A Lady Never Starts a Fight...

Harper Price, peerless Southern belle, was born ready for a Homecoming tiara. But after a strange run-in at the dance imbues her with incredible abilities, Harper's destiny takes a turn for the seriously weird. She becomes a Paladin, one of an ancient line of guardians with agility, super strength and lethal fighting instincts.

Just when life can't get any more disastrously crazy, Harper finds out who she's charged to protect: David Stark, school reporter, subject of a mysterious prophecy and possibly Harper's least favorite person. But things get complicated when Harper starts falling for him—and discovers that David's own fate could very well be to destroy Earth.

Okay, so just gonna say this has to be one of my favorite reads of the year. I related with the main the character Harper so much (she says her lips are naked without lip product and drinks Earl Grey tea). I felt like I would have made most of the same decisions she did in the different situations that arose.

          She is a strong character who works hard, takes the high road, and has admirable morals. Rachel Hawkins’ writing style is fun and easy to read. I have to confess this is a 345 pg. book and I read it in 2 ½ days. I couldn’t put it down. The dialogue was snappy and fun and I couldn’t wait to see what happened to the characters next.

A southern belle turned ninja-like warrior? The premise of the book intrigued me from the moment I saw a book review of it on YouTube. It was something I hadn’t seen before and something I couldn’t really imagine. I wanted to see how Hawkins pulled it off. The answer? Flawlessly.

As far as content goes I couldn’t find a content review online in the time I needed (of course I found one afterwards) I but decided to wing it anyway and was pleased with what wasn’t in it rather than what was. At the beginning of the book Harper scolds a friend for using the F-word and says “I just think that the F-word should be saved for dire occasions. And having to park a hundred yards from the gym is not a dire occasion.”

I thought this was admirable for a secular book. Now, when someone does say the F-word Harper either notes whether or not they said the actual word or it will be replaced with “effed”. They use it a moderate amount of times but since It is not an actual swear word I will not be including it in the final rating.

In conclusion, I enjoyed this book immensely and as  I said it will probably be included in my top five books of this year which I will be doing a post on in late December or early January. I will also be picking up the second book Miss Mayhem which I am looking forward to devouring.

Language: Moderate, but probably not above 10 words

Alochol/Drugs: There is one mention of “huffing” not related to the main character and there is mention of a teen who was killed while under the influence of alcohol.

Violence: 7 (detailed but cartoonish, at one point somebody gets stabbed with a stiletto).

Sexual content: It is implied by Harper that some of the teens are in a sexual relationship and there is also one or two semi-passionate kissing scenes but nothing graphic.

Spiritual Content:  The whole book’s main theme is mythological powers and magic. One woman is a witch like figure and there are a couple spells and herbal remedies produced throughout the book.