Hello Everyone!
Overview (Non-Spoilery Section)
I have a significant amount of mixed feelings about the second installment in the Rebel Belle trilogy. At first I was really into this book, but as the novel continued, I felt like the conflicts became a bit petty and the characters were producing more conflict than necessary. Once the real conflict of the book started, I couldn’t help but feel that the “villains” of the first book, the Ephors, didn’t really have enough power to take down our main characters. This realization made the conflict basically pointless. I still enjoyed a lot of the book however I am really hoping that the third book is better than this one. It was definitely not Rebel Belle.
*****Spoilers******
Once Bee was rescued, and our main characters left Alexander’s house for the first time, I felt like there was a deep sigh in the action. I didn’t feel like the novel had the same amount of spirit as Rebel Belle did. I would have liked this whole book to be the peirasmos. I really wanted there to be a hardcore fight between the good and evil of the Rebel Belle world. This is what the description of Miss Mayhem says will happen, when in reality it is just one really simple test with Alexander setting the school on fire. That is it. -_- So while I liked Harper learning that she couldn’t always use magic as a “get out of jail free” card, and experiencing that people had to make their own choices and live their individual lives, this plot wasn’t intriguing enough to last through the whole book. Neither was the singular moments of discovery throughout the book. Yes, I really enjoyed that she realized she would have had to save David before the other students in the school when it was burning but that moment was over quickly. The last straw of disappointment was the beauty pageant. I just was not loving this whole setup and the character’s logic for entering into the competition wasn’t sound. “Alexander likes to target me in the middle of crowds, so I am going to enter this competition to be in a crowd.”
Harper gets all wigged out when Alexander attacks the school, a public place. That should have shown her that a beauty pageant isn’t the only public place he could attack and she was vulnerable wherever she went.
Alexander has proven that you have no idea when these tests are going to happen. Stumbling upon a beauty pageant, one of many public events that is probably happening around town, and deciding “this unpredictable man is going to make this super predictable so I should just go ahead and enter what I think is going to be the last test to catch him off guard.” Alexander has been around for years! He has run this thing before! There is no way that you are going to be able to predict what he is going to do. Period. Your logic isn’t sound.
The pageant just seemed like such a ploy. One I did not love.
The romance was over really quickly for me. I got tired of hearing about Harper and David’s back and forth, on and off romance. I also got tired of Harper complaining about how David reacted to her making sure that he couldn’t have big visions. I would be mad at her too if she inhibited my ability to have visions.
Ultimately, I wanted a darker, more intense “training and battling different tests and scenarios” kind of story. I wanted powerful Ephors and more emphasis on the fact that Harper could die, rather than dancing around a bush with more emphasis on annoying romances and petty fights. You know how eerie the book felt when Magnolia House was burned to the ground, or when we first discover Alexander? I wanted that atmosphere to last. I wanted Harper to show her stuff and become a serious Rebel Belle.It just didn’t happen.
Overall:
2 ½ stars out of 5
75% out of 100%
-Jaime