I loved this book so much. I thought the world building was done so well and also I really loved the main characters in the story and the diverse POV we got in the story. I love the various types of magic that we were exposed to. I just was so invested in the both the characters and the world that was created. I loved the way you could not predict this book and really shocked me through the so many twists and turns. I also loved the male lead in this book and how Roar was able to find a new path in her life. I was so enhchanted by this novel and need the second book soon! ( )

I loved this book so much. I thought the world building was done so well and also I really loved the main characters in the story and the diverse POV we got in the story. I love the various types of magic that we were exposed to. I just was so invested in the both the characters and the world that was created. I loved the way you could not predict this book and really shocked me through the so many twists and turns. I also loved the male lead in this book and how Roar was able to find a new path in her life. I was so enhchanted by this novel and need the second book soon! ( )

2 stars - it was okay.

Yeah... the writing was amazing and the world building was beautiful, but was it an enjoyable reading experience? No. Actually, it was torture and if I have to hear one more love interest growling and not being able to hold back his instincts I am going to gag. ( )

I enjoyed the fact that in this fantasy there are your typical bad guys as well as the threat of storms and that folks fight against storms. The side characters were all pretty intriguing. I found the main character to be boring, whiney and unlikeable. She appears to throw herself at whichever male is available regardless of how they treat her. She's incredibly naive and brash. ( )

Series Info/Source: This is the first book in what I believe is supposed to be a trilogy (the third book has been delayed indefinitely at this point). I got a copy of this on audiobook from Audible.com

Audiobook Quality (4/5): The audiobook was well done and is fine to listen to. The narrator does a good job with character voices and with conveying emotion.

Thoughts: This book focuses on Aurora/Roar, a Stormling princess without the powers to work with storm magic. Her mother’s hope is to marry Roar off to a Stormling prince so that Roar’s lack of powers aren’t noticed. Roar, however, has other plans.

I am kind of conflicted about this book. I really, really loved the world-building and the idea of storms being sentient magical beings. I loved the Storm Hunters as well.

I thought Roar was an okay character but also thought that her competence in so many areas didn't really mesh with the naïve nature that she constantly showed. I also think she was fairly selfish in the actions she took throughout the book.

The relationship the Roar and Locke form felt fake to me. Roar is all preaching about wanting to be independent, yet Locke is constantly saving her. There are way too many scenes where they sit around talking about their feelings because they "need to talk" but then they never really say anything important. If I had been reading this in paper form (rather than listening to an audiobook) I probably would have skimmed these parts.

Another big complaint is that vast portions of the plot are dependent on characters not communicating well. I mean really if Roar had just talked to Prince Cassius about his motives openly there wouldn't have been a book here at all. Those kinds of things really bother me because they end up making such a big deal out of such small things.

This also had that typical romance/YA issue where every character who enters the book is either super hot or really beautiful and all of the super hot men are interested in Roar...ugh. You can tell that Carmack is primarily a romance writer.

My Summary (3/5): Overall, I thought this was going to be an awesome book but it ended up falling somewhat flat for me. I did really enjoy the world-building and magic. However, as I got deeper into the story there just wasn't enough meat here for me. It was just too much of beautiful, naïve Roar being saved by Locke. I didn’t enjoy either of them as characters and didn’t enjoy how much time was spent with long, meaningless scenes between the two of them. I don’t plan on continuing the series. ( )