Storm (Elemental, #1)

by Brigid Kemmerer

3,5 stars

I'm rereading this series, because I loved it so much the first time around and because I still haven't read the finale, Sacrifice. 

Storm is a YA paranormal romance novel with a lot of realism. There are fantasy aspects, but the characters go through everyday situations, which helps to keep the story grounded and relatable.

Becca is a likable, courageous and flawed main character, but there are some aspects related to her that I have issues with. Becca's bravery and need to help others means that she unnecessarily puts herself into dangerous situations. While dangerous situations might move the plot along, it's difficult to believe that Becca would act so recklessly considering her past and her trauma. Some examples that I found unbelievable is when Becca decides to go to Drew's party, starts drinking liquor as soon as she gets there and goes alone with Drew to accept an apology from him after all the harm he caused her.

The main characters are, for the most part, portrayed in an unstereotypical manner and seem realistic and flawed. 

The Merrick brothers are my favourite part of Storm. Aside from the fact that they're all good looking (which might not be entirely realistic), they have distinct personalities which suit their specific elemental ability. I love books that deal with sibling relationships and the sibling relationships in this book range from love to hate to annoyance to protection and everything in-between. While Chris might be the main character of Storm, my favorite Merrick brother is Gabriel, which is weird because in this book he comes across as a sexist jerk, but because I've read Spark, he's such an interesting and redeemable character and he also has the best one-liners. Likewise, Michael also seems like a jerk in the beginning of Storm, but there's a lot more to him and he'll go to the ends of the earth to protect his siblings. 

The main characters might not be stereotypical, but the background characters are. I could deal with this aspect though, because Storm is written pre-2014 and because the events of Storm mostly take place in a typical American highschool, with all its clichés. I also don't like the attitude of the main characters (Becca, Gabriel, Quinn, Hunter, Chris etc.) towards other women. There's a lot of judgement, slut-shaming and girl hate.  

The romance plays a huge role in Storm and has some old-school themes that I love such as (well-written) love triangles and tons of drama, but also old-school themes that I find problematic such as girl hate, slut-shaming and sexual assault being used as a plot device. There's also a love triangle between Becca, Chris and Hunter and while it is one of the better-written love triangles, because of how it affects the plot, it isn't a romance that will stay with me forever.  

The paranormal/fantasy aspect is woven into almost every part of the plot and I like how it is included in the story. Books about elemental powers/magic are right up my alley and I think it's well-written in this light YA paranormal romance novel.

I also enjoyed the banter, humour and wit. I complained a lot about how the humour in The Illuminae Files series didn't work for me, but I really enjoyed the humourous aspects in Storm. Give me sarcastic and witty banter anyday (but don't make it campy?). 

Storm is an old-school YA novel, so it's formulaic and has some problematic elements, but I love the banter, the relationships, the elemental aspect and the Merrick brothers. I could probably read pages upon pages of the brothers doing absolute nonsense and would totally be fine with it.