Blog Tour: ARC Review: Spirit (Elementals #3) by Brigid Kemmerer

Today we are happy to be a part of the Spirit Blog Tour hosted by The Midnight Garden Blog Tours. 

Find the other tour stops HERE.

Spirit (Elementals #3) by Brigid Kemmerer

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:
Release Date: May 28, 2013
Publisher: KTeen
301 Pages

With power comes enemies. Lots of them.

Hunter Garrity just wants to be left alone. He’s learned the hard way that his unusual abilities come at a price. And he can’t seem to afford any allies.

He’s up to his neck in hostiles. His grandfather, spoiling for a fight. The Merrick brothers, who think he ratted them out. Calla, the scheming psycho who wants to use him as bait.

Then there’s Kate Sullivan, the new girl at school. She’s not hostile. She’s bold. Funny. Hot. But she’s got an agenda, too.

With supposedly secret powers rippling to the surface everywhere around him, Hunter knows something ugly is about to go down. But finding out what means he’ll have to find someone he can trust…

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This review is spoiler free for the Elementals series.

I'm obsessed with this series. I have to admit, we had a rocky beginning, but after reading the first book? I was willing to offer my firstborn son. Now, after reading Spirit, the third book in the Elementals series, Brigid Kemmerer can have my soul.

Hunter's life is in the gutter. His friendships have fizzled after the events in Spark. His grandparents have made it clear that they couldn't care less about him. His mother is negligent and sick with grief over the death of Hunter's father. The boy is alone, his abilities make sure of that. The new girl, though, has caught his eye. It's obvious that she's hiding something big, but Hunter thinks he's found someone who understands, someone he can trust. 

I was not expecting a book from Hunter's point-of-view and was a bit taken aback when I realized that's what Spirit was. Hunter was not my favorite character, but I was definitely curious to learn more about him. His past was still pretty unclear after the first two books. We knew very little about Hunter, but his role in the series has grown a lot since the beginning so getting a chance to learn about him was necessary. 

The author continues to portray phenomenal storytelling. Her writing style is addictive, making her books "unputdownable." The plot moves very steadily. I had trouble putting it down! There's just something about this series that sucks in you in and doesn't let you go even after you finish the journey. It's like crack. Book crack. (And the withdrawal symptoms come after the end as well.) 

The emotional aspect of this series also rose in this novel. The level of intensity is almost overwhelming sometimes. I was surprised that Hunter's story was able to provoke a lot of emotions from me. Kemmerer handed out angst like it was candy in Spirit. I teared up more than once. This book pulls out other feelings as well. There were moments of frustration, of anger and some hilarious parts that will have readers laughing out loud. 

The characters… Sigh… These boys. I love them all. Nick may be my favorite, but I've come to love them all--even Michael, which was kinda shocking. (After you read this book, you will get what I mean.) While Hunter has been a character with many ups and downs, getting into his thoughts and emotions was really insightful. Reading from his point-of-view will give the audience a better understanding of why he has done what he has done and what he's learned from his actions. Who didn't I love? Hunter's love interest, Kate. I couldn't stand her and never grew to like her. Though her character definitely develops as the story progresses, she never made a place in my heart. If you read it, I'm sure you would at least understand why I feel this way. From the moment she is introduced to the very end, I thought Hunter deserved better. 'Cuz by the end of the book, my lukewarm feels for the boy turned red hot. (Insert awkward giggles.)

So would I recommend this series? Yes times ten billion. It's a fantastic series, and Spirit, although not my favorite, is a great addition to it. I'm eagerly awaiting (see: dying for) the next book in the series, as Nick is my favorite brother! Brigid has made a true fan out of me, and if you give it a shot, I'm sure she'll be able to hook you in as well!

I received an e-copy of this novel from the publisher for my honest opinion and review via Netgalley. Big thanks to Kensington Teen and The Midnight Garden Blog Tours for allowing me to join this tour!

ARC Review: Spirit (Elemental #3) by Brigid Kemmerer

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:
Release Date: May 28, 2013
Publisher: Kensington
432 Pages

With power comes enemies. Lots of them.

Hunter Garrity just wants to be left alone. He's learned the hard way that his unusual abilities come at a price. And he can't seem to afford any allies.

He's up to his neck in hostiles. His grandfather, spoiling for a fight. The Merrick brothers, who think he ratted them out. Calla, the scheming psycho who wants to use him as bait.

Then there's Kate Sullivan, the new girl at school. She's not hostile. She's bold. Funny. Hot. But she's got an agenda, too.

With supposedly secret powers rippling to the surface everywhere around him, Hunter knows something ugly is about to go down. But finding out what means he'll have to find someone he can trust.

Goodreads. Twitter. Website. Facebook.

Goodreads. Amazon. Barnes & Noble.

 

“I’m not sure anyone has ever told you how this whole friendship thing is supposed to work, but…”

Hunter Garrity is confused. His whole life he’s been told one thing: pure elementals are dangerous and need to be removed. Hunter knows a pure elemental, in fact, he knows four and they’re not half bad. In fact, they’ve been known to save each other’s lives (and others) on occasion. But despite all of this, he still has his father’s training weighing heavily on his mind and where does that leave him? Well, in Spirit…nowhere. 

Spirit begins with Hunter being attacked in his own house by the crazy Calla still hell-bent on her plan to bring the Guides to town. This event, combined with the multiple others eventually get Hunter tossed out of his house. With nowhere to go, he finds welcome in the most unlikely of places: the Merricks. But Hunter’s reluctance to trust anyone opens up a whole new set of worms.

Before Spirit, I was a little unsure of Hunter. He was definitely the wild card of the bunch, never knowing what side he would fall on. I was also confused as to why he was getting his own book before Nick and Michael. While reading, I realized why Hunter’s story was being told now and also that even Hunter didn’t know who he was. 

“No one gives a shit about me until there’s a mess, and then suddenly everything is my fault! I can’t please anyone, and every time I try, I’m just one big fucking disappointment. Everyone is on me to pick a side. How the hell am I supposed to pick a side when everyone hates me?” 

He is so lost and so confused. My heart just broke for him. He was struggling and Kremmerer wrote his pain so raw that I found myself tearing up a few times.  Even when he was making stupid decisions (which he did, a lot), I still just wanted him to have a home – a family. There was definite growth of his character due to events that happened here and I’m anxious to see how they fair in future books. 

One character that I was not too fond of was Kate. When she first comes into their lives, I could not for the life of me figure out why Hunter was attracted to her besides her looks. She was obviously using her looks to get what she wanted, made herself come across as a ‘player’, and let’s not forget all the lying and backstabbing that was going around. Towards the end when she began opening up to Hunter, I could see why they would be good together, but I had to dig really deep. The initial attraction just wasn’t there for me. 

Something that surprised me though, was my newfound love of Michael. He stepped it up here and became the big brother everyone needed. I adored his relationship with Hunter and how he never pushed, he tried to just let Hunter trust him and come to him. Michael was the rock that literally held everyone together. 

The first day you meet, you are friends. The next day, you are brothers.

Sums up these characters and their relationships perfectly. This series definitely snuck up on me. I expected to like it, don’t get me wrong. But I didn’t expect it to take over the last week of my life. How am I ever going to wait until the next one?

Oh and two more things:

1. Nothing better ever happen to Casper

2. Gabriel + Hunter = Bromance 4ever

 

Thank you to Kensington for providing a copy of this ebook via Netgalley for review.