I'm so very very excited to be a part of the blog tour for the Rebel Bell Series by Rachel Hawkins in celebration of the latest book, Lady Renegade, coming out.
I absolutely adore this series and most especially the heroine of the series - Harper. She is just the best. She's prim and proper - doesn't approve of swearing or PDA and loves getting in front a the student body and speak. But she's also a kick-butt defender that can, and does, fight without reserve. How she wants to be and how she has to be because of being a Paladin that must defend the Oracle is such a contrast hat it makes me love her even more!
Ok a little bit about the last book in the series since that's why were here today:
Just as Harper Price started coming to terms with her role as David Stark's battle-ready Paladin – and girlfriend – her world goes crazy all over again. Overwhelmed by his Oracle powers, David flees Pine Grove and starts turning teenaged girls into Paladins . . . and these young ladies seem to think that Harper is the enemy David needs to be protected from. Ordinarily, Harper would be able to fight off any Paladin who came her way, but her powers have been dwindling since David left town, which means her life is on the line yet again.
I've finished up the series and loved it all!!! I'm going to be brief on my review just because I'm super afraid of giving anything away!! In Lady Renegade once again Harper is challenge to fight against new threats against not only David but also her. It brings the level of action and tension up another notch. But as usual, Harper handles it with her typical mix of charm and determination. One of the things that I have loved about Harper thoughout the whole series was how she tried to keep her manners and upbringing while being faced with life or death situations. It would make me giggle each time, but I also respected that she believed in them so much!
You never know how a series will end and if you'll find it satisfying. Did I? Yes I did. Of course there was a few things I wanted to know more about - or more of Harper and David I wanted to see. But in the end I was satisfied. You know how sometimes you want to know more but yet you don't because you don't want to put those more characters through more drama? That's how I feel!
I do have to comment about David. I feel like I over focus on Harper, but David is super important as well. - of course! I've liked David since the beginning. Throughout Miss Mayhem I always felt sorry for him because he just seemed lost. In this final book I didn't feel that as much. He didn't have it all figured out but he felt stronger or more assured. This doesn't come easy. Chaos is created, but I just felt like David was better in this book.
Anyway - in short I loved the series!
And guess what - I have more for you!
Rachel so graciously wrote a guest post for The O.W.L.!!
I asked Rachel what character in the series did you enjoy writing the most and why? Or did you see the most change in? Or turned out way different than you had originally planned?
Here's what she shared!
Going into the Rebel Belle series, I knew that writing Harper was going to be a challenge for me. Type A, over-achieving, homecoming queen? Yeah, that is VERY far from me. (I know you are all shocked.) What I hadn't anticipated though was how much fun it would be getting out of my head and into hers. As the books went on, I actually found that I was having fun being Harper so much of the time. Even when things in her life are spiraling out of control, she's still trying to keep a firm grip, and as someone who can't even manage to go to the post office more than twice a year (and if I do, that is all I'm doing for the day, let's be real), I enjoyed getting to pretend to be a responsible human.
As for the character who turned out very different than I'd expected, it was easily Blythe. She shows up in Rebel Belle as, I believe I have Harper say, "a tiny psychotic witch person." I'd assumed I was kind of done with her after the events of Rebel Belle, and she doesn't show up in Miss Mayhem. But then, as I was plotting Lady Renegades, I realized I needed another character in the mix. I was going to just invent someone new to serve that purpose, but the more I thought about it, the less done with Blythe I felt, and it occurred to me that, bizarrely enough, she, more than anyone else, would get a lot of what Harper was going through. That gave me a really fun thing to play with in the book, this idea of Blythe as a foil to Harper, and it opened up ways to talk about the things that most interest me in this story- what are you willing to sacrifice, what does it mean to be "chosen," how do you balance what you want with what you have to do? Blythe started out as being a fairly minor character since she was mostly there for Plot Reasons in Rebel Belle, but my Lady Renegades, I just loved her and was kind of sad the books were ending so that I didn't get more time to figure her out!
Thank you so much Rachel for sharing all that!!!
I love finding out how books and characters change as authors begin to write them. I would've never guessed that about the character of Blythe.
And I agree - I'd love writing Harper just to have maybe some of her rub off on me.
Praise for Rebel Belle:
"Harper is as quippy as you please, with a sass born of a sharp intellect....as surprising as it is delicious."
– Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, STARRED REVIEW
"If Buffy the Vampire Slayer were Southern instead of SoCal, raised on good manners, Cotillion and sweet tea–she would be Harper Price." – Justine
"Hawkins strikes a pleasing balance between humor and drama, giving the 'chosen one' narrative a welcome dusting of irony and aglowing Southern setting." – Publishers Weekly
"This series–about an Alabama belle who is suddenly gifted with supernatural powers–has everything you could want from the genre and more: heart, smarts, scares, swoons and best of all, LAUGHS." – Kirkus Reviews
Rest of the Tour
MUNDIE MOMS–Interview - 04/11/16
YA BIBLIOPHILE–Listicle–04/12/16
FICTION FARE–Interview - 04/13/16
THE O.W.L.–Guest post–04/14/16
THE YOUNG FOLKS–Guest post–04/15/16
THE MIDNIGHT GARDEN–Guest post–04/18/16
TWO CHICKS ON BOOKS–Would You Rather? - 04/19/16
BOOKISH ANTICS–Listicle- 04/20/16
Here's to Happy Endings–Review and Giveaway–04/21/16
ONCE UPON A TWILIGHT–Series Giveaway–04/22/16