Anna-Marie McLemore is an author whose books I always look forward to. They always use gorgeous language to tell stories woven with magical realism and heartbreakingly beautiful love stories. There is always action, but it’s typically a quiet sort of action. The beauty of the writing is in the character depth, relationships, and personal development.

Venom & Vow, the first joint novel between the McLemores, lived right up to every expectation I had! If you’re looking for an action-packed adventure, this isn’t the book for you, but if you’re in it for flawed characters learning how to accept themselves and others for who they already are, this book may be right up your alley!

Things I loved:

✨ A magical enchantment woven my mysterious means

✨ Neighboring kingdoms with very different cultures, beliefs, and values trying to figure out how to come together

✨ A look into familial responsibility, societal norms, and embracing all of oneself

✨ Rivals who try not to fall in love, and the POV from each of them

✨ Excellent representation on a few different levels, in a way that feels so relatable

Thank you so much to Macmillan and Netgalley for the advanced copy!

Venom & Vow follows Cade McKenna, a transgender prince who’s doubling for his brother and Valencia Palafofox, a young dama attending the future queen of Eliana. Gael Palma is the infamous boy assassin Cade has vowed to protect while Patrick McKenna is the reluctant heir to a kingdom, which Gael has vowed to destroy. What Cade doesn’t know? Gael and Valencia are the same person. What Valencia doesn’t know? That every time she’s fighting Patrick, she’s actually fighting Cade.

In a true twist of the mistaken identity trope, Venom & Vow is the mindbending tale of two people simultaneously falling in love and trying to destroy each other at the same time.

As with any McLemore book (and this time around we get a book written by the married couple!), I was incredibly in love with the characters and the featured representation. A trans prince in hiding and a bigender assassin from opposites sides of a war? Oh yeah, that’s my jam. Val and Cade have so much on their plate as the world around them constantly seems to shift and alliances are thinning out. Both Val and Cade get their own individual story of growth but together, they’re even more fun. I think their characters’ journey complemented each other well and the hidden identity trope worked well for the story.

What I do have to say though is that I was confused quite a few times in Venom & Vow.

While I love McLemore’s magical realism stories and understand that a bit of the magic with that genre is that you don’t have to know everything and have to let your mind expand, I feel like in a fantasy book, I actually need more information to fully immerse myself in the world and get the magic system. There were quite a few passages that felt too long without actually telling anything about the world that would help the reader to situate oneself. However, that’s just a me thing probably, considering I don’t read fantasy that often.

What Venom & Vow may lack in terms of world-explanation, it makes up for with a fast pace that keeps you turning the pages and an enemies-to-lovers romance you can’t help but fall in love with. All in all, I think this book has the potential to make lovers of the YA fantasy genre very happy this summer.

If you’re a fan of enemies-to-lovers, fast-paced fantasies with authentic queer representation and the mistaken identity trope, then Venom & Vow is the book for you!

I REALLY wanted to like this book. I loved the trans rep. I loved the MCs. I loved the world building that we got, but there wasn’t much. Most of the world was left in a fog and unexplained to the audience.
The most frustrating pieces of the book were fight scenes. The description of how opponents moved around each other was very confusing. I tried for the first three to really sit and try to understand the details. But afterward I just didn’t bother trying to get the picture in my mind.

I think this book needed some more polishing. More detail here and there would have helped significantly. I REALLY wanted more of Cade in El Encanto. I feel like it could have had a much more significant impact on the story. The whole resolution felt way rushed.

This book deserves to be read. And I would love some more of Cade and Val. But this story just didn’t completely hit.

I love the trans rep in this book! I think more YA novels need bi-gender/ gender-fluid rep, so many kids would benefit. This novel is definitely for those who like “We Set the Dark on Fire” and “A. Rosen Blade”.

4.5⭐️
POV: 1st person dual
Genre: YA Fantasy
Pub Date: 5-16-23
Venom and Vow is a story about a transgender prince and a bigender dama/assassin from enemy kingdoms who both want to save the lives of their people. Filled with betrayals, self-discovery, mythical creatures, curses, and love, this was a wonderful YA Fantasy perfect for lovers of Six of Crows and Gwen and Art Are Not In Love.

I put off picking this up because of multiple bad reviews I saw, but I wish I hadn’t because I genuinely enjoyed it. The two main characters are wonderfully developed and I loved them so so much. Their banter, self-discovery, and even the forbidden love trope between them was wonderful.

The first sentence was incredibly enticing: “Of all the things my father taught me, this is the one most likely to keep me alive tonight: Your hair, mija, can always hold more knives than you think.” The reader is thrown immediately into the middle of the story and once I was in it, I didn’t want to leave.

The idea of the plot felt strong, there weren’t any points that confused me, nor was anything too predictable. However, there was a bit of info missing on the world building, and I think it could’ve been improved upon.

The chapters in this book are very short and it was especially noticeable in the first half. Due to this, the story feels a bit choppy. If the chapters and book overall were longer, I think the plot, world building, and side characters would have been more fleshed out, and this easily would’ve been a 5 star read.

Thank you to NetGalley, Feiwel and Friends, and Anna-Marie and Elliot McLemore for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The draw for many readers to this book will be that the MCs are a trangender prince and a bigender assassin from rival kingdoms. These underrepresented demographics make for a great point of view as we get to explore both Cade and Valencia's point of view. Therefore, we understand their feelings about their gender identity and how it relates to their culture and family expectations, and most importantly how they feel affirmed when they can express themselves. Both characters are also disabled and rely on canes for mobility devices.

Valencia's country is based on Latin-American cultures while Cade's is loosely Scottish-Irish inspired. The cultural description is very rich and really made the book stand out to me and feel less generic. The characters use a lot of Spanish in their dialogue and it feels very natural. We don't spend much time outside of the palaces so we don't get to see much of these kingdoms, but there are some very cool magic animals that serve as guardians. There is magic, but it's a very soft type of system. The writing, especially the descriptions, was very poetic and beautiful.

In the beginning the story was a little confusing because both characters use multiple names as aliases and think the other character is someone else entirely, so that's important to keep track of. Every other chapter switches between Cade and Valencia. At some parts, I think the switching may have occurred too often because it would dislocate my perspective in a scene when it was suddenly in someone else's head. The ending also wrapped up a bit too quickly, making several quick jumps in succession when it came to resolving the curse that weren't very satisfying in my opinion.

Thanks to NetGalley, The Publisher and Author for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Venom & Vow is a fast paced YA high fantasy novel with an enemies-to-lovers romance sub-plot.

Overall I gave Venom & Vow three stars. I think it’s worth a read, The representation is so beautifully done. At times it felt rushed or perhaps had so much that perhaps could have been more developed.

I absolutely loved this. The representation is so beautifully done. These authors wove together a fascinating tale that, above all else, speaks on love.

I thought the storyline started slow, but as the two main characters became more familiar with each other, I began to fall in love with this book.

A transgender prince finds himself up against a bigender assassin. Their land has been cursed, including stealing away many adults in charge of their respective kingdoms. However, as these two enemies begin to fall for each other, it becomes clear that action must be taken now to break this curse.

I didn't start out loving everything in this story bc it started slow, and I had a difficult time grasping the full picture of the plot, but this turned out to be really remarkable, in my opinion!

Out May 16, 2023!

Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!

This is a tough one to review. Half the time I had no idea what was going on. I appreciated the representation, which was nicely done and woven in seamlessly but the world building was non existent, there was very little explanation for what started the war and why so there wasn't enough of a cohesive plot to really bring me in.

2.5 stars rounded up.

As a huge Anna-Marie McLemore fan I am happy to say that this book is just as wonderful as all their others! Elliot's voice was a great addition to this that only made this more fantastical. As always the characters are amazing and the world is wonderful. I loved seeing them grow into who we had at the end.

I was so excited for this book. The representation, ideas, and themes were all up my alley. It was really unfortunate that things didn’t go as planned.

I got over five percent into the book when I decided I didn’t think I’d be able to finish. Nothing was very clear in the book and it was hard to follow. There was potential but it lacked the clarity and story telling. A few examples: A character would be described as one way then later on that would be contradicted. Nothing is explained in the beginning so you have no idea what this new world is like. It didn’t ever reach a point where I thought things would be clarified.

I decided to look at other peoples reviews and saw quite a few who did finish the book were saying the same things as me. That’s when I decided not to continue because I did not see my mind changing on how I was feeling about the book. I wish it all the success and I’m really sad I wasn’t a fan.

I am so massively disappointed here, but I think I need to admit that I’m not enjoying this one and call it quits.

There’s a lot to love, including the use of dual perspective – something I don’t always enjoy, but which was used to great effect here, as we see the characters mislead and misunderstand each other in ways both believable and (at times) kind of hilarious. The setting is marvellous; I loved the castle that morphs and changes in response to the feelings of the monarch, and the ancestor-spirits that come out of the other kingdom’s tapestries in the forms of jungle birds and big cats. I loved the monastry. I loved having two very effective, badass characters who are both physically disabled.

But the story just didn’t hook me. The writing is perfectly nice, but whenever I put Venom & Vow aside, I don’t want to pick it up again. It’s not that it’s a hard book, exactly, but reading it gives me brain-fog – I desperately want a nap after making it through a few chapters. And for some reason I can’t put my finger on, I just…don’t care about the plot? I’m not curious or invested enough to want to know how it ends. And I don’t know why, which makes me suspect the issue is me more then the book. Because I really do think that, objectively, Venom & Vow is pretty awesome.

Maybe if I come back to it in the future I’ll click with it better.

Regardless, I don’t want anyone to take my DNF as a sign you shouldn’t try it yourself. It’s a really lovely book, and if the premise interests you I encourage you to pick it up. Pretty sure the problem is with me, because there’s nothing about Venom & Vow that I want to actually critique!

Venom & Vow is a joyously queer and action packed fantasy story. It is not only centered in both Valencia and Cade's identities - being disabled and queer - but also in the pressures of living behind masks. For Cade and his body doubling and for Valencia and Gael's identity. Behind all these layers, who truly lies beneath and what secrets are they holding? Both mourning their family in suspended animation, who is to blame?

Venom & Vow is a story about secrets and subterfuge. About not knowing who we can trust and when betrayal comes where we least expect it. I was swept away by the action, fight scenes, and moonlight meetings. For the McLemore duo, Venom & Vow is a triumph. It's a story about claiming our happiness and power.

This book is amazing. A little slow getting started, but once I was hooked I could not put this down.

DNF'd at 27% - the concept and synopsis had me excited, but the actual text was trying to do way too much. I wasn't liking any of the characters and there was way too much "I'm this person but also pretending to be this person" going on - while also withholding a lot of info from readers, that I was far enough in and couldn't tell you what was happening in the plot that I decided to give up.

The geographic setup didn't entirely make sense to me given how each country reads in comparison to cultures in real life. But I'll admit that could be cleared up with a map that might be included in the final copy. Spanish and Gaelic (I think) words, phrases, and sentences are used liberally without enough contextual cues to be able to know what is being said without continuously stopping to search for translations. My Kindle was able to translate only half of them, often times it would just spit back the exact same word(s) at me. I actually love when books work other languages into the text, but it needs to be in a way that is accessible otherwise the plot winds up being difficult to follow.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley, Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, and Feiwel & Friends in exchange for an honest review.

Two kingdoms are at war, and when peace talks are interrupted by a spell that puts the highest ranked adults on both sides to sleep, it is up to their children to solve the problem. Cade and Valencia encounter one another again and again, in different guises--some real, some false; as enemies, and as friends--as they work toward peace between their countries and regaining their parents. Cade is transgender, Valencia bigender, and both are disabled, identities which both add complications and create solutions for the characters. If you expected the story to get lost in identity politics (maybe I did), you'll be proven wrong. The plot is as rich and complex as the characters, the story world is consistent, magical, and immersive, and the prose is beautiful and visceral. This book belongs on shelves alongside beloved worlds like Throne of Glass.

Wow!!! I am kind of blown away. That was a wild ride in all of the best ways. And the disability representation! The LGBTQIA+ representation! This is exactly the kind of fantasy that I want more of. Please please keep books like this coming. You do not want to miss this one!

On paper, this is an amazing concept and I was so excited to read this (and thankful for getting an early copy). However, the execution leaves much to be desired. Right off the bat, it was confusing to make sense of what was going on or why things were the way they were. There's not really an explanation of how each of these kingdoms worked or why some decisions within these kingdoms were made. Why did Cade abdicate when he's going to pretend to be his brother anyways and how does no one who has spent time with the two of them in the same room immediately figure out that they aren't the same person? It's not 100% clear who knows and who doesn't know or why they made this arrangement in the first place. Also I feel there were many chapters where the POV switch was unnecessary and we could've learned the same information within the same POV. There could be something great here, just after a few more rewrites and with longer, more detailed chapters.

DNF at 40%
I was incredibly excited to read this book because of the trans rep and married Latinx coauthors. In this case, I’m not too sure having two authors benefited the book as it seems that the chapters felt disjointed from one another. For the most part, I felt confused and lost. There were multiple characters with multiple disguises, names, and faces. There was also a switching of POVs that added to the confusion. I wish that I oriented first before being thrown into the middle of things as I was struggling to catch up. This led to me feeling quite detached from the characters as I didn’t seem to understand who was who, who was important to which person, and overall how all these roles impacted the storyline.

Additionally, as a non-Spanish speaking reader, I found myself having to use the Kindle feature of text translation for a couple of terms to find out what they meant as some of the liberally used Spanish within the text didn’t have contextual clues or translations. I could’ve probably made do without it if I wasn’t as confused with the rest of the text but combined, it just wasn’t an enjoyable experience for me.

However, I wouldn’t discount trying this book out if you are indeed the target audience for this book- as it does seem to have quite an interesting premise.

From the first line to the final, I loved every word of this book. It is a slightly different book from Anna-Marie McLemore, as they co-wrote it with their partner Elliott McLemore. It is a true fantasy novel rather than magical realism. However, the magic is as vibrant and fantastic as I would expect. The world building was well done, giving enough information to understand the story but not overwhelming. Of course, the characters were amazing. I loved Cade and Val so much. They both underwent fantastic character development, finding themselves and becoming who they were meant to be. Their romance was also amazing. There was tension, angst, and so much mutual understanding of each other while being in denial. Every interaction was amazing. Plot wise, the character development was definitely central but there was a good story alongside and lots of action. Overall, this was a beautiful story of self discovery with a magical setting, witty dialogue, and riveting enemies to lovers. I highly recommend this book!