Holy baby jesus. I can’t believe I got my hands on an ARC of this bad boy. I think my knees may have given way when I realized that I had it. I may have snapped out of it and started doing the cancan for good measure then raced over to the lounger and clicked on the power to my beautiful KOBO.
For any one out there that has a KOBO and downloaded a book in PDF format onto it they understand my pain when I say usually it prevents you from reading the book until you can find it in some other source.
Well, obviously I was desperate because I thought, “screw this business” and read it anyway. Hardships and all.
FYI, there is always something good in getting an ARC. But, there is also something bad in getting an ARC of a series. My reason behind this is love this series. I finished Spark and turned the pages for the ‘sneak peak’ of Spirit and read the couple of pages that were there and when I flipped the page and saw a blank one I realized “Crap. Now I have to wait until May of 2013 to read the rest of it. That’s 10 MONTHS away.” It makes me want to take a cold shower fully clothed and rock in the corner while crying. That is the only bad thing about receiving an ARC of a book in a series.
But then again I guess I have to two that I re-read and snuggle with at night until the third one comes out.
Yeah. I will just dream about Chris, and Gabriel. Hell, Nicky too. Oh alright I think I have room to dream about Michael too. Well might as well throw Hunter in there too especially since my mind will be filled with him when the next one is released. Jeeze these boys are going to take up some of my mind space. Oh!! And there’s still Fearless (Elementals #1.5) Hehehehe.
The first book was about Chris and Becca, and now we get Gabriel and Layne. And they are a whole other bowl of coco puff trouble. In the first book Gabriel was a jerk, but defended people when he got to know them. Well…he still is a major jerk in this novel. But you learn everything that’s behind his anger. I mean can you blame him for being angry and guilt ridden after everything that has happened with his parents and Nick?
Oh Gabriel. I cried for you. I also lusted for you and your firey hot skin. And every time you opened your mouth and the inevitable garbage came spewing out I thought, “Why Gabriel. Why? I know you’re one of those big teddy bears you win at the fair. Come on. I know it.” But, can you blame him? His element is fire. Its not exactly easy to control fire, not to mention he would have to be around it all the time in large amount to learn how to control it and it’s not like he can run around setting things on fire in large quatities. And we realize that his element actually scares him. You finally get your hands on a completely different Gabriel, the one that he hides under all his angst, anger, and loneliness. But I guess that is where Layne comes in. They push each other and it made me freakin’ smile like a jackal. And then there is everything that happens with Michael and him. And well you would think they were brothers. There was some Kodak moments there. Hehehehe.
Good:
Gabriel: HHAAWWWTT. Obviously. So are his brothers. But there is a hero in their just wanting to be in his element and rise up. This is the guy who beats up his fellow teammates seconds after learning they did something bad to a girl. I do have to question how he can leave so many bloody faces and not get arrested…well for assault I should say.
Layne: She’s cool! We finally get a nerd in the bunch! AND who would have thought that the butt ogling Mr. Jock of the brothers would be the one to take notice. Fist pump to all the nerdy girls who love to read and have glasses.
Simon: He is one cool guy. I have mad respect for not letting this get in his way of enjoying life.
Michael: I just want to kiss you out of sheer happiness. You rock in this book. Glad you took the ass-hat cap off and put on the big brother cap instead.
Bad:
I miss Chris. Oh, Chris. You will always been the first Merrick brother I loved. Let face it the first book Hunter got in the way of Chris and Becca, and I was hoping that we would get some Chris and Becca in this book. We did…a little, but not enough. I demand another book…with Chris and Becca. Ou! A fourth book in the series? Yes please! And another, maybe with Nicky? I can see all the people out there closing their eyes and being tight lipped while nodding their heads in complete agreement.
Overall (Writing style, story line, and general):
Overall I love Brigid’s writing. I love her characters that are so full of depth. I absolutely love how I thought Gabriel was going to make one choice that was completely Gabriel and then surprised to find that he choose something else. I cried, I felt the pain in my heart when I realized how lonely Gabriel was. No other one has the difficulties like he does with his elemental. All other elements are not naturally dangerous. My Brigid Kemmerer brings across the pain and guilt and every other emotion that is wrapped up inside Gabriel Merrick with what seems like ease. The book surrounds you with emotion and you can picture everything perfectly. I never once thought I had read something wrong or couldn’t understand were the character was coming from. Brigid Kemmerer has created people in her stories that you could believe actually existed. That is how freaky good she is.

View more of my review and others at my blog: www.mynotsovacantshelf.blogspot.com