Cora Carmack never disappoints! I've always loved her contemporary/adult books, and it's a delight reading her first fantasy book! I thoroughly enjoyed it! The storyline was fantastic. The romance made me giddy like a teenage girl! I finished reading this book in just three hours, I couldn't put it down! I'm recommending it!

A perfectly balanced blend of fantasy and romance. Enjoyable world-building, a few steamy scenes, and some fantastic action. Perfect for readers of Maas and Dennard. A nice surprise!

I’ve read many books in recent years with themes of magic and kingdoms, princesses and power. However, something about Roar by Cora Carmack is unique and memorable. I love the character of Aurora. At first, she seems docile and easily manipulated, but quickly shows courage and strength. Aurora is princess of Pavan, and her mother is queen, and they have descended from a long line of Stormlings who are able to control the tumultuous storms that besiege the land through their magic.


However, Aurora hasn’t inherited this magical ability, and she and her mother have gone to great lengths to keep this hidden from the populous. Storm season is approaching, and to secure their kingdom, Aurora must marry a powerful prince to help protect them from the storms. She is soon betrothed to Prince Cassius from Locke, but she quickly suspects that Cassius is not who he seems to be.


She discovers that a black market exists to sell magic to the ungifted, and that storm hunters who may not have been born with magic have become gifted. Maybe this would solve her problems by providing her with an alternate way of obtaining magic to protect her throne and people. Aurora must gather her courage and determination to change the path of her life.

I love the transformation Aurora makes through this novel. At first, she is easily influenced and confused by her feelings, then as she gains confidence in who she is and what she is capable of, she becomes who she was meant to be.

This story was very imaginative and a great jumping off point for a series. The premises surrounding storms and Roar were really interesting. There were a lot of unknowns in the book that I can't wait to read about in the next installment!

Carmack is best known as a New Adult Author, and this transition to Young Adult is an uneven one. It slides from Aurora being sheltered and unknowing teen to bodice-ripper romance novel description within a whiplash inducing paragraph. Carmack loves world building, this is apparent, but the plot suffers as a result of this. It never feels as though there is much conflict or fear though you're supposed to feel threatened by the loss of her kingdom. We only vaguely hear of a possible villain near the end and it never gets near the group. I wanted to like it...but it just feels like it was missing something important. The characters are bland, Rora especially so Maybe the obvious second book will have a little more.

Pavan and its neighboring countries are mauled by devastating storms day in and day out. A rare few have the magic to be able to contain the storms and steal the heart of the storms, to use to keep their lands safe. Aurora has been isolated for years from everyone outside of the Queen. After the death of her brother, she is the Pavan heir, but she has no powers to protect her country. Her mother devises to a plan and Aurora is betrothed to the second son of the neighboring country, someone who can use his magic to protect Pavan from the horrible storms. At first he is intimidating, but then she learns the truth of his actions. She follows him to a forbidden market and meets a crew of storm hunters who go out and protect the lands as well as trapping magic to be used to help people. She takes on the name Roar and stages her own kidnapping to run away with the hunters and learn about how they control storms. Without storm magic, she feels she can learn from them how to do it to protect her lands.

But there is much, much more to Roar than meets the eye and when the storms start rolling by, Roar has an intense reaction to them. So a search begins to find out what is special about Roar and why she reacts the way she does.

I loved this story! I had never heard of this author, and then I saw on a post on facebook from a book review page and thought it sounded good. I was excited when NetGalley posted it and couldn't wait to read it. This is a Young Adult book, but much more for older teens, as it does have some sexual scenes, much as the Throne of Glass series by Sarah Maas. I enjoyed Roar's character, and alternately wanted to smack Locke and hug him. The hunter crew of Duke, Bait, Jinx, Sly, and Ransom were all very interesting characters, though I am not a fan of Sly. I am interested to see where the storyline goes with her.

All in all I thought this was really a fantastic new young adult fantasy book. The cliffhanger, though. Gah!! Authors keep doing this to me!