Review: Roar (Stormheart #1) by Cora Carmack

Title: Roar

Series: Stormheart #1

Author: Cora Carmack

Genre: YA, high fantasy

Publication date: June 2017

Published by: Tor Teen

Source: Library book

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Synopsis:

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.

My rating: ★★☆☆☆
I really wanted to like you Roar, I really did. But gods, you were just not for me. I admit, Fantasy is not really my thing to start with, but I do enjoy a good Fantasy novel on the rare occasion. This particular book was a group read for a Goodreads group I’m part of, and this one did sound interesting to me! I loved the premise of storms ravaging the lands and demigod-like, superpowered humans able to dissipate said storms. These people are usually royalty, but our protagonist, who is a princess, actually has no signs of having any abilities! Sign me up for that, please! But, um, no. While I did enjoy some aspects of the book, overall I ended up just not liking it as much as I was hoping. So prepare yourselves, grab yourself some popcorn and have a seat, because this is gonna be a long one!


So do you want to good news first, or the bad? Hmm... Let’s start off with the good, with the things I liked. As previously mentioned, I loved the premise! I really liked the idea and, overall, I thought it was executed rather well. At first I thought the idea of Stormhearts was silly—storms don’t have hearts! I had a hard time understanding this and suspending my disbelief, but then the reveal came around and oh my gods! I totally get it! The reason why/how the storms formed was really interesting!


As for characters, I loved Jinx! She can be so sassy sometimes and I just really loved that! I also like Bait, he was so funny! Nova I thought was another interesting character. I really wanted to know more about her and her story and see what happened to her in the end, be we never find out! Gotta wait for the sequel, I guess.

And Rora I liked well enough. She stands up to the asshole men in her life (most of the time anyway) who use her and take advantage of her naivety. She put Cassius in his place when he got handsy with her (that was awesome!), and she also snaps back at Locke when he talked down to her. But no matter how much I like her, in the end, she’s still an idiot for falling for a guy like Locke (more on that later). I also think she’ll make a great queen, because unlike her mother who seems cold when it comes to the people of the kingdom, she has a conscience and is realizing what really goes on outside the walls of Pavan

And now for the things I wasn’t crazy about.. I hope you grabbed a snack, because here we go. First of all, the pacing was slow AF. I think I was stuck at chapter 3 for a good 2 weeks because I just wasn't motivated to pick it back up. But I ended up pushing through because I really wanted to give this group read a shot.


Next, Cassius is a narcissistic prick. I don’t actually understand whether he actually likes Rora or not or whether he just wants to conquer her. He also objectifies her a couple of times and that drove me insane! Actually, Locke did that at one point also and, just—ugh!


Which brings me to Locke, the star of my review, and not because I fell totally in love with him. Quite the opposite, actually. Let’s start with the fact that Rora reminds him of his sister...?

"It's not like that. She reminds me of my sister." —Locke, Roar pg. 95

And then a couple of paragraphs later he goes on to say how he would be lying if he said he looked at her like he might a sister because she's so darn pretty! But then fast forward 200 pages later, because yes, he mentions this sister thing multiple times throughout the book...

He swallowed a dark laugh, because for the first time in a while Roar reminded him of his sister again. —Locke, Roar pg. 280

First of all, eww! Stop!

Second of all, make up your goddamn mind! You either think of her as a sister or you don't! Which is it? I hope it really is the latter because otherwise...

While that definitely disturbed me, let's get to the main reason why I absolutely hated Locke. And no, I did not think he was hot or sweet or a protective knight in shining armor. Nope. Not at all.


So, here we have one of the first encounters that made me question Locke. It's about a paragraph and a half long, but I'm gonna break it up to stick in my commentary and what not.

He still held one of her wrists, and she tugged, trying to break free. —Locke, Roar pg. 167

Excuse me, but she's trying to break free from you, that should give you that hint that, no, she does not want to be manhandled by you, or any other guy, for that matter.

His grip was secure; but, never one to give up easily, Roar twisted her body nearly all the way around, trying to worm out of his grasp. —Locke, Roar pg. 167

I'm sorry, never one to give up easily? Give up easily?! She shouldn't need to give up because it's her body and you should not be touching her if she does not give you permission!! Also if she's trying to worm her way out of your grasp, maybe take a hint? This asshole can't take a hint, can he?

He loosened his hold, worried she’d hurt herself. But the moment she broke free he seized her again, wrapping his arms around her middle, arms trapped at her sides, her back to his chest. —Locke, Roar pg. 167

Hurt HERSELF?!

YOU'RE the one who's hurting HER because you don't know when to take 'no' for a goddamn answer! Oh, and to top it off he grabs her again, because that is exactly what she wanted.

He should let her go. He knew her well enough to know that manhandling her would only make her fight harder. But he was too distracted by the way her body fit against his own. —Locke, Roar pg. 167

I was shaking with anger by this point. I mean, he even knows that he's manhandling her, and he doesn't even care because he has a boner.


UUUGH! And now let's see what Rora thinks of all this. Same page, just switched to her POV:

She wanted to scream and shove free from his grasp, to fall back on another argument that would give her the precious distance she needed. But it felt better than she would ever admit to lean back and let the hunter behind her be the thing that held her up for a while. —Rora, Roar pg. 167

See!! I f*cking told you! But then she was kind of into it? God, I don't know what's wrong with her, because then Locke proceeds to tease her to get a reaction out of her and make a point regarding their training. And you know what, Rora totally falls for it.

Once again a man manipulated her and she’d fallen right into his trap. —Rora, Roar pg. 174

Later on, we get this little gem...

They still argued, often over trivial things but she could tell he was at least trying to be more careful with his words. —Rora, Roar pg. 216

Well, what’s so bad about that, you might be asking. How about the fact that he has to be careful with his words when he’s around her. He shouldn’t need to be careful! Just be a decent human being, for f*cks sake!

She was getting tired of his moods—suffocatingly protective one second and a beast the next. —Rora, Roar pg. 232

Oh my gods, YES! Even Rora sees it! It is so incredibly annoying and frustrating! There are some heroes in other books who are protective over their love interest and it’s so cute, but this guy... This guy is suffocating, just as Rora said. And he is awful to her! He is always talking down to her and manhandling her, as you saw before. But if you think the manhandling is over or was a one time thing, boy are you wrong!


On the next page, after she talks about his mood swings, they start arguing again. Rora is done with his shit so she stomps off, wanting to be left alone. And is she left alone? Noooope. He follows her.

“Roar, wait”
“No,” she snapped, picking up her pace.
“Would you listen—”
“Can you just leave me alone?”
His hand seized her elbow, and spun her around forcefully. He growled, “I can’t.”
And then his mouth collided with hers.
—Rora, Roar pg. 233

UUUUUUGGGGHHHHHH. And notice how it says forcefully? My eyes, yeah, they’re seeing red.


At first Rora is totally upset about being assaulted like this, but then she says that the anger melts away and she’s totally into or something. BUT then, on the next page...

She planted her hands on his chest and shoved, but he caught her wrists.
“You still did not ask,” she hissed.
The indent in his brow deepened. “Ask what?”
—Rora, Roar pg. 234

You’ve got to be f*cking kidding me!

She struggled against his hold, panic welling in her throat. “You can’t just grab me and... and do that. You cannot manipulate me into letting go of my anger.” —Rora, Roar pg. 234

Do you see how’s she’s panicking, and he’s not letting go?

This time when she pulled, her wrists came free, and she stumbled backward. He held out a hand as if to catch her, but he hesitated, letting her find her own footing.
“I should not have yelled at you. I was worried, and I overreacted. You—you did well. With the embers.” —Locke, Roar pg. 234

Notice how he doesn’t even apologize?

She wanted to yell some more, to push and shove and protect herself because fighting was not nearly as frightening as ... as whatever this was. She was supposed to be learning how to trust herself, how to be confident in her strength, she could not risk that, not even for a kiss so intense that she was still shaking. —Rora, Roar pg. 234

What I gathered from all this is that while she may have enjoyed that kiss in the end, she still did not want it and Locke seriously crossed a line. Rora is her own independent woman who don’t need no man! Especially a man like Locke who is confusing AF.

She did not understand him, did not know what he wanted from her. First, she reminded him of his sister, then he could not look at her without bursting into spontaneous arguments, and now... now he seemed so soft—his words, his touch, his eyes. —Rora, Roar pg. 238

Rora is literally just echoing my thoughts... except for the whole soft thing. I don’t care. I don’t buy it. I don’t like it.


Alright, we are at the end of the rant, I promise. I have just one more scene to show you. In this scene, the situation calls for Rora and Locke having to share a horse, but Rora is still absolutely pissed off at him (as she should be) for the little stunt he pulled previously. So, Rora is trying her hardest to touch Locke as little as possible while still sharing the same saddle.

After the tenth or so time she had tried and failed to keep from falling against him, he was out of patience. Wrapping the reins once around the pommel so he didn’t lose them, he reached both hands back to grip her thighs, well above her burns, and tugged her forward. —Locke, Roar pg. 247-248

Oh, well how f*cking considerate of him, trying not to exacerbate her injuries.

She squeaked in response, her fingers tangling in the leather straps and holsters that crossed his abdomen. He would be lying if he didn't admit that he got pleasure out of both her outraged cry and the feel of her surrounding him. —Locke, Roar pg. 248

PLEASURE?! My blood is boiling.

“You are such an ass!”
He smiled. “Probably.”
“Definitely.”
“Yes, but I’m an ass who gets what he wants.”
He hadn’t meant those words to sound quite so possessive.
—Locke, Roar pg. 248

Did I mention my blood was boiling, because I am about to burst a vessel!! Not only does he “get what he wants,” but he is also possessive AF and he knows it! That son of a bitch...

Excuse me while I take a breather...

So there you have my essay about why Lock is a prick and the romance in this is absolutely unhealthy. It was just the worst! But you know what, I am definitely curious to find out what happens next because not everything wraps up in this book. And yes, I understand that this is the first book in the series, but come on! I really don’t know if I can sit through that romance again though, just to find out what happens in the sequel. I really did like the world and Rora’s fight for her kingdom, but I don’t know man. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.

P.S. In my search of all the Supernatural gifs, you know what I realized? That Locke is Becky! This is literally him!


That son of a bitch. And you know what else I remembered? Dean Freaking Winchester was once rejected.


And you know what happened after she told him no? Dean shrugged, and WALKED AWAY! He did not push her. He didn’t make a big deal. He just left, eating his food, as Dean does. You could learn a thing or two from the stud that is Dean Winchester, Locke. Be more like Dean.

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a link to your review or comment below! :)