Title: Spirit
Author: Brigid Kemmerer
Series: Elementals (3)
Publisher: Kensington
Release Date: 28 May 2013
Date Read: May 2013
Rating: ★★★★☆
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…
I really wasn't keen on a Hunter novel. I hated him in all the other books of the series and I was so sure I was going to hate him being a narrator in this one. Look how well that turned out! Barely 20 pages in and I already changed my mind about him. 40 pages -I was crying for him because the idiot was too stubborn to do it for himself.
If you hadn't already figured it out, Hunter is one messed up, troubled kid. Hunter was first introduced as the mysterious new kid in Storm then later morphed into the dickhead we all thought he really was. In Spark, we found out that there's more to him than meets the eye and maybe he's not so bad. He became pretty good friends with Gabriel. Then he screwed everything up and became a dick again by the end of Spark. I would like to congratulate Kemmerer for changing my mind and my feelings about Hunter. I went from wanting to strangle Hunter, to wanting to strangle everyone else for not listening or liking Hunter. Talk about reader development. I was sympathising with him and felt so guilty that I ever hated him in the first place.
Hunter's life sucks. It sucks balls. His family, the people who's supposed to care for him, can't even look him in the eye for three seconds. He has no friends and he's pushed away everyone who might've become one. What does it matter, though, because Hunter has always thought they were only after him with ulterior motives. When new girl, Katie, arrives and starts paying special attention to Hunter, he's more than a little paranoid but with good reason. Katie is a Guard undercover and was using Hunter to get close to the Merricks.
Spirit is all about figuring out where your loyalties lie. Us vs Them. Hunter doesn't know where to put his trust, doesn't know which side is the right one. Should he believe the Guards- the ones whose beliefs he's been taught since he was a kid: full Elementals are power hungry; the world must be rid of evil full Elementals. But Hunter isn't so sure anymore when the Merricks are the only ones actually helping him, showing him kindness again and again even when he's sure he doesn't deserve it. If the Merricks aren't the bad guys, what does that make the Guards? His father? Him? Hunter's character development was a roller coaster of emotions filled with the worst frustrations, the happiest moments and everything in between.
Katie is Hunter's love interest and half of the book's narrator. I don't know if I like her better than Layne, definitely more than Becca though. Kemmerer was super ballsy with the direction she took on the romance. I just didn't have as big of an emotional response to it as I did with the rest of the events of the book. That is my only complaint, I think.
Since Spirit is Hunter's book, the Merricks didn't have that big of a presence in it, only little scenes here and there. Michael was being the best though- walking, talking bullshit detector. I didn't appreciate him as much as I should have in the previous books but I have seen the error of my ways.
I don't know how Kemmerer does it but she knows her stuff. She's consistently written three books in six different perspectives now, well. They're all different characters and the development is just ridiculously goooood.
If you had asked me to choose which Elemental boy was my favourite, I wouldn't even be able to give you a straight answer. It changed with each book that's released. If that doesn't showcase Kemmerer's brilliant writing already then I don't know what will. Gabriel and Hunter are currently tied for first place but Nick's story is coming up and that's going to be one hell of a ride. I kinda feel sad that I read this book early, that I got an ARC for it because it just means longer waiting time for the next book in the series. Do you have any idea how addicting this series is? How addicting these boys are? I would sell a bunch of my stuff, and then some, to get my hands on more material about them.
If you haven't read Spirit yet, or worse, haven't started the series, you have to. You are really missing out.
An ARC has been received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. No gifts or monetary funds were given to sway my opinion.
