Elemental

Title:  Elemental

Author:  Brigid Kemmerer

Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp

Publish Date:  27 March 2012

Pages:  50

ASIN: B006MLKZAG 

Source:  bought

Genre:  YA, paranormal

Series:  Elemental

Other books in series:  Storm, Spark (28 August 2012), Fearless (September 2012), Spirit(2013)

As an air Elemental, 17-year-old Emily Morgan doesn’t have much power. That’s okay—she knows what happens to kids who do.

Like Michael Merrick. He’s an earth Elemental, one with enough power to level cities. Which makes him sexy. Dangerous. And completely off limits. At least according to Emily’s family.

But her summer job puts her in close contact with Michael, and neither of them can help the attraction they feel. When forces of nature like theirs collide, one misstep could get someone killed. Because Emily’s family doesn’t just want her to stay away from him.

They want him dead.

What happens when your one safe haven isn’t safe anymore?  That is what happens to Michael Merrick. He is an elemental, a strong one known as a pure.  His element is the earth.  He can use the power that he finds in it to make things happen – cracks in the pavement, earthquakes, et cetera.  

Pures are feared because of the power that they hold and because of this, most of them are put to death by the Guides.  It is the law that if you know of a pure, you are to tell the Guides so they can be taken care of.  An agreement was made that would keep Michael safe if he only doesn’t use his power.   This would be easy, if not for people like Seth Drake and Tyler Morgan, who constantly bullied him trying to get him to retaliate.

He goes to the batting cages every Wednesday and Friday to let off some steam and just be in a place where he doesn’t have to worry about people trying to get him to use his element.  This is where he first sees Emily Morgan, Tyler’s sister.  He immediately feels angry because the one place that he could go to for solace was taken over by the people who wanted to turn him over to the Guides.  His parents tell him that he cannot go to those batting cages anymore.

Emily Morgan is scared at the sight of Michael Merrick coming into the place where she works.  She thinks that he did it on purpose to get at her.  When she tells her parents, they think the same thing and worry for her safety.   Emily refuses to quit her job because it took her so long to get a job in the first place and this job is her ticket out of this town after graduation from high school.

What happens when neither Emily nor Michael refuse to do what is asked of them?  Will Tyler and Seth interfere?  Is Emily safe?

I was anxious to read this book because of the hype around Storm.  You get the first glimpse into the Merricks and the problems that being pure elementals cause them.  I really liked this book because it gave you a backstory, and I always like backstories.  It showed you some of Michael that you don’t really see in Storm.  I will be sure to keep this series on my radar and cannot wait until August when Spark is released. 

On the cover is a picture of whom I’m presuming to be Michael.  He is surrounded by branches, which is appropriate, since his element is earth.   I like the green on the cover.  I think this conveys the mystery in Michael Merrick well.  

•Emily Morgan.  She works at a “sports complex,” even though she doesn’t think it is much of one.  She doesn’t get a lot of customers, so when Michael Merrick appears, she is not only surprised to see him, but scared as well.  She doesn’t let other people push her around, including the Merricks.

•Michael Merrick.  How can you not like the guy who constantly gets picked on for things that are not his fault?  He didn’t ask to be a pure elemental.  He is persistent and doesn’t want his life to change for things beyond his control.

 

•Tyler Morgan and Seth Drake.  They are the bullies in this story who try to get Michael to use his power.  If he uses his power, he will be killed by the Guides.

•The Morgans and the Merricks – Emily’s and Michael’s parents.  I put them both in the same group because they both say the same thing, only for different reasons.  The Merricks tell Michael not to go to the batting cages anymore because they want to protect him.  The Morgans freak out when they learn that Michael went to the sports complex where Emily works and told the Merricks about it and that they didn’t want any trouble, meaning they didn’t want him to go there anymore.