, I thought, were perfect. Everything in
this story was wrapped up, but the next story in the series was prompted, and I
want it NOW. Please and thank you. =)
Video review coming soon...
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