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…

 

Gabriel Merrick and his brothers are known as elemental’s. They each have their own unique power. In the first book, Storm, we learned about Chris, who can control water. In the second book, Spark, we learn about Gabriel, who can control fire. Gabriel has been having an extremely hard time learning to control his element. On top of that, he’s flunking math. That of course means that he’s going to be kicked out of all his sports until he can bring his grade back up.

Layne is the quiet, geeky girl who sits beside Gabriel in math. She’s a sophomore in a senior course, so obviously she’s a bit of a braniac. Layne begins to attempt to tutor Gabriel, to help bring his grades up, which brings the two of them closer together than ever.

A series of fires are breaking all over town, and each one points directly to Gabriel. Before he knows it, he’s more involved that he should be, and he’s being accused of arson. The only person who truly believes that Gabriel is innocent is Layne, and she will do everything in her power to prove him innocent.

 

After reading the first book in the elemental series, Storm, I’ve become such a huge fan of Brigid Kemmerer. I don’t say it lightly when I say that she is now one of my favorite authors. As soon as I finished Storm, I immediately picked up Spark. Gabriel was my second favorite brother in the first book, and I was so excited to get the chance to read about him and his love life.

I adored this book. Gabriel’s character was so rich and heartbreaking. I loved every moment that I got to spend with him. We get to learn a lot more about Gabe and his feelings, and everything else that happened in the past in the book. There’s still a lot more that I want to learn about the brothers, but I’m expecting to see all of that in later books.

In this book, Gabe begins a romance with a braniac girl, Layne. I loved Layne, and I thought she was perfect for Gabe. However, I’m a little tired of the topic of bullying. Kemmerer did an amazing job portraying rape and bullying in the first book, and I wish that she would have went somewhere else in this book. The third book will be about Hunter, and I’m hoping that maybe he’ll be into someone who’s not being bullied. Maybe someone who’s loud and obnoxious…almost a rebel. They don’t need to be popular, but I want a female character who doesn’t take shit from anyone.

Kemmerer always seems to choose sub topics that really mean a lot to me. In this case, she chose American Sign Language (ASL.) I have taken several ASL classes, and I am a master fingerspeller, so I was really excited that this played an important role in Spark. Layne’s little brother was deaf, and it was the sweetest thing in the world watching her and Gabe interact with him. I got very defensive over the brother. I’ve never witnessed a deaf person being bullied, and it really made me angry to read about it in this book. I wasn’t angry that it was included in the book, but I got very defensive for the brother. I just wanted to jump into the book and protect him, and I was just glad that he had other people that were willing to stand up for him.

Overall, I loved this book. I didn’t love it as much as I did Storm, which really surprised me, but I did love it. I cannot wait to read about Hunter. I’m praying to God that that won’t be the end of the series, because I am so invested and so in love with these brothers. I can’t wait to see what Kemmerer has in store next.

 

Pages: 345

Publisher: Kensington Teen

Publication Date: August 28th, 2012

Rating: : ★★★★☆

 

Teaser Quote: “A girl on the cheer squad had once asked Gabriel if having a twin was like looking in a mirror all the time. He’d asked her if being a cheerleader was like being an idiot all of the time - but really, it was a good question.”