Blood Warrior (Alexa Montgomery #1) - H.D. Gordon

Review: Blood Warrior

Author: H.D. Gordon

Rating: 5/5

Genre: Paranormal, Fantasy

Recommend To: Paranormal-romance lovers

Oh boy, oh boy. I love books with strong, sassy female characters. I really, truly do. They’re just so much fun to read. By H.D. Gordan.

The Plot: Alexa is a normal girl until one day, she finds out she isn’t. She’s a warrior, the last of her kind, and she is really, really good at killing things. She is forced to flee with her younger sister Nelly, and Jackson her best-friend. She ends up, reaching an entire city of paranormals and starts training there for an unknown mission while trying to learn who she is, her destiny, and how she can keep the flame of anger inside her from spiraling of uncontrollably.

The Characters (a.k.a the Fun Part):

Protagonist: Alexa Montgomery, fiery, passionate, funny, loyal, brave, intelligent, and strong with a huge sense of what’s right and wrong (except for her smoking but what can I do?). She just drew me in with her snarkiness and her inability to follow any authority. Her connection with children was also really sweet in her relationship with Akira and Soraya. Her fury when she learned about the village (what village? I’m not telling. I give too many spoilers anyway) matched my fury perfectly and even though she can make stupid decisions, be impulsive, head strong, and rash, her flaws work to add more depth to her character. After all, perfect characters are boring. I also loved how she was trying so hard to push down the fire inside her. The angry mess of pain could also only be squelched by Kayden.

….adding more fun to the mix….

The Romance (a.k.a More Fun):

Kayden: First off, yay for an original hot name. How on earth do authors expect people to fall in love with characters named George, Edward, and Thomas? Eew. Kayden. He is so similar to Alexa. Full of that fight and both are irresistibly drawn to each other. Very yummy. So then why oh why must Jackson also be present?

Jackson: I will start off by saying all of me feels that Alexa belongs with Kayden. Usually it’s pretty obvious in a love triangle who you need to win. Kayden. But Jackson is pretty dang cute too. He’s always been with her, stood by her side, made her laugh. Not to mention he chose her for his mate so if she breaks his heart I won’t be able to help feeling terrible. He claims he’s always loved her. She loved him too, bus as friends. I don’t know why she can’t see it wouldn’t work. Oh well, what’s romance without a love triangle? Oh yeah, that’s right, romance. All stories don’t need one.

Tommy, eh, he really wasn’t much of a love interest, just a cute friend who’s helpful and funny.

Back to Characters (I skip around, it’s hard not to when thoughts get jumbled up):

Nelly: So I loved her but she annoyed me to. I mean hold it, Nelly has known the whole time paranormals exist and she and her mother keep it from Alexa. Sure for good reason. But as a human I personally hate it when stuff is kept from me. It feels like being on the outside of a joke everyone else understands. Anyway, other than that the sister relationship was sweet. Both would do anything to protect the other and all that jazz. Normal sister stuff.

Soraya: I needed to add her in. She was just so sweet! And oh god, her life? It filled me with fury. And she doesn’t exist. The power of books. It amazes me. Anyway, Soraya is pretty much the most adorable little girl you will meet in a story and a lot of what Alexa does is for her. Super sweet.

Overall: So great book, strong female characters, love interest with a not-half-bad-but-still –annoying-as-Hades love triangle. To read if fantasy and paranormal romance are your forte. Definitely one of my favorites. I could have used more information on the world, the levels of authority, and different species but since Alexa didn’t know much our knowledge was hindered by what she knew. A cliff-hanger ending so brace yourself and get ready to read.

Pushing the Limits (Pushing the Limits #1) - Katie McGarry

Review: Pushing the Limits

Author: Katie McGary

Rating: 5/5

Genre: Contemporary, realistic-fiction, romance

Recommend To: Romance lovers

Ahhhh oh my god. It’s unusual for me to read realistic fiction. I’m more of a fantasy, dystopia, sci-fi, omg magic kind of junkie. But this turned out to be one of the most heart-wrenching beautiful books I have ever read. Seriously. By Katie McGarry.

The Plot: So much is going on. Both Echo and Noah are incredibly damaged teenagers. Both find it hard to trust adults and have multiple issues in their personal lives. One day Echo is popular and untouchable, the next she is gossiped about because of the mysterious scars she can’t remember getting on the day she almost died. She wants to know, but she can’t. Her broken mind has suppressed the memories. Not only that, her mother has a restraining order and her controlling father has remarried with her previous babysitter. Yes problems. Noah’s parents died in a fire and ever since then he has struggled through multiple brutal foster homes. Labeled a bad boy, he has turned to drugs and using girls. He has one goal, to get his beloved younger brothers (my god they were adorable) out of the system that hurt him so badly. Both are brought together by a school guidance social worker named Mrs. Collins (a.k.a. The best adult in this whole dang book, I want to meet her) and start to fall for each other as they struggle to solve their problems.

The Characters:

Echo: Brave, brave, Echo. She struggles to remember what happened to her on the dark night she almost died (yes she eventually remembers what happened) and it’s terrible. No person should ever have to go through that. Not to mention how she has to deal with her overbearing, pressuring, so controlling father. Honestly, it’s amazing how she doesn’t just break and go stark-raving mad. She is just so heroic and fierce no matter what she goes through.

And then came Noah….

Noah: Asdfghjkl. Can’t describe him. Ahhhhhh so gorgeous, with a wounded soul. So perfect and daring and brave and omg his love for his brothers. One thing I thought was stupid was dude, really? Drugs? How are you going to get custody over them if you do drugs? He drops them though, so I was ok. Anyway, of course being a struggling, single dad-like older brother is not a great plan but hey, all he wanted to do was spare them his own experiences. He is so protective really, it just broke my heart into pieces, over, and over, and over again.

Mrs. Collins: I loved this woman. Every single bit. Omg the bad driving, the random rapid-fire questions, the supportiveness, how she lives up to her word, everything. Especially the bad driving. I couldn’t stop laughing. Anyway, she is a freaking genius and I am so glad I have adults similar to her in my life. She is god-sent to Echo’s and Noah’s lives and I love, love, love how she blackmails Noah into being a good, little boy haha. If she wasn’t in the story, it wouldn’t have been half as good. Or it wouldn’t have even taken place, because honestly, she is the best thing that happens to Noah and Echo (other than each other).

The Friends: Lila, Isaiah and Beth. I’ll start with Lila – even though she is popular, she is genuinely a friend to Echo. She really cares about her, is there for her, and doesn’t drop her just because Echo has weird scars and a crazy mother. She is another really supportive character who I loved. Isaiah and Beth. Hmm…also drug addicts (I hate drugs so not cool with me) but the love they kept denying between them was so cute. I felt so horrible for Beth with what she has to go through with her mother and her mother’s deranged boyfriends. When Noah and Isaiah went to defend her I almost cried (I did cry a lot throughout the book)but I was so happy. However, the trouble she gave Echo was not okay with me. She was just annoying at times. Isaiah was just adorable, with his obsession with Beth and cars. They were Noah’s family in a way and they also made the book special.

The Romance: Noah and Echo were perfect for each other. The end. Just kidding but seriously they were so beautiful and adorable. I couldn’t stop smiling, or laughing, or crying. Ahhhh gods. When they admitted they loved each other (Noah, why the heck did it take you so long you were making me NERVOUS!) it was just so flawless. Their love was pure and untainted by their pasts and it was delicate and vulnerable yet strong and unbreakable. Does that make sense? Probably not, but it was magnificent all the same.

Overall: This book is a mad crazy, wild rollercoaster ride. If you can’t stomach incredible emotions just coursing through you with no control over them, then don’t read this book (if you are this person you are a ninny and a wimp with no feelings). Otherwise, get ready for tears and laughter and OMG WHAT JUST HAPPENED and OMG PLEASE NO and I LOVE YOU SO MUCH I’M GOING TO BALL UP AND CRY. Cause that’s how absurdly good this book was.

Eve (Eve #1) - Anna Carey

Review: Eve

Author: Anna Carey

Rating: 2/5

Genre: Dystopia

Recommend To: People who don't mind complete stupidity and an occasionally good plot

**Spoilers**
Hmm so this was another dystopia, sci-fi, plague apocalypse, novels. And yeah it was good. Sometimes.

The Plot: Eve learns a horrifying fate has been set for her (and to be honest it was definitely gruesome and psycho) and she runs away from the school she’s lived in for ages. On the way she meets another student who ran away, Arden, and a boy named Caleb (typical boy saves girl thing going on). Even though she’s been taught to fear all men (and yeah some of the men in this story she has good reason to fear) she falls in love with Caleb, an essentially “good man.”

Characters:
Protagonist: Eve is probably one of the reasons I didn’t love this book. God, she is just so, so….stupid. I feel like the smartest decision she made in the whole book was running away and even that didn’t have much planning behind it and she would have died if she hadn’t met Arden and Caleb. Yeah fine she is pretty, pretty useless. Ok, fine, that was mean. After all she has been sheltered her whole life. But seriously. She falls in love with Caleb and then when he says he doesn’t want her at the camp because it isn’t safe she has a breakdown and becomes a whiny brat. I mean okay, with girls like Eve it makes sense why guys think girls are weak, stupid, and clingy. Then, it gets worse, after almost being raped by Leif, she says she isn’t sure whether she loves Caleb (nice sweet guy, rescues her repeatedly) or Leif (guy almost kicks her out of camp, later forces her into a make-out/almost rape session). She isn’t sure. What? And then her dumbness with the radio message causes two sweet people helping her to die. Wow, look how she repays people helping her. Just stupidity on her part throughout the book. But she is a very nice person. I’ll give her that. Sweet and docile and stupid.

Arden, the Best Friend: I liked Arden a lot. She was fiery, not fragile, rebellious, defiant and stubborn. Even before the plague her life wasn’t too great and I started to really care for her because of how she fought for survival. I want more Arden.

The Romance:
Caleb: So he saves her, and they go riding off on his horse. Then they hide in an abandoned helicopter. It’s obvious. Love. He protects her in the camp. They kiss. Happy, happy. Wait no, Eve is dumb so they fight.
Then….
The Villain?
Leif: Enter rushed love triangle caused by before mentioned stupid Eve. Leif isn’t evil, per say. No, he just almost kicks Eve out of camp, then she learns why he is the way he is (dead brother) and then she and Caleb fight (stupid Eve). Then she angrily plays piano with Leif in the room next to her. Later that night he practically attacks her (Caleb to the rescue) and she says she isn’t sure who she loves. Wow what a hard decision.
Caleb storms off and Leif sells her off to be used. Yep, again that was a really difficult decision.

Overall: I guess I focused a lot on the bad points of this book, kind of hard not to do when the bad point is the MAIN CHARACTER. Oh well, there were good parts too. The book moved well, the plot was interesting. Lots of action and the end leaves a definite cliff-hanger. Minor characters with some depth included and a great dystopian world with a culture that’s completely fallen to pieces. Great if you love dystopian novels although there are better ones available.

Currently Reading

 

Blood Warrior by H.D. Gordan
Like those tattoos….

Wither (Chemical Garden #1) - Lauren DeStefano

Review: Wither

Author: Lauren DeStefano

Rating: 3/5

Genre: Dystopia

Recommend To: Fans of creepy/darker dystopia

So while my power was out I read two books which was highly satisfying. I’ll start with Wither by Lauren Destefano.

The Plot: So an interesting idea, humans think we have our entire lives ahead of us. Plenty of time to make and fix mistakes. But what if we didn’t? What if our population was decimated because all females died at 20 and all males at 25? What lengths would the human race go to, to keep ourselves afloat? Turns out we’re not very good at figuring out what to do, and have turned into a race that kidnaps girls and sells them into polygamous, forced marriages. Very creepy. Enter our heroine, Rhine Ellery.

The Characters:

Rhine: Rhine is supposed to be the girl we root for and want to see free. We see her fall in love with a servant, Gabriel, and also begin to care for her husband. (I’ll get to that in a second). She is brave I suppose, and she really cares for her twin brother, and her sister wives. Thing is, she just wasn’t…right? I don’t know, she didn’t strike me, and at times she bothered me. I hate wishy-washy love triangles and even though this was a kind of bizarre situation. At times she irked me. I liked her well enough, but I didn’t love her. In fact, I didn’t love any of them.

Linden: Ohhhkaayy. <deep breath> At first I wanted to hate Linden as much as the other girls, but it became apparent he was innocent, naive, sad, and slightly foppish. At times I just wanted to shake him and say, “Can’t you see what your father is doing to all your wives, your household, even your children?? He’s a CREEP. Get a hold of yourself and take freaking CHARGE of your own house!!” But, uh, no.

Gabriel: I just feel like we didn’t get to know him. It’s obvious Rhine and him are “in love” but at the same time they DON’T KNOW each other. Understandable really because they are trying to figure out their feeling about each other while one is married and the other works for her. But still.

Jenna and Cecily: I really loved this part of the book. The relationship between the sister wives. Again polygamy in a young-adult novel = slightly creepy, but they were almost like real sisters, standing up for each other, talking, comforting each other. Jenna was easy to like, a damaged prostitute, beautiful, and mourning her dead sisters. Always reading romance novels. And Cecily, a brat, but lively, full of laughter, optimistic, and a genius on the piano. The way Vaughn begins to destroy their souls horrified and angered me. My favorite part had to be though when all three girls conspire to get more freedom and completely overwhelm Linden with attention as a team. Yes.

Finally, Housemaster Vaughn: The epitome of evil and psychotic tendencies. He was so twisted and I hated him so much it was unbelievable. His unclear motives made him incredibly dangerous, and he was just so warped. Gods, when the story of Linden’s baby with Rose came out I wanted to charge him down with a lawnmower.

The Romance: Bizarreness. Seriously. So yes Rhine is forced into marriage and she originally hates him. But eventually she starts caring for him when she learns how manipulated he is? And then she says she loves him? Bleh. I thought she liked Gabriel? Oh wait, that’s right she doesn’t know him. But she’s going to run away with him? Weirdness abounds. It’s a kind of messed up love triangle.

Overview: A good book but with lots of open ends left. Plus I want Vaughn dead. And a cure to be found <cough, cough, Maze Runner, cough, cough>. Definitely to read if you’re a fan of dystopia and disturbing, haunting tales. Oh and another reason to read it is Rhine’s wardrobe. It is to die for.

             

The Crimson Crown (Seven Realms #4) - Cinda Williams Chima

Review: The Crimson Crown

Author: Cinda Williams Chima

Rating: 5/5

Genre: High Fantasy

Recommend To: Everybody

** spoiler alert ** Now I’m going to be wandering around for weeks in a daze. I just can’t believe it’s over…oh gods. I don’t even know what to say. This series was literally my lifeline, if I had a terrible day in my head I’d think “Oh well. One day closer to the Crimson Crown.” And now? I don’t have anything to hang on to. Because MY FAVORITE BOOK SERIES EVER has just ended. And beautifully may I say. I really cried at the end. Because Han and Raisa made it, even through all the struggles. And yes I cried because I missed all the people that died and couldn’t be there, and I cried when Alger and Hana were finally reunited. Because that’s the kind of series this is. It makes you love all the characters so much (or hate Gavan) that you can’t bear to let them go. I’ll read this over and over for the rest of my life. Ohmygod. So I love this series like a cop loves donuts. And when the final book came out it had to be, screw you school, I stayed up until midnight and FINALLY bought it for my Kindle. And ohhhh was it worth the wait.

This book is literary genius. In fact the whole series is. It’s incredibly planned out and it makes me wonder why it’s not up there with Harry Potter and the Hunger Games.

The Plot: Han and Raisa are fighting to keep the Fells together as Gerard Montaigne bears down on them and the Bayars make a final ploy to get the throne. And of course we are wondering whether Raisa will marry Micah Bayar to appease the Bayars, Nightwalker to appease her family, or Han Alister for love. So all this political and romantic tension adds up to one thing, awesome sauce.

The Characters: I loved them so much. Yes all of them. Even the evil ones because I love to hate people. Raisa just grew so much and began to show how a true queen should carry herself. Han was just so determined and when he gave that speech to Raisa

“He looked into her eyes. ‘I promise you that if you agree to marry me, I will make it happen.’”

Ahh shivers.

And of the course the minor characters and revelations upon revelations about them. Dancer, Cat, Willo, Micah, Amon, Mellony, Elena Cennestre, Averill Lightfoot, Gavan, Fiona, gosh I could go on forever. I loved how that without these characters, the story couldn’t be what it is. Each of them represents a piece of a whole and I couldn’t have done without them.

And of course finally.

Alger Waterlow, the betrayed, confused, bitter soul that I couldn’t stop reading for. And when the true story was revealed, gods, I really thought I wouldn’t stop crying, why Lucas, why?

The End: I won’t give too many spoilers (although I already did), I’ll just say it was perfect.