Short Story Review: Elemental by Brigid Kemmerer

Elemental by Brigid Kemmerer
Series: Elemental #0.5
Publisher: KTeen (Kensington)
First published: March 27th, 2012
Source: Bought
Format: eBook
Pages: 50

Goodreads Summary:

Earth, Fire, Air, Water – they are more than you dream.

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.

My Rating: 4.0 / 5

What I thought about it:

My first thoughts after finishing Elemental were: Why the hell didn't I pre-order a copy of Storm? It might have happened before, but usally it's not easy to fall in love with a story just by reading fifty pages, but that's exactly what happened for me with Elemental. 

Within fifty pages you don't get to know the characters as well as you would after reading three hundred pages. But that didn't stop me from starting to obsess over them, so I devoured Michael and Emily's story and ended up being disappointed. Disappointed because there wasn't more about them, especially after a somewhat cliffhanger-y ending that made me want to throw my Kindle against the wall.

Elemental is the perfect introduction to a series I'm expecting to be amazing. It shows you the basic aspects of the world these characters are living in without telling you too much. To be honest, it actually just made we wonder more about their elemental gifts and the problems they cause than I did after reading the synopsis. I definitely can't wait to continue, or rather properly start this series.

Have you started this series? What did you think about it?
Do you plan to read it?
Carina

Short Story Review: First Frost by Jennifer Estep

First Frost by Jennifer Estep
Series: Mythos Academy #0.5
Publisher: Kensington
First published: July 1st, 2011
Source: Bought
Format: .mobi (Kindle)

Goodreads Summary:
I am Gwen Frost, and I have a Gypsy gift. It's called psychometry - that's a fancy way of saying that I see images in my head and get flashes of other people's memories off almost everything I touch, even guys.

My gift makes me kind of nosy. Okay, okay, maybe a lot nosy--to the point of obsession sometimes. I want to know everything about everyone around me. But even I don't want to know the secrets my friend Paige is hiding or the terrible loss that will send me to a new school - Mythos Academy, where the teachers aren't preparing us for the SATs, but to battle Reapers of Chaos. Now I have no friends and no idea how my gift fits in with all these warrior whiz kids. The only thing I do know is that my life is never, ever going to be the same...

My Rating: 4.0 / 5

What I thought about it:

What I love about prequel novellas like First Frost is the fact that they're giving you a glimpse into a new world, which helps you to decide whether this series might be something for you. But I don't like not being able to pick up the first book of a series immediately afterward, when I really enjoyed that novella - and that's exactly the case with First Frost.

We meet Gwen Frost and her extraordinary "Gypsy gift". I loved being explained so much about a main character's gift so soon and while I expect that there are still a few secrets surrounding this, it's refreshing to already somewhat know what kind of supernatural elements you will be confronted with.

Like Gwen, we are also introduced to Mythos Academy, a boarding school she is supposed to go to. I know that for some people the boarding-school-setting is used a bit too much, but I always love it and I'm really looking forward to find out more about this mysterious place. We have also met a few other characters that I can't wait to see again.

All in all, I'm really looking forward to start Touch of Frost, the first book of this series, after reading First Frost. If you're unsure about whether you want to read this series, pick up the prequel novella and you'll probably want to get the other books immediately afterward. I'm really hoping to be able to squeeze Touch of Frost into my reading schedule very soon.

Books in this series:

First Frost (#0.5)
Touch of Frost (#1)
Kiss of Frost (#2)
Dark Frost (#3, May 29th, 2012)
Crimson Frost (#4, January 2013)

Have you read First Frost / this series? What did you think about it?

Do you plan to read it?

Carina