{Book Review + Excerpt}: Roar by Cora Carmack

From New York Times bestselling author Cora Carmack comes her debut young adult fantasy, ROAR! Releasing June 13, 2017, ROAR takes readers on an adventure filled with charismatic characters in an enthralling world sure to keep them turning the pages. Order your copy today!



Roar (Stormheart #1) by Cora Carmack Blurb:
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 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.
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My Review: Eighteen-year-old Aurora Pavan is the last living heir to the Pavan throne, but she's yet to show any hint of the magic she'll need to protect her kingdom from the violent storms that plague the land, so her mother has devised a plan. She will marry the second son of the king of Locke - an intimidating man named Cassius. 
When Aurora first meets her betrothed, he charms her into thinking that this just might work. That is, until she catches him in an illegal marketplace and realizes Cassius is merely intending to marry her for some sinister purpose. 
While in the market Aurora meets a group of Storm Hunters, including the alluring Locke - who was born without magic and now has the ability to face off against storms. At that moment Aurora begins to see a way out of her impending marriage and a way to finally gain some power and control over her future - if she has the courage to grasp the opportunity. 
Life on the road as a storm hunter is anything but easy and Aurora - now calling herself Roar - must figure out where she fits in with her new life, all while trying to conceal her true identity even as she begins falling for Locke and making friends with the other hunters. When Roar has an unexpected reaction to a twister she, and the others, must ask if she is more of a danger to the others than she's worth. Or does her reaction hint at an unexplained ability? What would happen if Roar's new companions figure out her true identity? And what would happen if her former betrothed's soldiers catch up to her? 
I fell in love with Roar's cover first. Then I fell in love with the story itself. For me, Roar was a slow read that I wanted to take time and savor every minute of. The idea of the storms having power and the Stormlings having to use magic to defend against them was truly unique. More so, I loved Locke and the other storm hunters.
 They reminded me of real life storm chasers that follow twisters - crazy, brave people that get right in there with the storm. Locke's crew was well developed and I loved each of them - except maybe Sly. I only wish we could have seen more of them interacting with Roar individually, other than mainly Duke, Locke, and Jinx. 
As for Cassius, I'm not sure that I saw him as a villain really. I almost kind of wished he would have been sincere and could have built a life with Roar, but it wasn't meant to be. It was great being able to see things in his perspective though, as well as in Novaya, Roar, and Locke's perspectives - and the mysterious Stormlord. 
Overall, I loved Roar. This book is well rounded, with romance for the people like me that can't live without it and plenty of action, adventure, and magic to please all fantasy lovers. Our seemingly unmagical heroine, Aurora, reminded me of Anna in Rosalyn Eves's Blood Rose Rebellion and the savage Stormlord gives hint toward Sarah J. Maas's Erawan in the Throne of Glass series and I can't wait to watch this series continue to take shape, to see what challenges wait for Aurora upon her return to Pavan and how learning who she truly is will affect the way that the hunters see her. 
My Rating:5 of 5 Stars

EXCERPT
You are lightning made flesh. Colder than falling snow. Unstoppable as the desert sands riding the wind. You are Stormling, Aurora Pavan. Believe it. 

Believe it, and others will too.

It was a vow that her mother, Queen Aphra, made her swear on the day she reached twelve years. She had gripped her daughter’s shoulders tight, and Rora could still remember the pinch of pain, the furious beat of her heart as she saw how afraid her mother was and learned to be afraid too. 

Today that fear had led Aurora Pavan to sign her life away before she ever had the chance to really live it. 

As she was primped and prettied like some kind of sacrificial offering, her mind remained stuck on her morning spent in the throne room. She recalled the rasping sounds as the treaty was unrolled and the way her fingers suddenly felt too weak to hold a quill. Many days of her sheltered life had been spent writing out ideas and facts and figures for her tutors, yet in that moment, she had struggled to remember the letters of her name. Then she had met her mother’s eyes, and those familiar words came to her again. 

Colder than falling snow. 

That was what Rora had to become as her shaking hand sealed her fate with a scratchy, bleeding line of ink. And now hours later a stranger peered back at her from the looking glass, powdered white so that none of her flaws would show. 

Rora’s white-blonde hair had been curled and bound up in an elaborate ceremonial headdress that was crowded with jewels, flowers, and four jagged crystals cut like bolts of lightning to mimic her mother’s skyfire crown. Headdresses honoring a family’s ancestors were an important part of Pavanian tradition for the upper echelons of nobility to the poor and working class. They were donned for birth and death and every major life event in between, including betrothals. But this headdress was larger than Rora had ever seen. It had to be anchored to the thick metal necklace she wore about her collar with embellished fastenings, and it weighed on her nearly as much as the events of the night still to come. 
Her already pale skin had been covered in a shimmering white powder, which made her look like she’d just emerged from a blizzard. Her ribs were tightly bound in a corset that squeezed and squeezed until it felt like all her organs were in the wrong place. Over that was a heavy, beaded gown whose neckline dipped low, revealing far more cleavage than she had ever shown. The fabric clung to her frame until it fanned out at her knees into a long train, and the color of the dress changed from white to ash gray to glittering black. 

Rora looked exactly as her mother had always told her to be—lightning made flesh: blinding white and bright against a dark sky, and the train that pooled around her was the ground, charred black by her impact. 


It was stunning. Exquisite, really. Even, Rora, who hated dresses of all kinds, could tell that. It was also a lie. Every jewel, every bead painted a picture of someone that wasn’t her. But that was the goal for tonight’s betrothal celebration…to be someone else, to be the perfect Stormling princess. Because if she failed, everything could fall apart. 

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About Cora Carmack: Cora Carmack is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. Since she was a teenager, her favorite genre to read has been fantasy, and now she’s thrilled to bring her usual compelling characters and swoon-worthy romance into worlds of magic and intrigue with her debut YA fantasy, Roar. Her previous adult romance titles include the Losing It, Rusk University, and Muse series. Her books have been translated into more than a dozen languages around the world. Cora splits her time between Austin, TX and New York City, and on any given day you might find her typing away at her computer, flying to various cities around the world, or just watching Netflix with her kitty Katniss. But she can always be found on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and her website www.coracarmack.com.

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