Starlight and Shadows

The Starlight Sanctum #1

by Vera Winters

A scholar's dream. A pirate's curse. In a shop filled with magic, shadows bind them both.

Illyria Moondrop leaves her life as a professor to transform a dilapidated mansion into the Starlight Sanctum, a magic and alchemy shop meant to be a beacon of wisdom for all. But whispers from the mansion's dark past threaten to unravel her dreams.

Enter Briar, a fierce pirate captain haunted by her family's curse. She's on the hunt for the Celestial Prism, an artifact powerful enough to lift the curse and free her from her legacy. Their rivalry over the Prism evolves into an unexpected alliance when a powerful crime lord threatens them both.

As shadows creep through the Sanctum and sinister forces loom, Illyria and Briar must confront the mansion's malevolent spirits, grapple with Briar's curse, and navigate the treacherous waters of Luminaran politics, all while their hearts intertwine.

Starlight and Shadows is a tale of love conquering the bleakest shadows. Join Illyria and Briar as they discover that even the darkest curse can lead to the brightest light.

Vera Winters brings a touch of enchantment with Starlight and Shadows, the first book in the Starlight Sanctum series. Perfect for fans of cozy fantasy, romance, and heartfelt adventures, this standalone F/F romance weaves a tapestry of magic, love, and new beginnings. This book contains steamy romantic scenes intended for mature readers.

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Lesbian, Queer, LGBT, Cozy Fantasy, Cozy

330 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 2, 2024

About the author

Classe 1989, autrice self, nata e cresciuta tra le verdi colline della Brianza, sono diplomata come corrispondente in lingue estere, ma il mio sogno è vivere di quello che scrivo.
Musica dipendente, fangirl fino al midollo, amo Stephen King, Tim Burton, Neil Gaiman e i gatti. Più di tutto i gatti
Tra le mie pubblicazioni trovate alcuni racconti editi con case editrice e distribuiti in diverse antologie, un romance dal titolo "E alla fine di ho incontrato", e la mia quadrilogia di punta #OpheliaHargreavesChronicles
Tutto è disponibile anche per Kindle Unlimited ovviamente.
Vi aspetto su IG poichè è il social che utilizzo di più, mi trovate sempre come Vera Winters, e se seguite l'hashtag di Ophelia è ancora più facile.

Much Love
V

Reviews

[Kat]

Picking up a weird vibe from this series. It's like the uncanny valley but for books. It wants me to believe this is a real book series, but something is off. Why are the covers so glossy and professional looking, but subtly different art styles from one another? Who illustrated them? There's no artist credited anywhere. How is it on a book per month release schedule? How is there no traceable author presence or promotion for these books whatsoever? Why is it attributed to an author who speaks Italian and has disappeared from the internet? The "publisher" website is a shell with nothing on it. I feel like AI is involved in some capacity here. (although I would love to be wrong and return to this, and if I am slandering an Indie author who's just very reclusive, I am so sincerely sorry.)

[myo ⋆｡˚ ❀ *]

tw: very obviously written by ai 🙄 i didn’t realize the cover was ai because i picked it on my kindle (b&w). very annoyed! kept thinking something was weird about this book, it felt kinda emotionless and then i read the reviews saying it was ai written

[Rayna W · Rating 1 out of 5]

Full disclosure. I read this book at an consistent pace until about the 60% mark before literally flipping through the pages to "cliff notes" everything until the end. Part of me is glad I did after I checked out some things but I'll save that for later in the review.

The story and characters start off well enough, Simple fantasy characters with an easy to understand story. Felt like this book was going to be a nice quick easy read, which is what I was looking for. However after the characters and plot devices were introduced, that is when the writing gets noticably odd. The story somehow ended up written in a way where it felt like either scenes were missing or having an entire chapter extremely repetitive. I found myself back tracking a lot to make sure I was understanding what I was reading, which progressively got worse the further I went. It felt like the equivalent of taking one step forward then two steps back. For lack of a better term, the story felt...strange.

Before I "finished" I checked out other reviews to see if anyone else was experiencing anything similar. A few theorized the possibility that this book might have been written by AI. Others have theorized that the author might be from another country and had their work translated poorly. I tried searching for more information to come to my own conclusion, however I ran into similar problems as others. The author and publication of this book has little to no definitive information, leading me to believe more into the "written by AI" theory.

Because of this I can not recommend this book. If I happen to find evidence that a human being did write this, I will edit my review accordingly. However for now, this will remain to me the lowest possible rating I can give it.

[Katie Mauger · Rating 1 out of 5]

I will change my review if the author responds to the many concerns people have raised about this whole series being written by AI, but honestly I'm not even sure the author actually exists, so I'm doubtful that will happen. There is no record of a Vera Winters who writes in English other than a mostly empty website with no contact info. The Vera Winters who is attributed as this book's author on Goodreads seems to only write in Italian, and my guess is that these titles are misattributed to her. I sent her a query about it here on Goodreads, and will update y'all if she responds!

I know AI books are being written and there's not necessarily anything we can do to stop them, but I believe they should be labeled as such, rather than trying to trick readers with fake metadata. I especially dislike that this series is specifically targeting queer readers who struggle with a lack of good representation in media already.

[Shelby Brown · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pretty sure this book is AI written. Other reviews highlight the details. Did my own research and came to the same conclusion. I read the whole thing and as someone mentioned, it felt “off” at points. 2 stars because at least I didn’t dnf it. Don’t waste your time with this, instead spend it on the work of a real author.

[Brend]

Lesbian cozy fantasy with pirates and scholars in a magical shop



Sadly, this wasn't for me, to no fault of its own. I guess I'm just not made for Cozy Fantasies or at least this author's writing.

Would still recommend! Magic business-owning lesbians!

[Elizabeth Backus · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ai? Seriously
Waste my time..i knew this shit was souless wtf.

[safari booker {hiatus}]

DNF’d at 24%

i can’t read a book knowing there are concerns of it being AI, so i’m choosing to stop this :)

[Lady Olenna]

I just couldn’t get the hang of the story. I tried. Stopped at 13% then powered through. Finally stopped at 49%.

[Jade Young · Rating 1 out of 5]

The world and character building were interesting at the start, however the more you read the more the plot seems to break and the descriptions and conversations begin to feel "off".

There were multiple occasions of descriptions or dialogue or even whole paragraphs being repeated multiple times over with no variations in the same chapter. The characters and relationships began to feel very robotic and lacking depth. A few times I was left confused as a chapter described something completely different from previous chapters with no links, almost as if whole blocks of development was missing.

I pretty much gave up by the last 30% and speed read through, the ending was very disjointed from the rest of the plot, characters who had been built up one way suddenly completely changed personalities in the last chapters just to seemingly achieve a "happy" ending.

Other reviews have highlighted this in more detail, but the writing feels very robotic and likely is AI written.

[Michael · Rating 1 out of 5]

Feels AI generated and was a slog to read. Dnf

[Happy Skywalker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Needs an editor badly

This book might have been really good if someone had edited it. Switches between tenses, misspellings, and chronology problems make it a hard read.

[Connor Safran · Rating 1 out of 5]

I bought this during a Kindle sale, so the fiscal sunk cost isn't as bad as the value of the time wasted completing this book. I hit the same literary uncanny valley at the 25ish percent mark that many other reviews had mentioned. Initially, I had chalked this up to a lack of editing, not uncommon in the niche genre ebook space, but as I persisted, I saw those repetitive/cyclical dialogue hitches, common to generative text. It seems the accusations of AI utilization are the most prevalent aspects of Vera Winters' writings because the only other search results are unfinished websites with lorem ipsum contact pages. I'm not here to levy accusations as to whether this book is partially or completely comprised of generative text or is poorly translated, I can, however, recommend you spend your time elsewhere because the writing is poor.
Starlight and Shadows preys on an underserved niche audience, quality entries of Sapphic ro-fantasy are few and far between, this book is a Tommy Wiseau-esque approximation of what comprises a basic story structure, knowing that certain components are needed but not knowing how to implement or integrate them cohesively. Character motivations are undefined but repeated without an attempt of contextualization. Why? Why is a shop in another place the answer to your want to proliferate knowledge? The economic aspect of any motivation is never built on. If the crux of one of your dual protagonists' conflicts is immediately solved by asking a single question , you need to justify why "just talk" doesn't happen until the last 30 pages. Fantasy allows you to explain anything away with magic - if the answer to "just talk" is "Oh I couldn't" 3 times, and the final resolution is finally talking, you need to explain why!
The plot pacing is nonsensical, placement and resolution of obstacles seems to have been determined by pulling notes from a hat. Low stakes does not mean low effort.
There are components that could be great in better hands, but are fumbled in this non-story.

[Alaina Dorval · Rating 3 out of 5]

i wish they had explained the magic system more because i was very confused about that the whole book but i! love! wlw! sapphic books are my fav i need more

[Spencer Russell Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a quick, adorable, sapphic cozy fantasy read. It again very much draws from the DnD, broader fantasy elements, and has you NEEDING the couple to get together with your whole heart by the end.

[Aeva · Rating 1 out of 5]

AI garbage. Sentences and descriptions repeat word for word. Finished reading the fight between MCs and felt like I hadn't read anything of sense or substance. DNF.

[thosemeddlingkids]

Note to self - audiobook is "virtual voice" for 11+ hours. Absolutely not.

[Liza · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 62% - 3/10

[Subira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantasy novels hate to see me coming😅😅

I wanted another pirate storyline and I landed this magical fantasy instead. I loved the world building and the different characters from demons, fae, halflings, giants...its like no human is in it.

As the lovebirds got together about 30pages before the book ends, I think the plot reads like the pages are just being filled because of a word limit. Hence the 3.75 instead of a solid 4.

[Shelbe Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cute Sapphic Fantasy.

It was an easy read. I didn't find it captivating but it was sweet. Blair is a half giant Pirate that is dealing with a family curse that forces her to not look for love. Illyria is an elf that is looking to open up her own magic emporium that will be able to teach and sell what people need for their own supply. They are both going through their own hard times. But, when they meet they are determined to be there for each other. Helping each other thru their issues.

It wasn't great. But, it was cute.

[Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a work of contradictions, on the one hand a unique novel with enchanting prose set in a very interesting fantasy world full of interesting characters and intriguing magic; on the other, a poorly-executed book whose plot is sometimes lost in the tangle of seemingly completely-unedited writing and whose unique creative concepts are only mentioned and then rushed past. It feels like we're reading the first draft of something that could be really, really good.

This book has some of the most beautiful descriptions I have ever read. Its prose is as entrancing as the magic and forces of this world can be. I know I will be referencing some of my favorite descriptions again and again for inspiration for my own writing and roleplaying games. Yet it seems as if Winters did not proofread her own work or make use of the much-needed help of an editor. Phrases are repeated sometimes four times within the same chapter, and the same statements are made again and again, sometimes verbatim, by different characters throughout the book. Occasionally we also encounter times when the author herself doesn't seem sure about what is going on, times the characters are in one place doing one thing and suddenly they're back to an earlier time or have jumped to a different location, as if the writer had been playing with two different ideas and had never deleted the one or bridged the gap between the two, or she seems to have regularly failed to realize she had already used an idea or line somewhere else, something that seems like it would have been easily noted by any readthrough of her own work (a few times would be understandable, but it happens again and again and again).

The plot is one of the most creative story concepts I've ever read. Maybe it's because I'm new to cozy fantasy and have read so much (and am so tired of) high-stakes hero-focused fantasy, but I found the plot so unique. But not only does the story have to be parsed through the repetitive writing, it is also very much in the "telling and not showing" variety. This did not really bother me, as I associate that sort of "storytelling" style with cozy tales like The Hobbit and the ones my parents would weave at bedtime, but it may be a drawback for some readers. Certainly it does the love story a disservice, as the romance feels rushed through, to the point that the romance feels like a subplot because Briar and Illyria's sudden leap from attraction to undying love feels so unbelievable -- very sweet, but unrealistic. Rather than watching it unfold, we only catch glimpses of it, and are informed by the narrator of the stages that they're at in their love story rather than watching it come together. They make such a heartwarming couple and I was so looking forward to watching their romance unfold that I was left feeling disappointed.

The characters, the magic, and the institutions are all very creative and interesting, but we are offered so little of them that I have found myself imagining my own details about them because so few were offered. I am so curious to learn more about this world -- my favorite part of reading fantasy -- that I intend to at least read the next novel in this series, when I'm willing to put up with the poor editing of a self-published work again for a cozy fantasy book, because it is very compelling.

The first-draft feeling gives the odd feeling as if one is reading a fanfiction, something full of marvelous ideas and prose but lacking in the effort, editing, attention to detail, and overall cohesiveness required to produce a proper publication. We expect these things when reading fanfic, we overlook the mistakes -- we don't expect them in the novels we buy. It delivers on what it says it is -- a cozy fantasy in an intriguing magical world with a sweet sapphic love story -- and it was a fun read, but I wish it could have been more. There was so much potential -- in the world-building, the characters, the love story, and Winters' beautiful descriptive style -- that this could have been a much longer work if Winters had really delved into any of them -- even after removing all the duplicate sentences.

[AP · Rating 2 out of 5]

This has a lot of potential, I want to start off by saying that.

Vera has a way of world building that is whimsical and makes you feel like you can feel and smell everything she describes. I wanted to go into the sanctum and discover all the cool tinctures and potions it had to offer!

Illyria’s voice seems robotic to me, she didn’t seem to have any sort of fleshed out personality traits aside from trying to get the Sanctum up and running. I wished we could have gotten to know her more, I wish her voice was stronger.

Briar’s voice is much more clear and her personality comes through so much more than any other character. Her chapters were much more interesting and I couldn’t wait to get through Illyrian’s to get to her.

The plot is…ok. The summary described it as being more of a rivalry turned to allies and while that did technically happen, it was for about a chapter and then they were allies and throughly in love with one another (I personally don’t like the insta-love troupe, so take what I say with a grain of salt). I wished we could have gotten more of a true rivalry.
It also says that it’s supposed to be the ladies becoming allies against a force that is trying to take them down, the enemy only seemed to be coming for Illyria rather than Briar.
The pacing was wildly fast, in my opinion lmao. Obviously I don’t want it to drag, but I wanted a little more detail or dialogue from the FMC’s and the side characters. It would’ve been cozier if I could have gotten to know them more.
There wasn’t really a struggle when it came to anything. Illyria needing to get the stone was about the only time where she had any sort of push back. After that, everything was just really fast and not fleshed out enough.

When it came to Illyria and Briar’s romance, I loved Briar’s perspective more. She talked about Illyria in a more romantic way and really just talked about her more in general than Illyria talked about Briar. I wanted more from the romance perspective, I wanted to see them really truly be rivals all the way through the book, but they are just at the beginning and then the rest of the book just repeats the same stuff over and over really. Again, I really don’t enjoy the insta-love troupe, so take what I say about it with a grain of salt.

Overall, I’m giving this a 2 stars. I wanted more from this and I have all faith that many other will enjoy this.

[Joanna · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. I got halfway through and gave up... the writing style was strange to say the least. At first I thought maybe this was written by a very, very inexperienced writer, but as other reviewers suggested, I think this book was likely AI generated. I even did a test with chatGPT* and the sample it generated was as overwrought and unnecessarily flowery as the writing in this book. It's such a disappointment too because there are some interesting ideas in the book (the spell imbued pastries were my favorite and an idea I may borrow for future D&D games.) It's also nice to have more queer representation, but the execution is so poor (and again, probably AI generated) that it just makes this unbearable to get through. I'm just thankful I read this on Kindle Unlimited and didn't pay $16 for a printed copy. As others have said - skip this and instead support books written by actual human beings.

*Here's the prompt and a sample of the chatGPT text from my test for those who are curious:

Prompt: write a romance novel with a pirate and a mage who are both female

chatGPT: "Chapter 1: The Tempestuous Sea
The salty breeze danced through the rigging of the pirate ship, The Mermaid's Revenge, as it sliced through the tumultuous waves of the open sea. Captain Serena Blackwood stood at the helm, her raven hair billowing behind her like a dark banner of defiance. She was a woman of the sea, her eyes as deep and mysterious as the ocean itself, and her heart as wild and untamed as the storm that brewed on the horizon.

Beside her stood the ship's mage, Aurora Nightingale, her emerald eyes shimmering with the power of the arcane. She was a master of the elements, her magic weaving through the air like strands of silk, guiding the ship safely through treacherous waters. Though her demeanor was as cool as the depths of the ocean, there was a fire within her that burned bright and fierce."

[Renna Hynes · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read, unfortunately. I actually enjoyed the book and because AI wasn't even on my mind for books, much less books (supposedly) marketed by/for the LGBTQ community -- and especially the sapphic community. Like I know we're starved for good rep, but come on!

That said, there were elements I liked, and that makes this all the more painful because I didn't clock it as AI myself. I'm used to reading indie books and first books because I like giving things a shot, and I just assumed this was maybe an unpolished first book that could've used more edits and some tighter plotting, but it was enjoyable enough. I imagine the author ("author") did do some editing as an actual human person, because it's just cohesive enough to fool people. Not nearly enough though, and it doesn't matter if I enjoyed the book initially, I'm not rating a book written by a machine any higher than this.

So.

The plot was disjointed and a lot of elements were introduced and then immediately cast away and/or issues were introduced and solved either too simply or in a way that seemed unrelated. The relationship buildup felt weirdly slow, then fast, then not at all, then fast again. I love animal companions in books and the idea of a spiritually gifted wolf was fun, but again, bad execution.

I'm reading Can't Spell Treason Without Tea right now and this book feels like a ripped-off and worse version of that in a lot of ways, with a few extras thrown in.

The cover is obviously AI generated, which is egregious by itself when there are so many talented book cover artists, queer ones especially, who would *love* to illustrate for queer stories. Even if the book proves to have been written by a human (doubtful), that alone would knock off a ton of stars for me.

[Lord Dane · Rating 1 out of 5]

I gave up. This one is bad. Bad to the point that I *think* it’s AI. Don’t know for sure.

I got about a third of the way through this book before I just couldn’t take it anymore and dropped it. There’s no conflict here. None. The “conflict” between the main characters is so passive that you could get more friction out of someone holding the door open for someone else at your local book store. The magic user just somehow gets everyone to agree with her because…I…I don’t know. The writer demands it? Everything about her character screams “I’m so unique! I ask for TWO pumps of pumpkin spice in my chai latte!” While blogging about how hard it is to find just the right seat in the overpriced cafe she visits twice a day as she plans out where to have her next professional book nook photo taken for her instagram with only 50 followers. Everything about her feels like the adult version of a YA fantasy protagonist. The “pirate” love interest is about as interesting as room temperature water. For someone who is theoretically dying she sure is chill about being screwed over by her love interest and is more than happy to bend over backwards and pay out of her own pocket to to her crush’s errands. Not because she feels blackmailed by the crush to do it for the one thing that will save her life, but because there’s something oh so irresistible about this woman who’s starting a magic school(?) in a city where she’s a complete stranger to everyone and is so broke yet somehow can afford anything and everything she wants.

I didn’t buy this expecting anything on the spicy side, but MAN is this story lacking ANYTHING of interest. I’m pretty sure there’s more character development and conflict in Green Eggs and Ham than this book.

[Stateria · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has AI all over it

The cover of the book should have been a dead giveaway. It was made with AI.

I usually have a few VERY strict rules when it comes to the books that I read.

No AI books allowed and very strictly only Sapphic books allowed on my list.
This book is flagged as a sapphic story, why did it keep on aiming back towards the MLM romance? Leave that for another story.
Didn't need it mentioned over and over about the MLM characters.

I actually think that I should give this book a 2 star... If not no stars at all. About half way through the book it was almost obvious that AI had a hand in writing this book. The editing, the way sentences are phrased, and of course the curse that is plaguing one of the main characters being a huge secret, when it's finally revealed to the other main character they act like they were already told???? It's hard to explain. Uncanny valley. The AI program that was used made it look like the story was missing MASSIVE chunks. Like the main characters already telling secrets when they haven't been told, tasks that were already completed. Random characters being added in left and right as if they were always there in the story???
Also there were a few parts in the story (I thought it was just a printing error but now I realize it was due to AI) Whole pages are repeated. For example I read a page, and then three pages later that SAME page has been pasted in. And this happens a few times.

I should have steered clear of this book when I had that feeling that it was AI.
First half of the story I really liked. But then half way through it was like AI completely took over.

[Lillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read. Pretty much does what it says on the tin! (Which isn't a bad thing.) The main characters, a half-giant/half-human pirate woman and an idealistic half-elf/half-human mage, are pretty engaging. Some of the side characters are great; others are so thinly drawn that I was suspicious of them the whole way through, e.g. Arkanev, whose help is so generously and thoroughly given. This may be on me for not fully giving into cozy fantasy genre conventions, though, I admit.

I appreciate the fact that the worldbuilding is cognizant of a larger world and systems in that world, while a lot of cozy fantasy seems to ignore anything outside of its front door. The plot may or may not hold up to scrutiny but that's really not the point. I like the main couple and how they work together, and I appreciate that the endeavor they tackle in the story is a good cause. It struck the right balance between "oh no, high stakes too high, too stressful" and "zero suspense, who cares" for me, which not everything labeled "cozy" can do.

Sentence-level editing is overall fine, though there are a few pages toward the very end that have a surprising number of typos and tense errors. I'm guessing they might have been added late and not proofread as much as the others. But the reason they stand out is because the rest of it is fine!

There are a couple of enjoyable sex scenes.

I wish there were a credited, verifiable artist for the cover because I have some concerns about it.

[Kat A-M · Rating 2 out of 5]

It wasn't that good tbh.

There were lots of spelling and grammar errors. They weren't good at building tension or showing emotion instead of just telling us what they were feeling. Some scenes (both smut scenes, the senator scene and the second to last chapter) didn't really need to be there.

Briar and Illyria should have been more noticeably different, their POVs aren't that different - in the way they think or speak. I think it would've been better if Briar's accent was more exaggerated and noticeable when speaking.

There should be more drawback to Illyria's magic and Briar's curse too. With Illyria, her magic has like one scene where it exhausts her and that it. And with Briar, besides the scene where she's on her literal deathbed, she doesn't seem to be dealing with any pain or anything even from her own POV.

Some characters should've had more depth, like Briar's crew (except Jorn) and the tree lady. The only saving grace is Gideon, he can do no wrong and is the best character.

Anyway, I wouldn't really recommend reading this.

[Sasa · Rating 1 out of 5]

that's it. i'm making a tag for ai-generated drivel. one of the first and biggest signs of something being AI-generated is that there is no artist credit. every single artist trying to become professional illustrators will have an online portfolio—every single one. i'm sick of generative AI taking over every aspect of the creative field in an attempt to push out work with ACTUAL heart and brains. again, this is only for generative AI (genAI)—assistive AI is different and doesn't destroy the planet while stealing from real people. it's upsetting how much people hate the thought of paying artists and creatives for custom work, or even learning a craft themselves. now people won't even write their own books. amazon needs to stop pushing this shit. it's a big reason why i end my kindle unlimited trials and never pay for it. KU is riddled with AI-generated shit.

check out this list of artists i made who you can hire for your cover (or personal) projects: click here.

[momo 🦇🕸️ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m honestly a little confused with this book. It had promise and then as I read it got worse. One of the major things that’s consistently present throughout the book is grammatical, spelling, and overall writing errors. I’m not sure if this was edited or not, but it could use some major editing. The main plot and storyline itself fell so flat. I couldn’t really remember what the plot or conflict was sometimes and I’m still a little confused. It honestly gives a basic conflict and resolution, very bland.

The characters barely have any descriptions except their magical races and then nothing else to describe them. The magical races and properties of the magic system are not explained at all. The romance didn’t make any sense, it seemed like they knew each other for a week or two and then they’re instantly in love. It did a lot telling and not showing.