BLOG TOUR # 51 - SPARK - BOOK REVIEW/ GIVEAWAYS - INTERVIEW WITH BRIGID KEMMERER - ALLEN & UNWIN - ELEMENTALS SERIES

Today on NOVELS ON THE RUN I have my review of the AWESOME book SPARK by BRIGID KEMMERER, ELEMENTALS # 2 AND  an Interview with Brigid AND..........  5 Paperbacks to Giveaway.

Thankyou to Allen & Unwin for donating these prizes, much appreciated.

Enjoy!!

Michelle

My Review of Storm

Check Left side bar for Elemental # .5

Fearless # 1.5

Reviews

By: Brigid Kemmerer
Published By: Allen & Unwin
Released: Available Now
Details: Paperback for review, 338 Pages

RATING: 5 HOT GABRIEL STARS!! 

Gabriel Merrick plays with fire. Literally.

Sometimes he can even control it. And sometimes he can’t. Like the fire that killed his parents.

Gabriel has always had his brothers to rely on, especially his twin, Nick. But when an arsonist starts wreaking havoc on their town, all the signs point to Gabriel. Only he’s not doing it.

More than Gabriel’s pride is at stake -- this could cost him his family, maybe his life. And no one seems to hear him. Except a shy sophomore named Layne, a brainiac who dresses in turtlenecks and jeans and keeps him totally off balance. Layne understands family problems, and she understands secrets. She has a few of her own.

Gabriel can’t let her guess about his brothers, about his abilities, about the danger that’s right at his heels. But there are some risks he can’t help taking.

The fuse is lit…

BOOK REVIEW by Michelle :

I sooooo LOVE Brigid’s YA voice. She draws the reader in from the first page. Her fictional story is so believable. I am there! I am a part of the story. The research she puts into her elements is noticeable.

In Storm , book # 1 , Chris who is paired up with water, is written so perfect. I ‘felt’ the Storm, the wind, the rain. Chris’ character felt very 3D.

In Spark, book # 2, Gabriel who is paired with fire, WOW! I thought Brigid did an even better job of the element Fire, her descriptive leaps off the page. I was in that fire, I was feeling that fire. Fire is living, talking. It speaks to Gabriel. It knows what Gabriel wants, needs.

WOW!

“Come. Play.” 

Brigid’s male voice for all her boys is brilliant. She writes males so well. She writes ALL her characters so well. I have two teenage boys and a tween girl.

Brigid. Gets. Boys. 

She knows how to bring them to life on paper, kicking, fighting, being stupid, lying, hurting and loving.

The brother dynamic, the twin dynamic, the friend dynamic, she writes it so well.

The scenes in this book, especially the fire scenes, visually were brilliant.

I love Simon and Layne. They brought something extra to this story.

Hunter. The bromance with Gabriel, I feel like Hunter is lonely, he and Gabriel fit nicely, but.....

The brothers Merrick are all getting older, even though the story time wise has only moved on a bit from Storm. Things are changing.

Gabriel and Nicky, the twins, there is a shift in their dynamic. It was kind of sad to watch it happen. No matter what, they are always ultimately in the end there for each other.

I loved the villain side to the story. Brigid is always good at keeping it fairly well hidden. We are throwing names about in our head, but in the end, she pulls a swifty on us. I love this!

Gabriel has an awesome voice. I love him to death. He has that rebel bad boy in him, but he has a lot of love to give and he knows how to use it right. He knows when he is wrong. It may take a while, but he figures it out. He carries a lot of blame and hurt. 

Gabriel’s character really got under my skin. He made me laugh at his snark and he made me sad. He was trying so hard to figure it all out by himself. He doesn’t want to talk to Michael. Being in his head while he was working it all out, the pages turned, and I just wanted to give him a hug.

Michael. I love this guy. He didn’t ask to become the parent figure. A house of teenage boys, not an easy thing to keep guarded when they don’t make it easy. He just doesn’t complain. I got a big lump in my throat with a particular scene involving coffee and a game.

I am a little nervous for Hunter in Spirit, but I can’t wait. I am so looking forward to seeing how Hunter’s Spirit element is written . After reading the extract of Spirit at the end of Spark........eeeeeeeeeeep! That black page, it felt very dramatic!

I highly recommend Brigid’s Elementals series. I simply adore her YA voice it translates so well for adults to enjoy. I will be rather sad when there is no more to read.

Michelle

INTERVIEW with BRIGID KEMMERER

Michelle:  Hi Brigid, yes I am another Aussie fan, we get all fan girlie down here when we get onto an awesome book series. You have a wonderful YA voice in your writing but it also translates so well for adults to read and enjoy your writing. I love your writing and I am a lot older than a teenager , I actually have a couple teenagers myself.

I’ve been doing my regular “pre write the interview Q’s snoop”, to see what I shouldn’t be asking as it already may have been asked. I found out you live outside of Baltimore Maryland , Storm was your debut novel and you are working on a ‘super sekrit-projekt’. If two books had a baby named Storm the parents would be The Perfect Chemistry series by Simone Elkeles and the Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J.R. Ward ( Niiicccccee!!)

Describing the Elemental ‘magic’ would be this mash up of a couple interviews you did and the response you gave. I liked this very simple to understand response you gave plus how you actually say it in Storm using Becca and Chris.

“Imagine a five pointed star in a circle. Everyone on earth lives inside that circle. People who fall on a branch of the star have a strong affinity for that element. People who fall on a point can control that element — the Elementals(Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Spirit) . Unfortunately, this power makes Elementals marked for death, because the Guides — Elementals who fall on the fifth point, for Spirit — have decided that individuals with so much power are too dangerous to live. Those who fall directly on a point (like the Merrick brothers in STORM) can control that element.”

Michelle:  Brigid, thank you for taking the time to answer my Q & A’s , being a mum , wife, having a day job and being a successful writer with deadlines , is a busy day ..... repeat and rinse. Thank you for writing the tales of the Merrick brothers and Hunter for us to enjoy.

Brigid:  I can’t even begin to tell you how much I appreciate you doing your research before sending me interview questions!

Hehe!!  NERD ALERT!!!

Michelle:  As we are an Australian blog, I thought I would start by asking have you ever been to Australia ? If not, what is your impression of Australian people? You have chatted and friended many Australian bloggers. ( Is friended a word, lol?) 

Brigid:  Friended is totally a word! :) I have never been to Australia, but all the people I’ve met on this publication journey have been so amazing that I tell my husband at least once a week, “We absolutely must visit there.” I tell him at least once a month that we should probably move there. :-P Seriously, you’re all amazing. I was trying to write an Aussie character into Spirit, but the guy turned out to be a total ass, and I just couldn’t do that to you all. So I made him French. No! OMG. I’m totally kidding.

Michelle:  What Aussie food would you love to try, or is there something you would not like to try?

Brigid:  Okay, so I was shocked that Outback Steakhouse in Australia serves American food. I mean, I’m pretty sure they serve American food here, too (I mean honestly), but that was one of those things that just about knocked me off my chair. I don’t eat seafood, so I probably wouldn’t try shrimp on the barbie. (Do you really call it that?)

Michelle:  OOoo Nooo, shrimp are these wee little things. When I fished the Murray river as a kid with my nan, we used them as bait. Prawns are what you put on the barbie :)

Michelle:  I have a friend who is an author in the UK and his wife is nicknamed ‘The Hacker’, most affectionately of course, she is his strongest and most honest critic. They have this great team thing going on. Do you have a team thing, with your hubby, in regards to your writing?

Brigid:  Yes! My husband is my best friend. I could not do this without him. So here, I’ll tell you a story. When I got the news that I had an offer for Storm, it was the same week I got a positive pregnancy test. (Big week!) I already had one son, who’d been an easy baby, so I wasn’t stressed about trying to meet deadlines with an infant in the house. Well, fast forward nine months. I was trying to write Spark and the novella Elemental, and my baby had terrible colic. At the same time, my husband was also taking some night classes to finish his degree. The baby was constantly screaming, and wouldn’t sleep more than 90 minutes at a stretch. The Kemmerer household was in a constant state of stress and frustration and exhaustion. Our marriage was really being strained pretty much as far as it could go. One night, my husband said, “Hey, why don’t we start having study dates? After we get the kids in bed, we’ll make a pot of coffee. You write, I’ll do school work, and we’ll help each other.” It was brilliant. Totally reminded me why I was so in love with this man.

Awwwwww...

Michelle:  If you could be a paranormal being for a day, what type of being would you like to be and what would you like to do?

Brigid:  I would love to have wings. The first story I wrote (in eighth grade) was about a boy with wings.

Michelle:  Is there anything that you keep as a reminder of how far you have come as an author? Do you keep a type of scrapbook to show your children when they are old enough to appreciate what their mum has achieved?

Brigid:  Hey, now that’s a great idea! I should start one! No, I don’t keep anything. But I constantly remind myself of where I was. I don’t ever want to forget.

Michelle:   Is there anything special you like to do when one of your books hits the shelf?

Brigid:  Sadly, I’m really not a celebration person. When I finish a book, people always ask, “What did you do to celebrate?” And my answer almost always is, “Um…I started the next one…?”

Michelle:  Here is one of my FAVE q’s I like to ask. Yes, it’s the music Q.

Would you please be able to give me a song that best describes:

Becca, Michael, Gabriel, Nicky , Chris and Hunter, each.

Brigid:  Oh wow, I don’t have a song for all of them. BUT! I do have a song that I’ve come to think of as the theme song for the Elemental series: Something Beautiful by NeedToBreathe

See this is why I LOVE asking this Q. I learn new songs. This is PERFECT!!!!!!!! 

Michelle:  Spirit is the next book to hit the shelves May 2013. Would you please be able to give a quote from Spirit. We don’t need to know names, as in who said it, if possible? Please J 

If not, cool.

Brigid:  Yes! I’ll share my favourite little snippet. Though please note that this is pre-editing and may change in the final edition:

Hunter kept trying to tell his own body that she was injured, that she was seeking warmth, that this had nothing to do with anything.

His body was replying, DUDE. SHE IS NOT WEARING PANTS.


* waggles eyebrows* 

Michelle:  Thank you again Brigid for taking the time out of your uber , uber busy multi tasking day to answer my Q’s, it is much appreciated. See, I was dying to ask about the ‘Super sekrit projekt’, but I didn’t.......heheeeee!! Seriously, I am uber intrigued........

Brigid:  My pleasure! Thank you so much for having me! J

GIVEAWAY TIME

ALLEN & UNWIN

Kindly donated 5 SPARK Paperbacks

5 winners!

AUSSIE ADDRESSES ONLY

SORRY

Starts NOW

ENDS 28th OCTOBER 2012

Leave a comment about interview, the book....

Your email address

GOOD LUCK!!

Rachel @ The Rest is Still Unwritten is up 15th October so be sure to check out her tour stop.

Michelle

AWESOME!

BRIGID'S PLAYLIST AT BACK OF SPARK

Some of her playlist....you will have to get the book to see the rest:)

BLOW - Keisha

Brigid would blast the song in her headphones and write Gabriel's scenes.  AWESOME!!!!!!

STRONGER - Kelly Clarkson

Girl Power song - Layne would love.

WE ARE YOUNG - Fun

Brigid imagined this song playing in background with a scene with Layne and Gabriel.

STEREO HEARTS - Gym Class Heroes

FT. Adam Levine

Brigid thinks this captures Layne and Gabriel's romance.

MEAN - Taylor Swift

About standing up to bullies.
 Brigid listened on repeat about 100 X


EVERYBODY - Ingrid Michaelson




Backdrop for writing Hannah & Michael



GOOD FEELING - Flo Rida


Great backdrop for action scenes.


WITHOUT YOU - David Guetta 
FT. Usher



Romantic song that makes Brigid swoon for Layne and Gabriel

OOO YEAH!!!
I LURVE this song!!


START A FIRE - Ryan Star




Brigid thinks this could be Gabriel's theme song.


YOUR GUARDIAN ANGEL - The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus




Power Ballad. Brigid thinks it works for both Layne & Gabriel.
They are each others guardian angel.

Awwwwwwww!!!  *Sniff* 



YOU'RE GONNA GO FAR, KID - The Offspring




Angry song, intense and challenging.
What Brigid expects Gabriel to have blasting from his headphones.



WHEN SHE TURNS 18 - Christian TV




Brigid thinks the perfect song for a boy telling off the father of his girlfriend.