He wanted to reach out and undo the elastic at the end of her braid, to let her hair come loose, to see what she looked like when she wasn’t hiding behind this wall of I don’t care.This is Young Adult writing at it's best. I loved Spark and it was Gabriel Merrick that stole my heart in this book. I feel like i'm rambling because I just finished and I have that after glow when you've read a great book and need to tell others about it but every thing sounds so lame...Spark is Gabriel Merrick's story. He's the twin brother to Nick and part of the gifted Merrick clan, his older brother Michael is taking care of the family business and he's the guardian for all three Merrick Boys. Gabriel Element is Fire, but he's just coming into his abilities and is having a hard time using his Element let alone controlling it. He's a seventeen, living with this ability but not able to tell anyone but his brothers about it. When he stumbles into Layne in math class. Gabriel is struggling with Math, he's gotten in trouble with his new teacher and now he cannot try out for the basketball team, but Layne has offered to help. Then someone start setting house fires and Gabiriel and Hunter find themselves rescuing those who would have parished in the fire. But Michael is convinced it's Gabriel setting the fires and now the guides are closing in.“Let me know if those dicks mess with you again.” “Why?” she said, her voice flat again. “You gonna rumble under the bleachers?” “What does that mean?”What I enjoyed most about Spark was how smooth this book felt. The transitions were seamless, the writing was descriptive and engaging, characteres were layed. It was one fun ride. I read this book in 24 hrs and once I was able to remember the previous book and the characters just clicked for me. The concep of the series Elemental has been done before but I just am amazing at how Ms. Kemmerer is able to write the emotions and even the thinking process of a seventeen year old boy so perfectly. Let alone being in the head of Layne, she's not perect (no one is) but she lives in this perfect house, her parents are rich but what she wants from them doesn't cost a dime. She wants their time, to spend precious minutes with them, and feel like they really want to be with her.“Are you all right?” Gabriel nodded. Michael ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “I swear to god, you guys are going to give me gray hair before I hit twenty-five.” He wasn’t mad. Gabriel stared at him.In conclusion, Spark is solid addition to the Elemental Series, Gabriel was so fun to read and his internal struggle and coming to terms with his abilites made for a great book. I enjoyed him seeing Layne for what she really is, beautiful. I can see how Ms. Kemmerer is setting up the other stories to come and I cannot wait to jump right into [b:Breathless|15819003|Breathless (Elemental, #2.5)|Brigid Kemmerer|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1358178247s/15819003.jpg|21547696] and read more about Nick.
