Lady Renegades by Rachel Hawkins

Publisher: Putnam
Publishing Date: April 5
Genre: young adult, contemporary, fantasy
ISBN: 9780399256950
Rating: ★★★

Read my reviews for Rebel Belle (book 1) and Miss Mayhem (book 2) before continuing with this review!

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 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.

Now, it’s a desperate race for Harper to find and rescue David before she backslides from superhero to your garden-variety type-A belle.

After several weeks of what proves to be a boring, average summer, Harper and Bee begin to wonder just how immediate and threatening David’s powers actually are. They don’t need to wonder for long, because Paladins begin attacking Harper one after another, all claiming David sent them to kill her. Harper and Bee need Blythe’s help to find David before his powers get out of control and Harper’s dwindle away.

The comedic elements in the trilogy were a bit lost in this final installment (bummer!) and replaced with a quest (road trip) and more magic (thanks, Blythe). Harper’s so caught up in her anxiety — losing her powers, losing David — that a lot of her more humorous one-liners and observations took a backseat. Secondary characters took on the funny lines, so it’s not all doom-and-gloom suddenly in this energetic, Buffy-esque trilogy.

I’m not quite sure what I expected from Lady Renegades, except that it wasn’t this…and yet it was. I could guess the ending off the bat, but I’m here for the journey. The journey part is what deviated from my expectations. Getting from A to B took some random pit-stops in bizarre places with strange people, with surprises here and there to the plot and general story arc. And while it was odd…it worked. For that, I’m pleased. What is absolutely guaranteed, in this book and the others, is Ladies Kicking Butt. *applause*

These three girls pile into a car for two weeks and travel across the south to little podunk towns, bars, flee-markets, and motels in their quest to find David. Each stop reveals more clues, which all point in the direction Harper hopes it wouldn’t. Time is ticking before the start of senior year — if Harper actually gets to experience senior year with rogue David on the loose — and Harper’s not sure what the future has in store for her or Pine Grove.

Thank you, Edelweiss, for providing this book from GP Putnam’s Sons BFYR for review!

.

This qualifies as book 2 of 5 of the “Flights of Fantasy” Challenge, hosted by Alexa @ Alexa Loves Books and Rachel @ Hello, Chelly.