**You can see this full review and more at Book Briefs: https://bookbriefs.net**Roar is the first book in the young adult fantasy series, called the Stormheart series by author Cora Carmack. Roar honestly blew me away. I loved it so much, and what I loved the most about it was that I don't feel like the story took the most conventional plot path. It continued to surprise me and that was pretty magical. I have read Cora's new adult novels in the past and I love her Rusk University books, so I was super excited to see that she was venturing into the young adult fantasy realm. YA fantasies are quickly becoming my very favorite type of books to read. (I do still love a good contemporary romance though...but mostly in the new adult age group.) I thought Cora Carmack slayed this genre. She is such a talented author, and with Roar she has quickly climbed the ranks as an auto-read author for me. I loved Roar that much.

Roar is a difficult book for me to explain in a short review because there is so much going on in the Stormheart world. In this world, members of nobility have powers which enable them the ability to fight certain types of storms. The more storms you can defeat, the more powerful you are. They channel their ability through the use of various stormhearts, which are crystals captured from the heart of a storm. Aurora is the princess of one of the biggest countries in the region. Her mother, is a very powerful Stormling, but Aurora doesn't have any powers at all. Without giving too much away, Rora decides in order to be the princess her kingdom deserves she needs to go out and join a storm hunters crew to gain some stormhearts. I don't want to tell you any more than that because the progression of this story was really wonderful. It was mysterious and riveting. I loved finding out a little more about the storms and the characters as we went on the journey. I still have tons of questions and lot's of things I need to know more about in the next book, but Roar was such a satisfying first read for me.

I really loved everything about the book. I loved Rora, or Roar as she calls herself with the hunters. She is brave, fiercely independent, and really really honorable. The whole cast of characters was a lot of fun, and I am dying to know more about all of them...but especially Cassius, Locke and Sly. I think they all have many more layers to peel back. And I can't wait until we can get to know all of their secrets. The romance in Roar was just as awesome as I was hoping. Cora Carmack writes excellent romances, and I was hoping that would carry over to Roar. And it totally did!

Bottom line: If you love YA fantasies with a fantastic romance throughout, lots of adventure and a brilliantly magical world where storms take on a life of their own, you will LOVE Roar. (It is thundering and lightning behind me as I write this review, and I think it is their storms way of showing it's approval. Cora, you have the storms on your side!) Roar is a fantasy fantasy debut from Cora, and I am dying to get my hands on the next installment ASAP.

This review was originally posted on Book Briefs