Rebel of the Sands (Rebel of the Sands #1) by Alwyn Hamilton

She’s more gunpowder than girl—and the fate of the desert lies in her hands.
Mortals rule the desert nation of Miraji, but mystical beasts still roam the wild and barren wastes, and rumor has it that somewhere, djinni still practice their magic. But there's nothing mystical or magical about Dustwalk, the dead-end town that Amani can't wait to escape from. 
Destined to wind up "wed or dead," Amani’s counting on her sharpshooting skills to get her out of Dustwalk. When she meets Jin, a mysterious and devastatingly handsome foreigner, in a shooting contest, she figures he’s the perfect escape route. But in all her years spent dreaming of leaving home, she never imagined she'd gallop away on a mythical horse, fleeing the murderous Sultan's army, with a fugitive who's wanted for treason. And she'd never have predicted she'd fall in love with him...or that he'd help her unlock the powerful truth of who she really is.

-- Goodreads.com description -- 

I must admit that Rebel of the Sands was mostly a cover buy. I saw it in a store in the beginning of February at a reasonable price and I decided to get it! I just couldn't resist that shiny, gorgeous cover! I didn't have high expectations of this book, but in the end I did enjoy it.

The book started out slow for me. I couldn't connect with any of the characters at all, and Rebel of the Sands could barely keep my interest throughout the first half of the books. I did, however, really like the setting. I haven't read many books that are set in the desert, so that was a nice change from other young adult novels.

I almost put this book down and marked it as a dnf, which is something I prefer not to do, even if I'm struggling to read a book, I always try to finish it. I'm glad I did continue on with this one, though, because the second half redeemed this book for me! I started to like the characters more and the reader is introduced to a lot of interesting secondary characters! Which is always a huge deal for me, secondary characters can make or break a book for me. In this case, it definitely made it better for. The pacing and writing style also improved and I started to enjoy the book after all!

In the end we do get some plot twists that I didn't see coming and it made the book so much more interesting! Another thing that needs to be mentioned is the fact that the cover is absolutely stunning! And so shiny! All things considered, I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars. And I'm most likely going to pick up the next book in the series!