Character Interview: Gabriel and Layne from Spark

I don't think I can coherently express my excitement over today's interview given the fact it features Gabriel and Layne from the second book in Brigid Kemmerer's paranormal young adult series, Spark (you can read my review here). I was a little late to the Merrick brothers party (*pats self on back for a job well done*), arriving after much swooning and gushing took place, and wondering just what exactly I was so clearly missing out on. Let me tell you something. I was missing out on a lot. A LOT. A lot of hotness. A lot of family drama. A lot of pain and heartache. And a lot of hotness. That bears mentioning twice:) Gabriel, one of the loves of my life, is here today along with girlfriend Layne to answer a few questions for me, I hope you guys enjoy the interview!

Layne, let’s flash back to the moment you first laid eyes on Gabriel. If in that moment you had to assign an element to him, would you have chosen fire?

Layne: *blushes* The moment I first laid eyes on him? He was hot. So, yes, fire would have been my first guess.

Gabriel, your mouth gets you in trouble more often than not. Can you give us a single instance with either Layne or your brothers where you would have rewound events if possible and kept your mouth shut?

Gabriel: Dude, there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t wish for a rewind button.

Neither of your parents really knows you very well Layne. If you could tell your dad one thing about you that he doesn’t know about what makes you you, what would you tell him? About Simon?

Layne: My dad is kinda overprotective, so I don’t think I’d tell him much of anything about me. He already knows too much. *frowns* I do wish he knew how much Simon loves basketball, though. My little brother might be deaf, but he sure can play.

Gabriel, what’s one thing you think Michael has done well in raising the three of you?

Gabriel: *snorts* Staying alive this long.

After spending a great deal of time with Gabriel (lucky girl) and coming to understand him on a variety of levels, how do you think he would describe himself? How does that differ from how you would describe him? Gabriel, same question to you regarding Layne.

Layne: I think Gabriel thinks he’s a screwup. I think he’s brave and fearless.

Gabriel: And hot, right?

Layne: I already said you’re hot. Your turn.

Gabriel: *shrug* I think Layne thinks she’s damaged. I think she’s perfect.

Gabriel, do you think Quinn will grow on you?

Gabriel: *rolls eyes* I doubt it.

Layne, when did you first know that Gabriel was more than the thug/bad boy you originally took him for?
Layne: When he played basketball with Simon. No one ever wants to play with the deaf kid, and he acted like it was no big deal.

Gabriel: It wasn’t a big deal. He’s a good player.

If you could both ask each other one question you had to answer truthfully right now, what would you ask? And how would you both answer?

Gabriel: *deadpan* Layne, do you want to see me naked?

Layne: There’s no way I’m following that.

Um. Layne? The answer to that question is YES. Just saying. Thanks so much for stopping by both of you! More information on Brigid and her books can be found here:

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SPARK

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…

Review: Spark

SPARK (Elemental #2)

Brigid Kemmerer
Paranormal Young Adult
432 pages
Kensington Teen
Available August 28th
Received from publisher via NetGalley

THE STORY (from Goodreads)

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…

MY THOUGHTS
Spark is a story we enter into expecting to be entertained, the high from our introduction to four very attractive brothers with control over the elements in the first book still lingering despite how much time may have passed since we read it. What we don’t necessarily expect is a far more emotional story than we got with Storm, Spark possessing a more visceral quality to it that has us checking the pads of our fingers for small cuts every so often as the venom Gabriel is so talented at unleashing seems to make the edges of the paper pages that much sharper. Gabriel’s story is challenging and often times frustrating, his temper something both he as well as we as readers struggle with throughout, but the difficulties we all face are what make his tale so rewarding, the rough journey ensuring his footprints on our hearts are in no danger of washing away with the tide of the next book we pick up.

Gabriel is a character who at first glance seems shockingly transparent – the beautiful bad boy who’s likely to take a swing at someone first and apologize never – but as the story continues he becomes increasingly complex, everything we thought we had figured out proving to be but a sliver of a bigger whole. The more time we spend with him, the more we learn to understand the language of his violence, each balled fist and mocking insult telling the person he’s aimed them at that he’s nothing more than a belligerent asshole, but once we know how to read him those same acts of aggression reveal to us small pieces of what he’s truly feeling. Gabriel expects everyone—especially his brothers – to think the worst of him, filtering every innocuous look and gesture through a prism of self-recrimination and guilt where they’re then twisted and distorted by the way he views himself, ultimately reflecting back at people what he believes they already see—someone who’s destined to continually disappoint.

His interactions with Layne in the beginning are colored by the same hostility that marks nearly every communication with older brother Michael, but just as we do, she learns to be observant, recognizing his tendency to deflect anything that resembles real emotion with anger and bloodshed, whether physical or emotional, and calling him on it when it happens. She’s as damaged in her own way as Gabriel is, fire having changed both of their lives irrevocably, and in him she finds a freedom she never expected but has craved from the moment she became less than perfect in her mother’s eyes. Their relationship is the opposite of easy, tiny steps forward made before huge leaps backward send them both reeling, but both continually put in the effort to breathe life into the heat wafting between them, and we have the pleasure of watching as they both try to navigate uncharted territory.

Spark is a stunning second installment, repeatedly causing every muscle in our bodies to tense as Gabriel rarely wastes an opportunity to lash out and draw first blood before rapidly retreating, adding each confrontation to his already impressive collection of perceived screw-ups. We read constantly on edge, waiting for Gabriel’s predictable unpredictability to show itself, but each glimpse is something we can’t help but look forward to, wondering what his latest outburst might reveal to us. Sexier and stronger than Storm, Spark is not to be missed.

Rating: 4.5/5