I flew through this book! I haven’t read a YA in quite a while, but it was just what I needed.

I really enjoyed the elemental magic system, the relationships, and the plot. There were a few curve balls and plot twists that I thought were beautifully done!

I’m hoping the next book will have more of a certain MMC (😍) but I still really enjoyed every moment of them together and am very curious to see how the story builds that specific relationship!

This book was so easy to get into and a really fun read!

Heir of Storms has just rocketed to the top of my favorite books of 2025 list! I loved every second of this story and the emotional roller coaster it took me on.
It has games and trials, an antihero, forbidden love, and epic twists. It's time to buy my book trophy!

Fast pace and a wonderfully relatable, female main character for teens. This book included very strong themes, including identity, power and not being afraid to show your emotions. I thought the magical fight scenes were very vivid and exciting to read. I wouldn’t call this romantic to see, but I thought the romance was very well done and I’m excited to see what happens to the couple in book 2.

Absolutely amazing! From the prologue this book just absolutely sucks you in, the worlds and character building was phenomenal!

Heir of Storms was absolutely phenomenal—I couldn’t put it down from the moment I started. I don’t usually gravitate toward YA these days, but I’m so glad I made an exception for this one. It’s gripping, emotional, and full of heart-pounding twists that kept me hooked until the very last page.

The story opens with a powerful and catastrophic moment that changes everything for Blaze, our fierce and unforgettable main character. After a mysterious surge of elemental power, she’s cast into the shadows for 17 years—until her birthday, when the gods declare it’s time for a new reign of the thrones. Blaze is named one of the heirs to the Aquatori throne, while her twin brother, Flint, becomes an heir to the Ignitia throne.

In this world, thrones aren’t passed down—they’re earned in deadly, magical trials between four elemental heirs. The stakes are high, the competition fierce, and the tension never lets up.

Blaze is one of the most compelling female leads I’ve read in a long time. She’s fierce, determined, and immensely powerful, but also raw and emotionally complex in a way that feels deeply authentic. Her struggle with being silenced, locked away, or misunderstood will resonate with so many readers. Yet it’s her emotions—once seen as her weakness—that ultimately become her strength. Her growth throughout the book is breathtaking as she begins to find her footing in a world that constantly demands more from her.

On top of all that, Blaze is caught in a romantic triangle of sorts that adds even more depth to her journey. And while the main characters shine, the side characters are equally unforgettable. Fox, River, Ren, Elva, Kai, Elaith, Hal, Spinner, and Mouse all bring something unique to the story, making the world feel rich and alive.

And the plot twists? Jaw. On. The. Floor. Nearly every chapter had me gasping or flipping pages faster to see what would happen next. I need the sequel immediately—because if there’s one thing that’s clear, it’s that Blaze is ready to risk everything for the people she loves, and I am 100% here for it.

Heir of Storms is the perfect storm of emotion, action, and magic—and it's a journey I can't wait to continue.

A huge thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Children's Publishing Group | Roaring Book Press, and Lauryn Hamilton Murray for providing an advance reviewer copy of one of the year's most anticipated fantasy releases for an honest review.

Heir of Storms review
netgalley
“Heir of Storms” is a thrilling fantasy debut that will have you on the edge of your seat from the first ball all the way to the last trial.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:
The pacing was an off, especially at the beginning and middle of the book, where it start to get repetitive. Also, guessed who was acting suspicious way before they were revealed so disappointed about that. However, the trials and ending was absolutely mind-blowing!

WORLDBUILDING:
At the beginning all the made-up fantasy terms and info-dumps made it confusing and slow, like Aquatori, kings and queens but also emperor’s, but after 20% mark it starts to make more sense! I also really appreciate that Murray made an original plot line and how the trials had a purpose and weren’t forced like so many books published these days.

PLOT:
Blaze has never fit in. As soon as she was born she created a storm that shook her country, Ostacre, despite her family being all Ignitia, whose powers are for their flames (hence her name). She’s spent 17 years of her life confined in her palace, that is until she’s chosen as one of the four heirs for each house to vie for the crown.

But here’s the problem: Blaze can’t conjure up a storm, let alone anything more than a drizzle. Blaze will have to navigate her powers while fighting for the Aquatori crown she’s never even thought she’d have a chance of winning.

On top of her intense training sessions she often can’t sleep due to mysterious dreams that call her name; a powerful threat lies in the Emperor’s castle…

ROMANCE:
This book honestly could have done without it. The love triangle was so 2010s cliche and I feel like all the old BookTok books cons were the love triangle! Let’s do without them please and thank you. Also, Fox is such an annoying character, I hope Blaze doesn’t end up with him.

CHARACTERS:
Blaze-imagine Mare, Celaena, and Alina but without the pick-me and cocky vibes. I love love love how Murray didn’t make another stereotypical powerful fmc but an actually believable character! Also, this is a small detail but how it wasn’t a big deal that Blaze was nice to her servant. I mean in this book it’s just the minimum and not something like “wow oh my gosh she’s so nice” like most other YA book series do.

Fox-I think he was supposed to be morally grey but he’s just some rude, annoying person. Literally would roll my eyes every time he’s on-page.

Hal-honestly? Still love him even after that ending. He’s such a cutie pie.

CONCLUSION:
“Heir of Storms” is bound to be your next YA fantasy obsession!

This book is about to take romantasy lovers by storm! Such a solid start to a YA Romantic Fantasy Series.
I adored the cast of characters in this one. It's got it all - humor, banter, growth, and challenging trials!

4 stars
——————

What a start to a series. I read this book in two days.

I adored the plot of this book. It was familiar while still managing to be unique and the author did such a good job of making the story engaging and well written. The world is well established throughout the book and you could imagine the setting. The writing was vivid and I could picture the scenes as they happened. I loved the elemental magic system of this book. It was easily my favorite part of the book. The uniqueness of individual power while being interconnected between the houses was a fun concept. My primary issue was the pacing. The book starts a little slow, but does pick up nicely by 25%.

Blaze was such a well rounded and well written character. She really grows through the book and the progress is clearly defined. The side characters really help define her growth while not taking away from it. They’re just as well written and each add to the story. There were no characters that didn’t make sense in the context of the book, which I appreciated.

I’m so excited to see where this series goes.

First and foremost, thank you to the publisher and the author for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. I loved this story and it was definitely worth the read!

Heir of Storms is the first book in the Storm Weaver series! This is a addictive YA romantasy.

I liked that the book was fast paced and kept you on the edge of your seat. Also who doesn't love a love triangle!!!! I can't wait to see what happens next. I would recommend this book to a friend.

WOW. I feel like I absolutely devoured this whole thing. I cannot believe how quickly it ended and I am devastated that it ended!

First, thank you so much to McMillan Publishing for the e-ARC of this book so that I could read it early and rave!

I couldn't get enough of this read for sure. I loved the story of Blaze and finding who she was. This book was, in my opinion, a story about self-discovery and self-empowerment. As the last Rain Singer, Blaze already would feel out of sorts but then to have her also be born, as a twin, into a family that is all about Fire?! I felt like I could really put myself in her shoes throughout this book and feel her struggle.

Then when her powers sort of start to shine, she is chosen as one of the heirs to fight for the Aquatori throne?! I mean of course... But then in steps in the handsome Prince Haldryn? I loved the attention that Blaze got (begrudgingly) from the Prince. Blaze really had to deal with her being seen for the first time, and in a positive light. Blaze having to deal with the whispers and the fears from the entire world simply because of some actions that she had no control over as a baby, I think, really affected how she interacted with the other characters of this book. You can see her safety people, her brothers Flint and Renly, then the others that have to actually get to know her to appreciate her, like the other heirs, and then the people that absolutely despise her just because, looking at you Marina and Ember.

Don't even get me started on the bad boy, Fox. Oh my gosh, I was never so excited for the entrance of the bad boy like his entrance into the competition for his throne. I have so many questions for this second and son of the kings relation with his mistress? UGH. I was sold. Pretty much from the very first second. I think that Fox was also one of those people to see through Blaze's exterior. But also I think with the nickname like Earth Cleaver, Fox has his own issues to work through and he has had some opportunity to travel and work through them. But I can only imagine how this Rain Singer and Earth Cleaver are going to work together to really usher in this world.

The things I really liked about this book:
- the Chosen One
- Interesting Magic system
- The trials (I know, we get a lot of these, but this one was done well!)
- Love Triangle (I'm a sucker for it)
- fast-pacing

I think that some people may see this book as predictable or like "we've done the trials thing" but I think that Lauryn Hamilton Murray did an excellent job of making it fresh and different from other things that we have read before. I will absolutely be picking up my own copy of this when it's published and will be waiting (with bated breath) for future books by Lauryn!

Thank you to Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group | Roaring Brook Press and author Lauryn Hamilton Murray for an ARC of Heir of Storms. All opinions are my own. This was an enjoyable read and excited for the next book in this series!

Heir of Storms follows 17-year old Blaze, the last-known Storm Weaver who has become an outcast due to causing a deadly flood the day she was born. She's suddenly thrust into the spotlight as she's branded an Heir to a specific kind of magic. She must fight Hunger Games-style to become queen of said magic and its people.

Overall, Heir of Storms does a great job illustrating the ups and downs as Blaze discovers her powers and some long-held secrets in the kingdom. This story kept me locked in from the beginning but there were a few elements in the plot that I felt were either missing or just randomly mentioned/introduced.

One thing I enjoyed about this book was the magic system was fun and easy to understand. The author created an elemental magic system that was interesting, made sense, and wasn't overly complicated. I especially enjoyed the amount of politics that was part of the plot and the fact that each of the elemental magics had their own King or Queen.

Some of the primary tropes found in this book are:
-Chosen One
-Games/trials
-Love triangle
-Forbidden love (introduced in this book and I think this will become more prominent in the next book!)

This is a pretty good first book for a YA romantasy series! Highly recommend this one!

On the night Blaze was born, 17 years ago, a terrible storm raged throughout the land, causing massive destruction. What was the cause of the storm? Blaze herself, the Heir of Storms. Flash forward to current time, Blaze, her twin brother Flint, and a host of other heirs are all vying for the 4 crowns of the realm through a series of trials related to their heir power- fire, water, earth, and wind.

This was a fast-paced book with similarities to other books from this genre with games and trials. I enjoyed Blaze learning to harness her power, which doesn't match the rest of her family.There were a few twists along the way, but they were sort of easy to expect if you were paying attention.

This book ended with a bit of a cliffhanger, which I don't love, that kind of makes the story feel a bit incomplete. I guess that is to be expected with at least one more book to come in the series.

Heir of Storms by @laurynhamiltonmurray was a great debut and I am so curious what will happen in the rest of the series. Thank you netgalley for the arc!

This book had me at royal competition! Four elemental thrones are in the balance between 16 competitors. When Blaze was born she nearly drowned the world and ever since she has been hidden away, now she is being forced into the spotlight to compete in the trials.

Within the palace walls she will find romance, old secrets revealed, truths about herself and her family, and alliances that will be tested.
★ ★ ★ ★/5
Steam: kissing

“For they can laugh all they like when I lose. They won’t be laughing when I win.”

Heir of Storms by Lauryn Hamilton Murray
Release date:June 3rd
Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Age rating:14+
Spice:none

Thank you Netgalley and Lauryn Hamilton Murray for this arc! This was so fun. Had everything I like in a book. The plot was easy to follow along with and I very much enjoyed it. The magic was really cool to learn about and I loved learning how the politics worked. The characters were very entertaining. I loved Blaze, and found her to be relatable in many aspects. Her growth and whole journey was very well done. The bits of romance in this had me giggling so much. It is sort of a love triangle, but it’s not lol. I did guess some of the twists, but the ending had me shocked. Like I need book two now. It was very bingeable and I just had a great and fun time. If you liked The Red Queen or Shadow and Bone you should definitely pick this up!

Thank you netgalley for this ARC!!!!

Think Avatar the Last Airbender meets Hunger Games! I enjoyed this so much!!! From the first page I was sucked into this world and I couldn't get enough !! I will say if you plan on reading it, remember it’s YA and there might be some things that take you out of this book, but overall it’s a fun exciting gripping read !!!

3.75 STARS!! Thank you NetGalley and MacMillian for providing thie eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I thought this was a great debut fantasy novel and one that can easily be recommended for those just starting to dip their toes into the genre. There are a lot of great tropes represented, and the overall story/plot was matched with good pacing throughout. There were also some surprising takes on this like how common magic systems are used (like the 4 elements).

The FMC, although extremely sheltered, still had a little sass to her and figured out how to come out into her own and figure out who she was deep down. Without giving away any spoilers, there was plenty of grief, confusion, and big emotions that she had to deal with throughout this book.

Although there are many portions of the story that can be predictable, there were a couple of plot twists that I did not expect at all and I loved that. I think there were small issues here and there that I did not love (like annoying bully characters and some of their conversations), but not even to deter me from enjoying the overall story. Will definitely continue the series.


Some Tropes I loved
- Sibling Love (rather than rivalry)
- Found family
- Love Triangle
- Games & Trials
- Unique Twist on Magic System (elemental)
- Multiple Antagonists
- Witty Banter
- Political Scheming

This is the fantasy novel I was looking for. It was a trip that I didn’t want to return from. I was here to be entrained and it did not disappoint me.

“I have many names. Or rather, I am known by many. I don’t think of them as mine.”

Every quarter of a century a deadly competition for the most gifted young Etheri battle for the four thrones - a Choosing Rite.
This fast-paced, elemental-powered world was engaging, and enjoyable. The story had my feet kicking, my jaw hanging and my mind buzzing with its foreshadowing, plot twists, and slow-burn love stories. The ending - well, you need to read it for yourself to see.

“Watching history unfold feels very different from reading about it.”

Thank you to the Fierce Reads Team, Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, Roaring Brook Press and NetGalley for the Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of Heir of Storms by Lauryn Hamilton Murray.

4.25 stars
Heir of Storms really kept me locked in. However, there were a few plot holes, and the end really came out of nowhere. The plot was intriguing, though, even if it was a little predictable.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC! All opinions in this review are my own.

1.5 stars. DNF'd at 50%/C25.

The synopsis promises so much and then quickly fails to deliver after an exciting beginning before falling into a gaping hole no one can climb out of.

Let me just start with the most egregious thing, any type of slavery as a world-building point needs to be handled with nuance and care especially with making the FMC a noble and the two love interest MMCs royals all of whom clearly benefit from this system. This novel definitely did not have any type of mindfulness about this. I also fall to see why slavery was added into the story to begin with other than feeling like it was written (poorly I might add) as a shock value for the sheltered and naive FMC to internally admonish the system but then do nothing externally about it. Oh, and I am not forgetting that one of the MMCs is one of the people that just cheerily goes rounding up slaves and the narrative was pushing how the FMC found him just so hot and confounding and "deary me who will I choose?!"

Let me move onto the characters, the cardboard my resident One Orange Braincell eats up has more dimension than those in this novel. They are so transparent. You have the somehow powerful but also powerless and inexperienced FMC that everyone hates because her birth caused a biblical flood, the "good boy" ray of sunshine love interest #1 who is heir to the throne, and then the aforementioned slaver "bad boy" love interest #2 who also cleaved the world in half when he was 13 and thus killed a bunch of people but everyone either loves him or hates him in equal measure (did I mention he is love interest #1's half bastard brother because of course he is). The rest of the cast is forgettable as they are just there to fill a trope checkbox or in the case of random eccentric old people, sage advice givers that allows the FMC to "aha!" her mental blocks within the next chapter with no real growth or work involved.

Now onto the world-building which was both intriguing but also frustratingly bland in some areas. It is like the author had a bunch of really cool ideas (minus the slavery obviously) but instead of taking the time to weave it together organically and think about how A would interact with B, it felt crammed together with no continuity and left lacking any real substance. Unfortunately the entire novel suffered for this, there was no heart in it and it felt empty.

The plot.... honestly I am not sure what to put here so I'll just summarize the 50% of the book I read. The FMC and her twin have their name day party or something, an eclipse happens which signals the trials in this world (aka leadership change that also doesn't make sense), they travel to the palace because both are now considered heirs to two separate kingdoms, a whole lot of vague training and parties that doesn't feel like it organically goes anywhere, and then the first trial that is over as quickly as it began and was obvious as to what it was going to be from the beginning (but somehow the FMC is shocked by it), and then the love triangle was quickly introduced followed by a kiss with love interest #1 that also had no essence to it due to the lack of real build up between them because all he's done is said some nice words to her and brought her flowers in a narrative that feels like it's trying to speedrun to the finish but can't even get off of the starting line.

All in all, I do not recommend this book.