New York Times bestselling author Cora Carmack’s young adult debut: Roar. In a land ruled and shaped by violent magical storms, power lies with those who control them.Aurora Pavan comes from one of the oldest Stormling families in existence. Long ago, the ungifted pledged fealty and service to her family in exchange for safe haven, and a kingdom was carved out from the wildlands and sustained by … kingdom was carved out from the wildlands and sustained by magic capable of repelling the world s deadliest foes. As the sole heir of Pavan, Aurora’s been groomed to be the perfect queen. She s intelligent and brave and honorable. But she s yet to show any trace of the magic she ll need to protect her people.
To keep her secret and save her crown, Aurora s mother arranges for her to marry a dark and brooding Stormling prince from another kingdom. At first, the prince seems like the perfect solution to all her problems. He ll guarantee her spot as the next queen and be the champion her people need to remain safe. But the more secrets Aurora uncovers about him, the more a future with him frightens her. When she dons a disguise and sneaks out of the palace one night to spy on him, she stumbles upon a black market dealing in the very thing she lacks storm magic. And the people selling it? They re not Stormlings. They re storm hunters.
Legend says that her ancestors first gained their magic by facing a storm and stealing part of its essence. And when a handsome young storm hunter reveals he was born without magic, but possesses it now, Aurora realizes there s a third option for her future besides ruin or marriage.
She might not have magic now, but she can steal it if she s brave enough.
Challenge a tempest. Survive it. And you become its master.
At the Publisher’s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
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Roar is book one in the Stormheart series by Cora Carmack. It’s interesting, different, and unique.
First let me just point out I love this cover. The cover is what pulled me in to try Carmack and this novel. This is my first taste of Carmack and I have to say I enjoyed. The world is a fantasy land, with kingdoms, rulerships, and magic.
In Roar we meet Aurora a storm princess with no powers. This novel is her self-discover, coming to age, maturity, and the consciences of her actions, plus a love interest that will keep your romantic heart swooning.
Aurora aka Roar is betrothed to a storm wielding prince who is not what he seams. Unfortunately, since she has no magic she is powerless to refuse the marriage much less protect her land and people from the deadly storms. Desperation and some surprising facts that she leans send her on the run in the hopes of finding another way to gain power and save her Kingdom.
I liked and disliked Aurora. She’s a teenager and I’m never to found of teenagers. Sometimes they are more mature, but for the most part not. When we meet Aurora she’s naïve and wishy washy, but this issue continues throughout the book. She does show determination in wanting to find out who she is (self-discover). I liked that and I felt her leaving was the best for her and her Kingdom. Now, I understand some of her naiveness, it’s due to her mother and others keeping things from her, but other times I just got frustrated with it. I also got frustrated with her showing this confidence and determination and then she would act the opposite and it’d be gone. It’s the way of teenagers and growing up, but still frustrating.
We do meet some interesting secondary characters and I liked them. The storm chasers are a cool bunch. Locke, her love interests is dark and broody and refuses the heroine in the beginning, but his true feelings are quite obvious.
Carmack did a good job with the world building. What I liked the most in Roar is the storm aspects of the story. I was intrigued on how the storms are connect to magic, souls, and the people that can control or wielded them. I found that to be quite interesting and unique. I also liked the legends about the lands and people.
Cliffhanger: I will say things were just getting good and started at the end, when what happens, we’re left with a cliffhanger. Ahhhhh!!! Now, if the next book was out I wouldn’t be so, Ah about it, but where we end the plot was just getting started. The story is to conclude or continue in the second book. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED
Narration: I found the audio to be very enjoyable. Soneela Nankani did a great job with the voices and portraying the story. This is my first experience with this narrator and she kept the story moving along. I think if I had read this. I probably would’ve read a chapter or two and then stopped. It might’ve taken me a couple of days to get through this novel, but with the audio, it made things move quicker and when things got intense, I was kind of glued into listening on.
Rated: 3.5 Stars
I loved this book and can’t wait for book 2. Such a unique fantasy world centering around magical storms. Cora has such a gift for creating beautiful and addicting fantasy worlds!
A Wonderful read… I loved the characters and the world created! Good story line…. I can’t wait to read the second ???
Overall: 5/5
Steam: 1/5
Feels:
~REVIEW~
The Quick and Dirty: A princess goes undercover, joining a team of magical storm chasers in order to learn how to save her kingdom from destructive storms.
**Mild spoilers**
Aurora must use her Stormling powers to help save her kingdom from deadly, sentient storms. Except she doesn’t have any. She stumbles upon a hidden market and a group of storm hunters who are able to harness the power of these storms without possessing Stormling magic. She disguises herself and joins their ragtag bunch, hoping to gain enough knowledge to save her people. Little does she know, the power that resides within her is much stronger than any Stormling’s. That magic is so strong, in fact, that it calls out to another; someone whose powers are like hers but who uses it to call lethal storms into the world. Storms that could wipe her entire kingdom off the map.
How refreshingly original! The premise of the story is one I’ve never encountered before and I really enjoyed Cora Carmack’s writing style. Her worldbuilding is complex and descriptions vivid without being long winded. The characters were captivating and I most enjoyed watching Aurora go from a naive ingenue to a stronger, more self assured woman by the end of the book. There is a bit of a love triangle too, so I’m definitely intruiged to see where that goes. Can’t wait to read Rage!
~QD STORY DETAILS~
Tear jerker: No
Paranormal/Fantasy: Yes
Location: Pavan
Character age range: late teens/early 20s
Lead: Aurora Pavan/Rora/Roar
Love interest(s): Cassius, Locke
HEA: No – cliffhanger
~QD BOOK INFO~
Kindle Unlimited: No
Audible: Yes – Narrated by Soneela Nankani
Series: Yes – Stormheart
1. Roar – released 6/13/17
2. Rage – releasing 8/27/19
~QD ~
Sex/kink type: kissing, heavy petting
Possible triggers: Violence, self-esteem issue
This book surpasssed my expectations. I read it when it was first released and have been waiting on the edge of my seat for the next installment. So happy it is almost here. The world and the characters transported me into the book.
I really enjoyed Roar, the first book in the Stormhearts novels. Cora Carmack provides a very original and unique idea, that storms are magicial and can be controlled. I’m anxiously awaiting the 2nd novel, Rage, which is due out in August 2019.
Started reading this book and I could not stop! Wonderful story, well told. I am so hooked on this series, can’t wait for RAGE to come out next month!
I got this on my kindle because it was cheap and I have been hearing so many good things about it.
I am so glad I picked it up right away because this book is so good. I love the story so much and I wasn’t even halfway through that I just had to pre-order the second book right away.
This… this… I can hardly put my thoughts into writing. Roar was so extraordinary that I went through multiple stages of fangirling- screaming, crying, hyperventilating, laughing, screaming again. Within the few first pages, I was hooked. Roar is a typical princess being stowed away in her kingdom. She has no idea who she is or the things she can accomplish. Even though she struggles in the beginning to find her confidence, she grows into such a beautiful and fierce heroine that it truly melts my heart. Do not even get me started on Locke. He’s one handsome, limit-pushing devil. I instantly loved him the moment he entered the story. If you have read this already, and you don’t love and cherish him as much as I do, then are you even human?
If you’re looking for a book that will surprise you at every turn, this is the one for you. 5 stars!
I thoroughly enjoyed this YA fantasy and am excited to read the next in the series.
What a wonderful, exciting story, set in a fabulous and very innovative new fantasy world. I absolutely loved this book and can’t wait for the next one in the series.
An original page-turner. Can’t wait for book 2!
Fantastic book! Couldn’t put it down
I love this book so much! I’m all for female characters standing up to and for others and showing the men who’s boss!
I love this book! The world building- gifts- different perspectives- it’s so full and yet doesn’t take forever to read. Absolutley loved it.
What an intriguing and uniquely captivating story by Cora Carmack.
I loved that I was immediately drawn into this amazing world. The story had my attention from the very beginning. I liked how stormlings capture storms and put them in stones and are able to harness the heart of a storm. I found the use of the magic or storms was different in a very welcome way. The world was fascinating in that the townspeople were subject to the whims of storms and tornadoes and they needed the protection of stormlings to keep them safe. Then there’s the wildlands where storms wreck havoc on anything and everything destroying entire villages. I loved it all.
Then there’s Princess Aurora who has no stormling power and is betrothed to marry and prince from Locke to hide the fact that she wields no power of her own. When she discovers she cannot trust Cassius, she flees with a Duke and his mysterious crew. It is with them that she hopes to learn to gain power of her own to help her kingdom and create her own destiny.
I really liked Duke and his crew. Jinx and sly may have been my favorites, but Ransom was also very fun. They were all carefree and fun characters. I liked that different circumstances brought them together and how they have their own specialties when it comes to storms. They work extremely well together and take in Roar a.k.a. Aurora as a apprentice you could say. It is with Locke that she learns her training. They argue nonstop and butt heads throughout their entire journey. At the same time their feelings for one another only grow stronger. Beyond the magic and romance I felt a sense of mystery in the story as well. Roar has strong reactions to storms as they approach and Locke and Duke can’t seem to figure out why its happening. It begs the question if there is more to Aurora than she knows. Also, Cassius seems to be harboring his own secrets and his fear of a storm lord leaves much to debate and question. It all makes for a really good story that I couldn’t help but enjoy.
My only issues with this book and I can’t really complain is that sometimes I didn’t know how I felt about Roar. She comes off as a knaive and overly sheltered princess who never had any friends growing up. She is sheltered from things that go on in Pavan and around the world. She turns away from Cassius because she believes he is using her and tried to manipulate her for the throne. So she immediately becomes distrustful of Locke and believes everything he does is to manipulate her. As she wants to learn everything there is about his crew, she lies and does everything she can not to tell them about herself. Something that she does internally struggle with. I love Cora Carmack as a romance author and I had not problems with the romance in this book, I just felt a little annoyed that Roar and Locke spent all their time arguing with each other. I enjoy a strong female character who isn’t a pushover and speaks her mind, but I would have liked some of their arguing to be more of funny/sarcastic banter that was more lighthearted than antagonistic. I really loved Locke and that he is the leader of everyone and the one each person turns to, especially when caught in a storm. I would have liked his character to more levelheaded when it came to Roar. With her around he completely disregarded the safety of his crew to stay with Roar. Which I felt clashed with the type of character I felt him to be. He became enraged and violent when anyone questioned her place among them and whether she was trustworthy. He acted this way even early on and I thought it was a bit much. So as you can see I had some problems with the romance but it does not take away from how good this book truly is.
I really liked this book and the wait was well worth it. This book does almost suddenly end and kind of on a cliffy so I’ve very upset I have to wait for the next book. But I can’t wait to get my hands on it. I certainly need more Roar and Locke because that ending was very, very good.
Tech. I am still reading this one but I am almost done. So ill be back to update this once I do that. But this book is so amazing.
I adored this book! I love this world where magical storms wreak havoc on people unless you’re either born a stormling, protected by a stormling, or you’re a hunter. Aurora has stormling blood but no powers and has to leave everything she knows to try to gain her own powers! Awesome character building also as a bonus Locke has melted my heart and I love him.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC, provided by the author and/or the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I read the preview/excerpt, which included the first four chapters of Cora Carmack’s “Roar” – and they hooked me. I can’t wait to read the rest of the book when it comes out. Full of magic, mystery, unique ideas, and compelling characters.