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beelovesreading's review
5.0
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.
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.
aemcroberts's review
5.0
Its been a long time since I've read a fantasy that I enjoyed as much as A Breath of Sunlight. It was wonderful.
I loved the characters, Calle was such a delight with his optimism and patience. While he was a little more soft than I generally like my heroes, he was still a great character. Very well formed and totally believable. The tragic backstory and previous love was exceptionally well done. And his new relationship with Skaja was believable.
The story was engaging, exciting, and didn't lag anywhere. It was such an entertaining book! My most favorite part was the soul bonding aspect. I love that trope and this one was well done.
If you're looking for a fun read, with great characters, pace, and beautiful prose, then look no further!
I loved the characters, Calle was such a delight with his optimism and patience. While he was a little more soft than I generally like my heroes, he was still a great character. Very well formed and totally believable. The tragic backstory and previous love was exceptionally well done. And his new relationship with Skaja was believable.
The story was engaging, exciting, and didn't lag anywhere. It was such an entertaining book! My most favorite part was the soul bonding aspect. I love that trope and this one was well done.
If you're looking for a fun read, with great characters, pace, and beautiful prose, then look no further!
katkinney's review
5.0
Skaja is a fierce winged Valkyrie warrior who together with her Valkyrie sisters, hunts men and tries to free women from slavery. Calle is the brother of the cruel fae king. When the fae king chooses the woman Calle has secretly been courting to be his bride at the summer solstice ceremony in front of the entire kingdom, Calle defies him and is sentenced to slavery in an underground mine. Six years later, Skaja rescues him during a raid where she’s only supposed to save the women. The men are all supposed to be killed. I loved the world building in this. The descriptions of the fae court and the brutality of the life Calle is sentenced to are wonderfully described. Skaja is fierce, driven and uncompromising—all hard edges, as one would expect from a Valkyrie, and yet when she meets Calle, she makes an exception. I loved their scenes together. I liked the way as we got further into the book and learned more about Calle and Skaja and their backstories, there were some interesting twists and surprises in store. This was a gorgeous fantasy romance and I’m excited to see there’s a second book in the series.
unwrappingwords's review
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.75
cheseliz's review
3.0
I haven’t seen harpies in many books, so it was fun to have one as a main character. The author creates an interesting world with her own version of the Fae. The writing is a little awkward with some phrasing, and is choppy and repetitive in some places. However, there are some funny quotes and one-liners I enjoyed.
As for the romance aspect, the relationship came off as strange to me at first, namely because of her slapping him a lot. I also expected the main character to still be grieving his love he lost in the prologue—I know we skip ahead six years, but I wasn’t expecting him to be flirting with someone else so quickly after meeting them, especially when that person is aggressive and hates men. Thankfully toward the end of the story, their relationship became really cute, and the ending of the story was satisfying.
Contains:
-Violence
-Mentions of torture
-Abuse
-Implied sexual content
As for the romance aspect, the relationship came off as strange to me at first, namely because of her slapping him a lot. I also expected the main character to still be grieving his love he lost in the prologue—I know we skip ahead six years, but I wasn’t expecting him to be flirting with someone else so quickly after meeting them, especially when that person is aggressive and hates men. Thankfully toward the end of the story, their relationship became really cute, and the ending of the story was satisfying.
Contains:
-Violence
-Mentions of torture
-Abuse
-Implied sexual content
shcleveland's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Initially, I had this book at 4 stars, but after thinking about it for a while I wanted to come back and give my written review and realized I really need to give it 3 (3.5 on platforms that will allow it). Let me explain.
Overall, I really enjoyed the book. It was a fun little fantasy romance that met my expectations for the genre. That's an automatic 3 stars. I liked it. It's a fun book that is worth reading if fantasy romance is your jam. I would definitely pick up another book by the author.
The Pros:
The writing was fun and snappy. There were a lot of neat little world-building details, such as the cultural meaning of tattoos. Calle was a sweetheart and the relationship between him and Skaja was fun to read.
There was so much cool potential in the worldbuilding and premise here that I think it could have easily been turned into a much beefier fantasy novel. I don't think that was the author's intent though. I think the intent was to deliver a fun, easy-to-read fantasy romance, and that was what I got.
Skaja's trauma around the truth of her parentage was handled in a way that I thought was fairly believable.
The Cons:
Calle suffered immensely and didn't seem to really have any long-term lasting effects from that. So while Skaja's trauma was handled pretty well, his was glossed over.
I feel like the Valkyries needed more development. The Valkyries here are different from their mythological inspiration. I would say the author just borrowed the name, which is fine. I think the mythological Valkyries would probably approve, honestly. However, there are some serious cult-like issues with the Valkyries that I think could have been handled differently. WHY they hate men and live as they do wasn't adequately explained, in my opinion.
The fact that Skaja WENT BACK to what was essentially a cult and was allowed to leave again at the end was probably the single most unbelievable thing in a book about fae and people with wings.
Besides that, the more I sat with my thoughts on the book, the more I think the plot did really fall apart a bit towards the end. The telepathy that drives the start of the climax was so out of left-field. I think if there'd been any kind of establishment of that as an ability earlier in the book it would have been a dramatic improvement. It kinda felt like the author wrote themselves up to "oh well, time to storm the castle" but then didn't really know how to deal with storming the castle. And honestly, that is a position that sucks, believe me, I've done that twice myself. I'm just speculating here, but it FELT like the niece's telepathy was a get out of jail free card for a difficult plot point.
Having said all that, I did really enjoy the book and look forward to reading the next one, since I believe this is the start of a series.
Overall, I really enjoyed the book. It was a fun little fantasy romance that met my expectations for the genre. That's an automatic 3 stars. I liked it. It's a fun book that is worth reading if fantasy romance is your jam. I would definitely pick up another book by the author.
The Pros:
The writing was fun and snappy. There were a lot of neat little world-building details, such as the cultural meaning of tattoos. Calle was a sweetheart and the relationship between him and Skaja was fun to read.
There was so much cool potential in the worldbuilding and premise here that I think it could have easily been turned into a much beefier fantasy novel. I don't think that was the author's intent though. I think the intent was to deliver a fun, easy-to-read fantasy romance, and that was what I got.
Skaja's trauma around the truth of her parentage was handled in a way that I thought was fairly believable.
The Cons:
Calle suffered immensely and didn't seem to really have any long-term lasting effects from that. So while Skaja's trauma was handled pretty well, his was glossed over.
I feel like the Valkyries needed more development. The Valkyries here are different from their mythological inspiration. I would say the author just borrowed the name, which is fine. I think the mythological Valkyries would probably approve, honestly. However, there are some serious cult-like issues with the Valkyries that I think could have been handled differently. WHY they hate men and live as they do wasn't adequately explained, in my opinion.
The fact that Skaja WENT BACK to what was essentially a cult and was allowed to leave again at the end was probably the single most unbelievable thing in a book about fae and people with wings.
Besides that, the more I sat with my thoughts on the book, the more I think the plot did really fall apart a bit towards the end. The telepathy that drives the start of the climax was so out of left-field. I think if there'd been any kind of establishment of that as an ability earlier in the book it would have been a dramatic improvement. It kinda felt like the author wrote themselves up to "oh well, time to storm the castle" but then didn't really know how to deal with storming the castle. And honestly, that is a position that sucks, believe me, I've done that twice myself. I'm just speculating here, but it FELT like the niece's telepathy was a get out of jail free card for a difficult plot point.
Having said all that, I did really enjoy the book and look forward to reading the next one, since I believe this is the start of a series.
asterese's review
3.0
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 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!
jaxamaline's review
4.0
Thank you to NetGalley, Sydney Winward and Silver Forge publishing for allowing me to read and review this great story!
This book was wonderful, the character development throughout is immense and the bond between the two main characters is palpable
This book was wonderful, the character development throughout is immense and the bond between the two main characters is palpable
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