Storm Chaser by Lindsey Duga
Storm Chaser
Teen, Young Adult, Magical Realism, Science Fiction
Independently Published
October 26, 2022
Kindle, Paperback
420
Chasing dangerous storms is in Marley Pascal’s blood. For her, it’s an obsession—a need to confront the powerful, destructive forces that killed her parents.
But the storm she and her brother track down seems to violate the very laws of nature, with lightning that strikes as if from another world. In its crater, Marley finds a small purple crystal with a terrifying energy that hits her like a bolt to the chest when she picks it up.
Suddenly, it’s like the electricity pulses through her blood, a charge she can’t control. Which is exactly when he comes looking for her—the ridiculously hot boy whose eyes spark and crackle with the same force that now resides in her body. And he smells like summer rain…
But what’s inside Marley isn’t meant for her—or for any human. It belongs to him. To his kind.
As long as this force stays in her body, she’s a living target. A weapon meant to protect…or destroy.
Because now she is the storm.
“In hearing Marley’s plan, I’d been skeptical. But she was more than a meteorology nerd. She was a storm chaser. And she didn’t just chase storms. She caught them.”
Storm Chaser is book one in a projected three book series by Linsdey Duga. This action packed, science fiction story based around Marley’s melding with an alien crystal, that is the source of Brae’s atmospheric powers, is a gripping story from beginning to end. Marley is not your average teen girl, having been raised by her older brother after their parents died when a Tornado destroyed their Kansas home. Her brother’s studies as a grad student tracking tornadoes has fostered Marley’s passion for meteorology as well and allowed her to grow up surrounded by the science of storms and the people pursuing an understanding of these perplexing yet deadly occurrences. This put her on a course with a destiny she never could have imagined.
Storm Chaser is a great fictional read for all ages. It’s a story that combines fantastical beings, in this case aliens, with the nuts and bolts of storm chasing; think Twilight mixed with the 1996 movie Twister starring Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton. I love books that expand my knowledge or understanding of different subjects woven within riveting storytelling. Lydnsey has found the perfect balance between fact and fiction, blurring the lines between what is real and what she has created; the idea that different alien clans have the ability to control different aspects of violent weather.
Overall, Storm Chaser is a great fictional work. I just couldn’t give it more than 3.5 stars because of a plot progression we see quite often in books across genres but seemingly more so in teen and YA stories; the heroine makes decisions to go to or confront the antagonist by herself in an effort to save someone she loves, instead of conspiring with the other supernatural beings, particularly her love interest Brae, who have become part of her circle. Maybe because it is so widely used or maybe because it always plays out exactly the same that anymore I find I’m turned off by it. In the case of Marley, I get that Lindsey is trying to develop her into a strong, independent, and confident young women. However, in my mind it just makes her seem immature when she chooses to intentionally put herself in a risky situation with no guarantee that the “bad guy” will honor his word and trade her for her loved one. But, of course it all works out in the end which includes a little cliffhanger to close out the book.
This is not the first Lindsey Duga book I have read and I find that I really enjoy her style of writing and creativity with each story. That being said, I will be looking forward to the next couple of books in this new world! Grab Storm Chaser which is currently available on
Tanya’s love for books has been a lifelong passion that she likes sharing with others. Reading is also the thing that relaxes her after a day of juggling the many responsibilities that come with being being wife to an amazing man, mother to four great kids spread around the world, business manager, and farm hand on their place in southwest Missouri; home to Akaushi cattle and a menagerie of pygmy goats, horses, chickens, dogs and cats.
