I would like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read and honestly review an advanced reader’s copy of this book.
I would like to now spend some time screaming about this book. Because this book is everything to me.

I don’t know where to start. I thought A Taste of Gold and Iron was perfect but this?? This is even more perfect. This book had me smiling the whole way through, and laughing out loud far too often. It was written in such a slutty way without including actual smut, and that is my favourite.
I need more. I need more books written in this world, I need more of the fantastic character work this author delivers every single time. I humbly request more pathetic little raccoon men. I love Avra so much, what a sad pathetic-kitten of a man.
I also loved Julian, I loved Tev, I loved Cat, this book is just full of hilarious and endearing characters, and fun pirate hijinks, and Avra being an attention slut.

It ended far too soon. I’m actually reading this ARC while I’m sick, and honestly it’s cheered me up so much. Alexandra Rowland is an auto-buy author for me now, and I highly recommend their work.

I can only give this 5 starts, but please know that in my heart, I have given it 100/5⭐️, because that is the dramatic score dear Avra deserves

Pirates but make it gay and absolutely unhinged. Then take that, and make it horny and polyamorous. Congratulations, you now have Running Close to the Wind.

Avra, lucky poet and partially retired spy for Arast, accidentally stole the one trade secret most of Arast’s fortune is based on. He also accidentally reunited with Captain Tevari, a pirate with a ruthless reputation and his on-again off-again ex of the past fifteen years, who may or may not want him dead, or at the very least as far away from them as possible. To keep himself from being thrown overboard, Avra reveals to Teveri and their crew the secret he’s stolen, and together they devise a plan to sell it and make as much money off it as possible. Enters Julian, an extremely attractive monk bound by an unfortunate vow of celibacy, scholar extraordinaire and last essential piece to help them achieve their plan. Avra now has three problems on his hands: finding a way to sell the secret without being found out and killed by Arast, make up with Teveri, and convince Julian to abandon his vow of celibacy.

Forget everything you’ve just imagined about this book, forget the comparisons to Our Flag Means Death and Six of Crows, however accurate they may be, because whatever your expectations are about this book, it will blow them away. I went in with high expectations, both because of the promise of a heist like in Six of Crows, one of my favourite books ever, and because I loved A Taste of Iron and Gold, the first and only Alexandra Rowland book I’d read. Despite this, nothing had prepared me for the wild, unhinged ride that Running Close to the Wind proved to be.

Alexandra Rowland introduces us to fiery, vivid characters, whose personalities both clash and compliment one another’s. Avra could be an obnoxious and annoying character, what with his exuberant personality and endless supply of dirty jokes, but instead I found him most endearing, and it was incredibly easy to empathise with him and long for his happy ending. Similarly, Teveri’s personality could have driven me away. Instead, and partly thanks to Avra’s adoration of them, they were so easily lovable and relatable. And Julian’s wit and daunting complimented this pair so well, bringing nuance while playing into their games. This made for delicious relationships, and dynamics that had me cackling and squealing, and made me yearn for more development of their relationship, yearn to know what would happen and how it would end. From a writer’s point of view, I am admirative of Alexandra Rowland’s well-proven ability to play with a variety of characters and personalities, and render them all equally vivid and compelling, and to make readers fall for all kinds of relationships, from the calm one in A Taste of Gold and Iron to the fiery one in Running Close to the Wind.

Another thing I loved and admired was the balance between plot and character arc. This story is cleary character-led and the point of it is not so much what happens to the secret, although it is an important part of the story, as what growth the characters undergo. And grow they do. These arcs were mastered from start to end, and Alexandra Rowland found just how much of character arc and how much plot they could give us so that the story would neither feel plot-heavy nor character-heavy. This is no easy feat, but Alexandra Rowland mastered it seamlessly, and it merits some applause.

Overall, Running Close to the Wind is like no other book I’ve ever had to pleasure to read. It is wild and hilarious, and I don’t remember the last time a book made me laugh so much, but I’ll definitely remember that time. This story reads well and quickly, the worldbuilding blending it perfectly with the rest, even for those who haven’t read or don’t remember much about the worldbuilding of A Taste of Gold and Iron, set in the same world. Running Close to the Wind is a masterpiece of a story, lighthearted and yet treating serious topics without weighing down the atmosphere of the book. It is endlessly fun, surprisingly crude and dirty in its jokes, and vivid from beginning to end. Those who have loved Freya Marske’s books will most likely love this book as well, as will Alexandra Rowland’s fans and anyone interested in queer pirates. If you dislike sex-related jokes or crude language, refrain from reading this book, as it is riddled with such jokes and language—and it is what makes part of its charm.

Thank you to Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for provinding me with an ARC of this book. All opinions are mine and unbiased.

Horniest book I've ever read. 5 stars.

This was a rip-roaring adventure and I absolutely ate it up. Not only was it laugh out loud hilarious, the writing style was also perfect for the story, though I had to get used to the non-stop sex jokes. Comparing it to OFMD and Six of Crows (both of which I love) was spot on, except this book was a lot hornier. However, this actually did not affect my enjoyment of the book as I felt the horny aspects weren't written in a gross/uncomfortable way like in so many other romances. I was also extremely impressed that the author managed to strike the perfect balance between writing character relationships and developing the plot.

I thought the storyline was brilliant - perfectly chaotic and whimsical. I loved the crew's little adventures and escapades, partly due to my love for pirate stories in general. Plus, the cake competition was one of my favourite aspects of the whole book and I need this to be a real-life event.

The characters were great as well. Tev was my favourite, but the main character, Avra, really grew on me. I hate that I'm writing this but the best way to describe his character would be if an annoying kid was also very horny and said 'reee' all the time. I adored the the concept of his good luck - usually characters are written to have terrible luck, so it was such a breath of fresh air to read about the opposite. Also, the relationships were amazing and there was great poly rep!

I read this as an ebook which had some strange formatting. For a bit I thought it was a stylistic choice, then realised that somehow all the 'Th's from any word starting with 'Th' were missing from my edition.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for providing a copy of this book for review. All opinions are my own.

I was sent an ARC copy of the book from Pam Macmillain via Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

I honestly don’t know where to start. This book left me so confused.

I laughed all the time while reading it and I couldn’t put it down for a sec (in fact, I finished it in less then two days). I found the story and its characters genuinely funny and I also believe that Alexandra Rowland has an exquisite writing style. I was sold when I learned that Running Close To The Wind was a perfect read for Our Flag Means Death and Six of Crows fans, and it actually is! The dialogue between characters and the phrasing of some sentences seemed like something I could easily find in an episode of OFMD. The same Avra reminded me of Stede (they both share the same sweetness and dumbness, I suppose). And the found family was immaculate, there were some moments where I just couldn’t stop myself from “awing” out loud.

Although, I couldn’t enjoy the book as much as I wanted to, and this breaks my heart. Running Close To The Wind its a character driven novel, that’s for sure. I usually don’t mind this narrative choice, it can be very interesting, but this time it felt like it was overshadowing the plot of the book. For the first half of the book I was caught up in what was happening, but after the initial enthusiasm I almost lost all the interest in what I was reading. I don’t know what happened. Avra is an extremely likeable character, and he’s POV was easy to follow. He’s hilarious and so unapologetically horny all the time. But, at some point, I started to get bored by his humor, which sometimes felt like too much.

Kudos for these elements tho:
- bisexual and non binary rep
- hot and manipulative priest (go Julian go)
- Tev’s agenda (legitimately one of the funniest thing in the whole book)
- Alexandra Rowland’s writing (which I’ve already mentioned, but that’s a necessary reminder)
- last but not least, PUPPETS

An energetic pirate romp billed as Our Flag Means Death meets Six Of Crows. I really wanted to like this book as I love both those comps but I couldn't get behind it. The book was one note: horny banter. The worldbuilding was excellent and the core plot was good, but it all felt secondary to the main characters thinking about, talking about and trying to have sex. They mostly lacked depth beyond their headline traits (mysterious hot priest, exasperated non-binary captain, bisexual trollop) and Avra in particular is intensely unlikeable with a narrative voice like a chipmunk on speed. Not one for me.

This is the funniest book i've ever read. The protagonist is a 35 years old who behave like an insufferable 12 years old, he's also extremely horny all the time. It's basically Our flag means death but more sexual and over the top

This was such a fun and funny adventurous fantasy book, the story felt unique and it was thoroughly enjoyable

Thanks to NetGalley for the at.

As a huge fan of A Taste of Gold and Iron, I was really excited to get my hands on Running Close to the Wind. I adored ATOGAI and it was one of my favourite reads (and rereads) of 2023. That said, I went in blind with this book and made sure I didn't read any reviews first, so I really didn't know what to expect with Running Close to the Wind.

It's very, very different to ATOGAI. The world is the same and it's really wonderful to see the perspective from someone outside the royal family, and see different places and cultures. The worldbuilding is, once again, huge and brilliant, with a keen depth of thought put into religions and customs.

Overall, the book really reminds me of Terry Pratchett. It's a strong fantasy-comedy crossover, that doesn't particularly take itself seriously. It's marvellously silly, with some quite deep moments in there as characters understand their motivations and choices but it fits in well within the story. The plot plays somewhat second fiddle to the characters, with their arcs mainly progressing the story and the plot being relatively minor in comparison. It works well for this book, but did kind of leave me wanting a little bit more.

Overall, an enjoyable book, but very different from Rowland's other work. It's lovely to see an author who can turn their hand to different styles and genres!

This was a hilarious joyous read. It was ridiculously over the top, it made me cackle with laughter, and it was a grateful escape from the real world for a bit.

I’m already familiar with Rowland’s A Taste of Gold and Iron, so I was very excited when this book was announced. The characters are all so distinct and outrageously funny. It was a breath of fresh air to read something that was hysterically over the top.

I loved the worldbuilding and the setting, something that Rowland excels at. The descriptions of the ship and the sea were lovely. I loved all the additional character we met, and the ending was just *chefs kiss*. A brilliantly written ending that made me giggle.

I highly recommend it - it left me cackling with laughter and I cannot wait to purchase this later in the year.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Pan MacMillan for the ARC!

4.5 stars rounded up to 5

This has been the most unique book I've read in a while. And while it has been a good change of pace for me, this book will be hit or miss for others. The tone is silly, goofy and slutty. While all characters follow the genre, the tone is mostly set by the main character, Avra Helvaçi. Other than being a self-acclaimed slut that frequently uses the words 'sexy' and 'reeee', he's also good at annoying others. The only reason why he hasn't gotten into serious trouble for his shenanigans is because he's known to be extremely lucky. People who know him call it his witch luck and know that they should not play cards with him.

He's a bit of a cat. He keeps whining when he doesn't get what he wants and he likes to flee on top of furniture. At the beginning of the story, he reunites with his old captain, who is tempted to throw him overboard. And at first, I agreed with them, but as I read on, I found myself wanting to read more and enjoyed the experience of rooting for Avra and his slutty plans.

Avra says that he wants things explained in simple language so he'll understand it, but oddly enough the word use of this work does not match that at all. The words 'incredulous', 'imminent', 'appallingly' and 'nefarious' have been used in just one paragraph. So where this is a silly read, I would not describe it as a simple read, especially for non-native English readers like me.

Lastly, there is this character named Julian. He's a lovely person and a good soul and also described as incredibly good-looking. And where he doesn't make it his personality, others do see it as a defining trait of him and objectify him. In the beginning, he's applauded to be good for improving the scenery and Avra states that he must have him. And where he doesn't seem to be bothered by it and it fits within the vibes of the story, it does seem best to give others a heads up, in case they don't like to read about that sort of thing.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

**Thank you to NetGalley and PanMacmillan for the e-ARC**
"Running close to the wind" promised a fun, queer pirates adventure and it delivered, not doubt about that ! The humour is permeating every bits of the novel, with the main character, Avra, being himself : vibrant, a bit silly, sometimes tiring. Tev, on the other hand is a more brooding figure, contrasting with Avra vibrating energy, while Julian seems like the collected but playful one. It works well for the story and the desired tone for the novel. I must I was sometimes a bit tired of the always present humour, it can be overwhelming. There is some sweet and quieter moments though, so it's nice.
All in all, I think this novel is for me mainly driven by its characters rather than the plot surrounding the sea serpents. i wasn't really invested in that part, maybe because of one of Avra's trait, who take away some of the tension that could have driven that part. There another kind of tension though. This isn't really a problem for me, but it is good to know about. As for the romance/relationships, it is present, obviously, but wrapped in this comedic tone, so it doesn't strike me as especially romantic, even with the growth and change in Avra and Tev bond,. But it was still endearing and interesting to see the dynamics at play between the three characters.
If you are looking for a fun sea asventure, with vibrant characters and queer pirates, that might be a book for you. The book fulfilled its promise !