Book Review | Secret | Brigid Kemmerer

Title: Secret
Author: Brigid Kemmerer (web | twitter)
Series: The Elemental Series #4
Genre: Contemporary YA, Paranormal YA, brothers
Amazon | Goodreads | B&N
Publisher: Kensington Teen
Release date: January 28, 2014
Source: ARC from the publisher via NetGalley (Thanks, Kensington!)
Related books: Storm, Spark, Spirit

EARTH. FIRE. AIR. WATER.

Nick Merrick is stretched to breaking point. He’s trying to keep his grades sky-high or he won’t get in to college. He’s trying to keep his brother’s business afloat or the Merricks will be out on the street. He’s trying to keep the secret of where he’s going in the evenings from his twin brother Gabriel – or he fears he’ll lose his family. And he’s trying to keep his mind off the hot, self-assured dancer who is his ‘girlfriend’s’ partner.

And then Quinn takes to hanging around his sworn enemy, and an Elemental Guide is counting the hours until he can try again to kill the Merrick brothers. Storms are brewing. On all sides.

SECRETS IN THE WIND. DANGER IN THE AIR.

It is no secret, friends, that I ADORE Brigid Kemmerer’s Elementals series. Ever since I read the first prequel novella I’ve been hooked on these stories about the Merrick brothers: Orphans who can control the elements and are trying to stay alive without being killed by a group of people called the Guides, whose main purpose is to eradicate elementals entirely. When I read the novella Breathless–it takes place between books 3 and 4–and understood where things were going to go in SECRET for Nick Merrick, the family’s air elemental, I was both totally surprised and anxious-excited. Reading about Nick coming to terms with who he is and how it will affect his life and his brothers and his relationship with Quinn was heartwarming and heart-breaking and full of emotional drama. SECRET is another excellent installment in Brigid Kemmerer’s awesome series. READ THESE. LIKE, NOW. (Ahem. Please.)

In SECRET, Nick Merrick is facing lots of struggles. He’s coming to grips with his sexuality and his fledgling relationship with Adam; he’s trying to decide how to tell his brothers, most especially his twin, Gabriel; he is struggling with finding a way to go to college and do things for himself instead of others; his girlfriend/girl friend Quinn is having all kinds of problems of her own; and, of course, there are Guides wandering around trying to kill everyone he loves. Again. Drama on many fronts! Poor Nick. But! SECRET isn’t just about Nick–it’s about Quinn too, and poor girl is dealing with some SHIZZZZ at home and in her personal life too. Both of them are trying to wade through some intense things.

I have to applaud Brigid Kemmerer, you guys. SECRET is such a wonderful story, and Nick is so easy to empathize with. It’s so easy to feel his conflicts and struggles and sadness and fear, even when it’s not something every reader might understand on a personal level. You feel everything all the same. I can’t even tell you the number of times during SECRET when I wanted to just hop right into the pages and SMOTHER NICK WITH SMOOSHY HUGS. I cried a few times for him. Unlike his brother Gabriel, Nick internalizes everything and in previous stories often seemed to fade into the background (to me at least). I loved that he got to shine here, and I not only wanted him to be happy with himself, I also wanted him to be happy in life and everything. I loved him and wanted good things for him.

As always, I have to tell you all how much I love these brothers. I love that they are fiercely loyal and close but also real. They disagree, get into fights, and act like jerks (possibly this is mostly Gabriel). I also love that they all wind up being supportive of Nick in their own ways. Umm, like Michael. Who is my favorite brother and who is his amazing self in SECRET. But also Chris, who has a lovely moment as well, and Hunter, their brother from another mother.

But Nick isn’t the only character in SECRET! Quinn has agreed to be Nick’s decoy girlfriend, but as things with Nick heat up, Quinn is left to her own devices, and since her home life is horrible, she’s driven to start hanging out with and maybe developing feelings for Tyler, a kid who hates the Merrick’s. Guys, if I wanted to hop into this book and give Nick smooshy hugs, I wanted to do the same for Quinn. Her family is a nightmare, and she’s dancing not only to live a dream but also merely to stay the hell away from her batshizz cray mother. She’s dealing with bff troubles as well that have been brewing for a long time. I enjoyed reading about Quinn finding her way, too. I love her personality. She’s blunt and daring and sad, and I was glad to see things looking up for her.

Of course, there’s also romance in SECRET, which Brigid Kemmerer does really well as always. There’s steamy scenes and feelings and butterflies all over the place. Adam and Tyler, the love interests, are well-rounded characters who are more than they seem at first, particularly Tyler. Getting to see him with Quinn showing a different side of himself than we’ve gotten to see before was great. And I couldn’t love Adam more. Really.

There is so much drama on so many different levels in SECRET. The personal stories are emotional and intense, and the main arc with the Guides and their repeated attempts to kill the Merricks amps up at the end. I’m dying–DYINGGG–to read Michael’s book (the 5th and final installment) not only because he has always been my favorite brother, but because I can’t wait to see how Brigid Kemmerer is going to wrap things up. I am such a huge fan of this series and it’s so under the radar. I wish more people would read it because they would not be disappointed.

Check out some other reviews of Secret by Brigid Kemmerer!

Nikki @ There Were Books Involved: “Secret is probably is the most character-driven story out of all of them so far, and honestly? I think that’s why I loved it so much.”

Sam @ Realm of Fiction: “This series has some of the best character development arcs that I’ve seen in YA recently.”

Alexa @ Alexa Loves Books: “Reading Secret was incredible. There was just so much raw emotion pouring off these pages (and I’m almost certain Nick used his abilities to feed the feelings to me through the air).”