This was exceptional. Despite its being a sequel, this can also be read upfront like a standalone and this is really nice. The female lead was relatable and I could feel myself in the book, made me lose my focus elsewhere. Writing was elegant and not short not long, just enough

I have been looking forward to reading this excellent book since I finished the first of The Four Winds books at the beginning of last year. Zephyrus, The West Wind, interested me as a character in the first book, and I wanted to see where this book took him. I'm happy to say I enjoyed this as much as the first one. The use of Greek mythology and the Scottish ballad Tam Lin were great in this book. There are mentions of The Odyssey and the myth of Hyacinth, which are part of Zephyrus's backstory.

My favorite part of this book was learning more about Zephyrus and seeing his interactions with Brielle. Their interactions were quite funny at times, and I enjoyed watching them fall in love. Watching Brielle grow as a person was also an essential part of this book. She is a character that you cannot help but root for and hope that she will succeed. I don't read books that focus heavily on religion too often, but I found Brielle's journey an integral part of her story.

Another aspect of this novel that stands out is learning about Zephyrus's other brother Notus. I'm hoping that we will get a book about him if Alexandria continues with this series. He is a character that I would love to learn more about.

I highly recommend this book and know that I will add this to my collection along with the first.

Right away this book pulled me in. I thought the Brielle’s character was all around interesting. Her life and circumstances heavily based in religion were unique. When paired with her more curious and adventurous spirit, the book was that much more compelling. Zephyrus was a lot like Brielle in that their characters are a dichotomy. Brielle is both devout, but adventurous and curious for the world beyond her own small one. Zephyrus is both selfish yet selfless. They both grow a lot throughout the book, which I always love to see in books. There was also some unique world-building and magic at play throughout the story that added to the overall enjoyment of the book. However, I did feel that the plot and book were a bit slow at times, making me feel that the book was a little too long by the end.

I'll be honest, I always love the villain, so I was especially excited to read Zephyrus's story and this book proved me right as to why I felt a pull towards him. I also really enjoyed Brielle. I've definitely been the doormat in my life before, so it's enjoyable to watch a character grow into their own.

Parts of the plot ran a little slow to my liking. However, I also love stories that pull on myths and legends, so it balanced out well for me in the end.

I've really enjoyed both books in this series so far.

I enjoyed the main girl in this book MUCH more than the first book.

I really love standalones in an interconnected series, so this is one of my favorite things about these books.

I will say, this book was quite long and I felt that it dragged a bit throughout the middle.
3.5 stars!

3.5 Blade Stars ⭐
Spicy Level: 🌶️/5

This is very much the definition of it's not you, it's me.

And as much as that sounds cliché, there isn't another way to frame how I feel about this without saying that I'm the problem. It's not the book, it's me. Suppose I have to separate the writing, worldbuilding, characters, and plot and look at it objectively without my personal preference. In that case, it is an incredibly well-written book with a superb redemption arc and complex character growth. I really did love the writing. It is clean and descriptive while still giving a balance of character and plot.

However, there is a large religious aspect in this book. A religion which wasn't necessarily Christian but pulls on a lot of the Christian faith, practices and beliefs. It just felt a bit much. I didn't particularly like reading a book about a woman who questions her faith and goes on a journey to finding herself through romance. Which I know I am hypocritical since The Sound of Music is one of my all-time favourite movies, but something about this just didn't vibe with me.

This book follows Brielle, who in my mind is quite boring as a character at the start. She doesn't really have much of a personality and her personality flip flops a little bit in that one moment she stands up for herself and then she doesn't. We meet her when she is overly obedient, weak and avoids conflict. She is bullied and verbally abused by the others at the Abbey and just lets this happen to her with no fight.

One day she meets a mysterious man who has been beaten and is left for dead, and she breaks one of the rules by bringing a man into the Abbey to heal him. After a while, he gets better and to repay her he offers to take her into Under (the Fae Realm) to have questions answered. Given she wants nothing more than to become an Acolyte and cannot understand why she has yet been chosen to ascend, she follows him.

This really does have a decent character development arc, which is why I say that if I separate my own dislike of religion in stories, this is really good. You have a woman who questions her place in the world, questions her beliefs, her understandings, what she's been told, and taught and above all questions what's been indoctrinated into her. She acknowledges that she is naive and she hasn't experienced the world for what it is. So when she is given the opportunity to do so, she discovers who she really is meant to be.

Some aspects of her growth did feel a little fast, especially when it came to her relationship with Zepherus, I think she flips the switch to loving him too quickly... I think this is due to the fact that I didn't really feel the spark was fully there. The hypocrisy of her actions between breaking her vows to still believing in her vows and the constant switch back and forth made me feel something was missing.

In the end, the romance was sweet and I appreciated the redemption arc that Zeph went through. I mean, he was very much the villain in Book One. So it was great to see how he got his own story and hear the explanations for all the multifaceted layers of what actually drives the motivations of his actions.

I do have to give credit to Alexandria Warwick for how amazing the worldbuilding was because I believed it. I believed the religion. I believed there is this world where this faith exists. A world with a Christian-like religion within an abbey, close to a fae realm and I believed these worlds are all connected. I also appreciated that this was its own unique story with its own unique dynamics. It wasn't the North Wind Book 2 - this was The West Wind, a book that can very easily be read as a standalone.

Ultimately, if religion in books doesn't bother you, you might really like this book. It feels like Chick lit set in a fantasy world, as the romance isn't as forward facing. This felt more like a coming-of-age story for our girl Brielle. The romance was added in as extra motivation and an explanation of why Brielle grew and how she grew and I am curious to see where the wind blows and the next story goes.

Thank you to NetGalley and Alexandria Warwick for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.
All thoughts and feelings are my own

I was a fan of the first book in Alexandria Warwick’s Four Winds series, The North Wind, but this book is better than that installment for sure. Even though I gave them both four star ratings, they came by those ratings for very different reasons.

I continue to be a fan of Warwick’s narrative prose, which has grown in maturity and tone since the last book. She’s managed to hold onto that rather minimalist way of describing sets, scenery, and wardrobe compared to most of her contemporaries, which I adore for the simple change of pace and because I like to let my own mind fill in some of the blanks. That’s what an imagination is for. Warwick gives us just enough to work with that we can fill in the blanks, and I like it.

At the same time, her inner narratives for our main characters show just how much time, dedication, and love she has suffused each of them with as she has developed them and written them. She knows who these characters are–each and every one of them–and you can feel her affection and care in the way she writes them and how defined they are. Their voices are as unique as their appearances and backstories, which makes for great stories and some fantastic dialogue that can verge toward melodrama at times but usually course-corrects on its own.

I like this plot much more than the plotline in The North Wind. For one, this book doesn’t really stop. It keeps moving. Whether the cause is fleeing, fighting, or chasing, the book is one long quest that keeps our main characters moving to and fro, over and under. The North Wind lacked that movement but had charms in other places. I also loved the questions the book posed surrounding faith, blind faith, the nature of higher powers, sacrifice, what lengths people will go to for protection out of fear, and what lengths people will go to in order to face their fears to save the ones they love.

It’s a hefty read at almost 650 pages, but it’s a good one if you’ve got the time.

I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All opinions, thoughts, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: Fantasy Series/Book Series/Fairy Tale/Fantasy/Fantasy Romance/Folklore Retelling/Kindle Unlimited/KU/Mythological Fiction/Spice Level 2

Again I typically do not like series that are individual stand-alone books but I am always willing to make an exception. The North Wind was so good, I couldn’t pass up reading about our favorite villian. Thank you #NetGalley for sending me this copy to read!

I instantly LOVED Brielle. For one, she is very religious but still did what was right in saving a strangers life, even though she knew that being found out could cost her. Secondly, she was open minded enough to even entertain the idea that the world might be different than everything she has been told all of her life. She is also kind of an outcast which only makes me love her even more.

Zephyrus we met in The North Wind and knew he was selfish. That was very evident in this book… though as we know, people can change. He agrees to help Brielle on her “quest” as a debt for her saving his life. What starts as him accompanying her for selfish reasons ends with him making the ultimate sacrifice for her. 😍

This has a WONDERFUL HEA on so many levels. This book can be read without reading The North Wind first, since this is fully focused on Zephyrus. Though I do recommend reading them both, they are both great stories!

After reading the first book in this series, The North Wind, last year I was excited to get into the second instalment. The West Wind picks up where we left off with Zephyrus, but now we add in Brielle. She is an incredibly religious woman who is striving to be an acolyte of Thornbrook.

First off I really enjoyed how this was more of an adventure story than the previous book, and I could relate to Brielle’s hardships being bullied by her peers. But I felt that at her age (early 20s), she should have had enough of them and stopped letting them walk all over her.

I really hated Harper in the first half, but as she softened and realized how terribly she had been treating people, she redeemed herself for me. Also in the second half we see the pace pick up a bit, the romance becoming more pronounced, and Brielle finally gaining a backbone.

After finishing the book I enjoyed both the story and character arcs, and how they were all wrapped up. There was much that didn’t need to happen, and I think was added to try and add suspense or raise the stakes, but I felt they were really unnecessary.

And I am intrigued by Notus, The South Wind! It’ll be interesting to see how his story is told.

Really enjoy the authors writing style, but these characters are quite unlikable. (Might be a case of good book, wrong time?)

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is the second installment in the Four Winds series. I absolutely loved the first book, so I was really looking forward to this one. The pacing was pretty slow, which got frustrating at times. I also wasn’t a huge fan of the very religious aspects. Overall it was entertaining, but not my favorite in the series.

I thought the North Wind was wonderful, and I was not let down one bit by The West Wind! I would say these are very “vibes first, story second”, and if you go into them looking for a butterfly-giving romance, you will be disappointed

HOWEVER, I love this type of cozy, rainy day fantasy. Yes, it is a bit slow paced, but I honestly love Warwicks writing because it feels more like sightseeing through a lovely land than anything high angst. That does not mean that the romance in this is lacking- it was a beautiful slow burn and the chemistry between the characters was a joy to read.

This is the second installment in the Four Winds series. I loved the first book, so I was looking forward to reading this one. Brielle and Zephyrus are an intriguing yet somewhat dysfunctional couple. And their time spent in the mysterious and treacherous world of Under was very entertaining. However, the heavy religious aspect of the story wasn't to my liking. Also, the numerous mentions that Brielle was bigger, softer, taller... we get it. She's "different." But who cares? For me, feisty heroines come in all sizes and shapes. Nevertheless, it was an entertaining read.

I got this arc in exchange for an honest review.

A frustrating read with a premise that was attractive enough (it has elements of Tam Lin that will be obvious to those that know the Scottish ballad), but the writing was difficult to get into and the pace exasperatingly slow. The characters are very dull most of the time, especially Brielle, the blandest heroine I've read in a while. And the romance, that is meant to be slow-burn, turns out to be cringey by the end, with a sex scene that would make Anakin recoil for all that rough sand that gets everywhere but that somehow doesn't bother the characters. I don't know if I'll be giving this author more opportunities after two books in a row that I've found rather disappointing.

Another amazing read by Alexandria Warwick.
Absolutely loved this!
Really engaging plot, interesting characters and loved the romance.
I did feel it could’ve done with cutting down a bit which is the only reason I’ve given it 4.

tl;dr: came for the Tam Lin retelling, left for the heroine

I wasn't a fan of the first novel in this series, but I was intrigued by the Tam Lin retelling, and the promise of an interconnected standalone featuring Zephyrus from book 1. I did not enjoy the religious overtones, and I am not really a fan of the awkward and unexperienced virgin heroine trope.

Where to begin? No, really, where?
I had wanted this book since I closed The North Wind at the beginning of last year: I do love myself a villain with no redemption, but I wouldn't be a true Killian Jones lover if I didn't love a great redemption arc from time to time. And in this case, I was not disappointed at all.
The premise about the forbidden love, the fact that I expected Zephyrus to be a flirt with a good heart beneath his mask, along with the Tam Lin inspired lore and the heavy Church part, that's almost all I knew about this book.
I was flabbergasted to say the least.
But the one who surprised me the most was Brielle.
She was a force to be reckoned with. I would lay at her feet and beg her to stomp on me and I'd thank her for it, too.
She's one of the strongest characters I've encountered as of late, both in spirit and physically. Speaking of which, one of the things that shocked me the most, as it was not marketed as a plus size romance at all, was that Brielle was one. It filled my heart because this part was not exploited as a selling point but a strength Brielle finds within herself. You must read the book to know what I mean: I don't think I've got enough words to declare my love for Brielle. Her journey is one of self discovery and pain, of love and loss, of strife and small moments of personal victory, and it was a blessing to witness it. Brielle now holds a piece of my heart I'll never want back.
As does Zephyrus.
I've loved him since book one, I knew he was an ass in that one (and to be fair, so he is in this one!), but what made him even more loveable, besides the journey that made him into the man he is at the end of the book, was the way he was seen through Brielle's eyes. The dynamic between the two wasn't new in terms of trope, but to me, it was in terms of resistance from Brielle's part, her faith so strong it makes the book a painful slow burn and me a whimpering mess.
Zephyrus and Brielle's journeys are tied so tightly together it should be impossible to even believe they mature with a different pace, and yet Alexandria Warwick, besides spinning words the same way Rumplestiltskin spins gold, made it possible.
I'm in awe of this book, although - and this is just me having sort of another theory before all went down - I felt part of the ending was a tiny bit repetitive. I'm not sure if it'll be the same for the other two books, I'd never assume that, however, knowing myself, I believe I won't like this event to happen again twice. That said, I do recognize why it had to happen, that doesn't diminish my love for this book at all.
This is a great story of growth and self discovery, one that I would have loved to see more from Zephyrus' perspective (this is NOT just an excuse for me to have more of him, I swear!), one that everyone should read at least once. Or twice. Or way, way more.

TW: bullying, parental abuse, parental abandonment, religious corporal punishment, this book contains loads of religion due to our FMC being a novitiate in the church this might be triggering to some in a way.

I really enjoyed Alexandria Warwick's The North Wind but I had some doubts about liking The West Wind since it's MMC was Zephyrus, a villain in the first book. The curiosity got the best of me when I saw this pop on Netgalley and I was gratefully approved.

Brielle is a novitiate of Thornbrook abbey. She has dedicated her life to the Father since she was 11 years old and is determined to graduate to being an acolyte. She is quiet, reserved, very much introverted and physically she is a tall, thick but strong woman. She is constantly bullied by other novitiates and it seems like she has no friends. She never retaliates to the bullying she just absorbs it all and writes out her feelings in her journal. Brielle comes across an injured man one day and though it is against the rules for a man to enter Thornbrook, she sneaks him in to heal him. Turns out that man is actually the West Wind, a god, the Bringer of Spring. What proceeds is an epic quest, a life-altering adventure and a self discovery that makes you want to weep.

Brielle was such an easy character to feel for and relate to (who hasn't felt themselves unworthy and underserving) but at times I wanted to strangle her. She had so much faith in Zephryus even though he continued to dupe her. I just wanted her to cut her losses and run towards the end there. I loved her self discovery, she slowly starts to stand up for herself and has such self confidence by the end. Also I might've hated how Harper treated her in the beginning by the end I really liked their friendship.

And Zephyrus...I knew it would be tough for the author to get me to love him (I absolutely detested him in The North Wind), she tried her best and I definitely like him a lot more but we are far from loving him. He undergoes great change in this book and he recognizes his faults and takes responsibilities for his past transgressions. I just would've liked to see him interact with Boreas and grovel a bit for all the harm he caused. I did like how he got Brielle out of her shell, got her to speak up for herself...but he remained pretty selfish up until the last 20% or so.

While the characters were good I didn't believe the chemistry between them. It fell pretty flat for me. Granted, Brielle was a virgin and undoubtedly devout so she had no idea how to act in those types of situations, it all just came across very awkward and cringe for me especially when they finally get together. (view spoiler)

Overall, it was kind of a let down follow up to the North Wind. And even though I'm disappointed I will continue the series because we are introduced to Notus, The South Wind, and he sounds incredibly attractive. He has this whole quiet grumpiness to him that I would love to find out more about.

Thank you so much to Andromeda Press for providing me with an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley & Andromeda Press for a review ebook copy in exchange for an honest review! "The West Wind" is the second installment of a fantasy romance series, but it's a standalone, there are only minor references to the first book.

Brielle grows up in an abbey, very religious and she is preparing to make her final vow and pledge her life to the faith. One day she finds a heavily injured man in the forest, who she mustn't touch, according to the rules of her faith, but after much consideration she decides to help the man and nurse him back to health in secret. What she does not know is that her patient is not a mortal man, but Zephyrus, a god.

The story is based on a Scottish ballad and has references from Greek mythology, but also expands on these topics and modifies some aspects of them. Overall I liked the story, but the religious aspect was too much for me and was too often mentioned, compared to it, the romance had way less scenes. Also, I did not enjoy the numerous scenes where Brielle gets bullied by her peers over and over again.

After the first book, this second, unfortunately wasn't for me, but I am looking forward to reading the next installment of the series!

Brielle is a woman of faith, devoted to her God and faithful to her Abbey. She has known nothing else for the past 10 years of her life, thus her dream is to be chosen as the next acolyte to cement her position at Thornbrook. A chance encounter with a wounded man shakes her beliefs and she finds herself breaking the first of many of her vows to the “Father”. This chance encounter spirals a series of events that make Brielle reevaluate her beliefs with her faith and herself. A tale of deceit and forbidden love entwines Brielle with the devious Bringer of Spring and is plunged to the depths of Under where friends become foes and unlikely enemies become much more than that.

I’d like to start by saying I’m biased to the first book which I absolutely loved. We meet our main male lead in The North Wind as the conniving brother of the Frost king in the first book.Although both books connect one does not need to read the first book in order to enjoy or understand the West wind. That being said if you’d like more details of events that get mentioned In The second book Id suggest reading book one first and proceeding to the second.

Initially I liked Brielle she’s a good character but somewhere along the journey she started to annoy me because of her unshakable faith in the Father. For me personally I am not religious and I do not care for it. I usually don’t mind stories that stem off of religion but in this case it did get old pretty fast for me. Luckily there is some serious character development along the journey and we start to see more questions being asked instead of blind faith and obedience.

Other than the religion being a minor annoyance at first the rest of the book hit all the tropes I usually enjoy in a good read. Such as forbidden romance, close proximity, enemies to lovers and lastly slow burn.

I 100% have recommended this book to some of my book friends and can’t wait to see what we get next in the series.