Title: Letters to the Lost Author: Brigid Kemmerer Publication: April 6th 2017 by Bloomsbury Children's Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Play | Kobo Rating: 5/5★
Juliet Young has always written letters to her mother, a world-traveling photojournalist. Even after her mother’s death, she leaves letters at her grave. It’s the only way Juliet can cope.
Declan Murphy isn’t the sort of guy you want to cross. In the midst of his court-ordered community service at the local cemetery, he’s trying to escape the demons of his past.
When Declan reads a haunting letter left beside a grave, he can't resist writing back. Soon, he’s opening up to a perfect stranger, and their connection is immediate. But neither of them knows that they're not actually strangers. When real life at school interferes with their secret life of letters, Juliet and Declan discover truths that might tear them apart. This emotional, compulsively-readable romance will sweep everyone off their feet.
Letters to the Lost ended up being my new favorite book by Brigid Kemmer. This is saying a lot because I don't read a lot of contemporary YA, it's just not a favorite genre of mine. And also before I read this amazing book her Elemental series was my favorite. So yeah, Letters to the Lost completely stole my heart! Like I said I don't read a lot of contemporary YA but when I do it's most likely to be a pen pall romance, like this book. I don't know why but I love those type of romances most of all. But with this book I think it's extra special. I adored the main characters right away. I loved how Declan and Juliet first started writing each other letters and later on they switched to texting. I really had a soft spot for Declan because I could just feel how bad he felt inside with everything that happened to him. Don't get me wrong, I loved Juliet as well. Her story as well as Declan's was quite tragic but I don't know... there was just something about Declan that I connected with. I was not surprised to see that there was also a really great cast of secondary characters because I'm used to that from a book by this author. But damn, I loved some of those characters so much. I'm probably not the only one who thought Rev was their favorite secondary character, right? I loved him so much and I can't wait to read his book, More Than We Can Tell. Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer is not just a romance. There's so much more to it. There's family, there's friendship. Grief. Loss. The story was sweet and heartbreaking all at once. It was quite a rollercoaster for me. But I loved it all.
About Brigid
BRIGID KEMMERER is the author of LETTERS TO THE LOST (Bloomsbury; April 4, 2017), a dark, contemporary Young Adult romance; THICKER THAN WATER (Kensington, December 29, 2015), a New Adult paranormal mystery with elements of romance; and the YALSA-nominated Elemental series of five Young Adult novels and three e-novellas which Kirkus Reviews calls “refreshingly human paranormal romance” and School Library Journal describes as “a new take on the supernatural genre.” She lives in the Baltimore area with her husband and four sons.
Title: Thicker Than Water Author: Brigid Kemmerer Publication: December 29th 2015 by Kensington Books Genre: Young Adult ~ Paranormal Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Kobo Rating: 5/5
On his own
Thomas Bellweather hasn’t been in town long. Just long enough for his newlywed mother to be murdered, and for his new stepdad’s cop colleagues to decide Thomas is the primary suspect.
Not that there’s any evidence. But before Thomas got to Garretts Mill there had just been one other murder in twenty years.
The only person who believes him is Charlotte Rooker, little sister to three cops and, with her soft hands and sweet curves, straight-up dangerous to Thomas. Her best friend was the other murder vic. And she’d like a couple answers.
Answers that could get them both killed, and reveal a truth Thomas would die to keep hidden…
I had really high expectations of Thicker Than Water because I'm a huuuuge fan of the author's Elemental series. Luckily the expectations I had were more than met. It was a fantastic story and I ended up feeling quite sad when I had finished the book because I just wanted to read more. Thomas Bellweather just moved to a new town when his mother got murdered, leaving him alone with his stepfather Stan and the whole town suspicious of Thomas. Everyone seems to think he's guilty except Charlotte Rooker. Although her three cop brothers are warning her to stay away from Thomas, she can't help but being attracted by Thomas and vice versa. When they find some mysterious letters Thomas' mother received things really start to get strange... There's something about the way the author writes her character that I can't help but love. She especially writes the male characters really well. I loved Thomas and I felt so bad for everything that happened to him and how basically nobody was on his side other than Charlotte and Stan (mostly). Charlotte was also a character that I loved. It's definitely not easy for her to be the only girl with three protective brothers. But I loved how she followed her heart even though it seemed really dangerous at times. The story was very mysterious and there were so many twists I hadn't seen coming. I kept trying to figure it all out but of course I was always dead wrong. Some plot twists basically kept me glued to my Kindle screen and screaming internally inside — That's how good the writing and story was. I also adored the romance between Thomas and Charlotte. It was cute but also a little steamy (in as far as YA can be steamy at least) and I also thought their connection was great, in spite of everything that was happening. Also, it takes a while for all the paranormal stuff to kick in but once it does it's pretty mind blowing! I also loved the side characters. Charlotte's brothers were all pretty different in their own way but I really liked them. I was also a huge fan of Charlotte's best friend, Nicole. She was hilarious and made me laugh pretty much every time she spoke. And Stan was also a great character because, although he was rather cautious of Thomas, he still made an effort for him because he was married to his mother. Bascially, the author did a great job in writing the side characters too, which is a big deal to me. What more can I say than that I LOVED this book? Everthing from the story to the characters to the writing to those damn heart-stopping plot twists was pretty much perfect. I want and need more!
Brigid Kemmerer was born in Omaha, Nebraska, though her parents quickly moved her all over the United States, from the desert in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to the lakeside in Cleveland, Ohio, and several stops in between, eventually settling near Annapolis, Maryland. Brigid started writing in high school, and her first real “novel” was about four vampire brothers causing a ruckus in the suburbs. Those four brothers are the same boys living in the pages of The Elemental Series, so Brigid likes to say she’s had four teenage boys taking up space in her head for the last seventeen years. (Though sometimes that just makes her sound nuts.)
Brigid writes anywhere she can find a place to sit down (and she’s embarrassed to say a great many pages of The Elemental Series were written while sitting on the floor in the basement of a hotel while she was attending a writers’ conference). Most writers enjoy peace and quiet while writing, but Brigid prefers pandemonium. A good thing, considering she has three boys in the house, ranging in age from an infant to a teenager.
While writing STORM, it’s ironic to note that Brigid’s personal life was plagued by water problems: her basement flooded three times, her roof leaked, her kitchen faucet broke, causing the cabinet underneath to be destroyed by water, the wall in her son’s room had to be torn down because water had crept into the wall, and her bedroom wall recently developed a minor leak. Considering SPARK, book 2 in the series, is about the brother who controls fire, Brigid is currently making sure all the smoke detectors in her house have batteries.
Brigid loves hearing from people, and she probably won’t refer to herself in the third person like this if you actually correspond with her. She has a smartphone surgically attached to her person nearby at all times, and email is the best way to reach her. Her email address is brigidmary@gmail.com.
Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking The Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.
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Thicker Than Water by Brigid Kemmerer December 29th 2015 by Kensington
On his own
Thomas Bellweather hasn’t been in town long. Just long enough for his newlywed mother to be murdered, and for his new stepdad’s cop colleagues to decide Thomas is the primary suspect.
Not that there’s any evidence. But before Thomas got to Garretts Mill there had just been one other murder in twenty years.
The only person who believes him is Charlotte Rooker, little sister to three cops and, with her soft hands and sweet curves, straight-up dangerous to Thomas. Her best friend was the other murder vic. And she’d like a couple answers.
Answers that could get them both killed, and reveal a truth Thomas would die to keep hidden…
I've been a huge fan of Brigid's Elemental series so I can't wait to get my hands on this new upcoming book! Another reason why December will be awesome! Also, I'm in love with he cover (Blueeeeeee! ♥)
Title: Sacrifice Author: Brigid Kemmerer Series: Elemental #5 Publication: September 30th 2014 by Kensington Teen Genre: Young Adult ~ Paranormal Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Kobo Rating: 5/5 Review copy provided in exchange for an honest review.
Earth. Fire. Air. Water.
One misstep and they lose it all. For the last time.
Michael Merrick understands pressure. He's the only parent his three brothers have had for years. His power to control Earth could kill someone if he miscalculates. Now an Elemental Guide has it in for his family, and he's all that stands in the way.
His girlfriend, Hannah, understands pressure too. She's got a child of her own, and a job as a firefighter that could put her life in danger at any moment.
But there are people who have had enough of Michael's defiance, his family's 'bad luck'. Before he knows it, Michael's enemies have turned into the Merricks' enemies, and they're armed for war.
They're not interested in surrender. But Michael isn't the white flag type anyway. Everything is set for the final showdown.
Four elements, one family. Will they hold together, or be torn apart?
They always thought he had the answers. He almost never did, but he was pretty good at faking it. Sacrifice is the very last Elemental book and it finally features Michael otherwise known as my favorite Merrick boy. I'm so glad that I was right to have high expectations for this book (and Michael) because this book rocked. It's my favorite out of all five. So Michael is amazing, okay? He really is. I love his brothers but I've always had a thing for Michael from the start. He's a fantastic character to read about and I admire his love and responsibility for his family, which not only includes his brothers but also Hunter, Hannah and James, in my opinion. I just love the guy. This book was high on the action factor. There was a lot of action (something I really missed in the previous book) so of course I loved. Together with awesome writing, funny and sometimes heartbreaking scenes it made for one hell of a book. Michael's brothers weren't in it a whole lot due to certain circumstances but I think Hunter (and maybe Tyler) too made up for that. Hunter really became part of the family and Michael did see him as a brother. We also got Hannah's point of view. I was never a fan of her ever since she entered the books but I started loving her now. She's so feisty! I really hadn't expected to like her this much but there you go. Her relationship with Michael might only just be beginning but oh how I love them together. Yeah, Hannah totally won me over. The only slightly minor point was that I wished Becca would've made an appearance. But I guess her father was keeping her safe with everything going on so I get it. Still... I kind of missed her. Overall, Sacrifice by Brigid Kemmerer was the best Elemental book I've read. It had everything I want in a great book; romance, action, great writing and emotional scenes. Oh and FYI: your heart will be broken.
Quotes
But every time he talked to her, his voice had been rough and quiet, as if every word were a secret just for her. It had made her shiver in a good way.
She loved the way he kissed: slow and strong and sure, nothing hurried, as if he needed to memorize each moment.
"Well, that's bullshit. I'm an adult. I'm raising a child. I'm a goddamned firefighter, Michael. You don't know what I've seen. You don't know what I've dealt with. And if you think I'm the type of girl to sit in a corner and paint my nails while the big, strong men do their thing, then you're a jackass, and I don't know why we're wasting our time."
Brigid Kemmerer was born in Omaha, Nebraska, though her parents quickly moved her all over the United States, from the desert in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to the lakeside in Cleveland, Ohio, and several stops in between, eventually settling near Annapolis, Maryland. Brigid started writing in high school, and her first real “novel” was about four vampire brothers causing a ruckus in the suburbs. Those four brothers are the same boys living in the pages of The Elemental Series, so Brigid likes to say she’s had four teenage boys taking up space in her head for the last seventeen years. (Though sometimes that just makes her sound nuts.
Brigid writes anywhere she can find a place to sit down (and she’s embarrassed to say a great many pages of The Elemental Series were written while sitting on the floor in the basement of a hotel while she was attending a writers’ conference). Most writers enjoy peace and quiet while writing, but Brigid prefers pandemonium. A good thing, considering she has three boys in the house, ranging in age from an infant to a teenager.
While writing STORM, it’s ironic to note that Brigid’s personal life was plagued by water problems: her basement flooded three times, her roof leaked, her kitchen faucet broke, causing the cabinet underneath to be destroyed by water, the wall in her son’s room had to be torn down because water had crept into the wall, and her bedroom wall recently developed a minor leak. Considering SPARK, book 2 in the series, is about the brother who controls fire, Brigid is currently making sure all the smoke detectors in her house have batteries.
Brigid loves hearing from people, and she probably won’t refer to herself in the third person like this if you actually correspond with her. She has a smartphone surgically attached to her person nearby at all times, and email is the best way to reach her. Her email address is brigidmary@gmail.com.
Title: Secret Author: Brigid Kemmerer Series: Elemental #4 Publication: January 28th 2014 by Kensington Books Genre: Paranormal ~ Young Adult Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository Cover Rating: 1/5 (Dafuq?) Overall Rating: 3/5 Review copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Nowhere is safe. Not even home…
Nick Merrick is stretched to the breaking point.
Keep his grades sky-high or he’ll never escape his hometown.
Keep his brother’s business going or the Merricks will be out on the street.
Keep the secret of where he’s going in the evenings from his own twin—-or he’ll lose his family.
Keep his mind off the hot, self-assured dancer who’s supposed to be his “girlfriend’s” partner.
Of course there’s also the homicidal freak Quinn has taken to hanging around, and the Elemental Guide counting the hours until he can try again to kill the Merrick brothers.
There’s a storm coming. From all sides. And then some.
Nick Merrick, can you keep it together?
~My Thoughts: I feel kind of bad giving Secret only three stars. Though it's still a good rating. But I had a hard time deciding whether it would be three or four and settled on three eventually. Looking at the whole story and comparing to how totally amazing the previous book "Spirit" was, I was kind of disappointed. And also seeing some kind of theme here with this series. I went from loving book one, Storm, to be disappointed in book two, Spark, to be awed by book three, Spirit, to once again being disappointed with this one. It sucks but I love this series nevertheless! So for the first 50% in this book I was just bored to death. Seriously, this book wasn't on the same level as Spirit by far. I think it mostly featured on Nick and Adam and their romantic relationship that began growing. Don't get me wrong, I loved them so much. They were adorable together and these two were the only thing I was looking forward to. There really should be more gay couples in young adult books. I actually think it was really smart of Brigid Kemmerer to make Nick gay because I'm sure we all were expecting for Nick to get a real relationship with Quinn or maybe meet a new girl like his brothers did. I hadn't seen the gay thing coming at all but I really loved that twist and I loved Nick's short story in Breathless too! So as far as his new relationship went, perfect, nothing to say about that but that was the only good thing. I also couldn't help but feel that Nick should get over himself and just be with Adam. I get that this wouldn't be easy but he was whining a little too much for my taste sometimes. Still love him though. Quinn on the other hand... I hated her. I'm sorry, but I really did. I never liked the girl. Yes, she goes through a lot with her family but I don't know, she's just not likable to me as a character. I didn't want to read about Quinn, her chapters were boring, which is probably why I disliked the first half of this book so much. But I gotta say the twist with her and Tyler was pretty great. I love Tyler! I can't believe I'm saying this because we've seen such a bad side of him in the previous books but he's really not so bad. Well, maybe a little. Boy, he was hot! As much as I dislike Quinn, she's right there. If I haven't said it before, I'm saying it now: I love the Merrick brothers (and Hunter) so so much. They're all super great guys but shit keeps happening to them. Will they ever get some peace? Anyway... I loved them all in this book. Chris is such a great little brother to the others and I miss him. He was awesome in Storm. Gabriel might've reacted a little wrong to Nick and Adam but I'm glad it's all worked out now. And Michael? *dreamy sigh* He's the best. I loved how he reacted when Nick told him his secret. He's the best and I can't wait for his story (finally! finally!) next! The overall story was pretty much only about Nick and Adam's relationship and Quinn going through shit with her family and getting to know Tyler and oh yeah her whining. The real action didn't occur until the end which left me the most disappointed because Spirit was FULL of it. But I do have to admit that the end was also a big twist. Can't wait to see where THAT is going. I only wished there would've been more Hunter. I missed him. Althoug he had a pretty great scene with Nick. All in all Secret by Brigid Kemmerer was a good book, not the best in the series and also definitely not the worse. I wish there'd be more elemental action in it and less main character whining. But overall not a bad read and it did leave me at the edge of my seat and wanting to keep on reading.
Favorite Quotes:
"He's looking forward to it. See?"
She held up her phone.
A smiley face.
A smiley face? Nick had no idea what that meant. Was that casual happy? Excited happy? An obligatory response that didn't mean anything? It wasn't even a D smiley. It was one of the parenthesis ones.
God, he was trying to puzzle out the hidden meaning of the punctuation in a friggin emoticon.
After they were seated at a four top, with sodas in front of them, Nick was desperate for anything to lighten the mood.
"Fast service," he said wryly. "Do you want me to accuse you of dazzling the waitress?"
Adam choked on his soda. "Is that a Twilight reference? How is it possible your brothers don't know you're gay?"
He felt so unprepared to be with a guy, like he only knew the choreography for one dance step, and this was a completely different type of music.
"Is everything okay with your brother?" Adam asked.
Nick nodded. "I think so." He paused, then smiled. "He offered to make out with Hunter if it would prove that he's okay with me being gay."
"Hmm," said Adam. "Yeah. I think I need to see proof."
"Shut up."
"Tell him it has to be shirtless. Wait, let me get my phone out—"
Nick shut him up with a kiss.
Brigid Kemmerer was born in Omaha, Nebraska, though her parents quickly moved her all over the United States, from the desert in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to the lakeside in Cleveland, Ohio, and several stops in between, eventually settling near Annapolis, Maryland. Brigid started writing in high school, and her first real “novel” was about four vampire brothers causing a ruckus in the suburbs. Those four brothers are the same boys living in the pages of The Elemental Series, so Brigid likes to say she’s had four teenage boys taking up space in her head for the last seventeen years. (Though sometimes that just makes her sound nuts.)
Brigid writes anywhere she can find a place to sit down (and she’s embarrassed to say a great many pages of The Elemental Series were written while sitting on the floor in the basement of a hotel while she was attending a writers’ conference). Most writers enjoy peace and quiet while writing, but Brigid prefers pandemonium. A good thing, considering she has three boys in the house, ranging in age from an infant to a teenager.
While writing STORM, it’s ironic to note that Brigid’s personal life was plagued by water problems: her basement flooded three times, her roof leaked, her kitchen faucet broke, causing the cabinet underneath to be destroyed by water, the wall in her son’s room had to be torn down because water had crept into the wall, and her bedroom wall recently developed a minor leak. Considering SPARK, book 2 in the series, is about the brother who controls fire, Brigid is currently making sure all the smoke detectors in her house have batteries.
Brigid loves hearing from people, and she probably won’t refer to herself in the third person like this if you actually correspond with her. She has a smartphone surgically attached to her person nearby at all times, and email is the best way to reach her. Her email address is brigidmary@gmail.com.
Title: Spirit Author: Brigid Kemmerer Series: Elemental #3 Publication: May 28th 2013 by K Teen Genre: Young Adult ~ Paranormal Format: e-arc Cover Rating: 4/5 Overall Rating: 5/5 Copy received in exchange for an honest review.
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 was so thrilled when I got this book early for review. The Elemental series has been my favorite since last year when I read the first one, Storm. However, the second one, Spark I didn't like too much so I didn't know how I would feel about Spirit. I did hear good things about it, like that it has more action and a shocking plot so I had good hopes for it. And, boy, were they ALL true! Spirit was amazing!
Hunter has a lot going on. Everyone seems to be gunning for his head. The Merrick brothers, his grandfather, that psycho bitch Calla, who's planning awful things to do to try to draw the guides to town. Everyone. Then a new girl arrives in school, Kate. She's different but Hunter isn't sure if he can trust her, if she's playing him or not. And then shit hits the fan...
So. Hunter. Damn, that boy. I didn't even know how much was going on inside his head. He has so much issues with trusting people, which is understandable the way everyone lies to him. Most of the time I wanted to just jump inside the book and try to hug and comfort him. Not that he would allow it. He doesn't let anyone get close. I was surprised by how much I loved being inside his head and seeing his way on things. I love male point of views but his is exellent.
Right from the start I knew that Spirit was going to be nothing like Spark, which I didn't love like I did Storm. Brigid Kemmerer did say there would be more action and there was. I freaking loved it! I actually read this book in barely two days. That only happens when I really, really like a book. It was a total win!
Beside Hunter, there were a lot of other characters. Of course we have the Merrick brothers, who we all adore and love. I especially loved Michael (but then again when do I not? He's my favorite Merrick). I love how he took Hunter in when life decided to crap on his head once again. He really took care of him. I also love Gabriel and Hunter's bromance even though it was a little broken but I hope now that they will pick up where they left off. I only wished Hunter saw from the start how the Merricks weren't going to betray or just leave him.
Then there was Calla, who we already read about in Spark. Bitch is crazy, I say! Seriously psycho...
And we also had some new folks into town. Kate and Silver. I liked them. Well, as far as you can like the guides who want to come kill elementals. I didn't necessarily like Silver all that much. He was also kind of psycho. But I do dig him name.
Kate was a while different story. You can probably be guess Kate is the girl the other point of view is about. In all books the boys are finding a girl, as you might know. So it isn't surprising when Hunter and Kate get a little closer. I wasn't too sure if I liked Kate or not. I didn't know what to think of her. She was bold, a little too confident but as the book progressed we saw that it was all jusr an act and inside she's just a girl. It was then that I really begun to like her. And even the romance scene with her and Hunter were kind of steamy, in young adult style of course. Naturally, Ms. Kemmerer had to kick me back to reality with that shocking plot! I tell ya, I didn't expect it at all. And that doesn't mean it was bad or anything. I mean, what happened was bad but in the way of shocking turn of events it was awesome. I haven't read too much books lately where it took me complete by surprise.
So I said before there was more action, right? There was and it was great. Kemmerer can really write an action scene. And her writing hasn't been more excellent than with Spirit, in my eyes. Since I read this book in only two days I pretty much didn't do anything but read. I hung on every word of this book. Gasping at the turn of events and crying when things got sad. Hunter just got all under my skin with his amazingness. I really felt for him throughout all the book. He didn't deserve what happened. *starts sobbing again*
Anyway... I couldn't be more happy with the way this book turned out. It was so good and I hope Brigid Kemmerer keeps up the good work. But I think she will.
Overall Spirit was more than I could hope for with its action packed scenes, pretty hot romance (for a YA book) and exciting turn of events. Brigid Kemmerer really has a way to make me care about her characters and in Hunter's case even cry for them. I can't wait to read more of this world and see where things are going. Nick's full book is up next year and I must say I cannot wait for him and Adam to happen. I should also recommend Nick's novella, Breathless for everyone. It was superb!
Please more of this awesomeness, Ms. Kemmerer, more! =D
Status? God! She was tempted to take a picture of her middle finger and send it back. Her fingers flew across the screen. Heading to first period. Maybe you can do something more useful than texting me.
And she remembered the way he had gone from total control to utter disaster with the flip of a switch, like watching an intricate glass sculpture shatter into a thousand pieces—only to pull together again until you could barely see the seams.
Hunter leaned close. "Just to be clear: I'd know exactly what to do if you threw yourself at me." Then he was in his car, starting the ignition, leaving her in the parking lot, nothing more than a melted puddle of hot, bothered, and seriously pissed off.
"I went by the house. Tried to work things out with my mom." "You know I've got three younger brothers, right?" Hunter frowned. "What?" "It means I've got a pretty finely tuned bullshit detector."
Brigid Kemmerer finds the time to write somewhere between caring for her family and working at her day job, but sometimes she ends up mothering her coworkers and managing her family. Storm: The Elemental Series is her first novel.
About Brigid
