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.