This book was a little bit of a let-down. It was okay, and the writing was decent, but overall it felt a bit muddled and didn’t offer anything that made me feel completely invested in the characters or the situations they’re in.

Prince Calle’s brother is about to choose a wife. He chooses the woman Calle is in love with, and Calle tries to fight for her, but ends up sold as a slave. Years later, the prison is invaded by Valkyries – a group of women who, for no actual reason given, hate men with a passion that sees them kill every man in the place. So, our introduction to these characters is women who indiscriminately kill a bunch of men who have likely been unjustly imprisoned. Great start.

One of these is Skaja, a Harpy, which makes her kind of special. For some reason, she is unable to kill Calle, and instead rescues him. And of course, this being Fantasy Romance, she is drawn back to Calle, and helps him, despite it going against everything she believes in as a Valkyrie.

Slight spoilers here: it turns out the woman who heads up the Valkyrie’s – who despite the ‘Fantasy’ names of all the other characters is simply called Paula – kidnapped Skaja as a child. And she’s not the only one. Yet it’s just accepted that the Valkyrie are out there and murdering men, kidnapping children, and it’s all fine and good. Oh! There is another character with a ‘mundane’ name – Calle’s brother. Turns out you can spot the antagonists here by their names.

I think there was potential here, but I just didn’t mesh with it. It was a little all over the place – the characters are fae, but also there’s harpies – bound to the ruling family – and the Valkyrie group. None of them match up to the mythical representations of these groups, really, which is fine, but it doesn’t feel like it’s done in a conscious manner, more like the names were just picked out because they sound good?

There was missed potential here, and Winward is a decent writer, but the worldbuilding felt lacking. There’s different types of fae, but this was never really explored, and a lot of the interesting aspects were skimmed over. Characters come across as one dimensional, with a set role each fulfils. It feels very much like it could have done with a touch more work and depth added to it.

Why don't I have more Valkyrie books on my shelves!? That's the question. I want to make comparisons, but none of them really do justice to what I found in this book. I was expecting a Gumiho-type story - where the fierce, female protagonist saves a male and it all feels very tropey. Or something like To Kill a Kingdom where the man and creature seem to be at odds but fall in love anyway. But this novel had so much more heart, so much more intrigue.

This novel mixes duty, love, destiny and choice in a whirlwind of action which I found very easy to get through. It feels fresh, which is impressive considering how many fae novels are available now, and the intricate details are what cinch this novel as a standout amongst them. We love a strong female protagonist in this house, and even in the MC's quieter moments, she felt multifaceted. I could totally believe both the front she put up for others, and the self-conscious nature inside. Also bonus points for being a standalone. There's a lot to pack into this novel, and I'd happily read another. But it felt complete and well-considered.

Wow it leaves my heart tender and glad that it’s story is complicated in one book. I don’t have to wait to find out the end.

I think it is beautifully written with an interesting world. To be honest this is one of the very view books where I enjoyed having a male protagonists. We do have a Skala as female co lead but it is mostly Callie’s perspective we follow.

Sadly I saw the dig twist in the end from miles away, if not right from the second chapter. So it definitely does no provide much mystery, but it’s a love story it doesn’t particularly need that.

It is definitely a worthy read.

A Breath of Sunlight is a fantasy romance. It focuses on the fae in a new and refreshing way in an already saturated market.

The characters really drove this story for me. The main characters Skaja and Calle are both fierce and vulnerable in their own way. This story takes the usual innocent and timid women and the fierce man and flips it on its head whch I loved.

I really enjoyed this book. having never read any of Sydney Winward's books before, I was not too sure what to expect, however, she delivered! honestly, I am a sucker for a book with a powerful and fierce female protagonist, and equally when any male leads show their vulnerability. With an intense plot and an intertwining romance, this book was a pleasure to read. While not too explicit, the book does cover topics such as brutality and what could be considered extreme views. I add this in as a warning, however if you are a committed reader in almost any genre, it will hardly touch some of the content out there. I enjoyed reading about the blossoming romance between the two protagonists that juxtaposed the action and fast paced nature of the novel. I am used to reading about all types of mythical creatures like fae, fairies, elves, dragons, magicians, and angels. Valkyries I have had only a little experience with but thought that the way in which they were portrayed as fierce female warriors was really appealing to me as a reader and drew me into the book. In conclusion, I really liked this book and would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of books with explosive action, romance, strong female leads, and fantasy worlds to get lost in.
Thank you to netgalley for providing a copy of this book for me to enjoy and review!

She broke the number one rule of Valkyries and now must risk everything in order to keep them both alive. Harpy Skaja knows what it means to be a Valkyrie but when she and her sister attack the Pits, the rules change. She’s to kill a Fae male slave and instead saves his life. There’s something about him she can’t shake, and her actions have sealed their fates. Or is this her fate? Is she destined to help the Fae man, who calls himself Calle, to protect his people and claim the throne? Whatever happens, she must not fall in love with him. For love is a death sentence for a Valkyrie but the heart wants what the heart wants. Destiny brought them together and Skaja must decide which path she’ll choose, duty or love.

A Breath of Sunlight is a magical fantasy romance I couldn’t put down. Just when I think I’ve read all there is to read on the Fae, Sydney Winward creates a fresh take on the Fae. First, let’s talk world-building. Sydney Winward’s intricate detail to every aspect of her Fae realm is akin to Tolkien. Add to that the descriptive narration and I was swept away. A bonus was the Valkyries. I love reading about these strong warrior women. Second, the characters were vibrant, three-dimensional, and connected with me in different ways. Skaja is fierce like a warrior one minute and insecure the next. Calle is the golden fairy tale prince who went from pampered in the castle to slave in the Pits and had to be set down to become the man he was destined to be. A total role reversal and I couldn’t get enough of it. Liam was a hard nut to crack as a villain but once I understood his motivation, I enjoyed his wickedness. With a full cast of minor characters, I relished interacting with them. I would like to have a few of the characters’ stories in future books. It’ll be interesting to see what Sydney Winward chooses for more in the series. The plot moved at a good pace with intense action scenes, plenty of conflicts, and a romance between two unlikely souls. Hands down, A Breath of Sunlight is one of the best fantasy romances I’ve read this year. If you’re a fantasy reader, you’ll enjoy A Breath of Sunlight. If you’re looking for an engrossing read, pick up A Breath of Sunlight. I look forward to reading more from Sydney Winward. Highly recommend!

Disclaimer: I received a copy from the author in the hopes I'd review it.

My Rating: 5 stars

I think that A Breath of Sunlight is a really exciting debut novel. The romance is compelling and beautiful but Calle is really empowering despite the male character. The story is also well written.

A Breath of Sunlight Kindle Edition

by Sydney Winward  (Author

Thank you to Syndey Winward, the author, the publisher and NetGalley for the complimentary copy. I am choosing to leave a fair and honest review.
A breathtakingly beautiful second chance love story wrapped up in a gorgeously built world full of swords and sorcery, A Breath of Sunlight has only one flaw. Not enough time was spent with the villain, so there is no fear for our hero and his heroine. Unfortunately, that made him a cardboard cutout.
Ms. Winward lavishes her story with stunning writing. She is able to create images with her words that are real enough the reader can nearly smell the musk of the griffons and the stench of the Pits. This more than makes up for the shortcomings of her villain.
Calle, the second son of a king and brother to Liam, has his life and his love destroyed by his jealous brother's action. Liam tells his court that he has had his brother killed, a lie. Liam had, instead, sent his brother into slavery, in the Pits. It is in the Pits that Calle meets Skaja, our heroine. Skaja is the only Valkyrie with wings, the only harpy. With her sister Valkyries, they attack the Pits, killing most of the men there – slave or slavemaster, in order to free the women. Skaja ends up saving Calle, setting off the story.
Calle and Skaja share the narration duties and the story is told in third person. The narrators' voices are clear enough we don't need to be told who is speaking.
Skaja, her sister Valkyries and their home have more that a passing resemblance to Themyscara and the Amazons. Ms. Winward does a fair job of trying to make that idea her own.
Action scenes weren't quite as good as the scenes between Calle and Skaja. The love scenes are tasteful and rare.
Ms. Winward has created a world I would like to return and I hope to spend more time there.

5 stars out of 5
https://www.amazon.com/Breath-Sunlight-Sydney-Winward-ebook/dp/B098D5YX54

This book was wonderful, the character development throughout is immense and the bond between the two main characters is palpable 💜

The author pulls you in and makes you feel the characters emotions as the story unwinds, the world was vivid and the action gripping.

Prince Calle has been wronged badly by someone close to him and Skaja is a Valkyrie/harpy with a link to the the royal family.

Brilliant I very much enjoyed this book and will be keeping an eye out for the next in the series of "Sunlight and Shadows"

I found this to be a unusual story that I enjoyed. I've read different stories that had a fae in one form or another. But not quite like this one. It definitely was intense and kept me involved. I never knew what was going to happen next.
The world building was really good with it having depth and some pretty good details.
Prince Calle was different than some heroes and that's not just about his magic. A lot of stories have the hero being a good warrior with and without magic. Not in this story. He had a lot of good qualities but being a good warrior wasn't one of them.
Boy, did Skaja have some things to figure out. And a lot of the information was coming at her fast and furious. One of those things in the beginning was that being raised up as a Valkyrie, why didn't she kill Calle on sight? In fact, she ends up saving his skin quite a bit. Their interactions did lead to some humor.
There is plenty of emotions, dangers and battles to keep things really busy. The friendship, and trust builds between Calle and Skaja and then so does a romance.
There are several surprises waiting for the reader before the dramatic end.

I received an advanced reader copy from Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.

A huge thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read A Breath Of Sunlight.

Summary:

Don’t show compassion for men. Never save a man’s life. And no matter what, never fall in love with someone you must ultimately kill. But some rules are meant to be broken, even if it means risking your life by betraying your valkyrie sisters.

The plan was simple—attack the Pits, kill the male slaves, save the women. But when Skaja runs into a fae man she can’t kill, she instead breaks all the rules to save him.

Prince Calle was sold into slavery by his jealous brother, and he would do anything to taste freedom again, even put his trust in a dangerous valkyrie. To protect his people and gain the throne, he and Skaja must trust each other. But neither of them expected trust to turn into something more, and the cost of love has a much steeper price than either of them anticipated.

My thoughts:

Wow, simply wow. From the very start I was hooked. Calle has it all, then he loses it all. Everything seems hopeless for him, his very life has little hope of a good ending. Doomed to live out the remainder of his life in the Pits. Until Skaja. Until she and her sisters launch an attack on the prison he's enslaved in, slaughtering every man and saving the women. He fully expects to die, even welcomes it, but death doesn't arrive. What arrives instead is a fire-hearted valkyrie who, uncharacteristically, saves his life instead of ending it, thus thrusting them together on a journey that has them both questioning themselves and the people around them.

Every grumpy needs a sunshine, and every Valkyrie needs a fae prince – okay, maybe this was a one-off!

Beautiful, fierce, deadly. No one wants to be on the other end of a fight with a valkryie. And certainly no one expects to be saved by one.

You know all those guys in fantasy books that are ‘kind of’ super aggressive and storm in and save the woman? You won't find that here. If anything, there's a bit of role reversal going on. Calle is a sweet, soft-hearted man and Skaja is a fierce, combative woman.

“Skaja is incredibly awkward when she interacts with men. Let her fight. It’s her way of saying hello.”

However, Calle does have a strong side and Skaja a vulnerable one. Where one is weak, the other is strong. They understand each other deeply and balance each other out perfectly. I think this may even be one of my favourite romances thanks to their interesting dynamic and overall sweetness.

Calle never thought he’d fall in love again, and Skaja never thought she’d meet a man she wouldn’t want to kill.

The Storyline

Skaja makes the split second decision to spare the life of Calle, and thus, we are launched into an adventure where both characters are equally a focus.

The first half of the book largely focuses on Calle recovering from enslavement and Skaja coming to terms with her decision to protect him. The stakes become much more apparent in the second half of the book!

Overall

I really, really loved this. I was constantly trying to find time to pick it up again and I'm frustrated I can't communicate my love well enough. The cover and blurb honestly does not do it justice - I'm not sure anything would.

I am SO glad I decided to take a chance on it because it is now a firm favourite. Thank you so much to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I was intrigued by the premise of a valkyrie and a fae prince turned slave teaming up to save the kingdom from the latter's evil brother.

I ended up having mixed feelings about this book.

The worldbuilding stood out to me here. I loved the idea of having different kinds of fae, and other magical people. There were no pages and pages of description of one place, and I like that in my fantasy books. As for the magic system, I liked that not everyone was born with magic. Not everyone gets the same kind of magic either, which could figure nicely in future installments of the series.

On the other hand, I wasn't feeling the characters very much. On a technical sense, I will say that they were developed. But the growth felt too manufactured. On one page they're one thing, on the next, they're another. Things moved very quickly in this book, from the character growth to the story resolution. I would not have minded a few more pages to just to give more room for development. Even as I felt that sense of relief for some events here, I would also have liked a bit more emotion and struggle to really emphasize those events. But that could be just me.

This book had potential, I'll give it that. I'm hoping that the next book is a lot better.

I give this 3 stars.

Thank you for the ARC, Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op!

I wasn't sure what to expect from this fantasy romance, since Sydney Winward is a new-to-me author. But what I got was a pretty solid, easy read that I finished in one sitting.

Calle (not Callie, though I swear I misread it that way at least 10 times at the beginning, causing me some gender confusion once or twice) is the exiled brother of a cruel king. He's spent the last six years in a prison camp for standing up to his brother when the man tried to steal Calle's girlfriend and take her for his wife. He's survived starvation and torture, and all of his people think he's dead. He would be dead, in fact, if the valkyrie, Skaja, had not inexplicably decided not to kill him when she and her sisters raided the camp and killed every man inside.

Instead, she ends up rescuing him. The story follows his journey as he works to regain his strength and find a way to challenge his brother, while Skaja keeps feeling a pull toward him she can't explain... which eventually turns into a relationship.

I liked the book. But a few things did keep it from being a 5-star read. I guess the biggest issue was that the characters were not too deeply drawn. The villain, Liam, for instance, was kind of a cookie-cutter bad guy. We got a little bit more insight into Skaja and Calle, but honestly not a lot. We just know Calle is Good and Skaja isn't Bad, even though she killed a whole bunch of dudes as a valkyrie.

Also, all the sex was off page, which I guess can be a positive or a negative depending on your POV. (I would've liked to see their first night together, especially since she had never been with a man and her feelings were so new to her.)

I will give points, though, that I didn't figure out the twist on the depths of Liam's bad deeds right away, though it did become obvious before the reveal.

Overall, it was a pretty good story. Kind of light on the world building or depth, but an enjoyable read. I would try this author again.

I wasn’t expecting this book to be so easy to get engrossed in. In the beginning Liam is about to choose his bride and Calle is keen to hide his love from his brother Liam.
Fast forward six years and Prince Calle has been living in the pit as a slave. Only when the valkyrie arrive to free some female prisoners does Calle’s life change.
Skaja has a blood oath to protect him, which does not fit with her valkyrie code.
The book is a mix of rescue, confusion over feelings and the overthrow of a tyrant.
Overall this is a good story, Skaja was by far the best character with her fierce determination and will. Her confusion over Calle is well written making the romance intriguing.
The only thing missing were the twists in plot that I was expecting. Most were quite easy to predict which was a shame,

I was not a fan of this book - the plot was slow and the character development wasn't great. It could be due to the fact it is YA and I am expecting so much more to come out of that genre.

Every now and then I get excited about new books. Thinking this will be amazing and I’m going to fall in love. It was a great idea for a plot. I loved the idea of the Valkriye. Seems badass right? But then the book flopped.

All the “plot twists” were layed out rather quickly. There was little to no layering in this, no unraveling of mysteries, no depth.

I first heard about the Valkriye from a Sarah J. Maas book. Thought it would be a similar execution. Except the best parts of the ACOTAR series were taken out and thrown into this book with no way to get the reader there. And the rest of the story is just white noise. I rushed through the end just so I could finish.

If the author was really trying for the enemies to lovers trope it wasn’t all that convincing. The romance felt forced. The story said they were into each other but I didn’t feel like they had any reason to be. They were made to be into each other and weren’t trying hard enough to fight it. Again they just told you, so you must believe it.

All in all, if the author could could have went deeper with the major details it could have been a great story. But this was not something I’d recommend.

Thanks netgallley for the opportunity to read this arc.

Fae, fantasy, romance, drama and action, what more could you ask for from this fantastic book. I was completely hooked from the first page! The story itself was captivating and I loved the fact you get to experience the growth between the main characters. The writing style was also brilliant which made the book all the more enjoyable to read.

A HUGE thank you to Silver Forge Books and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book to read in exchange for an honest review!

Absolutely Stunning, Captivating and Beautifully written!

I was given this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is one of the best books I have read in a while. The characters are well written and intriguing, their interactions are well done and entertaining and the background of everyone and everything is just stunning. I love the world that Winward provided. The harpies, Valkyrie and fae all intertwined.

You get to see the growth and change of the main cast as well as a few side characters. I love that everything fits together so nicely in the end.

Skaja is just a well done character. She grew up in a world that was very one sided and opinionated on how the world works only to realize that everything she was told was a lie and that there is so much more depth to everyone and everything around her. She has so many challenges ahead of her. She has to overcome her prejudice against men, learn to become a queen and learn how to become a daughter. I love seeing her personality shine through in her conversations with Calle.

Calle is a bit too much of a golden child but in this story, it fits well. He is charming, handsome, magical and smart. He has ALL of the standard characteristics of a fairy tail prince. My only complaint about the entire book is that the author makes him too flawless. There is an attempt to make up for this by providing him with a hard background and damaged hand but really, it doesnt damper him at all or even make it so its a challenge to get over. Its just. ..hey.. I went through hell it sucked but Im still awesome. I wish that there were SOME flaws to his person. I mean. .come on. .lol

Nyana is an interesting character in that she is a major player. . . .that we hardly get to see throughout the book. Instead, she is viewed through memories as this perfect, flawless woman. I do like that you get to see some of her mistakes come to light. She dated his brother first?!? and decided NOT to tell him before the day the king was going to choose a bride? Seems like a HUGE oversight personally. I mean. . I get that maybe at first she would want to hide that. .but. . .right before? It kind of paints the King in a slightly more. . .pitiable light. .(until you remember that he is an abusive jerk that is. lol) but in the King's childhood, it makes it more obvious that yeah. .everything he wanted or liked or needed. .did come naturally for and to his brother but not for him. Does that give him a valid excuse to become an overbearing, power hungry, evil abusive ass? No. Never. But it does at least give some insight into the HOW he became.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book. I actually read it in one sitting. Lol I was planning on reading a little before bed. . .and ended up staying up until 4am to finish it XD I highly recommend it to fantasy lovers and Fae lovers alike!

This was a interesting story I honestly loved it so very much, I loved the prince! I forgot his name though. The last chapter was so amazing.I am so thankful for being able to read this story!
This book is worth the read! If you haven’t read it, you need to read this it’s a fantastic book