3.5 stars!

A lovely retelling of the Greek myth of Atalanta. Atalanta meets Kahina, who is a Huntress of Artemis. Together they come up with the idea for Atalanta to race all her potential suitors, while they draw closer and closer together in their relationship.

The prose is lovely and some of the descriptions were beautifully written.

The story is told from alternating viewpoints between Atalanta and Kahina. I really liked Atalanta and wish we had had a little more depth into her mind and view. Kahina was okay but sometimes she kind of annoyed me, though she comes through in the end. Both girls have suffered at the hands of men and been abused, but they rose up stronger from those trials. This story is really about the two of them claiming their place in the world, and I loved that.

Probably the biggest thing for me was the setting didn't really feel like Ancient Greece? I know the author took a lot of liberties with the story and historical setting, which is fine (except FORKS. People in ancient times did not eat with FORKS), but if you took away Artemis and Apollo, it would have just felt like some generic fantasy setting.

The two main characters are lesbians, which made this story somewhat refreshing from most young adult books that I read. It was hard to tell which character each chapter was being told from the viewpoint of, especially towards the middle and end when Kahina no longer ranted on and on about how much she hated Atalanta. She didn't switch right from hate to love which I appreciated, but at the same time one day they simply liked each other and the next they were sleeping together. As far as side characters go, I liked Phelix and thought that his place at the end of the book was well thought out. I also think that Isidora really grew as a character and came out of the adventure as a stronger person. Overall it was a very good book and definitely one I would recommend.

Quick Rating: 4 stars

This book is a mythological retelling about Atalanta, but you do get to see Apollo and Artemis as well. Now I’m all about mythological retellings and I do think for her first debut novel she did a wonderful job, but depending on how you approach the novel you may love or dislike it more.

It is told from two POV (Atalanta & Kahina) which definitely helps the story move along a bit better, but sometimes I felt it was hard to tell who was talking because they almost became like one plus side note my arc had almost all of chapter 20 missing which confused me hella bad for a bit. The characters could use some more defining touches I feel, but I enjoyed them.

The plot I felt was very intense in the beginning like I was like holy crap what a beginning this book is going to be so intense….just kidding the plot dies down pretty fast for a good chunk of the book which kind of left me bored with potential until the end when it finally picked up again.

The world building I felt was like pushed to the background and barley there really. You hardly get an ancient greek feeling to me and since I’m very focused on story and plot and with this retelling it wasn’t as important the neglect didn’t bother me, but some I know it might and if she plans on adding more it could benefit from more work.

There is also some surprise F/F romance in this novel which I did not expect and enjoyed! It wasn’t rushed or forced like I feel some novels do and it didn’t completely take over the whole entire novel.

Overall for a debut novel, it was a good! I did enjoy the book and would recommend it to others that are fans of greek retellings

I’ve dreamed of being able to request ARCs to review for a while now, but I thought I didn’t have enough followers to actually get approved for one. But when I saw that Outrun the Wind was available on NetGalley, I decided to go for it. It was the perfect book for my first ARC; although it’s not a famous book (yet), it’s one I’m excited about since I’ve been following Elizabeth’s tumblr (annabethisterrified) for a while. When I got the email telling me that I’d been approved for an ARC, I was so happy and excited!! I started reading right away.

I’m happy to say that this book was worthy of my excitement to read it!! I’ve been a huge Greek mythology nerd since I read Percy Jackson all the way back in 2007, so this adaptation of Atalanta’s myth was a lot of fun to read. This story in particular isn’t one I’m super familiar with, but I could still tell that Elizabeth really did her research to make the story authentic while making it her own. I loved all of the characters!! Each of them had their own backstory, their own personality, and their own flaws, and they all felt so real. It didn’t take me long to care about them. One of my favorite aspects of this book was the way the characters were so connected to each other, even though many of those connections weren’t obvious as first.

Speaking of connections, this book was the longest enemies-to-friends-to-lovers slow burn I have ever read. I shipped Atalanta and Kahina from the beginning, and as I watched them both very slowly recognize their feelings for each other, I just kept thinking, “You’re both gay. You both like each other. Hello??” It took them so long but when they finally got it together, it was so worth it. I was hoping for a different ending than what happened, but I can save that for a fanfic : ) The actual ending was definitely not what I expected, but it was still satisfying and wonderful.

The only thing that kept me from giving this book a higher rating was that the story, while intriguing at first and very exciting at the end, dragged a little bit in the middle. The length allowed for plenty of character and plot development, which was necessary, but it still felt long to me. I can’t complain too much, though, because this book was incredibly well-written, especially considering that this is a debut novel written by a 20 year old author. Kudos!!

Overall, I really enjoyed reading Outrun the Wind, and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves Percy Jackson as much as I do. I will definitely be hyping this book up before publication, and I hope it gets the attention it absolutely deserves. Congrats, Elizabeth!! : )

My review is live on Goodreads and will be live on my blog (bookswritinghappiness) on August 1 at 5:30 PM.

The story between Atalanta and Kahina is more interesting than the main plot and the various subplots. I love the premise and the intrigue, but felt that the story went a little too long.

Outrun The Wind foi uma ARC que recebi através do NetGalley. De início, a sinopse me chamou atenção. Depois de ler algumas reviews no Goodreads, descobri que a história é uma releitura do mito de Atalanta, uma das mais famosas Caçadoras de Ártemis.

Kahina e Atalanta são de personalidades bem parecidas. Ambas são determinadas, inteligentes, corajosas e resilientes. Porém, enquanto Atalanta é impulsiva, Kahina escolhe que batalhas valem a pena serem enfrentadas.

Por ter salvo a vida de Atalanta, Kahina é meio que banida da Caçada e precisa lutar pelo seu lugar de volta. Esse detalhe faz com que ela tenha uma raiva crescente contra Atalanta e esta não faz nem ideia do porquê de toda a hostilidade da parte de Kahina.

À medida que as duas vão convivendo, a relação entre as duas começa a mudar. A autora desenvolveu bem o relacionamento entre as duas, passando dessa hostilidade para uma amizade e companheirismo e, depois, algo a mais. No meu ver, Kahina já sentia alguma coisa por Atalanta. Por ordens de Artemis, Kahina e outras duas caçadoras foram enviadas para ficar de olho em Atalanta, já que ela prometia ter potencial para uma futura caçadora.

A escrita da autora é um tanto poética nas suas descrições, porém bem fluída e envolvente. Minha única ressalva com o livro é o começo, que é um tanto parado, e o tamanho de alguns capítulos.

Nos agradecimentos, a autora deixou claro que mudou alguns detalhes da história original, mas deixou sua essência, se transformando assim em uma história onde duas garotas querem fazer seu próprio destino. Outro ponto interessante que autora levanta na história é a questão da mulher na sociedade e o machismo. Esses dois pontos circulam o personagem Hippomenes. O cara é completamente misógino e realmente fere o orgulho dele ver mulheres em uma posição de poder. Bom… só posso dizer que ele teve o final que mereceu.

Apesar de alguns furos, Outrun The Wind foi uma leitura interessante. O livro está com previsão de lançamento internacional para novembro desse ano.

This book was everything I hoped for. I am trash for greek mythology and the myth of Atalanta is amazing. The author did a lot of research and you can feel it as the book mostly follow what we know about Atalanta. Artemis and her huntresses are badass and awesome, the love story is perfect. I've loved everything !

The changing point of view was sometimes confusing, but over all a good read. Enjoyed the mythology bits.

Outrun The Wind by Elizabeth Tammi
Ok so I really didn't like this book it was very well written I just couldn't get into it at all! The characters was confusing and I just couldn't really follow it!
2 stars

Outrun the Wind by Elizabeth Tammi is a new release that tells the story of Kahina, a girl rescued from the Oracle of Delphi, who is then swept up into the world of the huntresses of Artemis, a powerful group of female warriors. Kahina is happy to be free from the oracle and exhilarated by the opportunity to show her strength and resilience to the world. But after a mission is compromised by her hand kahin must prove herself to the huntresses by accepting a mission to save the king of Arkadia's (where the story takes place) daughter Atalanta. As she fights to complete her task she develops a connection to Atalanta and soon finds herself having deep feelings (a big no no for the huntresses) for her. After the quest is complete and Atalanta is once again safe the king begins pushing his daughter about marriage. Being and independent and willful girl Atalanta rebels against any proposal and with Arkadias help will fight to remains free from the bonds of marriage to any unwanted to suitor. This sets off a chance reactions that has Atalantas and Arkadia's fighting for their lives and love.

I hate to say this but I really really could not get into this book. I really cant even name one things that I liked, The Book synopses sounded so interesting and I was really looking forward to starting it but I just did not like it. The first couple chapters are so bogged down in names of warriors, gods and locations that I had to keep going back over the text to understand who and what they were talking about. I also found the kings daughter Atalanta to be very unlikable. From the start she comes off as manipulative and cunning, with her first and only priority being herself. Maybe that was how you would have to survive in a land like that but it did not translate well into the story. Arkadia is a tad more likable but to be honest I didn't care what happened to either of them. As much as I hate to say it I would not recommend this book to anyone. Cool idea but it definitely missed the mark!

This was a pleasure to read. It has the best mix of fantasy, historical fiction and lovable people in Atalanta, Philix, and Kahina.

The romance too is done with finesse and seems creditble given how young they all are. So much life, worry and weight on them and they're only 18. They all try to do their best with the hand they've been dealt. And they deal with it with as much grace as possible.

I look forward to reading more novels from Elizabeth Tammi.

I received a free ARC of Outrun the Wind by Elizabeth Tammi in exchange for an honest review.

Overview
If you're a Greek Mythology buff, you may have heard of Atalanta. If you're drawing a blank, she was the lost princess of Arkadia, raised by hunters to be swift and strong. Atalanta was a fierce huntress who was known for her part in the Calydonian Boar Hunt as well as forcing men to race for her hand in marriage. There are many different stories about her, but I won't go into them all, since they are not pertinent at the moment.

If you've never heard of Atalanta, I'm sure you've heard of Artemis, one of the twelve Olympians, twin sister to Apollo, and the goddess of the hunt, wilderness, wild animals, and maidens. She was said to have surrounded herself with nymphs and maidens who were huntresses.

Our two main heroines, Atalanta and Kahina, are at odds with one another. Atalanta is part of a team of hunters sent to fight the Calydonian Boar, a monster sent by Artemis to destroy Calydon due to the king not honoring her during a sacrifice ritual. Kahina is one of Artemis's huntresses sent to protect the Calydonain Boar in order for it to accomplish its task. What neither one of the heroines were counting on, was Kahina risking everything to save Atalanta from the boar and changing both of their fates. (Okay, obviously, this is where some of the creative differences begin, but bear with me.)

Atalanta flees. Kahina is punished and sent to Arkadia on a quest to restore something that was once Artemis's, but now belongs to her brother, Apollo. But fate is funny. Atalanta was found by her father, the king of Arkadia, in the city of Delphi, and was brought back to Arkadia as its long, lost princess. Kahina is hired on as Atalanta's handmaiden to instruct her on being a female and princess, since Atalanta's savage upbringing leaves much room for improvement in the etiquette department.

While at odds at first, the girls begin to grow closer and begin to confide in each other. When it is announced that Atalanta was to marry, they devised a plan to still get the riches brought by the suitors, but to keep Atalanta from marrying any of them. Their secret weapon? Atalanta is ridiculously quick and she's counting on that speed to maintain her maidenhood and still help save Arkadia.
Of course, the past tends to come back and bite everyone in the butt. Hippomenes, a man who has a part in both girls' pasts, shows up and puts a kink in everyone's plans.

My Thoughts
I think my love of Greek mythology stems from my early childhood and my mom watching Clash of the Titans (the original) all of the time. It always surprises her when my sister and I talk about the movie and can quote parts of it, and she comments that she didn't realize she made us watch it that many times. Also, when I was in fourth grade, we studied the Greek Gods in my gifted program class. We got to make the gods out of Barbie dolls and display them on "Olympus". That was probably one of my favorite projects ever and I'll always remember creating Aphrodite, Eros, Ares, and Hephaestus in my group. Totally unrelated side note: My group happened to include my fourth-grade crush. :)

So, even though I enjoy Greek mythology, I was not all that versed in the back story of Atalanta when I first picked up this book. I went ahead and Googled her story and immediately became concerned that the author would take her story and create a story very loosely based on the truth. But, I decided to give it a shot, since I love a good kick-ass heroine and I love Greek mythology.

I decided to clear my mind of pre-judgement, remembering that Beauty and the Beast and East of the Sun, West of the Moon are both based off of the Greek myths of Eros and Psyche and Hades and Persephone, and look how wonderful those stories were! Not to mention, I love re-imaginings of Beauty and the Beast, because there are so many ways to interpret a story.

Once I had let go of any pre-judgements, I really enjoyed the story. The author did very well mixing the known story with some of her own creative flair and characters. I liked Kahina's personality more than Atalanta's, mainly because Atalanta seemed like too much of a follower through most of the book. In all honesty, I felt that, while both girls had a sense of growth through the book, Kahina's journey was a little more impressive to me. But, I also feel that in the end, both Atalanta and Kahina redeem each other.

When reading about the foot races for Atalanta's hand in marriage, I was taken back to a time when I was in kindergarten and I decided to have these three boys race to be my boyfriend. I really wanted this one boy to win, but he and the second decided to quit the race and go play somewhere else. This left the boy I absolutely didn't want to win to win by default. I called the race off and left the boy in the dust. I didn't even know about Atalanta back then, but I felt that I channeled her a little bit back then.

Conclusion
I give Outrun the Wind 4.5 stars. I felt the retelling was tastefully done and a story was told that was unique to me. For a new author, I think Elizabeth has a bright future as a writer and I look forward to her next book. I recommend the book to anyone who enjoys Fantasy, Greek mythology, Young Adult, and a good kick-ass heroine.

because i don't know how else to ever explain the immense love i have for this sapphic (!!) story, here's me pretending i'm a green brother:

Dear Outrun the Wind,

When I first heard of you, months ago, I knew I would love you. And I was right; as soon as I got about three chapters in, I fell in love with you. I fell in love with Kahina and Atalanta, and I fell in love with their relationship.

[insert gif of boyle anytime he's in the same frame as peraltiago]

This is a sincere thank you for existing. Thank you for being a book about greek mythology with queer main characters; thank you for being a which includes Artemis; thank you for being a book that made me feel content and satisfied (and smile for fifteen minutes straight).

Sincerely,
A Sapphic Mess

OUTRUN THE WIND by ELIZABETH TAMMI

• Tying their destinies together after saving her life, a hunter of Artemis needs to prove herself to her patron goddess as she falls in love with Atlanta.
• I love the slow build of Kahina’s relationship with Atlanta. Some of the best scenes with them together are the dance lessons, the practices for races, and the epic dance of love. The way they move from friendship to romantic partners is organic and made my heart all soft. These moments are when her writing shines the strongest.
• Atlanta is buff. I hate how certain books make their character dainty when they’re in positions of being the muscle (the fighter in the group, the hunter, etc.). Tammi has no problem showing the physical prowess this hero has, and how badass it makes her.
• The female friendships in the book are all wonderful.
• Speaking of which, I wouldn’t mind seeing a short story about Isidora. Hint, hint. I would love to see her side of how she entered the hunt.
• What Outrun the Wind lacks is atmosphere. While she uses ancient Greece as a backdrop, it feels like they could have been replaced aby any other fantasy-like name and it would not have made a difference.
• Other than that, this a solid debut, and I will recommend this to my friends who want to read more Sapphic stories

This will appear on my Goodreads account after the release date.

3.5 stars

Wow! What an excellent first novel, this was an exciting and very well written story. I haven’t read a lot of Greek mythology or retellings but I really enjoyed this take on common myths and legends that even a novice would be familiar with.

My favorite aspects of this were definitely (in order) Atalanta and Kahina. While I did feel their voices were written fairly similarly and there were times when my wires got crossed with who I was reading I really enjoyed them as MCs. Atalanta is a strong willed, bad-ass protagonist who managed to maintain that strength while also showing and feeling fear and anxiety. I thought it was a very realistic depiction of someone facing Gods and monsters and I think it added a lot of depth to the story and her character. She was easily my favorite part.

I really enjoyed the subtle, under-played romance between Atalanta and Kahina. I thought it was sweet and charming and didn’t detract from the story or come into play at unrealistic times.

This loses it’s 5th start for me because while the writing was excellent throughout the novel, the over attention to detail left parts of the book a little slow and sagging. I also felt the “rules of magic” could’ve used a little more fleshing out. It felt a little like Tammi felt it didn’t need further explanation because…Greek mythology so….Gods, duh. I wish we could’ve gotten a bit more world / magic building here to better understand this retelling, versus knowing things about Greek mythology and having to fill in it ourselves.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story and I’m really excited for this author. I think it was generally a fast paced, fun and enjoyable read that I would certainly suggest to anyone interested in Greek mythology and retellings.

Yikes, I really, really wanted to like this book, but alas I found myself extremely disappointed. This f/f romance Greek mythology retelling held great promise, but it completely missed the mark. Now, according to the e-copy I was supplied with, I read an uncorrected advance proof, so I’m aware that the book will go through additional editing/revisions, but the critiques I hold of this book are overarching problems that I believe will still be relevant to the final version.

Outrun the Wind follows two perspectives: that of Kahina’s and Atalanta’s. Kahina is a huntress of Artemis, who one day disobeys the goddess by killing the Calydonian Boar in order to save Atalanta. Atalanta is a legendary huntress and warrior running from her past and struggling to find where she belongs. In order for Kahina to redeem herself to Artemis, she’s sent on a mission that causes her to once again cross paths with Atalanta. As the women are forced to work together to overcome obstacles, they find their initial dislike of each other blooming into something more.

Of course, I loved the ideas that this novel was built upon: a Greek mythology retelling, a f/f romance, and two badass women protagonists. Additionally, the romance was combined with one of my favorite tropes: hate-to-love! But while this book had a great premise, its execution was quite lacking.

One of the first warning signs that I noticed about this book was the writing. It wasn’t necessarily bad, but it was blatantly amateur. It was very straightforward writing and there wasn’t much flourish to the phrasing. Additionally, the writing was inconsistent. The first two chapters portrayed the Calydonian Boar Hunt from Atalanta’s perspective and then Kahinas’s. Yet in Kahina’s perspective, the order of events wasn’t quite the same. It was a small detail (when the group split up and when Atalanta shot the boar in the leg), so I’m hoping it will be caught before the final version is released.

Going along with inconsistent writing, a lot of Atalanta’s badassery was told, not shown. The author tells us Atalanta is this legendary huntress known throughout the land, but we’re never told why? What did she do to get this rep? I understand that Atalanta is a Greek heroine, but I didn’t know about her until I read this story, so if there were events that happened prior that the author expected me to know, I obviously didn’t (I honestly believe this story could have benefitted from starting earlier along the plotline). When we see Atalanta through Kahina’s perspective, she does appear to be pretty badass and intimidating, but as soon as were put in Atalanta’s head, she suddenly becomes this unsure, confused, and emotional teenager. All of her hardcore huntress edge just dissipated.

Alongside that, I felt that a lot of the character’s goals and motivations where unclear. Why Kahina knowingly disobeys Artemis to save Atalanta (who is a stranger at the time) is never made clear. Atalanta wanders around aimlessly for the first half of the book before finally gaining a central goal. And then the main antagonist’s actions are written without motivation or justification. He’s a very much a one dimensional villain who’s evil just to be evil. In all honesty, all the characters felt cardboard-like. Yes, Kahina and Atalanta have dark pasts, but they felt like they were put there as a poor attempt at character depth.

And my final critique is that a decent chunk of the plot felt very unnecessary. Deaths came out of nowhere and did little to aid the plot. Details were given in a weak attempt to flesh out characters but in actuality had no impact on their personality (aka Kahina’s upbringing).

Overall, Outrun the Wind was a weak attempt at a Greek mythology YA story. I struggled through the first half and the second half was only slightly more interesting because I just wanted to know how it ended. I wouldn’t really recommend this book, but if you’re enraptured by the synopsis, I say give it a try since everyone has different preferences (but definitely bail if you don’t like the beginning).

— I recieved a free review digital copy of this book via NetGalley. All opinions are my own —
I really enjoyed reading this book - a solid four star read (I try to reserve five stars for all-time favourites that stay with me). I’ve really been into re-interpretations of mythology recently, and gotten back to my original love of historical fantasy, so this book was really up my alley. At times things felt rather predictable, but for me that didn’t affect my enjoyment of the story. I loved the many many fierce female characters and their diverse facets of strength, and who doesn’t love an LGBT-inclusive read!

Oh wow!! I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book, but I absolutely loved it!! I was hooked from the first page! So full of action and suspense, I couldn’t put it down!!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

the problem of this book is that it's supposed to be set in ancient greece, since it's greek mythology inspired. i mean yeah, it IS technically set there, it features a lot of characters we know or myths we've already heard. however, it doesn't feel like it's a greek mythology retelling. it reads like a generic fantasy novel with gods, girls with superpowers and yadda yadda. it somehow completely lacks the atmosphere of ancient greece and that's why i didnt enjoy it wholeheartedly.
don't think i didn't like it. i did! the plot is very decent and i loved the relationship between atalanta and kahina. the f/f romance wasn't heavily featured, but it was there and it was cute. (even though sometimes actions of characters made little to no sense to me). i just feel like you could take this book, change the names and locations, and it would look just like every second fantasy book set in some fantasy world. not that it's bad, it's just not what i wanted to get from this.
i also had troubles with narration. the book is narrated from two alternating POVs, kahina's and atalanta's, and it was pretty hard for me to distinguish them. so many times i got distracted while reading it and when i came back, i just couldn't remember whose POV i was reading at the time. both girls sounded absolutely the same and it was annoying.
this is a solid debut novel though and the writing overall is really good. i still enjoyed it, despite the issues i had with it, so my final rating is 3 out of 5.

WOW!  What can I say, this book caught me totally off guard.

It's been years since I read any Greek mythology and so I wasn't sure whether I was going to like this book. I should have not worried. The story captivated me from the start and I fell in love with the two main characters, Atalanta and Kahina. 

Kahina disobeys the orders of the Goddess Artemis and kills Artemis' boar in order to save Atalanta. Everyone believes Atalanta killed the boar herself as she already had the reputation of a fierce warrior, being brought up by hunters in the wild. Kahina detests Atalanta for taking credit for killing the boar and hiding the truth. Atalanta is soon reunited with her father, King Iasus, who is keen to find her a suitable husband. Atalanta has no interest in marriage or men and grows more and more fond of Kahina, and Kahina reciprocates.

I'm giving this book 4.5 stars and highly recommend to anyone who is into Greek mythology, or anyone looking to venture from their usual genre like myself. 

I received an advanced copy of the book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.