Book Review: Storm {Elemental # 1} by Brigid Kemmerer

Title: Storm
Series: The Elemental Series # 1
Author: Brigid Kemmerer
Publisher: Kensington
Date of Publication: April 24, 2012
Format: ebook, 353 pages (also available in paperback)
Source: won from Leigh Ann at Silver Wings Reviews
Get your Own:  Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Becca Chandler is suddenly getting all the guys; all the ones she doesn't want, ever since her ex-boyfriend spread those lies about her. Then she saves Chris Merrick from a beating in the school parking lot. Chris is different. Way different: he can control water just like his brothers can control fire, wind, and earth. They're powerful. Dangerous. Marked for death.
And now that she knows the truth, so is Becca.
Secrets are hard to keep when your life's at stake. When Hunter, the mysterious new kid around school, turns up with a talent for being in the wrong place at the right time, Becca thinks she can trust him. But then Hunter goes head-to-head with Chris, and Becca wonders who's hiding the most dangerous truth of all.
The storm is coming.

-goodreads summary

My Thoughts:
I won this as a choice from Miss Leigh Ann from Silver Wings Reviews and I am so happy that I got it!

Storm is a emotional rollercoaster of so many heavy issues I found myself up and down with every turn of the page.  But I liked this!  I liked the fact that there was so much humanity in this paranormal story with characters that can control the elements.  These people are broken and tortured like a fresh wound that refuses to heal, yet they keep going and try to hold out for something more.
We have four brothers that can control the Elements-water, air, earth, and fire- trying to live in a neighborhood that fears them and bullies them constantly.  And then our female lead, Becca, is also being tortured in her own way.  It is amazing when these people find each other and help the other see the good in themselves.
This story is centered more on Chris Merrick, who can draw strength from water and Becca Chandler, who helps Chris escape from a near death beating by the local bullies.  There is an instant connection between these two but definitely not the "insta-love" syndrome.  You can see the attraction between the two but you can also see that  they don't completely trust each other either.  We actually get to see this relationship and friendship grow and it is refreshing.
One other character that is pretty important (besides the other brothers) is the new guy, nicknamed "New Guy".  That was pretty funny too how Becca and her friend, Quinn, called him that for a while.  For the rest of us, his name is Hunter and he is a pretty cool guy.  I liked him a lot even though we learn some interesting things about him, he is still one of my "dudes" that I would keep.
The plot lines are pretty heavy indeed in Storm.  These are some tough issues these teens have to deal with: bullying, violence, sexual violence, and family problems; not to mention these are some powerfully magic folks too.
If I had one problem with the story, it would be that the attempted rape isn't took very seriously for Becca.  She should have did much more than just pretend it didn't happen.  Unfortunately, I do believe this happens a lot in real life and perhaps that is why Kemmerer wrote Becca like this.  The only other problem I had was the fact that Becca kept drifting between Chris and Hunter a lot.  I felt like she was leading one on and then the other.  But after we figure out more about Becca's mindset then that does help to explain a lot more to me.
Storm kept me guessing to the very end.  There was really only one part that I figured out pretty early but it was because of the very convincing clues left by Kemmerer that I was able to get to that conclusion.
I would encourage everyone to read the novella, Elemental, that comes out before Storm.  It is the small story of Michael, the oldest brother, and it gives us a little background on the bullying.
I am going to tell you right now you will probably cry in this story (I did alot!) but there are some parts you will smile and laugh too.  Kemmerer did an excellent job of writing a moving YA paranormal romance with some serious drama too.  I am totally in love with this series!
The Merrick brothers are those "bad boy" good guys that you can't help but love.  Everyone is against them and yet you can still see the sweet gentle quality in them.  I cannot wait until Nick, one of the twins, has his on book.  That is going to be fun, especially since Nick is the calm one of the family.

All in all, I really appreciate the fact that Kemmerer decided to write about some heavy hitting situations that teenagers have to face in real life, and put it into a YA Paranormal read.  I like that she didn't sugar coat it for us but believed enough in us, the readers, to handle it.
I gave Storm four hearts!

Favorite Quote:

Goddamn, it hurt. He hadn't even broken the skin, and he was already sweating.  "Nick," he said.  "I think I'm going to need you to bite my arm.""I think I'm going to need you to run that by me again."

ARC Review: The Claiming Words by Tricia Drammeh

Title:The Claiming Words
Author: Tricia Drammeh
Publisher: Iconic Publishing
Date of Publication: Autumn 2012 (October 2012)
Website: http://theclaimingwords.com/
Source: received ARC pdf from author for my honest review of it.

Book Synopsis:
When Jace moves to Oaktree, he attracts the interest of everyone in school, but only one girl captures his attention, or maybe two. Alisa is an outcast, but when she saves Jace from a Hunter, she finds herself drawn into a world of friendship and magic. Rachel has always felt different from everyone she grew up with until an encounter with the new student illustrates how unique she is. As dangerous forces descend upon the small southern town, each girl shares a special connection with Jace. Only one will win his love.



My Thoughts:

This is a sweet endearing Young Adult novel with a loving family at the center of it.  Swirling around this powerful family is demons stalking in the background and two young girls that become a huge part of their world.
This story is told from two different POVs, which usually can't be pulled off well, but Drammeh does it superbly.  I think it also has a lot to do with who the narrators are and I find it refreshing to have the story being told from the most popular girl and the outcast from the school's povs.
We meet Alissa, the quiet girl who has been ostracized by her cousin and the rest of the school.  Alissa is so sweet and reminded me  a little of myself with her shyness from everyone around her.  Everyone treats her like death just because she isn't popular.  I have to say that got my blood boiling a lot.  I cannot stand bullying and Alissa's cousin is the biggest bully there is.  I can't help but hope she will get a dose of her own medicine in the future.
And then we get to see through the eyes of Rachel, one of the beautiful and popular girls in school, that holds a dark secret she doesn't even realize she carries.
I love love love how the characters in this novel grows.  Alissa learns to be confident and Rachel learns to respect and stand up for others.  Trust me there is much more to it but I am not giving anything away.
And of course we have two very hot guys in this story who are passionate, hard headed, loving and yet clueless when it comes to females.
Bryce was by far my favorite.  He is moody, strong, grieving and absolutely to die for!  Even at the beginning when he is such a jerk to Alissa I still felt this huge connection to him and I knew he was going to play a powerful part in this story.  I am glad he did too!
Jace, the younger brother of Bryce, is a powerful person too but he is still learning everything about his powers and limits.  He is strong but he is also self centered which made me want to smack him up side the head a couple of times.  But Jace does have strong emotions and is able to look at the whole picture through a lot of  the tension.
In a lot of ways, this story made me think of Charmed, especially when the demons would go after the witches and they had to fight back.  But there is no power of three.
I loved that the Alexanders are a very strong and close family.  The mother and father are so wonderful and understanding to everything; I almost wished they were my parents!
This book was also close to my heart because of the location.  It is set in a small town in Georgia.  Being that I am from a small town in Ga, this is always a plus for me.  I enjoy when an author can take an out of the way little area and turn it into this mysterious magical place.  This is always nice to be able to connect with something from where you live, even if it is just fiction.
However, I do believe some more background information on the witches' history would have helped even more.  Maybe a little more world building as far as the paranormal aspect goes.
We do have that strong "soul mates" theory running through the story especially where Jace and Rachel are concerned, but Drammeh takes it a step further and shows us that even the love birds have arguments, disagreements, and hurtful comments.
But come on, we have all been teenagers at one time and know that hormones tend to rage (mine went nuclear) making us feel that "love at first sight" emotion.   [Although, even in my mature age now I still get that feeling when I watch Gerald Butler in the movie 300 but I digress...]
There is one couple in this story that I enjoyed watching develop so much and I felt giddy with excitement for both of them that as I finished the story I had this huge stupid grin on my face long afterwards.
I had to give The Claiming Words five hearts and I am already counting down the days until another book(and this one isn't even released yet...Uggh)  I think we can expect really great things from Tricia Drammeh in the future.