Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC, and this doesn't influence my review. This book is perfect for fans of Last of Us. This book was covid-themed, except the infected turn into harmful zombies in a way. I loved the romance between the two MCs, especially cause he fell first. There was witty banter, hate to love, rivals to lovers for the tropes.

3.5 star rating!

I want to thank Netgalley and the publisher for alloying me to read and review this book!

The storyline of this book takes place post-apocalyptic world where the a pandemic wiped out a majority of the population. There are the Keepers, who set orders and then there is the Resistance, who is trying to show how corrupt the Keepers can be,

Following Hannah's story, she is wanted by the Keepers for starting the Resistance. This follows into her journey of survival, learning who to trust, and finding out what is truly worth fighting for. She spends most of the story injured and resting with a Keeper (traitor trying to help the Resistance from death), but during this time, she starts to learn the truth of how the pandemic started. All while trying to lay low from the one person who wants her dead. Let's not forget about the tension between Hannah and Fletcher (Keeper). They were once upon a time enemies who are growing to be lovers. But the trust issues are still there.

Trigger warning: This book does contain semi- graphic details of blood and violence.

Compelling and intriguing. Rebel Darling follows Hannah Darling after she has been arrested, beaten, and given the death penalty for her rebel activities in a post apocalyptic world. Parts of this story ring similar to the Maze Runner series and Ashfall fall series though it picks up in the middle of the story rather than beginning.

I wish I had more of this story. By the time we have met our fmc, her hero’s journey is almost at an end. I wish I could have read her arc in its entirety. It would have been great to her when she was a her sharpest, rather than constantly battling her injuries.

Overall, the plot was great but as several other reviews have said: it could be confusing at times and certain scenes felt rushed. I wish I could have gotten more from Fletch’s (mmc) perspective to fully understand what caused him to make certain decisions and have other reactions. While the main characters have chemistry I want to understand more about their history. I’m sure many of my questions will be answered in book 2 which I look forward to reading.

Thank you NetGalley and 8th Note for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve read a post-apocalyptic book and man this did not disappoint one bit! I devoured Rebel Darling and loved every bit of this world Valerie Best created.

Rebel Darling follows Hannah Darling, leader of the Resistance and holds the cure to the virus, as she escapes from her death sentencing and finds safety with Anthony Fletcher. Hannah and Anthony knew each other before the virus outbreak and their relationship of friends to enemies to lovers is excellent.

Hannah is desperate to escape the city once she’s healed to travel to the CDC where she hopes to save everyone with a vaccine. She and Anthony must face perilous dangers of zombie-like creatures and other humans who are against the resistance. With betrayals and dangers around every corner there’s never a dull moment in this story.

Hannah and Anthony were such great main characters and the growth of their relationship progressed so naturally and I really loved that aspect. The world was really interesting and familiar to other post-apocalyptic tales while still being unique. I’m a sucker for these types of stories especially when they’re on the run with so much that can go wrong.

Definitely recommend checking this book out and I can’t wait for the sequel!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Hannah Darling is an important member of the Resistance since she helped launch it, which is why she is being executed by the Keepers because of that. However, she manages to escape and find help in Anthony Fletcher, a friend turned rival turned enemy. Together, they will try to combat their differences and save the world.

I like how the book starts right at Hannah's execution, it is a strong introduction and set her character very nicely, because you see how strong and powerful she is, even if captured, and gives readers a nod to her promise. I imagined we would see her getting there through flashbacks or be getting more from where she came, but we didn't. Similarly, both main characters hold very respectable positions within their sector, and it would have been nice to see them in their own workplace or how they operate. We kind of do with Anthony but not enough.

The dynamic between them was quite interesting both because of their past and their ocupations, yet it felt a bit off. In some scenes, they were actually talking and trying to understand each other's situations, and in the next scene they started yelling at each other just to be back to calm right after. And that kept repeating throughout the book.

For most of the first half of the book we have a lot of cozy scenes between the two main characters, in which we follow mostly Hannah's day to day and how she goes through that, but it is not an exciting adventure, rather a laid-back and routine one. Some people might find that boring or uneventful but I do like these scenes, I called them cozy or comfy because I have no idea if there's a specific term for that, but they are to me, because we get to see characters interact in a normal setting and you get to know a lot from them. These are the scenes I enjoyed the most.

This will be a duology, so I am curious to see how the author will wrap it up in the next book. I give this first book a 3,5.

3.5 out of 5 stars!

Thank you so much to NetGalley for providing an ARC for this book!

This book is staged in a post apocalyptic world where a deadly virus has broken out that either kills its host, or turns it into a "zombie" of sorts. The story follows Hannah Darling, who is immune, on her journey to create a vaccine and save the world. Anyone who is a fan of The Walking Dead and The Last of Us is sure to enjoy the storyline!

First - I truly enjoyed the plot and the writing style. It was easy to follow and this was a quick read. The storyline has so much potential. There was a lot of dialogue throughout the whole book which kept me engaged.

I do wish that there was more world building, as there was little information provided about the outbreaks other than "it happened." There was not much detail on what the infection did to its host, and the behavior of the "zombies" after turning other than that they were violent. It would have also been beneficial to know more about the Keepers organization and the rules they enforced to understand more about the world itself.

Though I did enjoy the amount of dialogue in the book, I do think that the reader could benefit from more of an internal monologue from Hannah and Anthony. Being able to get more of an insight into their thought process would allow us to bond more deeply with the characters.

I definitely did not expect the twist at the end - and I am very interested to see where the next few books go! Overall I did really enjoy this book - and will definitely be reading the others as they come out.

I tried to get into this book, but by the end I was just skimming. The beginning 40% took a while to get off the ground- it felt like the author wanted to work in a lot of tropes and almost managed to pull it off subtly but couldn't quite get it there. The Only One Bed, the Witty Banter, the Enemies to Lovers, the Call Each Other By Last Name Until Something Significant Happens... they were a bit obvious and non-compelling. When the book started to gain more motion, it felt like a very different story (all of a sudden there's a Theme? and Worldview Statements? However much I disagree with the narrowness of the Science-conquers-all perspective, at least there was a bit more substance to the book, a justification for writing it, if you will.) I was honestly very confused by Fletcher's character by the end of the book as well. Looking back, his final choice did make sense considering elements of his character we'd seen previously, but how the whole scenario played out was disorienting. Perhaps a more careful reader would have caught on faster, but I wasn't invested enough by that time.
One last concern: there was a fairly high amount of language throughout this book. Everyone's got their own personal preferences as far as that goes; I wasn't a huge fan of it.
Thanks to Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The story is set in a place where the government has fallen, and now Keepers rule everything. Hannah Darling, a teenager, has the cure to a deadly virus in her blood. She gets caught by the Keepers and faces death for leading the Resistance. Her only hope is Anthony Fletcher, who used to be a friend and later became an enemy. Surprisingly, he decides to help her. Now, the pace of the story was slow and not very interesting at first. The start is just about Hannah running away, getting picked up by her supposed enemy. The plot took a long time to make sense. It took a while to figure out what Hannah was rebelling against, and the world-building needed more explanation. As I got to the middle of the book, things got better. The pace picked up, and the story started making more sense. While I enjoyed the story and Hannah as the main character, I didn't feel a strong connection with the other characters or their interactions. Some parts felt rushed, and others were hard to understand. I hope the sequel will answer the unanswered questions and provide more details about the world. Overall, the book has potential, but the slow pace and lack of clarity in the beginning might make it hard for some readers to get into.

Thank you to Netgalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

For transparency, I DNF’d this book at 40%.

Reading this book felt like being dropped in the middle of a series and missing the important world building which would have shed understanding on the urgency and danger of the world and situation our main characters were in. The beginning of this book had the opportunity to weave in world building while our MC recovered, but instead a significant portion of the book took place explaining little to none about the world. At first I was intrigued to know more, but it became frustrating as I felt little connection to the characters or tension about the supposed danger they were in. There were groups and terminology used that wasn’t explained, and by 40% I still didn’t know what the ‘virus’ was or did.

Overall the concept was interesting and I would have loved to understand a lot more about the world by the 25% mark, instead I was left feeling lost and disconnected from the story.

Rebel Darling by Valerie Best take place in a apocalyptic world where a pandemic wiped out the population and left it to be taken over by the keepers.
Hannah Darling is the face of the resistance. She escapes her execution to be rescued by Anthony Fletcher. He's an Keeper and he son of someone powerful but she has no choice but to trust him.
This story starts out feeling like adventure and then spends a lot of time on Hannah resting. It felt like I was dropped in the middle of the story instead of the beginning. It took a long time for me to find out what she was the rebel of. The set up and world building needs work. Once I was in the middle of the book the pace picked up and it started to make more sense. I also enjoyed the relationship developing between her and Anthony although it also needed more time.
Thanks to netgalley for this arc. All the thoughts expressed are my own.

2,5⭐️

First of all, thank you NetGalley and 8th Note Press for the ARC

“Rebel Darling” by Valerie Best is a YA enemies-to-lovers romance novel set in a post-apocalyptic world.

Although I enjoyed the setting and Hannah as the MC, I unfortunately did not feel a particular connection with the characters or their relationships.

In addition, I found some parts a bit rushed and some parts a bit confusing, but I believe that the sequel will answer some of the unanswered questions and provide more details about world-building.

I loved the name of this book so just had to get it. I did really enjoy it, what’s not to love Zombies romance strong female character! Hannah is such a bad ass cool character who I loved. This is different to what I usually read so I was a little nervous but I did really like it

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book! Below is my honest review.

DNF-ed around 50%

This book's pacing is so slow and boring. The first 100 pages or so is literally just Hannah escaping her execution (a very short chapter), her getting picked up from the streets from her supposedly enemy (Anthony Fletcher), and Fletcher taking care of her while she heals from being in prison for four years.

Nothing exciting has happened other than that. To make it worse, we're told about all the bad things that happened because of this mysterious virus, but we don't really see any of the bad things happening. I still don't quite understand what the virus really does. It changes humans into animals, but what else? What are the symptoms? How does it spread? Death rate? Survival rate?

I also find that Hannah is not as interesting as the synopsis makes her to be. She launched the Resistance and is a leader within the Resistance, but she doesn't quite give off badass vibes. How did she get caught? Did someone rat her out? How much does she control in the Resistance? I understand that she's been in prison for a while, but it felt like her personality fell flat. Maybe a few flashbacks to her time in prison would have been interesting. She also supposedly has the cure to the virus on her veins. Okay? How does she know that?

And yes, could I have read the book and gotten answers to many of these questions? Probably, but the fact that nothing really happens in the first 100 pages of the book makes me wonder how many of my questions actually would have been answered. Plus, much of the worldbuilding should be happening throughout the book, especially in the beginning of the book, but little worldbuilding is happening. Words like Strangers, Wanderers, Susceptibles, etc. are thrown into the story without any explanation for what they mean.

Overall, everything about this book fell really flat. No one was particularly interesting. The plot needed way more worldbuilding. The pace could have been a lot faster.

Like zombies? Badass female main characters? Fantasy romance? Look no further! This "The Walking Dead"-esque YA novel has everything, featuring an interesting post-apocalyptic world, some really nail-biting-worthy, have-you-on-the edge-of-your-seat action scenes, and a really deplorable bad guy.

We follow our FMC, Hannah Darling, leader of the rebellion, as she escapes from her execution after being held captive by the government in this post-apocalyptic world. Upon escaping -and in terrible shape from being a prisoner- she is scooped up by a Keeper, whom she recognizes as one of her classmates (and also old rival of sorts) from when she was younger. Hannah fears her escape was for nothing, that she'll be turned right back into the government and won't be able to get back to her cause. Except instead of turning her in, he appears to want to help her out.

The characters in this story were so enjoyable. I loved the progression of Darling and Fletcher's relationship and seeing them gradually trust one another. The side characters weren't expanded upon a ton, but what we did get made me interested in them, especially Vic and Jackie. I'd love to see more of them in book 2! The book began just diving into the story without really explaining the world, which left the reader to figure it out from context clues as the book progressed (specifically the terminology: Strangers, Wanderers, Susceptibles), so I kind of wish that had been explained a little more in the beginning to set the scene. Kind of along the same lines, the story felt a little rushed at points, leaving me wishing for more details. Overall, this was a super fun, enjoyable read for me and I definitely can't wait for the next book!

Thank you to Netgalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

A young adult... The walking dead meets The last of us!

This is a postapocolypse america. Showcasing the best and the worst of people. There is a LOT going on, and at times it felt a little rushed, however, the story was enjoyable, easy to follow and had your imagination peaked.

The twists and turns keep you guessing. The main characters have you cheering them on. The ending leaves it wide open. I'm looking forward to book two.

Alright Thanks Netgalley and 8th Press for accepting my request.
.1.5/5
Overall, the plot was good, but I felt like the characters weren’t really deep. There was so much going on, it felt rushed. I wish there was around a hundred pages more to really get into the characters.