I didn't really connect with this book. It was fine, but just.... I didn't connect with the characters.

I love this cover and was super excited to read Firestorm after the blurb. While I enjoyed it, it wasn’t my favorite. The characters were okay but in the end I just felt blah about the whole thing. Having said that, I won’t deny that my mood may have played part in how I felt about the story.

Firestorm by Caitlin Ricci is an urban fantasy romance. For thousands of years the Elementals have chosen people to be their vessels as they help control the natural world and protect the people in it. Dante, Elijah, Stephen, and Christian are the latest generation of vessels. Stephen and Christian are destined to be together as Wind and Earth; Dante and Elijah as Water and Fire. Then Elijah dies abruptly, tearing Dante apart. Fire is reborn in Nicholai, and destined to be Dante's new mate—but Dante doesn't want someone new, and Nicholai is far too young to understand his new role and all his future will hold. As the years pass and Nicholai grows, Dante's constant refusals harden Nicholai against their bond, straining the relationship between all the vessels. But if they're going to protect the world and ensure a future—for themselves and everyone else—they'll have to find a way to get beyond their pasts and let old wounds heal.

Firestorm is labeled romance, and while it is about two people slowly, ever so slowly finding their way to each other. I had read one novella from the author in the past, and that had my thinking I would find something with similarly deep characters and romance. To be honest, I felt like this story fell into the trap of telling rather than showing and of having a character that I just could not like. Dante lost his partner- in work and love- and when the Elemental his partner housed is reborn in a new baby he shut down. I get grief, and I get not looking for a relationship with someone so much younger, but he was just a jerk. He could not even be nice to a kid tossed into a role he had no choice in. Nicholai is seems like a good kid- but as he grows the only thing I feel like I knew about him is his horrible childhood and suicidal tendencies. I just never connected or was able to care about either one of them, I cared more about the secondary characters- and frankly I did not think about them much at all.

Firestorm is a book that disappointment me. I had high hopes for and was left with those hopes dashed and wondering just what I had read. I will try another book from the author, at some point, but I will not be rushing at this point.

This was a supernatural book with a May/December romance at its core, and one that I think I would have liked more if it hadn't skipped through time (20+ years overall) quite so fast and often.

The book opens with Dante mourning the death of his lover, Elijah. However, to further complicate it, he and Elijah house two of the four elemental deities: Water and Fire. So, not only does Dante have his grief to deal with, but he has to acknowledge the fact that Fire is going to be reincarnated back again into the world in the body of someone else.

He doesn't come to terms with this very fast or well. Fair enough.

At the start, it seemed really reasonable. The person being reincarnated with Fire within him was a baby, and there is 20 years between them. But the continued antagonism lasts well beyond Nicholai coming into majority. It's around the time that both of the other elementals, Stephen and Christian (AKA: Wind and Earth) start finding criticisms with Dante's behaviour that I started finding it difficult to parse him as well.

If that wasn't enough, we see that Nicholai's upbringing is fairly lonely and leaves a lot to be desired in general. From his earliest memories, he is told that one day he will end up being Dante's partner, which is only one thing that leads him to disappointment as the story goes on.

Although the writing of the prose was quite entertaining, and the supernatural plot was captivating, I wasn't quite sold on the romance between the two main characters.

As a reader of slash fanfiction, I expected Firestorm to be right up my alley, and in a lot of ways it was. Unfortunately, I came out of it wanting just a little bit more.

The concept is a contemporary fantasy, where there are four young men that are hosts to elemental spirits. They use their powers to deal with natural disasters, and they live together, with Fire (Elijah) and Water (Dante) being a romantic couple, as are Earth and Air (Stephen and Christian). But at the start of the novella, when they are twenty, Fire dies in a car crash. Water is devastated, and even more so when almost immediately, the Fire spirit chooses a newborn as his new host. They are supposed to be partners, as soon as the boy grows up, but he doesn't want this interloper, he just wants to mourn his dead lover.

The new Fire (Nicholai) ends up on the outside growing up, pulled to Dante, but rejected. Instead he ends up on his own, working solo as much as possible, until Dante pulls his head out of his ass. I doubt it's much of a spoiler to say that they do end up together eventually, after the Elijah's secrets are exposed.

I liked the world, although I wondered how the three that are together are living in relative obscurity in a small town when they aren't needed. Wouldn't there be tourists that come to try to gawk at them? Wouldn't religious nuts want to kill them? Wouldn't the government want to lock them up in protective custody because they are too valuable to run around (let alone die in a car crash behind the wheel). And what about the fact that Fire was 'reborn' in a different country? Do they get paid? By who, since they are called all over the world? I would expect them to have giant bank accounts, but I can't figure out if they have any money at all.

My biggest problem is that when Nicholai is around Dante, Dante acts like he's the younger one, even though it's clear that he's at least twenty years older than his new partner. It's referred to on a physical basis from time to time, but even at forty, he still tends to behave like a petulant teenager, despite the influence of an immortal elemental. And the elementals are petty enough that, for example, Fire doesn't let Nicholai have any real lovers, since Fire wants Water, but Dante doesn't want Nicholai.

I was also left wondering about the fallout of the final twist in the story. We never find out what the reaction of others is to it.

I would have liked to have had the world fleshed out a little more, which would expand the novella to a full novel. Still, it was a nice little bonbon of a read. Just don't expect any depth to it.

I expected Firestorm to be a book with highly complex characters, a hard to build relationship, but the more I read about it, the more nonsense it became. I gave it a chance over and over again, and I used willpower to finish the book, but now I can only be sure I won’t read anything from this author in the near future.
First of all, we have a complex couple, or not a couple at all, Dante and Nicholai. When we learn that these are meant to be partners after Dante lost his former lover, we expect it to be complicated, a relationship with ups and downs, but none of that. This hurt guy mourns for twenty years, as impossible as it sounds, and during that time he bullies the boy who received the elemental that left Elijah when he died.
I’m the first one to curse those who include spoilers in their reviews, but for heaven’s sake, how can anyone expect me to believe that a guy can fall in love with the man that has been an ass with him since he was born, twenty years ago? I’m not buying it, not at all. Yes, the elementals are in love, they are fated to be together and mortals can do nothing against that, but think a little about this and you’ll do the math.
The thing I hate the most is that this book tries to convince the reader that it doesn’t matter how hurt you are, how long you’ve been bullied, and how bad you were treated by someone, you can still love them. Are you kidding me? I do admit it’s a touchy subject since I was a bullied at school, but that gives me enough confidence to say that, even if you forgive those who hurt you, you’re not willing to cuddle, kiss and have sex with them.
On top of that, the author pretends that someone can change his mind in a couple of nights or so, that it takes only a heavy talk with the new vessel of the elemental and a bunch of hurtful words, and he suddenly becomes Prince Charming, a Prince that, on his fifties, speaks just as he was a teenager. I know I’m reading fantasy, but again, how can someone expect me to believe that?

I read about a quarter of this book and decided to give up. To be fair to the publishers I will not be posting a full review on my blog, because I don't feel like I can pass a good judgement on the book without reading all of it. But I really couldn't force myself to read this. First off, the scene that was meant to capture my attention and break my heart at the start of this book was so rushed and brushed over that it didn't have any emotional impact at all. I also found the idea of fire being reborn into a child, while they were still ageing, to be a little bit too weird for me. It would have been better if fire was passed on to someone who is already Dante's age. It was just... yeah.... I really didn't like the writing style either and the characters annoyed me so much. They were so childish and immature about Nicholai and it really wound me up.
I have a lot of books I need to read at the moment, and I don't think this book is worth spending any more time reading. Some people may enjoy it, but it just wasn't for me personally.

The four elements are housed in four men. Dante and Elijah are Water and Fire elements, Stephen and Christian are Wind and Earth. Two couples who help their elements for the betterment of mankind. The elements have been reborn in men for a very long time.

When Elijah is killed, fire is reborn in Nicholai. Dante wants nothing to do with with him. Missing Elijah and being so much older cause Dante to reject Nicholai over and over.

Dante, for most part was very unlikable. He couldn't grasp that his treatment of Nicholai was unacceptable and childish. Even though they were meant to be together it just didn't work for me. The premise of the book was interesting but I felt it just needed more. The ending was also kind of abrupt.

3 stars

I had a hard time getting into this story. The story felt robotic. It never evoked any emotion for or connection with the characters.

I voluntarily read an advanced copy.

With my review i will give an impression of my feelings and experience
The blurb explaince the contant perfectly so I will not tell this here.

For me this was a masterpiece!
My heart cracked more than once... and... for more than one reason.
Oh God... I cried my eyes out...
But....also I got angry and annoyed and deeply sad.
These Elementals, for thousands of years together and now two of them apart Fire and Water.
They desperately wanted to be together, with their partner... I wanted to pull my hair out and scream for them.

Nicholai says the most deeply touching things. I was flabbergasted, it touched me on a profound level. God knows I cried....my heart hurts..

It felt so desperate at times and I had the strong feeling and fear that it would never be oke or good again. How can someone so deeply hurt from of childhood till now ever recover and still have so much love in them.

How all the elements behave as element ánd how they behave in their host... and how the men/hosts behave with this all, was just outstanding... my head had to switch sometimes from fantasy to reality back to fantasy... I got stuck sometimes when I was too deep into the story and had to take a step back to understand it as it was... amazing done btw.

Nicholai was the mature one in this story I had so much respect for him. Dante... what can I say about him... read it yourself I don't want to spoil...

Very well written story and unbelievable good put together. I read it in one breath. Amazingly captivating journey with impressive surroundings.

I was so glad the story wasn't predictable and that it surprised me at major moments.
One small tiny setback ...at the end... I would have loved to see more intensity of them...

Recommend

Book – Firestorm
Author – Caitlin Ricci
Star rating - ★★★☆☆
No. of Pages – 115
Cover – Perfect!
POV – 1st person, dual POV
Would I read it again – No
Genre – LGBT, Fantasy, Paranormal/Supernatural, May/December
Content Warning – death, cheating


** COPY RECEIVED THROUGH NETGALLEY **


Okay, so...I'm confused.

I'll be honest. I saw the title, the cover, and Caitlin Ricci and snapped this up the minute I saw it. I read the blurb and though it sounded confusing (I couldn't picture how it all came together in my head) I was seriously intrigued.

Now that I've read it, I barely know what to think. I found the writing confusing, which I'm not used to from this author. Normally the writing is spot on to my tastes, but this one was a whole heap of a mess that has me baffled. The editing was all over the place, with missing words constantly breaking the flow of reading and the understanding of the sentence, e.g.:
“Do you know what does to a kid?”
“I had a quickly forming but I had to keep going,”
“I'd never forgive him for so don't worry,”
These are just a few of the confusing instances, but there were lots more.

On top of the choppy writing style and bad editing, there was a lot more telling than showing. I also found the characters a bit lacking – I never liked Dante, not at any point, and found him to be a judgmental, angry, hypocrit who didn't deserve an ounce of Nicholai's attention. And I found their relationship to be seriously lacking in free will. I appreciated that the subject of their emotions and their attention being forced on them by the elementals they were possessed by, but I still found that Nicholai was raised to believe his partner would be Dante and he never strayed from that belief. Even if he tried to be with other people, it felt more self destructive and a way to get back at Dante and to desperately seek out someone who could care for him than an actual attempt to build a relationship.

I found the aspect of elementals hard to grasp, at first. The storytelling was often choppy and confusing to follow. What I got from it were that Elementals were Gods of Fire, Water, Earth and Wind, and they possessed a human vessel to help them protect the human world from natural disasters. That part is awesome and really original. Then there comes the awkward part of Fire and Water being partners, both in work and in love, as well as Earth and Wind being partners. Which means that the humans of the story – Dante (Water), Elijah (Fire), Stephen (Wind) and Christian (Earth) – face a huge problem when Elijah dies in a freak car accident...which happens on page one. It was all so sudden and put into a telling rather than showing short chapter that should have been a Prologue that it felt completely out of place, right from the start. Then, these teenagers discovered that a new Fire had been born just a few months later, which meant that the entire way through the novel Dante and Nicholai (the new fire) were facing a 19 year age gap.

I understood Dante's grief over losing Elijah, but the way he punished Nicholai for being the new Fire vessel was not okay with me. He had the benefit of growing up with three best friends who had helped him grow and adapt to his powers, but he consciously and deliberately left Nicholai to grow up alone, without any hope or benefit from their advice or experiences. He grew up alone, bitter, and rejected by everyone from his parents to the very elementals who should have accepted him. All because Dante was a self-righteous prick and neither Stephen nor Christian were willing to rock the boat and smack him into place. It was made all the more frustrating when we finally got Nicholai's POV in Chapter 4, when he was sixteen, and had to see how clearly their rejection hurt him.

Overall, I'm sorry to say that while I loved parts of the story – the original plot and the entire aspect of Nicholai and Fire – I found the chemistry lacking, the emotions portrayed to be a rollercoaster of dangerous mental health issues. There wasn't one time when I didn't worry about Nicholai's mental health. Or when I didn't scream at Dante for rejecting him as a child. And I never bought into the May/December romance that was forced upon them, and which Dante succumbed to in the end with so much ease. I just felt far too forced for my liking.
I ended the story feeling like Nicholai deserved so much better than Dante and Dante didn't deserve to have someone like Nicholai care about him. In all honestly, I spent 50% of the book hoping Nicholai would find someone else, or either he or Dante would die in a freak accident and Fire and Water would be reborn into a new couple who could tolerate each other. Anything would have been better than watching Nicholai suffer through 100+ pages of rejection and torment.
For me, there was no happy ending. There never could have been, as long as Nicholai held onto the hope that he and Dante would somehow, eventually, be together.
In the end, I gave it 3 stars for originality and for Nicholai. I took two away for the editing issues, the ending, and for Dante.

~

Favourite Quote

“They'd always been the elementals to me. They were way up there on a pedestal and I was somewhere below. I wasn't exactly human, but I wasn't one of them either.”

“Don't worry about me. You've pushed me away enough times to make me practically stone at this point.”