I unfortunately did not get into this account until after it had been sent to me due to technical issues on my side. Thank you for sending, and I apologize for not having been able to read it when it was sent.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

4/10

// mostly me ranting//

First thing first.

The thing is.

I feel tricked.

And I really hate feeling that way.

Ok, now that I've said what was going through my head the whole time and made my reading way less enjoyable because of this queerbaiting thing we had going on in the blurb somehow??

Sadly the writing and the characters made me feel like I was reading a mediocre Wattpad story written by a random HS freshman.

Now, I wasn't only tricked by the blurbs de facto promise of a wlw romance but I was also made into thinking that it'd be a very interesting adventure in general. It turns out the story's mostly boring. I've had numerous points where I wanted to just put the book in the DNF pile but here we are.

Still a 4 out of 10 because

pirates..

Yes, only that. They are always gonna be cool and an interest of mine. Especially since the Elizabeth Swann appearance.

After everything I really am not sure whether I'll get the second book in the series, to be honest, though I think there people who would enjoy this. I was prepared for a fantastic pirate adventure with maybe some wlw romance and maybe my own expectations were at fault. I guess I'm just not the targeted audience.

Nothing really of note about this book for me. It was a solid read and that’s all I have to say on that.

a wonderfully done start to the Legends of Vioria series, it was what I wanted from the premise and thought this was really well done. I look forward to more from the series and the author.

I enjoyed this more than I expected. It was really fun and sweet and the characters were captivating.

I was given a free e-copy of Windfall by Shawna Barnett (author), Hansen House (publisher), and Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. Windfall is the first book in the Legends of Viora series.

This review will be spoiler free.

Trigger warnings: attempted sexual assault, domestic violence, and other types of violent behavior.

I would characterize this novel as pirate-based sword and sorcery with a bit of magic and court and political intrigue.

The world building is serviceable without detracting or distracting from the story. The ship battles are interesting, and Ms. Barnett does provide descriptions that are interesting but is not the major focus of the story. I think the story takes place in a Renaissance-type European setting.

The magic system is mysterious and nebulous and is revealed through the princess’ arc as she learns and tries to master the magic.

One of the main characters is a woman who is a pirate captain and leads a very loyal crew. She has a mysterious past which is revealed bit by bit throughout the story and provides her emotional depth and motivation. The other main character is a princess who is supposed to be married to another noble for the benefit of the kingdom. I did not find the princess to be as fully developed or engaging as the pirate captain. I would have preferred to have read more about members of pirate captain’s crew. There is a secondary character who knows about the pirate captain’s past and is connected to the princess and I would have preferred his role expanded in the story because I thought expanding his arc would add complexity and ambiguity to the story. I think if his character arc was expanded, it embellishes and deepen the court and political intrigue aspect of the story.

The story arc has some starts and stops and does have some dead spots in the middle of the book which took me out of the story on more than one occasion. I did not understand some of the characters’ actions at the end of the book.

I think I may read the second book in the Legends of the Viora series because I want to know what happens with the pirate captain.

I rate Windfall 3 stars.

I would like to thank Ms. Barnett, Hansen House, and Net Galley for the free ARC.

Thank you to Netgally and Hansen House for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Ultimately this book ended up being a bit middle of the road for me. I think my expectations were more of the "yay! pirate book" variety and it is pretty light on the pirate stuff. I absolutely loved the first few Pirates of the Caribbean movies when they first came out and my best friend and I came up with a pirate story of our own inspired by our love of those movies. I was hoping to get that kind of a feeling again but that wasn't really the vibe of this book.
I did enjoy the characters and I think there is potential in the series. On the other hand, there were parts of the book that felt very out of left field.

I loved this book. I might be a little bit biased just because I love female pirates but I still love this book and am very excited for the rest of the series. I love a good wlw fantasy book and that is exactly what this was. The characters were awesome and the plot was immaculate. Absolute wonderful.

Female pirates! I was hooked not that I have a type and female pirates are it. This book was sooo good the characters were chef kiss and I couldn't stop reading it. I actually forgot to sleep.

On the surface, Windfall sounds like exactly the kind of story that I would be into. It has queer characters, pirates, magic, and secret royalty – that’s almost a bingo on Jamie’s bingo card of favorite tropes. And the premise is fantastic, involving a princess hiding secret magic powers falling into the care of a bunch of pirates led by the daughter of the previous (murdered) king. I wanted to like it so much.

Unfortunately, I did not like Windfall as much as I had anticipated. The plot is uneven, a bunch of scenes stitched together haphazardly, semi-related and tying everything together in one disjointed knot. Scenes end abruptly, and moments that I feel should be important are either breezed over or skipped entirely. It’s interesting enough – particularly Rhian’s arc (princess on the run and pregnant) and Liana’s backstory (pirate captain who is secretly royalty) – but at times it was just flat-out boring. Sometimes I found myself skimming.

I could have dealt with a less-than-stellar plot if I found any of the characters interesting or worthwhile, but to be honest, the only character I liked in Windfall was Ameen. He’s one of the POV characters (Liana’s fiancé and one of her officers), which is nice, but I felt like he was underutilized, and I did not like the way Liana treated him. It’s an established relationship (they get engaged at the beginning), and occasionally I found myself wondering why they were together at all.

I do sort of like the irony of a crew on a ship named Windfall constantly getting into trouble.

The book opens with a bunch of soldiers attempting to rape Liana, an act that serves no purpose other than a) to introduce Commander Whyte (which could have been done in any manner of ways) and b) to highlight the misogyny of this world. This is addressed once, when Liana meets Commander Whyte again (he is not the man who attacked her, and is in fact the only soldier involved that she let live), and then never again.

I suspect a lot of aspects of the world are meant to set up the fact that Liana is “not like other women”. She’s a pirate captain! (And amazingly is the only woman on her crew. Like, she’s a female captain and there are no other women in this world who might want to be pirates?) She wears trousers and a hat! She doesn’t want children! This is a book about magic pirates, you could do anything. Please don’t do this.

Not to mention, a lot of the antagonists are just truly awful people. There couldn’t be nuance in any of these characters – Rhian’s uncle and cousin are murderous sociopaths, Liana’s brother-in-law is abusing her sister. It felt very much like they were given these traits so that the narrative could be like, “See? You were right to dislike them!” and ignores the fact that you can dislike characters for any reason, especially when they’re clearly painted as the antagonists.

Also, while I appreciate the fact that the three primary narrators are queer (Liana and Rhian are bisexual, Ameen is asexual – which I was particularly happy about), I didn’t like the way some aspects of the representation were handled. At one point, Liana and Rhian are separate from the others (because of reasons), and there is a scene where Liana is talking to a tavern owner. Rhian gets jealous and leaves; Liana incorrectly assumes that Rhian is worried that Liana has forgotten about Ameen and assures her that she loves him very much. The two then immediately share a charged moment where the feelings are completely out of the blue, especially on Liana’s end.

I’ve seen a few people who were disappointed because this is being touted as a sapphic romance, and it’s not. Both women are in serious relationships with men and seem to genuinely love their partners, even though they are apparently attracted to each other. Perhaps this will be developed more in further books, but if you’re expecting a thrilling lesbian romance, you won’t get it in this one.

In short, this book has potential. The world-building is actually pretty good, even if I didn’t care for any of the characters. If you’re just looking for a fun pirate story, you may be interested in this, but it just didn’t do it for me.

This was an average fantasy/pirate story. It looks to be book one in a series that has some potential, but I don’t think it was fully realized in this installment.

I’ve been a big pirate fan since a little kid. I remember a teacher crushing my spirit when she told me that ‘no, I could not grow up to be a pirate as my job’. So when I read the blurb I was instantly excited about this book. I have to say that I was disappointed by how much trouble I had getting into the story. The first 25% or so is super slow. I honestly considered a DNF, that this story was just not for me, but it did pick up and became quite readable. The story never completely clicked for me, but there definitely was an entertainment factor to the read.

I do have to say that I was bummed about the romance. I saw the bisexual tag, so I expected a possible M/F, F/F and maybe even a non-binary relationship partner, but I thought the main romance would be between the pirate captain (who is a woman) and a princess. I don’t know if I misread the Netgalley blurb or what, but that is not what this romance was about. Both women are in love with men, and while they do talk about being bisexual, they only had maybe one longing glance with each other and that was it. Maybe something will happen in the next book, but a pirate/princess romance was a big reason why I wanted to read this so that was a real disappointment.

The two main ladies are Liana and Rhian. This is a total me issue, but having two names that sound similar with some of the same letters, really messes me up. I could not remember who was who and if you asked me right now, it would take me a minute to tell you who the pirate was. I just wish authors would not pick main characters names that are similar. Some of us don’t read them well.

I was trying to keep this short but I rambled so I’ll wrap this up by saying I wasn’t in love with the characters. The Princess does have some potential with a secret she holds. Her character was a bit wooden in this book, but I hope Barnett really packs some life into her for book 2. The pirate I was not crazy about. She was not pirate enough for me. I like my pirates a bit more dangerous and badass, and more than once her being too nice put other people in jeopardy. Again, I hope for some good characters growth for her in book 2.

In the end I wasn’t crazy about this but I thought it was an average read. It was not the kind of pirate story I prefer, but it did have its entertaining parts. I’m not sure if I want to read book 2 or not. If I knew it had certain changes I would consider it, but I’m on the fence for now.

I was granted eARC access to Windfall by Shawna Barnett via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to whoever handles approvals on behalf of Hansen House! My thoughts are my own and my review is honest.

Wow. That's seriously all I can think to say immediately after finishing this, just wow. I loved it, but at times I also hated it and felt every other emotion toward it in between. It could be tighter, it could have started off without the attempted rape, and there were so many moments of characters who had given their hearts to others lusting after each other that kept rubbing me the wrong way... but at the same time this book has so much awesome about it. I think I'm going to call it a 4 out of 5. The awesome outweighs those negatives many times over and none of those negatives were too egregious, so it's definitely not a 3 or less, but there are also definitely choices made in here that the editor in me would have suggestions changes for, so it's not a perfect 5.

Let's start with the awesome. Liana Foley is a prime example of what a selfless, strong badass of a heroine in a fantasy action-adventure needs to be, and I loved just about every minute of her on the page. The world is well built, the politics are easy to understand, and we get enough information about the magic system to understand why Liana fears it without knowing too much to sympathize with Liana's limited knowledge and fear. The pirate crew and land gang supporting cast are also all pretty darn great! I love all of the loud and proud LGBTQIA+ representation in here, too, with bisexual Liana and Rhiann, asexual Adeem, and others cropping up as well. I also really love the fact that although Adeem is asexual, it's acknowledged and address that he's not aro/ace and he does get a romantic relationship, with a definitively not ace character to boot and the personal issues and reservations that come up in a mixed attraction relationship are actually addressed.

And pirates. Can't forget to mention pirates. Did I mention Liana is both a runaway princess AND a pirate captain? Elizabeth Swan who?

Now for the not-so-awesome. This book has what feels like roughly a baker's dozen different plot lines and a healthy-sized cast for each, not all of whom overlap directly but all of whom are intertwined by politics and familial relations. It's a delicately crafted web and not every strand has survived unscathed. On top of that, and besides the attempted rapes and unfaithful lusting mentioned previously, the last third of the book has at least 10 different possible endings. I kept checking my percentage remaining to see if this was the end or not, because it could have been, and then it kept going. So many twist and turns and flip-flops. So many near-deaths and near-misses. At least one deus ex machina saving of a doomed character. I was both so sure this book is getting a sequel at points and so sure it was going to end as a stand-alone at others. By the last 10% I just wanted it to end, one way or another.

Overall, strong start to a series with brilliant ideas, a few minor fumbles in execution, still absolutely a book I would recommend.

Windfall is the first novel in the Legends of Vioria series. There is also a prequel novel, Seabird, which I need to get around to reading as it features the main character’s journey from princess to pirate captain. When the reader meets the main character, Liana Foley, in this story, she is already a captain. There is some backstory given throughout this novel, so the reader would not be lost if they did not read the prequel. As a word of caution, there is an attempted rape near the beginning of the novel, so it is just something to keep in mind while reading. This novel and I had a semi-rocky start as it took me a few tries to get into reading, however, it could just be me as a reader and not the novel. I am glad that I tried again as I was eventually captivated by the story and I am curious to read more when the eventual sequel is released.

The story starts with the introduction of Captain Liana Foley and her quartermaster Ameen Almasi in the early 1700s and her ship, Windfall. She steals in order to help those less fortunate while also hiding her true identity as a princess. Her foster family and brother know the truth after her parents died. Her backstory is explored a little about how she transitioned to the life of a pirate and I enjoyed her portrayal as a captain. She makes mistakes, but she looks out for her crew and in turn, her crew respects her. She is a very interesting and complex character and I loved her and Ameen. They had great chemistry and it is obvious to the reader how much they care for each other early on in the story.

When Liana attends a ball, she is blackmailed into protecting Princess Rhian by Captain Dillon Whyte, Rhian’s lover. After Rhian displays some magic, she is semi-rescued by Liana and they are forced to be on the run. The representation in this novel was well done as both Rhian and Liana are on-page bisexuals, along with some secondary characters, and Ameen is on-page asexual. I enjoyed that these were written as natural parts of their characters and did not feel forced. Although the synopsis of the story makes it seem Rhian and Liana establish a firm romance with each other, their story is more complicated. They have an attraction to the other, but each of them is also in a relationship. I enjoyed the romance aspect of the story, but I can see how the synopsis and the actual content do not fully align and could lead to some readers being disappointed. As this is a series, there are still many possibilities for any of the characters, which is another aspect I enjoyed.

The world-building was very imaginative and descriptive, so it was easy to picture the world where the characters lived. The pacing of the story is fairly slow at the start as the world and characters are established. The action picks up towards the middle and then slows a bit at the end setting up the cliffhanger that will lead to the sequel. There is some character growth in this story with a lot of potential in the rest of the series for more. Although the synopsis portrays Liana and Rhian as main characters, I felt Ameen was more central in this story than Rhian. Overall, this was an interesting introduction to this universe and fascinating characters.

**I give a special thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, Hansen House, and the author for the opportunity to read this entertaining novel. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.**

I received an ARC of this book free from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. Actual rating: 4.5 stars.
Windfall is a tale of loyalty, magic, and revenge aboard the pirate ship of the same name. Captain Liana Foley and her crew are pirates with a conscience. Each crew member was distinct and played an important role in this found family dynamic. The stakes are high as several crew members are seriously injured, as the crew navigates runaway princesses and power hungry men.
The big three strengths of this fantasy, to me, were the characters, worldbuilding, and small moments.
Starting with the characters, the reader can absolutely understand why everyone in the crew admires Liana. As captain, she has to make tough decisions at times, but she always has everyone’s best interest at heart. She ensures that crews' families are provided for comfortably and allows second chances when mistakes are made. Ameen is a fantastic partner, and an interesting character of his own merit as well. His character arc was just as engaging as those of Liana and Rhian, and we appreciate this ace quartermaster. Speaking of Rhian, it’s easy to see how she becomes enamored with life on the sea, and Liana herself. One of my favorite quotes from the book actually pertains to Rhian and Dillon:
‘King Lyell saw that Rhian’s focus fixed behind him, and he turned to see Whyte with a stupid lovesick grin upon his face.’ pg. 245.
On to the Worldbuilding, there are several islands and colonies mentioned during Part 1 and I appreciate the attention given to different languages and religions of this world. These were details that definitely had an effect on the remainder of the story (Liana and Ameen having roots in different cultures, etc.). Shawna Barnett went through the effort of creating words for months in this world, which is a nice detail as well. This is an adventure that spans years, so the calendar reference is helpful.
The best little moments here were the sea shanties and daily life aboard the Windfall. Shawna Barnett certainly lucked out with sea shanties growing in popularity in 2020 and 2021, and here it helps the story feel even more immersive. When the Windfall’s rudder was damaged, it took time to be replaced. These are the realities of seafaring and are all part of the journey.
The only criticism I could think of is pacing. Part 1 is slower paced, which is understandable given the setup required. However, there is an important character moment that takes place during Part 3, and the reader isn’t privy to it/it happens very quickly.
Overall, this was a fun Queer pirate story, with well plotted twists, and I’ll probably pick up the sequel Between Wind and Water. I’d recommend this to anyone who’s Bisexual awakening was Elizabeth Swan in the Pirates of the Caribbean Series, or those who enjoy other Queer pirate stories such as The Mermaid, Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall and Scavenge the Stars by Tara Sim.

I am beginning to wonder if I like Pirates in practice or just in theory.

First Thanks for the ARC from NetGalley. I am always excited to receive one.

There are definitely some trigger warnings associated with this book that you should look into before reading including Rape, DV, and torture.

While this wasn't a bad book and I didn't enjoy parts of it for the most part I thought it was kind of boring. I really prefer character driven plots and this one the characters didn't feel as established as the could have been but this is a series so that could change in the future.

I liked the romance between Liana and Rhian. I like a slow burn even if I wanted more from them. I thought the world building was good and liked the addition of Magic in the world

But all in all this one fell flat for me, unfortunately.

I went into this story thinking it would be something specific, which may have impacted my experience. I saw other blurbs online calling this sapphic and promoting a female pirate. Besides a few hinting glances there’s really no sapphic parts in real-time (and a tiny past history mentioned). Overall the writing balances dialog and description well, there are some action scenes and eventually it does turn swashbuckling, but not quick enough and without as many compelling plot points as I prefer. I did enjoy the mix of compassion and charity that Liana and her pirate crew display contrasting with their plundering and her vengeance. And I did think the multiple perspectives were written well and magic with pirates is a nice touch. Just wish more about the lore of magic was addressed and the history of the world itself.

Rating: 2.5*

I heard about this book from a friend and got really excited with the mention of sapphic pirates - and then once I saw the blurb and read the premise of the book, it really did seem like a read I would thoroughly enjoy. However, once I had started the book I found the beginning really slow and the plot seemed to drag out at certain points. The latter half of the book did get more exciting, it just took a while to get there. It does feel as though perhaps my expectations for this book were too high, and although I enjoyed it in the end, I won’t be reading the sequel.

I really liked the concept of this book, and it was executed alright. The writing I thought was lacking at times, and the characters weren't always super fleshed out or interesting, but it was still a fun read, and entertaining.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hansen House for providing me an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

DNF at 22%

I really wanted to love this book because it was about pirates but it wasn't my cup of tea for three reasons. The main reason was the pacing. The first chapter promised action but after that the storyline slowed and I became less interested. Secondly, the main character just was not for me. Sometimes you meet someone and instantly feel irritated and that was how I felt with Liana. She tries to present as a good person but she often behaves terribly to other characters and they just accept it and even praise her. Lastly, the romance was marketed in a way that did not follow through as I expected in the book. Most of these reasons are just personal preferences so if you like the synopsis I would still say to try it out for yourself!