Spirit by Brigid Kemmerer
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13494365-spirit
4/5 Stars
****
Spirit is the third book in the Elemental series and this one follows Hunter Garrity’s POV. This book has a similar path as the first two in the sense that it alternates between male/female POVs(in this case Hunter’s and new girl Kate’s) and the male/female show an interest in each other. But Hunter and Kate are such different characters from Chris/Becca and Gabriel/Layne that it really doesn’t matter that the formula is the same because it manages to feel new.
I was a little nervous about reading a book from Hunter’s POV. I did enjoy the short novella from him but a whole book after having two great books from a Merrick’s POV? As Hunter and his story was fleshed out, would I come to love him as much as I came to love Chris and Gabriel in their books? Of course I did.
This book really hammered home the reminder that Hunter is a sixteen year old kid who lost his father and uncle and is a new kid at the school. His home life, living with his mother and grandparents, is horrible and his grandfather just might be the biggest non-villain jerk in the series. Is it any wonder this kid has trouble trusting people? My heart broke for Hunter so many times in this book. After getting into his head and seeing and understanding his reasons for acting the way he does, I really want to re-read the first two books.
Kate, as mentioned, is completely different from Becca and Layne. First, she knows about Elementals before meeting the Merricks and Hunter and she’s more of a in-your-face type character than the other two. She’s flirty and fierce and her interactions, especially the texts, between her and Hunter provide some good comedic moments in a book that’s pretty packed with action and tension. Kate also has her own story about why she’s the new girl at school.
One thing I was concerned about missing with this book being in Hunter’s POV was the brotherly moments of the Merricks but they were still present. The previous book Spark, had plenty of good moments between Gabriel and Hunter and they interacted in this book as well, but it was Michael Merrick who really stood out and brought the family feels to the story this time. Again, it was pretty heart-breaking to see Hunter being wary of the Merricks being nice to him because he really has no idea what to make of it.
The book starts off with a pretty big bang and there’s really never a moment to pause and relax. I thought Spark had a lot of nail-biting moments but Spirit really took it to another level. There’s a lot to be revealed, both to the reader and to Hunter, but it’s written in a way that never feels overwhelming or like it’s simply information dumping. There’s definitely a lot of twists in this one.
So far each book in the series has upped the tension, action, heartbreak, and drama. I have no idea what this means for the next book, Siege, but I’m excited for it. I just wish I didn’t have to wait until 2014.
*I received this from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
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