Review: Roar

Title: Roar
Series Stormhearts #1
Author: Cora Carmack
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance
Publisher: Tor Teen
Publication Date: June 13, 2017
Source: Gifted!  Thank you!

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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I have some mixed feelings about this one.  While I enjoyed it overall, there were some aspects that left me unsatisfied and disappointed.  I'm glad that this is only the first book in a series -- there's a lot that I wanted to have seen that I'm hoping is included in the next (few?) books.  I'm definitely going to be following up with this series. 

 Okay, so I need to get something out of the way real quick here; something that drove me freaking insane while reading: I hated the fact that one character had the last name Locke and a different character was called Locke.  I hated this.  There was enough characters to keep track of already, I didn't need two characters with the same name!  The characters in general were okay, though I wish there were less POVs throughout the story.  Aurora was interesting; I liked her at some points and at others she had me rolling my eyes.  There were some aspects of her that felt very "Mary-Sue" and others that were unique and strong.  Those aspects were the ones I liked in her!  The other main characters were, of course, the two love interests.  Yeah, there was a love triangle.  Cue the groans.  There was one guy (I won't say which one) that I just loved.  He was so intense and unique and interesting; the chemistry between him and Aurora was off the charts.  Unfortunately for me, he wasn't in the story nearly as much as I would have liked.  I'm really hoping that changes in the next book.

The world was maybe my favorite part of this story; it was obvious a lot of effort and time had been devoted to crafting the world and making sure the magic and all the little details worked together and made sense.  I'm so fascinated with the magic system in this book!  There's still a few aspects I'm a little iffy on but I'm excited to learn more about it in the next installment of the series.  I just loved the way everything unfolded and how we slowly learned more and more about the magic within the world as Aurora learned, too.  

While there were some things that got on my nerves and disappointed me in the novel, overall, I really enjoyed it.  There's a lot of promise for the series as a whole.  I'm looking forward to seeing where this story goes and watching as the world and characters become more fleshed out and richer.  

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

Four Teapots