{Short Story Sunday} Review: Breathless by Brigid Kemmerer

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Short stories are awesome.  They give us in-depth insight into characters, providing anecdotal proof of why some characters are they way they are.  They entertain by creating a certain mood or focusing on a singular effect...some instance in a previous body of work (or one to follow) that might have been glossed over or ignored completely in a longer novel. 

And so, every Sunday for the foreseeable future, I would like to highlight short stories and novellas set in worlds I've already come to love and learn a little more about some of the secondary characters in my favorite novels.  I'll be underscoring some of my favorite aspects of these short works of fiction, in addition to offering up a mini review of each work.

This week I'm featuring a short story from the Elementals world as part of the Elementals Read Along:

Title: Breathless
Author: Brigid Kemmerer
Series: Elementals, book #2.5
Publisher: Kensington/KTeen
Publication Date: April 30, 2013
Source: from publisher via Netgalley
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Too many secrets. Not enough time.

Nick Merrick is supposed to be the level-headed one. The peacemaker. Since it’s just him and his three hotheaded brothers against the world, that’s a survival tactic.

But now he’s got problems even his brothers can’t help him survive.

His so-called girlfriend, Quinn, is going quick as mercury from daring to crazy. Meanwhile, Quinn’s dancer friend Adam is throwing Nick off balance, forcing him to recognize a truth he’d rather shove back into the dark.

He can feel it—-the atmosphere is sizzling. Danger is on the way. But whatever happens next, Nick is starting to find out that sometimes nothing you do can keep the peace.

Nick is probably the Merrick brother I know the least about.  He's always been so quiet and reserved, and that rarely helps you get to know a person.  Maybe Nick's just going for that brooding, bad boy thing, but just like his brothers, I think there's more to this guy than he shows everyone else.

As usual, I'm right.  :P  Based on that summary, I had a fair idea of how this novella was going to play out, but even if I hadn't read that first, I would've picked up on the hints almost from the beginning of this short story.  Weird how I didn't see any signs of it in the previous books, though.  Maybe because of how reserved Nick is?

Anyway, despite the shortness of this story, tons happens.  All of the books and novels in this series are pretty explosive, though.  There's dancing, a softer side of Quinn (probably my least favorite character in the series, but that might have changed with this story), fighting, drinking, and yes, kissing.  And not necessarily in that order.  :P

Lawd, that kiss was HAWT!  And the revelations!!  I need Nick's full-length novel, pronto!!!  January 2014 can't come soon enough!  Though, starting Hunter's novel this week will take the edge off.  :D


Rating:  

Elementals series

About the author:

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 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 was her first novel.

Find Brigid:

Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Labels: brigid kemmerer, elementals, kensington teen, novellas, paranormal, read-along, reviews, short story sunday