Thank you to the publisher, authors, and NetGalley for the early copy of this book. This has not affected my thoughts or review of the book whatsoever.

This was not my first time reading Anna-Marie McLemore's writing before and yet again, they did not disappoint. I'm such a sucker for the mistaken/secret identity trope, and I had SO much fun with it. The dialogue was really well-written, and I was super invested in the both of the main characters, both together and separate. There were definitely parts of the book where scenes felt a bit choppy when it came to mild pacing issues, but it wasn't that bad. I would love to have gotten more world-building and knowledge of the lore of this world and I think that would've helped with some of my problems with this book. I missed Anna-Maria McLemore's usually flowery writing in some parts, but it definitely shown through in others.

I will definitely be recommending this book to people looking for new fantasy stories!

I really liked it but felt the pacing was a bit slow if you’re looking for fantasy and event elements (which I kind of was). I think it’s more of a book to be enjoyed if you want to learn about the characters and exploring the trans experience

"Venom & Vow" by Anna-Marie and Elliott McLemore is a captivating YA fantasy that intertwines themes of identity, loyalty, and sacrifice. With its compelling characters and intricate plot, this novel keeps readers engaged from start to finish. A must-read for fans of lush fantasy worlds.

I love Anna-Marie McLemore’s books so much, and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on Venom & Vow. This sounded like it would be a fun, interesting political enemies to lovers fantasy, but for me those weren’t the elements that most stood out. I loved the way disability and chronic pain was represented, and the different relationships Cade and Val had with their body and cane. I also really loved a lot about how Cade’s gender was shown and the community he had on his side with the monastery. There were several elements I enjoyed and the answer about the enchantment that befell Adare and Elianan royals was definitely not an answer I was expecting. As much as I did end up enjoying this, the beginning took me a while to actually become invested and in some way’s Cade’s chapters didn’t feel as strong as Val’s. I’ll be curious to see what else might come of Anna-Marie writing with Elliott in the future because there is definitely a lot of potential, and of course Anna-Marie’s books are all-time faves.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher/author for providing me with an ALC in exchange for my honest review.

OMG!!! This book was exactly what I wanted it to be! I loved it. I will make sure to check out other books by this author. When I requested this I was just intrigued by the concept of it and I loved how it turned out. This story had a great plot and if you have read this and enjoyed it, This was so much. It was such a great story. I would say give this one a try. I will continue to follow this author. Way to go to this author for not letting me down.

I highly enjoyed the narrator of the audiobook. Kept me listening.

Sorry to say this but this book wasn't giving what it was supposed too. Like I enjoyed reading it but something was missing. It has potential in being a fantasy book, but something wasn't hitting when I was reading it.

I'm always wary going into a book written by two authors, especially if I'm not familiar with their work. However, I can confidently say this one was a win!

The writing in this fantasy was so beautiful and steeped in imagery. This is a classical setup of a prince versus an assassin, except our prince is trans and our assassin is nonbinary. I love the way queerness was molded into this fantasy world, and the authors did a great job with fleshing out the characters and giving them distinct voices. My only complaint is that it did take me around 100 pages to get fully immersed. But once I was in, I was tearing through the pages.

Such an excellent standalone fantasy with such refreshing rep!

Venom & Vow was such an interesting read. It was a bit slow but once the story picked up, I didn’t want to put it down.

The representation within this book was so good. The disability and trans representation were handled with care and a central part of the story. Latine representation is always great to read and this book is full of it. The characters were very well written. Cade and Val were amazing.

Overall, I really enjoyed this. The beginning was a little rough to get through, but I’m glad I kept reading. Thank you NetGalley and Feiwel and Friends for the arc. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I wanted to love this so badly, because I love Anna-Marie McLemore's writing and I love that they wrote this book with their husband, and the synopsis was really intriguing. But if I hadn't read the synopsis, I wouldn't have understood a thing about this book. The writing was very pretty but felt close t0 nonsensical and I couldn't follow along with the plot at all. Because of this, I decided to DNF.

I loved this book simply for the disabled representation alone to be honest. I also loved the story and the love interests, as well as the exploration of gender. The only downside of the story is that there were a lot of character names and it got a bit confusing keeping everyone straight in my mind.

What I love about Anna-Marie McLemore is their ability to weave diversity and representation into everything. They write beautifully. I just don't know that I really feel like I understood the overarching plot? I didn't get what the issue was, and I thought the villain was telegraphed from the beginning. It felt like this should have been maybe 50-100 pages more to give more world building or explain the actual issue?

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book, as this book has already been published, I will not share my review on Netgalley at this time.

As you may be able to tell from the summary above, the plot of this book was very complex which was actually something I was looking forward to when I picked this book to review. And while the story was complicated and filled with dramatic irony, the reader is dropped right into the plot from the first chapter and things do not slow down until several chapters in. So while I enjoyed the complexity of the story, the fast pacing made it more difficult to follow than I would have preferred.

The perspective of the book alternates between Cade and Veronica, which worked well to inform the reader of some of the subterfuge happening as well as highlight their misunderstandings. Additionally, both Cade and Veronica were endearing protagonists with compelling motivations. I especially enjoyed following Veronica as her drive to protect her kingdom and her close relationship to her father made her a well-rounded and enjoyable narrator.

Similar to how the plot seemed to move too quickly for me to be able to easily follow, the world of the book was likely very lush and well-developed but the fast pacing of the storyline made it difficult for me to appreciate it. Specifically, the magic system and the histories of these two countries are something that the reader is very quickly introduced to in the opening scene, but not really given enough time to understand and appreciate as the plot picks up steam.

Venom and Vow was written by real-life couple Anna-Marie and Elliott McLemore. Anna-Maria McLemore is a veteran writer but this is Elliott’s debut novel. While the plot is beautifully complicated and engaging, the fast pacing combined with an equally complex world and magic system made parts of the plot and setting difficult to appreciate as they could have been. However, Cade and Veronica make for excellent narrators and their drive to do what they believe is right will carry dedicated readers to the satisfying conclusion of the story.

This was requested when I first found out about NetGalley and I had requested so many ARCs that I could not get to all of them before they were archived. I really wanted to get to this one, as it seemed interesting. If I can find this somewhere for a reasonable price, I will try to get it! I am giving this book three stars, as I don't want to give it a good or bad rating, since I did not get to it.

I've loved every other Anna-Marie McLemore book I've read and really wanted to love this one too, but I just couldn't. The biggest problem for me was the pacing - there's so much plot packed into a single novel that everything happens too fast and the characters' motivations don't make sense because there's not enough time spent on their emotional development. The chapters were so short that it felt jarring to switch from POV to POV so quickly, especially because there's not a huge distinction in 'voice' between Cade and Val. It should really have been a trilogy or at least a duology in order to allow the character development needed to support the plot.

An excellent example of A.M. McLemore's work, I adored this story and these characters. I hope to read more pure fantasy from them again!

This started off slow and I admit that for the first 20% I had a hard time buying into this story and the world created here, but I stuck with it, and boy am I glad I did because I had so much fun with this book! I do think the beginning suffered from trying to mesh the lush lyrical prose Anna-Marie McLemore is known for with the prose of Elliott and a what is meant to be a plot heavy book (which Anna-Marie is not known for). It takes a while to set up the world in the plot,, but it does hit it stride and I ended up really enjoying the character exploration and learning about the two different cultures the main characters come from, one being more Latine and one more Scottish.

I love the representation we get here. We see Val come to terms with his bigender identity and we learn about Cade’s experience at a monastery built for trans boys, and both have physical disabilities yet manage to be incredible fighters. I liked the play on the mistaken identity trope, with both main characters playing multiple people, and I think it’s impressive that they felt like fully flashed individuals despite the reader seeing them play so many different parts.

Overall, I had a lot of fun with this, despite the rocky start, and would be interested to see if they continue to write in this world.

I loved this so much. There were some flaws, but the characters made up for them.

I love the trans boy and genderfluid representation, as well as latine representation AND disability representation. The way Cade and Val were were written was really beautiful. They way they struggled with accepting themselves and believing others would accept them as they are. The way they cared so much for their countries and best friends. The way they listened to their bodies and made adjustments and accommodations as necessary while still being capable and deadly. I also loved their sarcasm and tendency to attack one another.

However the plot was occasionally confusing, with time/space jumps that, at least in the audiobook, came out of nowhere, and the dialogue was rather stilted, mostly at the beginning. McLemore shines with lyrical and whimsical magical realism stories and without that as the main story element it felt a bit lacking. As the story progressed, however, there were more magical realism elements and the plot and dialogue smoothed out and it felt like the authors found their stride.

The audiobook was well done (though Patrick and Cade's Scottish accents threw me at first) and though it started a bit rough it smoothed out as the story progressed and became the lyrical and magical sort of story I'm used to McLemore telling.

Normally I would subtract a star from the rating because of the story hiccups but the representation more than makes up for it here.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Feiwel & Friends for providing an early copy for review.

I was really looking forward to this novel, because the representation was amazing, and the premise sounded so great. Unfortunately the execution of the book is very boring, and I found myself struggling to find the motivation to keep reading.

Fake identities and battling royals abound in this debut fantasy from Anna-Marie McLemore and Elliot McLemore. Not only is the representation in this exciting but the idea that Anna-Marie, known for beautiful, transcendent magical realism, is trying out fantasy should make this title a must read.