Storm (Elementals #1) Review

“Earth, Fire, Air, Water – they have more power than you dream.

Ever since her ex-boyfriend spread those lies about her, Becca Chandler is suddenly getting all the guys—all the ones she doesn't want. 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 . . .”

So, I only heard about this awesome little book called Storm by Brigid Kemmerer yesterday from my very good friend and fellow book blogger Book Angel Emma and when I found out that it was about four brothers who could wield the elements, I knew it was the book for me!  Thankfully the kindle version is available now and I read it in one sitting.

Basically, Becca is a seemingly normal girl at the centre of the school rumour mill and tries to ignore it but the sneers and comments wound her most of the time.  One dark night, she stumbles upon an altercation in a car park, that is to say that Chris (some guy she barely knows from school) is getting the shit kicked out of him and she feels compelled to help (Yes, I know...it’s the GIRL that comes to the rescue!!).  I’m not sure she really thought about the danger she was putting herself in but kudos to her for being a BAMF.  Unfortunately, she then gets caught up in the trouble that seems to follow the Merrick brothers around and ultimately finds out about their tantalising secret.  She has a connection to Chris but "it’s complicated” made further complicated by the arrival of Hunter aka “the new kid” who shows up out of nowhere but is there more to him than meets the eye?  It’s not a straightforward love triangle but like everything else in this book, it’s real and believable – I mean, Becca and Chris didn’t define their relationship and they don’t even know what’s going on between them half the time.  I have to say that whilst Hunter was cute, I was rooting for Chris the whole way (I’m a sucker for the underdog).

I loved finding out about the Merrick brothers and how each of them was so different to one another.  Michael as the oldest was the disciplinarian and father figure, then there’s the twins Gabriel (the fiery one with all the best one liners) and Nick (the peacekeeper) and last but not least, Chris who is the baby brother.  I’m going to take a stab in the dark here and guess that Brigid grew up with a bolshy band of brothers because the banter was so realistic and Gabriel made me LOL at times.  The good thing about the brothers is that they may be HAWT (OK, well they are to me) but they're also flawed and very real.  Naturally, I now want to see them all paired off and it’s possible that we’ve seen hints between Nick and Becca’s best friend Quinn although that could easily have been harmless banter but only time will tell.    I understand that Spark (the sequel) will focus on Gabriel so THAT should be interesting ;)

The good thing about Storm is that although it features four hot brothers who can control the elements, it actually has a good storyline too.  I *LOVED* the explanation given as to how the elementals came to be and it actually all sounds quite believable.  Of course, with any decent story there has to be conflict and that comes in the form of guides who basically take down anyone making trouble.  The Merrick brothers have got to try and be on their best behaviour but with Gabriel around, that aint ever going to happen ;)

I really enjoyed this book and I love any story with romance and brothers *swoon*, so much so that I’d really like to get the paperback for my book collection.  I’m really looking forward to the sequel (I can’t WAIT to read about Gabriel) and of course reading the prequel and novellas that follow.  Storm was an excellent debut novel, fast paced and full of tension and proves to be an exciting start to a new series that should be on everyone’s list.

Storm is part of a planned trilogy and was published digitally on 24th April, 2012 in both the US and the UK.  The paperback is available now in the US and from June, 2012 in the UK (just in time for my birthday, hoorah!)  Spark (the sequel) is published in August/September, 2012.   Just to let you know that there is a prequel available digitally NOW entitled Elemental but this is included in the digital version of Storm as is the first chapter of Spark.  There will be another novella in August, entitled Fearless, all about Hunter.

To find out more about Brigid and her books, please click here to visit her website.