Review: Storm (Elemental #1) by Brigid Kemmerer

Where a cover snob gets converted

Title: Storm
Series: Elemental
Author: Brigid Kemmerer
Publisher: Constable and Robinson, UK
My ratings: 4 out of 5 stars
Released: 14th April, 2014
What a surprise Storm has been. I picked this book up on a whim and I’m so glad I did. After reading this book I realised that I had seen this book before but with the US cover which is abysmal. Even the ever increasing praises could not make me pick this up as the cover simply put me off. Thankfully the UK publishers have decided to give it a new look and I’m happy to say that it converted a book cover snob like me.

It all starts the day Becca saves Chris Merrick at a car park one night and somehow gets embroiled in a long feud between families who possess supernatural powers. The Merrick brothers are powerful elementals. They have some manner of control over the various elements of nature. I won’t go into details as it will spoil the story as half the fun was discovering which brother had what power and how it shaped the events in the book.

US Cover of Storm

The world building and the explanation of the elemental powers were well done and plausible. I really enjoyed how the plot moved and secrets were slowly revealed over the course of the story. Becca seemed so out of her depth and Chris was a wonder to read. He was a little difficult to understand but towards the later half of the story I had a better grasp of his character. There is so much I want to say yet I’m at a loss as to where to begin. Becca seemed like a living breathing teenager, confused, rebellious and yet sensible. There was a mysterious character named Hunter who had me enthralled and I was Team Hunter at the beginning but Brigid Kemmer made me switch teams over the course of the book.

I’m not someone who likes bromance but the Merrick brothers in their rough and tumble ways won my heart. They had their own secrets, grudges, mistakes and personality clashes but they were a unit. My favourite brother was Gabriel, volatile and unpredictable just like his power and I kept waiting when he will explode and do something stupid, which to my amusement, he had a tendency for.

The mystery was well written and it kept me guessing as to what will happen next. In fact this book was so good that it brought me out of my reading phunk where I was struggling to really connect with characters and a story line.

Storm while being a fantasy/paranormal book, has real characters, believable world building, convincing romance and a plot line which had my mind whirring as to the hows and the whens and now whats. My only complaint is why are we not getting more books on Becca and Chris but each brother gets his own books. It makes it into more of a paranormal romance than a Young Adult series following a character along a series. The next book is on Gabriel, so I suppose that is some relief.

Recommended for fans of young adult, romance and urban fantasy which is fun, gripping and makes you invested in its characters.

ARC received via Much-in-Little, UK