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Okay, it's a challenge to write a review after half a month I finished with this book. Ha-ha! It's what you got when you chose to read a book right before a major exam starts. I was planning on talking at length about all the typically PNR-het-YA stuff that bugged me, but since I've had this review languishing in my brain/to-do list/fingers for ten days what I want right now is honestly to just get rid of it. I'll begin from Becca, because she is what made this book insufferable for me. Becca has the personality of a kitchen cloth, which is my witty way of saying she has none. Nothing makes her special or stand out from every other girl. Is she exceptionally smart? Hahahhaha, no. Is she stunningly beautiful? Meh. Is she in any other way interesting, maybe cunning or charismatic, strong, brave, daring, anything, just to prove she's a worthy heroine? Nope. Weather-wise after their kind, men say, frogs from the puddles croak before rain, and the mountain goats move to the sheltered face of the peak before the blizzard strikes. Such also may have been the wisdom of man's ancestors before man was. In nerve-endings now decadent, they felt the moisture in the air; in the liquids of their joints they sensed the falling pressure.
When two older boys ambush Chris and beat him almost to death, a girl from school comes to his rescue. She somehow chases them away and gets him home but Michael, his legal guardian since their parents died, practically chases her out of the house. Chris doesn’t really know her, even though she’s in some of his classes. He’s heard about her, though, everyone has. People say that she sleeps around with anyone who asks nicely enough. But Becca isn’t like that at all. She’s been through a lot and she’s just trying to keep her head down and avoid being noticed. Then, suddenly, she is in the middle of Chris’s drama, and a gorgeous new boy is showing a real interest in her. The characters of this novel are what make it such a standout. Is Brigid Kemmerer really at teenage boy in disguise? 5 times over? The dialogue and mannerisms and the way they express themselves... she nails it! And what about Becca, who is one of my new favourite heroines? This is the kind of protagonist I LOVE. She doesn't take crap from people. After a douche named Drew ruined her reputation, she's had to deal with the fallout every day since. And though it affects her, she still puts up a hell of a fight. Her vulnerability and strength shine through so admirably - she'll stand up for herself, verbally or physically when needed - yet she not a complete hardass. She has such a beautiful a heart and cares more than she should. I really don't know who I love more - her or the boys. I'm definitely not choosing teams! The romance was quite strong in this one and there was a love triangle but i didn't feel that it overpowered the story at any point. I hope this was not the last time we see Becca and Chris because they are so sweet and young and innocent and i love them!Oh my giddy-aunt I love this book! This is the sort of book that you crawl into the corner of the couch with, pull up your legs and bring all your limbs as close together as possible, then commence drumming your fingers against your bottom lip while you smile like you have some hidden secret. No really…I did that at one point. I also gasped out loud (a lot), smiled, giggled, and clapped multiple times while reading this book. I may have also hit a dear friend that was sitting beside me while I was reading this book out of pure joy. It should come with a warning: “The happiness resulting from this book may cause irrational violence”. Sort of like the warning when you’re about to play a Wii game about needing to stand so far away. The ages passed; brow and chin moved forward; man walked two-legged upon the earth. Hunter lying in wait, seed-gatherer wandering afield--they came to know vaguely the warnings of wind and cloud. . . . New boy in town who immediately falls in with Becca. That's not at all suspicious. Not to mention a completely contrived third leg of a stupid love triangle. And then he shows some kind of power on his own, though Becca is conveniently distracted from it because, uh, story.
I felt the plotline was extremely slow. I really had no idea what was going on for the first 1/4 of the book. It was just a lot of fighting between brothers, brothers being assholes to Becca, and other people being assholes to Becca. If I gave this book 2 stars, 1.5 was given out of sympathy for Becca, who went through so much shit in the book. I felt so bad for her, in light of all the horrible news stories about girls being raped/gang raped/almost raped and being shamed to it to an extent that they'd kill themselves. Another thing that stood out to me was some of Becca's unrealistic behaviour (in my opinion, anyway). I just don't believe that someone who went through a trauma like that would behave in the way she did and constantly put herself in harm's way again and again after the event. Even her actions in the very first chapter are questionable when you know what she's been through, never mind going to the house of the guy who raped her and getting drunk whilst there or going around the side of a building at night with him. That's not brave, it's just plain stupid, even if I do have to applaud the author for looking into reasons why victims of sexual assault don't always report the incident. Huh? I totally forgot about Hunter. He is cool, I guess but generally I just don't like blond guys? (Maybe I deserve to be stoned to death for my discrimination but I can't help it!). Believe it or not, he was the one guy who almost managed to get my ovaries to explode. I almost wanted to shove Becca away from Hunter's embrace and whisper "Take me instead, Hunter! I'd wear all those crazy bracelets you have in your possession though I'm not a hippie". Note that I have nothing against hippies. If you are going to read Storm, definitely read the short story prequel first. It takes place about 4 years earlier, and it helped me understand why Michael is the way he is. And because of that power, the other Elementals feared them and are set on eliminate them. Only a truce made some years ago, stays between them and the ones that want them gone. However, that don't stop the other of bullying them, beat them up, trying to make them lose control, to break the curse and force the Guides, to come and "deal" with the situation.
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But my hubby is totally wrong, it's nothing like Captain Planet, minus the whole element wielding thing, of course. But it does tell the story of four orphaned guys, living in a house together, struggling to stay out of trouble. Well, I should really rephrase that. Sometimes they manage to stay out of trouble. Other times, they welcomed it. But the thing with Storm and I is that we developed this weird love/hate relationship during our courtship. For every one thing I absolutely loved about it, there was always something else that I hated. So here are three things that I loved/hated about Storm. I'm sure the science in this book, first written in 1941, may be dated now, as are some of the sentiments. He could write: It was funny; sometimes a woman had a better sense about such things than a man did. Imagine that. Too, a porter spoke his single line in dialect. And there was a hard cynicism here, where the author could imagine the headline - "Sixteen dead by storm" - and then think, well, Perhaps the world was better off because of those deaths. In the world before the Internet, "knowing" was a thing, detail was work, and there were folks who just "knew things" like how steam engines worked, Seneca's words of wisdom, or how to make a perfect Manhattan.
The book is dated, with some statements reflecting the social norms of the time and all of the advances now in all things mechanical and in weather forecasting that have been made because of computers, but the writing is so solid as to not be effected much. There’s a surprising complexity to Storm. It’s a story with many dimensions, and one that truly deserves to be singled out amongst an abundance of young adult Paranormals. It’s not one aspect of the story that shines, but a cohesive mix of all its parts, combined to make something layered, something truly unique and special. Storm isn’t about a group of brothers with unbelievable supernatural powers. It’s not about boy meets girl. It’s not about one of the first love triangles I’ve ever read and genuinely enjoyed, nor is it bullying, discrimination, grief or friendship. It’s more. It’s the way in which Kemmerer blends them all together, into a mix of colours more vivid and alluring then any one part could be on its own. With the good and the bad, I really got to like the story, enough for me to want to read the next ones (I am including here Spark that comes next this month and also Elemental, a short story about the oldest brother). Keep an eye for this series because I bet that many of you will like it as well! My recommendation: go read it. Just keep those smelling salts near – these boys will make you swoon! Okay, with so many low points you must be wondering, WHY DID I GIVE THIS FREAKING BOOK FOUR STARS ANYWAY?This book's time has past. We have lost our ability to marvel at the power of nature, or to revel in the description of something so big that it defies description. And we no longer have the selfless heroes who do their job and lead with neither ego nor venality. I can’t comment on marriage with any authority because I don’t know what it’s like. Even when I was five, I asked my mother what on earth I would talk to my husband about if we were alone together. And I remember telling actress Eleanor Bron I was afraid a husband would find me boring. "Ah," she replied. "Don’t you think you’d be afraid you would find HIM boring?" Again with these paranormal clichés. You can't just go tell a girl all your secrets only because you like her and she knows a bit of it anyways. There are sectrets that are not only yours, the are things more powerful than you, there are sectrets that could kill. Now with Hunter, the new kid, antagonizing Kris and trying to win her affection, she must discover which one of them has a hold in her heart and which one isn't telling the whole truth.... A copy of Storm was provided by KTeen for the Spirit blog tour, hosted by The Midnight Garden! Thank you!
I had my eyes on this book for a while because most of my friends have read it and loved it, so when I got a copy of Spark (the second book in the series) for review I thought that it was time for me to start reading this series too. Another thing worth mentioning is Brigid Kemmerer’s writing – it is much better than I expected when I first heard about this book. Her style doesn’t draw attention from the story itself, it is straightforward, clean and very easy to read.
His affinity to water made sense. He reminded her of the sea, alluring and mysterious, calm on the surface, with who-knew-what brewing underneath.
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