Stacia in Progress

Good surprise or bad surprise? I'm not telling. 3.5 stars. Even though this was my least favorite book of the series, it was still pretty good! I'm one step away from being a crazed fangirl over here because I can't believe how solid these books continue to be. I've been recommending them to just about everyone because they're so much fun. One of my favorite things about getting to experience this series with so many other people is seeing which guy is everyone's favorite. We all have our picks. A lot of people like Hunter, the star of this book.My favorite guy stole the show, however. Michael, come take your bow. Your appeal was off-the-charts! He's got compassion, brains, and is hard-working...need I go on? I really do need a Michael book.But I guess we should get back to Hunter's story. It's good to see Hunter being pushed into the world of the Merricks. I liked finding out that the further we get into this, he won't end up in the background as some character who pops in randomly. As of now, it looks like he's here to stay and I'm happy to see it.The main reason why this book isn't rated quite as high as the others in the series is because I found myself able to put the book down and walk away, when I was unable to do so in the past. The story never got old or boring necessarily, but it didn't give me the same feelings as previous installments had. However, there were a few scenes which were phenomenal. The entire section which took place at the carnival (*fan self* over the ferris wheel part) had me intently glued to my reader screen. Talk about intense!The text messages and interactions between Hunter and Kate were a lot of fun. Ms. Kemmerer has always managed to interject a great dose of wit into her books and Spirit was no exception."Are you imagining me naked again?""Ah...only in the most respectful way.""It's not every day I walk in the front door of a house to see two guys fall down the stairs on top of each other."Put that way, it sounded insanely childish.Fun, adventure, magic, and hot guys. The recipe for success is still at work here and I'm going to be on the happy Merrick bandwagon for a long time to come.This book provided from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All quotes are from the pre-published version and may be subject to change with the final copy.