Storm (Brigid Kemmerer)

Storm
The Elemental series, Book 1
Brigid Kemmerer
Kensington
Fiction, YA Fantasy/Romance
**** (Good)

DESCRIPTION: High school has always been rough, but this year - with soccer team captain Drew and his buddies spreading nasty rumors - Becca's having an especially hard time. It doesn't help that her ER nurse mom is rarely home, or that her father ran out on them years ago and is suddenly trying to get back into her life. And then there's her friend Quinn, who can't help inspiring drama wherever she goes... which is often the spare room in Becca's house as her own home life crumbles. The last thing Becca needed was another complication. She should never have intervened when she saw two boys beating up on classmate Chris Merrick - but she did.
That was before she knew what Chris and his brothers were - how they were born with natural connections to elemental forces.
Before she learned what had really happened to his parents, and why members of their secretive community have been targeting them since they arrived in town.
Before the new kid in school, Hunter, took an unusual interest in her.
Before she'd heard of the Guides, powerful hunters sent to deal with those whose skills make them too dangerous to live... and whose interest extends to anyone associating with those dangerous people, such as an innocent girl who intervened in a fight.
Becca thought she had troubles before. Now, she's in over her head, tangled in a hidden world she knew nothing about, but which might be the death of her.

REVIEW: When I need a palate cleanser, I often look to romances, and this one had a little extra fantasy seasoning. It turned out to be a fairly decent story, and if the characters and tropes are a trifle familiar, the tale plays out decently nonetheless. Becca sometimes seems a bit powerless at the start, caught between two boys - powerful yet dangerous Chris and Hunter, who has his secrets but works to empower her and build her confidence - but eventually finds her feet and her voice. Chris is broody and somewhat immature, though he's had a rough life and can't seem to help taking that out on others, including his own family. And Hunter starts out looking like a safe and open alternative to Chris, but isn't quite as open as he seems. The story occasionally bogs down in angst and brooding and hormones, but never loses its way completely. Ultimately, it's as much about bullying and rumors and the long-term price of keeping secrets as it is about teen romance or even supernatural powers, a theme that adds some heft to a genre that can be a bit lightweight. As teen romance fantasies go, Storm makes for a solid, if not entirely unpredictable, read.

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