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OMG. OMG GUYS.

Ahh. I’ve been sitting on this news for a while, and have been so eager to announce it. And wouldn’t you know that when it’s actually announced, I am totally unprepared! So I’m rushing to put this post together, but I’m so excited that I can’t think straight!

So bear with me… we’ll start with the basics.

I SOLD A NEW SERIES!!!

AND IT’S YA!!!!

AND HIGH FANTASY!!!

AND AHHHHHHHH!!!!

The deal was announced today on Publisher’s Weekly. The series is currently titled Stealing Storms, and the first book is called ROAR.

Okay. Breathe. I’m breathing. Where to start?!

Let’s start with the genre.

Some of you might know that long before I ever put pen to paper and wrote Losing It, my first writing love was YA fantasy. The first book I ever finished was YA fantasy. The first book that ever got me an agent was YA fantasy. YA fantasy (of various kinds) is what I lived and breathed for five years before one summer I took a break to work on something different about an awkward girl in college who sort of accidentally nearly hooks up with her college professor. That book became far bigger than I ever could have imagined, and as a result I spent three years and many books writing New Adult romance. And I have had an absolute blast. And I have every intention to keep writing romance.

But I missed fantasy. I missed YA. If you’ve ever followed me on social media, you’ll note that I recommend far more fantasy and paranormal books than I do contemporary because it’s what I read the most. And my absolute FAVORITE thing to read, the thing I repeatedly ask for recommendations for, is high fantasy with a strong romantic plot (If you don’t recognize the term “high fantasy”- think books that take place in a fictional created world separate from our own– LOTR, GoT, etc). I’ve pretty much devoured anything put in front of me that meets that description. Some favorites include the Graceling series by Kristin Cashore, the Tairen Soul series by CL Wilson, Court of Thorn and Roses by Sarah J Maas, The Study series by Maria V Snyder, and more.

But as evidenced by the fact that I continually ask for recs, there just aren’t enough books out there like that in my opinion. And I have this pesky little character flaw in that when I want to read something and can’t find it… I HAVE to write it. I just can’t help myself. I did it with LOSING IT when I was craving funny NA amidst all the angst. I did it with INSPIRE when I wanted more paranormal amidst the contemporary. And now I’m doing it with ROAR. And it’s something I’ve been dreaming about for a long time, and I am just so excited and grateful that it’s finally happening. And I’m all weepy and emotional.

I’m also INCREDIBLY excited to work with both Tor Teen and my editor, Whitney Ross. Whitney and I met a few years ago after she read LOSING IT, and I’ve pretty much thought she was the sweetest thing ever since then. And I love Tor’s books, and have heard fabulous things about them from authors on their list. And I’m just so excited to be writing high fantasy romance, guys! You can expect lots of swoon against a back drop of a new and different world that I am so in love with!

 

A little more about the story!

I grew up in Texas. I lost countless trampolines and bicycles and God knows what else to tornadoes as a child. I had a specific book that I read whenever there was a tornado and my parents stuck me and all our pets in a bathroom to hide (I read to our dogs. They loved it. Take my word for it). My middle sister desperately wanted to be a storm chaser when she grew up, so we watched countless storm movies (I’m looking at you, Twister and Devon Sawa in Night of the Twisters. Yeah,you).

So I, as the younger sister, of course picked up the fascination. And it’s stuck with me for the rest of my life. I used to talk about writing a contemporary book about storm chasers, but I was nervous about getting the science right and had such a hectic writing schedule that I was never sure I had the time to do proper research. So I once jokingly mentioned I should write a fantasy book about magic storms, then I could just make up whatever I didn’t know.

It was a joke. But then this idea began unraveling in my head about a world inundated with violent, magical storms that were almost like sentient beings. I thought about how storms like that would shape the culture and government and religion of the land. I imagined rulers with the ability to  control the storms. Then I added some kick ass storm chasers who hunt storms to siphon off magic to sell on the black market. And finally, I imagined a girl named Aurora, who was destined to become Queen and take over her family’s duty of protecting the land, but with one little problem. She’s yet to show any magical ability. And without it, she’s been roped into an arranged marriage in order to keep the power stable in her kingdom.

But even though she wasn’t born with magic, it’s possible to steal it. If you’re brave enough.

Challenge a tempest. Survive it. And you become its master. 

 

So Aurora runs away with a group of storm chasers and becomes Roar, a storm chaser’s apprentice. She’s determined to look death in the eye and escape with enough magic to control her own future. But life, like the weather, is unpredictable. And she soon faces an impossible choice.

Queen or adventurer.

Duty or freedom.

Her Kingdom or the storm chaser she loves.

Rora or Roar.

Now about those storm chasers…

I AM SO EXCITED TO INTRODUCE THEM TO YOU. They’re this awesome, rag-tag group of misfits who are just crazy and brave enough to take on a very supernatural mother nature. And I mean, really…. you can’t get much hotter than a badass storm chaser for a hero. You’re imagining him in leather, aren’t you? Go ahead. I’ll wait!

So that’s it!

That’s my news that I’ve been sitting on for months. I hope you’re as excited as me! In fact, you should probably go ahead and add it to read on Goodreads. Feel free to leave your excitement there too. Or ask any questions you might have in the Goodreads ask feature!

And for those who’ve been begging me for news about INFLICT (Inspire book #2), this is why I haven’t been able to give you an answer. Because the YA world moves more slowly than the digitally driven world of romance,  I have to get this book finished and ready to go much sooner than I normally do, and it’s required some rearranging of my schedule. So for the time being, I’ve been working on both this and Inflict. I still don’t have an exact date for you. But I can promise it will be this year. And hopefully I’ll have some more concrete news for you in the next month or so.

And one last shameless plug…

Two of my books are on sale!

Inspire is just $.99 today only as a Kobo daily deal!

Kobo https://goo.gl/FbVsRv

 

And All Played Out is $1.99!

Okay now that’s really all! *tackle hugs for everyone*

With Awkward Love,

Cora