Blood Warrior (The Alexa Montgomery Saga #1) by H.D. Gordon

Blurb: When her home is attacked by murderous vampires, 17-year-old Alexa is forced to leave her mother for dead in order to save her sister. She soon learns that she is the last known member of an elite race of supernatural Warriors, and is thrust into a world full of vampires and werewolves who all seem to regard her as some sort of savior. Meanwhile, Alexa battles a monster within herself that seeks to gain control; a monster that seeks blood.

The hidden city she finds herself in appears perfect, but Alexa’s instincts tell her that all is not right within its walls. When she is asked to attend a school of fighters, whose exams consist of gladiator-style competitions, she must decide who she can trust among the smiling faces. And, when she meets Kayden, a vampire she feels undeniably drawn to, she must decide if she can trust herself.

2.5 stars

This book was okay I guess.  Honestly, and I know this is gonna sounds rude but I need to let this out, I forgot the whole thing shortly after reading it. I had to re-read the blurb to jog my memory.  This is a thing that rarely happens to me so when it did I knew that I wasn’t going to have nice things to say about this story.

First off, the world building was sub-par for me.  And that’s saying a lot because I’m one of those people that doesn’t really like world building.  I like an author to give me just enough that I can fill in the blanks.  But I don’t feel I even got that. It seemed all very rushed and intuitive.  But like so intuitive an outsider (such as me) is thinking, “Okay, but how do you know that’s right?” Am I making sense?

Second, I didn’t really get why her not knowing what she was, was such a huge deal.  It was never really explained to us.  So when things don’t make sense or are never really explained, I tune out of the story. I almost DNF’d the book TBH but I was at like 75% in and I thought, might as well see if it turns around. Plus, I have had A LOT of DNF’s recently and I wanted to get out of my funk.

Third, it was unoriginal and a bit tropey.  And while I am not a hater of tropes in general,(an author can make me LOVE a trope if written well) the lack of originality just made it a run of the mill read for me.  I feel like a dick for this review but this is how I feel.  Not a fit for me.