Hopefully you check out my review that I posted yesterday and you enjoy the excerpt and tour wide giveaway I have to share with you today.
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The truth about her past may define her future.Sophie loves being an elemental. Being able to bend the natural world to her will is thrilling, even if the need for secrecy is putting a cramp in her dating life. Lately, though, her powers have been growing, making it difficult to resist the heady temptation to use her gifts.
Trying to balance the elemental world with having a normal life is tough enough without her overbearing, way-too-perfect, and way-too-good-looking guardian Aidan watching—and judging—her every move. The trouble is she’s not sure where she fits in and she’s sure as heck not ready to conform to stringent elemental rules.
But when secrets about her life are revealed and outside forces threaten everything Sophie holds dear, she must embrace who she is or risk losing it all.
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I trotted out to the garage behind our house, which had been converted into a fully outfitted gym with state- of -the-art machines. They seemed like a waste since Aidan preferred to torture me with CrossFit- style training, which meant lots of heavy ropes and tires. And running. Lots and lots of running. Why oh why is there so much running?
When I walked in, Aidan was pounding on a punching bag, using his normal rhythm — jab, jab, cross, jab, jab, cross. If I were blindfolded in a room full of boxers, I would have been able to pick him out. It was a music all his own. He danced around the bag, his movements graceful.
I'd once told him he moved like a ballerina, and I was probably lucky he hadn't used my face as a punching bag. I'd meant it as a compliment, but he hadn't taken it that way. Maybe I should have compared him to a bullfighter instead. I was pretty sure they were graceful. He probably would have preferred I compare him to the bull.
I watched him for a moment, admiring the way his triceps flexed with each hit. His focus was unyielding, his eyes never leaving his target. Beads of perspiration had formed in the hair at the nape of his neck, which connected to impressively defined traps. He might h ave been a domineering control freak, but he was built like a Greek god — tan with muscle lines so sharp I could cut myself on them.
Aidan turned, and his baby blues zeroed in on me as if he knew what I was thinking.
Whatever. I could appreciate that he was good-looking. That didn ’ t mean I was attracted to him.
“I'm sorry about your mom, ” I said. That probably wasn't exactly the right sentiment, but there was no good way to tactfully say, It sucks that your mom is such a bitch.
He turned back to the bag. “Nothing to be sorry about.”
Aidan didn't instruct me, which was unusual, so I started stretching on my own, figuring a run would be in the works.
"What's up with the vote?” I pulled my foot up to my butt to stretch my quad. "Why is it such a big deal? Why is Vic so angry about it?”
The process seemed perfectly democratic and civilized — voters cast their ballots, and hopefully the best option won.
"He ’ s not mad about the vote,” Aidan said, as if that should have been obvious. “He’s mad about the qualifications for elemental status.”
I’d loved my grandparents, but times like this made me angry about t heir decision to keep me removed from the elemental society only to have me thrust in to it when I was twelve. Nearly six years later, and I still wasn't caught up.
“You're going to have to fill me in.”
“They use an abilities test to determine who qualifies.”
“Oh,” I said softly, understanding.
Generally, female elementals were stronger than males. In f act, the strongest male elemental was only as powerful as the average mid-level female elemental. A lot of males — including Vic and Aidan — showed little to no ability, though they carried the trait that could be passed down to their children.
It was never something that seemed to bother them. After all, we were forbidden from using our powers anyway, so they weren't missing out on much, other than the occasional trick to keep the clouds from blocking the sun on a visit to the beach. Now their lack of ability would be used against them by a community to which they'd dedicated their whole lives.
It was utterly unfair, but no one had asked my opinion. As an underage elemental, I had no say in anything. But there had to be a better way. Maybe they could analyze our DNA or something. Was being an elemental a clear-cut part of our genes, like the X and Y chromosome? Or was it more along the lines of a sliding scale, like how a person could be three percent Native American? If that were the case, it still begged the question of where to draw the line.
Since I didn't have the answer to that dilemma, I would focus on the other one.
“What do you think about leaving the agreement?” I asked.
“I have no opinion,” he said.
Yeah, right. Aidan was many things, but neutral was not one of them. Of course, if what he said about the abilities test was true, his opinion wouldn't matter anyway.
“Come on.” He ripped the Velcro on his gloves open. “I think we need a run.”
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I trotted out to the garage behind our house, which had been converted into a fully outfitted gym with state- of -the-art machines. They seemed like a waste since Aidan preferred to torture me with CrossFit- style training, which meant lots of heavy ropes and tires. And running. Lots and lots of running. Why oh why is there so much running?
When I walked in, Aidan was pounding on a punching bag, using his normal rhythm — jab, jab, cross, jab, jab, cross. If I were blindfolded in a room full of boxers, I would have been able to pick him out. It was a music all his own. He danced around the bag, his movements graceful.
I'd once told him he moved like a ballerina, and I was probably lucky he hadn't used my face as a punching bag. I'd meant it as a compliment, but he hadn't taken it that way. Maybe I should have compared him to a bullfighter instead. I was pretty sure they were graceful. He probably would have preferred I compare him to the bull.
I watched him for a moment, admiring the way his triceps flexed with each hit. His focus was unyielding, his eyes never leaving his target. Beads of perspiration had formed in the hair at the nape of his neck, which connected to impressively defined traps. He might h ave been a domineering control freak, but he was built like a Greek god — tan with muscle lines so sharp I could cut myself on them.
Aidan turned, and his baby blues zeroed in on me as if he knew what I was thinking.
Whatever. I could appreciate that he was good-looking. That didn ’ t mean I was attracted to him.
“I'm sorry about your mom, ” I said. That probably wasn't exactly the right sentiment, but there was no good way to tactfully say, It sucks that your mom is such a bitch.
He turned back to the bag. “Nothing to be sorry about.”
Aidan didn't instruct me, which was unusual, so I started stretching on my own, figuring a run would be in the works.
"What's up with the vote?” I pulled my foot up to my butt to stretch my quad. "Why is it such a big deal? Why is Vic so angry about it?”
The process seemed perfectly democratic and civilized — voters cast their ballots, and hopefully the best option won.
"He ’ s not mad about the vote,” Aidan said, as if that should have been obvious. “He’s mad about the qualifications for elemental status.”
I’d loved my grandparents, but times like this made me angry about t heir decision to keep me removed from the elemental society only to have me thrust in to it when I was twelve. Nearly six years later, and I still wasn't caught up.
“You're going to have to fill me in.”
“They use an abilities test to determine who qualifies.”
“Oh,” I said softly, understanding.
Generally, female elementals were stronger than males. In f act, the strongest male elemental was only as powerful as the average mid-level female elemental. A lot of males — including Vic and Aidan — showed little to no ability, though they carried the trait that could be passed down to their children.
It was never something that seemed to bother them. After all, we were forbidden from using our powers anyway, so they weren't missing out on much, other than the occasional trick to keep the clouds from blocking the sun on a visit to the beach. Now their lack of ability would be used against them by a community to which they'd dedicated their whole lives.
It was utterly unfair, but no one had asked my opinion. As an underage elemental, I had no say in anything. But there had to be a better way. Maybe they could analyze our DNA or something. Was being an elemental a clear-cut part of our genes, like the X and Y chromosome? Or was it more along the lines of a sliding scale, like how a person could be three percent Native American? If that were the case, it still begged the question of where to draw the line.
Since I didn't have the answer to that dilemma, I would focus on the other one.
“What do you think about leaving the agreement?” I asked.
“I have no opinion,” he said.
Yeah, right. Aidan was many things, but neutral was not one of them. Of course, if what he said about the abilities test was true, his opinion wouldn't matter anyway.
“Come on.” He ripped the Velcro on his gloves open. “I think we need a run.”
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