Book Review – ‘Lady Renegades’ by Rachel Hawkins

A great girlie teen action adventure with a paranormal twist.

Genre: Y/A, Paranormal, Comedy, Romance

No. of pages: 264

From Goodreads:

Just as Harper Price starts coming to terms with her role as David Stark’s battle-ready Paladin, protector, and girlfriend—her world goes crazy all over again.

Overwhelmed by his Oracle powers, David flees Pine Grove and starts turning teenage girls into Paladins—and these young ladies seem to think that Harper is the enemy David needs protecting from.  Ordinarily, Harper would be able to fight off any Paladin who comes her way, but her powers have been dwindling since David left town…which means her life is on the line yet again.

I was really excited to finish up this trilogy – it is just so much fun! I’d pre-ordered a copy of ‘Lady Renegades,’ so the moment I had spare time, I pretty much devoured this book in a weekend.

With a darker, more depressing tone for the conclusion, our protagonist, Harper wrestles with her inner demons. Which was a nice break from all the action, and to revel in some character development. Because of this, we never lose Harper in fight scenes, her presence is strong, and you get a real sense of her growth by the conclusion.

Blythe was a nice touch to the story, an antagonist you’re never quite sure is an antagonist. Her presence really added another dimension to ‘Lady Renegades.’

There didn’t seem to be as much comradery between the cast as in the previous books; or the comedic moments, or witty banter for that matter. It’s still there, just lightly sprinkled over the story. And so it didn’t quite have the same feel as I got from ‘Rebel Belle’ and ‘Miss Mayhem.’

It didn’t really feel like much happened in this book. It’s only 264 pages long, and I flew through it. A light-hearted after-school special feel to the narrative and fun dialogue. The pacing pics up towards the end, though I did feel there was a lot of repetition of the situation Harper faced near the finale that was unnecessary. The story felt very predictable, but sweet and I never stopped rooting for what I wanted to happen.

A satisfying end to a fun trilogy. Though lacked the punch of the debut. I felt like I wanted Harper’s journey to be harder and be more complex… maybe because I was left with the impression that the story came to an end way too quickly. But it’s still something I’d recommend to all my friends.

Overall feeling: *smiles sadly*

 

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