Thank you to NetGalley for an advance read copy of this book in return for an unbiased review. Please note since receiving my copy, the final version has been published and may have slight changes to it.

This book is about poor addicts trying to make it rich in Hawaii with a charter boat called Whirlaway. The author does a great job personifying the erratic thought process of the addicts mine. It feels like an addict wrote this book. At least what I think an addicts mind would be like. Honestly, it gave me a headache reading it. I didn’t find it an enjoyable read.

DNF. I tried to get into the book but there seemed to be nothing to grab onto for me. I didn't relate to either character and didn't much like them either....their goals and aspirations seemed ridiculous and centered on the stereotypical "sex, drugs and rock'n'roll" trope. I wanted to give it a shot since it's not my normal genre, but I couldn't make myself keep going as I wasn't enjoying it.
Thank you to Robert Wintner, Twice Backed Books and NetGalley for the ARC. 1.5 stars.

I really like this book it was pretty good easy read definitely recommend
The book grabbed me from the the beginning to the end

Nope, did not like this one.
Dialogue runs on, all sex, drugs, .
Very little description of anything except when rebuilding the yacht.
I forced myself to complete it, hoping that there would be improvement, alas that did not occur.
Thanks for the ARC for my opinion. I dod appreciate it, just can't give this one much of a review.

Escapees from 9-5, two guys with innate skills for adventure sail to Hawaii for the good life. Robert Wintner chronicles the sweltering challenges in the fantasy chase on a 1-way trip to the secret life some men ponder and some live to regret. WHIRLAWAY is a repellent yet fascinating parable set in a free-booting era, delivering the beauty and the balm, the headwinds and breaking waves, the love and longing of distant shores. Adventure brings wayward souls home when least expected.

WHIRLAWAY is a tale for those who fail to toe the line, who seek a different dream, who roll the bones and go for broke. Martin and Jack know what they’ve been missing. Meant for more than dead-end jobs and withering youth, adrift in fading dreams and graying horizons, they reach a point—a wall facing a yacht harbor, where they smoke a joint to facilitate a vision. A big picture of balmy weather, women and money leaves only two questions: Why not? Why work, when they could be yachting?

Martin knows a guy who wants to fit in with those who don’t. Nuel is a brain surgeon, fairy godfather with a laser wand and an itch of his own. Nuel agrees to back a loan for a sailing yacht. It’s named for a racehorse, after all. Doctors do well on racehorses, so friends might as well embark on the tropical phase of their destiny. This vision too is facilitated.

Martin and Jack never had more than the wits between them, and though they ache from liquor and drug, they surge inside, casting off for open seas and a blue-sky promise. They inherit the wind and nothing more or less.
I really wanted to like this book, but I couldn’t connect with the characters or writing style. That doesn’t mean it’s not a good book, of course—everyone has different tastes so if the description appeals to you, give it a go.

None of the characters are likeable and that is why I read the book, A book that you didn't have to think when reading since the characters goals for the first part of the book that I read was to secure funding for a boat so they could live life doing little work and doing drugs and having sex with women. A typical beach read.

If a book doesn’t hook me within the first 50 pages, I give up. This one was easy to give up on. Unlikeable characters, talking about girls. Stilted dialogue went nowhere fast. Thanks anyway. Move on.

Whirlaway by Robert Wintner is a quick adventure read but this book left a bit to be desired. Two men take on a sailing adventure.

I did not care for this book at all, it was very hard to follow. None of the characters were like able. I struggled to finish this book. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a new author for me but I really enjoyed it! I think it’s a good summer read and I recommend it to others. Can’t be wait to read more from the author in the future!

This is a story that reads like a song or poetry. It has rhyme and rhythm that puts you in a relaxed state of mind. The characters are eclectic and different. They are all struggling to do life but seem happy non the less.

Whirlaway is a yachting adventure from the unique perspective
of two hard-scrabble guys trying to start a sailing charter
business in Hawaii. Character personalities seem other worldly
in their failure to accept conventional terms in anything but they
are still down-to-earth, and humorous in an entertaining fashion.

They all have to get on board with their range of skills, or lack
thereof, developed from a variety of life’s pursuits. They seem
to orbit the same odd reality, mostly in a do or die context. What
makes this novel unique is the constantly amusing and
humorous manner in which they interact. It is first-class
entertainment page-after-page. I highly recommend it and
consider it first-rate for the exhilarating ride the reader
experiences.

DNF. I just couldn't get into this. None of the characters are likeable, so I didn't care if they accomplished their goals--the goals for the first part of the book that I read was to secure funding for a boat so they could live life doing little work and doing drugs and having sex with women--not exactly lofty aspirations.

This is probably a “man’s book”. It was not for me. Male introspection. Might get better when he gets to Hawaii but I didn’t get that far. Sail on.

As a water woman for most of my adult life, I had few female friends make the grade as sailors, what you might call able-bodied sea women. I grew up choosing outdoor games over dolls and took home economics because that’s what girls did. Sailing for me was everything I love, wind and waves, open water, good times.That was then. Now some of the best sailors in the world are women, and some of the best crews are nothing but women.

I loved Whirlaway because I can imagine a day when women will take on such outlandish adventures, and nobody will blink. When they do, I doubt they will discuss “women’s issues,” especially in heavy weather or during a perfect sunset, downwind on following seas, sipping a top-notch tequila as a real woman should. Five stars and no bones about it.

The Author’s note says, "Whirlaway is set in the early 1980’s, in a transition from fun and upended values to self-ish amusement, ambition and cocaine. Social stricture came decades later. I make no excuse in capturing the vulgarity, drug and alcohol abuse or misogyny of this narrative. I request forbearance—excuse me—for presenting those social stepping-stones as they were, on the way to our current grace, etiquette, good manners and compassion. Whirlaway is an adventure, meant to record and entertain, with insight. As the disclaimer notes, all characters are purely figmental, with no basis in reality. Land, ho!"
It is just that. Wintner captures a sea-faring adventure in this compelling tale. I especially enjoyed Nuel, Martin’s brain surgeon friend, his scalpel referred to as a magic wand, and how Nuel factors in the dream. They finagle a yacht and cross an ocean. This is not light-hearted fiction but nitty gritty—sand in your hair and salt in your eyes. The tale is true to life and at times unpleasant as the blood, sweat and tears we shed. Resolution comes in survival, on intelligence and instincts. Great job Wintner. Keep telling it how it is. Substance prevails!

Wintner’s storytelling is coupled with grace and warmth, too. My favorite passage: I sat by at sunrise with Herbert at the helm when a pair of mahi mahi jumped a perfect tandem arc ten feet high, fifty feet back, making for the lure like dawn after night. One fish hit. I grabbed the line and pulled the fish to four feet back and hung on to it, watching the hooked beauty slice the water more easily than Whirlaway, as if sleek movement was a simple meditation of being. The bull was hooked. You can tell by the shape of the head, square on the bull, round on the cow. She swam alongside then dropped a short way back, staying with him, unaware that her soul mate would be plucked from reality in a heartbeat, and her life would never be the same. Herbert watched and encouraged a quick landing, which would lead to quick cooking. But I gave back three feet of slack. The fish spit the hook so he and his mate could share the heartbeat together, poof and gone. “You let him go,” Herbert said.

“They mate for life,” I said. “I admire that.”

Wintner has incredible talent as a writer, and he has heart. 5 stars.

I’ve done a lot of blue water sailing, including the waters around Hawaii and north to Alaska and the Bering Sea and east to L.A. and Baja. Wintner gets it, and his magic with words puts you right in it. This gem will take you along without pinching your pocketbook, or tossing you about in a real squall where you get wet and a little scared, or making you puke with seasickness because your yacht ain’t as big out there as it seems to be in the yacht basin. And in the bargain, you get to sail and play with a motley crew of misfits you wished you had the stuff to play around with when you were—well, at any age from fifteen to seventy-five—and maybe even BE them for a while. But if you didn’t do it then it turns out it ain’t as late as you thought it was, nor will it cost you a year out of your career or the lives of your family. Pick this book up and read it and you’ll be most of the way there. You won’t need much sunscreen. Think of the stories you can tell!

What a perfect antidote for stuck at home during Covid. This book took me to Hawaii and the ocean. Blue sky, the warm Hawaiian sun on your skin. Martin was my fave. He made me laugh through his wit and intelligence. The story of 2 thirty somethings seeking fortune and not afraid to take a chance. What an adventure, talking a brain surgeon into helping them finance a sailing yacht. The ocean adventures ring true, as do Martin and Jack's lives, reaching for something better. Spellbound! Pass the suntan lotion please!

Couldn't finish it...just rambling about nothing much! The story of a lover or drifter or mooch...not sure which title fits the best. I was bored!

Ugh. This is a tough one. Not your typical feel good, guys sailing around Hawaii. I struggled with this one from start to finish.