Excellent disability and non-binary/gender fluid/trans representation. The opening was a little bit hard to get into and at times the world-building felt lacking, but overall it was an excellent read and would recommend.

This was like...a 2.5-star read, rounded up for the diverse representation and cool world.

I wanted to love this book, truly. The world was fascinating--two nations, one Latine-inspired, the other Scottish-inspired. Sea monsters. Quetzals and jaguars coming to life out of tapestries. Giant colorful magic foxes. Enchanted trees. A cane with a sentient owl attached. Monasteries where trans folks pretend to be doing religious stuff but are actually learning to pass as their true gender??? Such a good concept! Plus, Latine representation, two trans characters (one FTM, the other questioning/likely genderfluid), and BOTH main characters are cane users.

But sadly, the plot was a mess. It was boring even in its most action-packed moments. It was confusing, poorly paced (often slow but then sometime rushing with time jumps of a few...hours? days? It wasn't always clear?), and contained some "twists" that didn't make sense, not to mention lots of repetitive moments that felt clumsy to say the least. Most of the side characters were flimsy and kind of blurred into each other, especially on Cade's side. And I am still confused about how Val managed to put so many knives in her hair--those things are heavy (they have to be, if she wields them by throwing, which she does) and wouldn't stay hidden well, especially if there were more than, like, three, so while I liked it in theory, I just couldn't buy it that she had literally a dozen knives or more tucked into her braid at any given time.

I almost DNF'd the book multiple times, pushing through mostly because (a) the representation and the world were still good, and (b) it was an ARC so I felt kind of obligated to finish. Honestly, while I'm not exactly mad that I finished it, I also don't think I would have regretted it if I had given up.

All in all, one of my biggest disappointments--so much potential, let down by a mediocre-at-best storyline.

The trans rep in this is absolutely fantastic. I loved how it had one character confident in their identity and one still figuring out who they are. There's also great rep of disabled characters. But I think those two things are the strongest aspect of this book. The characters were awesome. But neither the overall plot nor worldbuilding were particularly interesting or different from other fantasy I've read. I did enjoy it but there wasn't really a wow factor. (And while I love seeing representation, I don't like when the only factor of a book I like is said representation.)

I didn’t like this so much I didn’t even finish it. The representation felt incredibly forced to the point where it read as inauthentic and soapy. I was really hoping for something that I could relate to.

Thank you Netgalley and MacMillan for a copy of this earc.

This book is just too good. I loved the representation of trans and gender fluid main characters. Even better I loved the disability rep in this book and how both main characters disabilities wasn't a character flaw but a part of who they were. It wasn't trying to be fixed with magic at all.

I loved the whole enemies to lovers trope. How Valencia was sure that Cade was the reason her father had been sleeping and how Cade felt the same about Valencia.

I enjoyed how the book goes into changing how both kingdoms fixed everything that forced marriage isn't the answer. How two kingdoms to come together and end the years long war between them.

I wasn't expecting to love this book as much as I did. This was purely excellent. Great job to both authors.

*I was graciously given a copy from Netgalley

I absolutely ADORED this book!

This is my first book by Anna-Marie McLemore and I was majorly impressed. The magic and feel of the story left me wanting more and more and I could not stop turning the page. If you love royalty and assassination attempts while falling in love then this book is for you <3

I have read multiple Anna-Marie McLemore because I love the representation, and in theory I should love the lyrical writing, but oh my, this book was boring.

It has all the writing things, but somehow winds up being boring. I am not sure what it is.

While I love the concept of the book and I'm a devoted fan of Anna-Marie McLemore, Venom & Vow did not capture me. I like that the main characters are a trans prince and a bigender assassin, that there's a lot of diversity and disability representation. I like the magically, ever-shifting forest castle and the monastery for trans men. However, I could not get immersed in the story and felt bored most of the time. I never could figure out why the countries were at war, or how they so easily decided to come to a truce, going so far as having one royal family host the other in their castle. Over all, this has some solid ideas but it just didn't work for me.

DNF @ 34%

I was very excited about this one because the representation sounded wonderful. However, I’ve tried reading this about three times now and unfortunately have just found myself too bored to continue each time.

Thanks Netgalley for providing an ARC of this book to me.

This book was kinda disappointing, honestly :( I loved loved the trans rep, it was written really well, but the plot was pretty weak and all of the secondary characters were dry and I felt no connection to them at all. The saving grace for this one was that there are monasteries where trans kids can go and learn to be whatever gender they are, which is a cool concept.

I really loved this! It's got Trans, bigender, disability, and Latinx rep! I do have to say it was a bit slow to get into and sometimes felt a bit choppy jumping between pov's but overall I loved Vemom & Vow!

If you love YA fantasy with lots of adventure, magical creatures, and beautiful world buildings this is a must read! Even if you don't read YA this is amazing!

4.5/5⭐️

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for the e-ARC!

I wanted to like this book because the themes and premise were so beautiful, but it was just incredibly confusing. Between the dual POV, the different (and not always well suited) writing styles of the co-authors, and the cases of mistaken identity....it was just hard to keep track of everything, and that really pulled me out of the story. It didn't help that the characters were fairly flimsy at many points, often due to details that didn't make sense. (Carrying multiple knives in a braid sounds cool, but the amount I had to suspend my disbelief to accept that that was something that was both safe and unnoticeable....)

***Thank you to NetGalley and to the publishers for providing me with a digital copy of this book for review.***

This started off a little slow for me, which made it difficult to get into at first - I tried like three separate times before I actually got invested, which for some folks might be the difference between finishing the book & DNFing it. For me, I'm glad to have continued - the payoff was worth it, and I found myself loving the ride once things really got going!

Tiktok did not lie, this book is SO GOOD! Are you into action and deceit? This is the one! Trans kiddos beating the world one swing at a time. And the whole twin switch with a twist is *CHEFS KISS*

Venom & Vow is about two warring countries that are dealing with a big loss. They try to put a stop to the warring but inner power struggles and a still unknown enemy cause a lot of court intrigue.

The best part of this book was the representation. I loved the community the authors built into the world for trans people, and I loved how much a part of the story this community was, not just the background. I appreciated that the two main characters were in different places in figuring out their gender identities, it allowed one to really help the other out. Both of the characters also have disabilities, and one of them is from a Latin-American inspired country.

The biggest problem for me was that I was just so confused most of the time. Not about the world building, which was minimal but cool (I especially loved all the animals). But about why the characters were doing any of the things they were doing. There’s one scene where two characters I could have sworn were really close get into a fight to the death and I still couldn’t tell you why. This made it really difficult to follow what was happening, and to connect to the characters and their motivations.

I also really struggled with grasping the pacing. In one instance it takes them days to get to a place, in another they go there and back seemingly the same day? But again, I was really confused, so I may have misunderstood?

Most of the book was driven by misunderstandings between the characters with murderous stakes. The major assumptions they kept making was starting to get a little too much, but it did get much better in the second half of the book.

There’s also an enemies-to-lovers romance. Their romance could have been developed a bit better but I loved that they were both badasses; Highly skilled at fighting and their specific skills.

Overall rating: 2.8⭐

Thank you to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, Feiwel & Friends and NetGalley for the eARC!

This story was unlike anything I’ve had the immense pleasure of reading before. What made me ask for an ARC was realizing there were trans characters at the heart of it. Cade is a trans man posing as his royal brother and Valencia (who is sometimes the boy assassin Gael) is bi-gender. As I read further I found Latinx representation as well as disability and chronic pain depictions. Venom & Vow is a YA fantasy about two rival kingdoms affected by the same curse who decide to attempt to work together to dispel it. But really, it’s all about owning your power and becoming your true self, no matter what.

Once again, Anna-Marie McLemore delivers an original concept in their unique prose. Elliot McLemore's added voice was superb and I can't wait to read more from this duo. Anna-Marie is one of my favorite authors, and Elliot only made it better.

I liked the concept of this one a lot. But I think I could have gone for a more of a complimentary tone. I don't know if that makes sense. The feel just seemed kind of strained between the characters.

Received an eARC from NetGalley. 3 stars for the representative of the characters but over all I thought the story was not well written out. The premise of the story was great but the execution was lackluster to me.

I was invited to read and review Venom & Vow as part of the review tour hosted by the authors and Turn the Page Tours. Thank you to all for inviting me along and for the gifted book. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

In this review, I am going to give you five reasons why I think you should read this book. Choosing only five reasons was a difficult task for me because there was so much to unpack after reading. As I already said, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

5 Reasons To Read Venom & Vow

1. It’s a really good YA Fantasy! It has all the things we want in a fantasy:
– adventure – fantastical creatures
– intrigue – worldbuilding
– mystery – sword fighting
– magic – romance
– kingdom politics – great characters
2. Transgender main characters. This is the first book I’ve read where a story doesn’t just throw in a character and say, “oh, by the way, they are trans.” To me, that’s important. You come to love and care about these characters. Their stories matter.
3. The characters’ personal journeys. We learn a little of their “coming out” journey, but only to a few people. We learn more about the secrecy, being afraid of the repercussions of others finding out their truth, the feelings of never being able to be truly oneself, and finding the strength to come through all of that even better than when they started.
4. The enemies-to-lovers, forbidden love romance. This one is so back and forth, it could go either way. But once you see that spark, you know. Even in this, though, the universe seems to be against them. You just want to see them get their happily-ever-after.
5. The hope. Stories like this, especially in the current climate in my country, gives me hope. Hope that wars can be ended, people can love each other freely–no matter their differences, and, maybe most important of all, the actions of a few truly can make a difference for all.

Okay, so I might’ve cheated a little with my “5” reasons. I told you it was hard with this book. There’s just so much to love about it.

I highly recommend this book to fans of ya fantasy, transgender main characters, magic, kingdom politics, enemies-to-lovers romance, and forbidden love.