A review by empr23rcrds
Rebel Born by Amy A. Bartol

My fan girl review: OMFG I LOVE THIS SERIES I NEED MORE TEAM REYKIN ALL THE WAY *SQUEAK*
My sane adult reading YA series review: I really love the potential of these characters and their stories, (and maybe I’ve been spoiled by our binge watching on demand culture) but I really feel this could have been one good sized book OR 3 slightly longer/more in depth books. I can see where the author was going and I thoroughly enjoyed reading the adventures of a neglected and sheltered rich girl turned bada$$ and savior....but there is always room to establish the world we’re about to dive into, room to build certain relationships *, room to bring it all together in the end without skimping on the chase and take down of the icky badguy. I’ll re-read this series again and again but I’ll always wonder what could have been.

* having read the entire series now, the relationship between roselle/hawthorn/reykin makes a bit more sense to me now. Hawthorn being like anyone’s first whirlwind romance in a confined space (emotionally and physically) while reykin was definitely a bit more of a rational arrangement.