I honestly can't say enough good things about this book.
It's my roman empire and no one is safe from me yapping about it

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance readers copy in exchange for an honest review!

I have been following Venessa Vida Kelley on Instagram for a number of years now and thus, have been waiting for this book for a long time. As a lifelong mermaid fan, I have always felt there just weren't enough mermaid books out in the world. So, when Venessa started posting art of a copper haired merman in a tank with a young man staring from the other side, I have been desperately waiting for their story to finally make it into my hands. And I am happy to say it was worth the wait!

I am truthfully very impressed with this book, especially considering it is a debut novel. But I was honestly taken away with how much I found myself loving so many aspects of this book: the romance, the found family, the setting. I don't know how else to describe it except that it feels... alive. I grew so attached to Benny and Rio, to the little found family Benny found himself in, and to the amusement park it all takes place in. So much so that by the end of the book, when the climax was reaching it's end, I was so terrifyingly excited for what was going to happen.

This was a very fast paced book, and some of the story beats are similar to other mermaid stories that have come out. But the main romance and found family really carry this book. If you are a mermaid fan, or love found family, queer fantasy romance, and beautiful art, I highly recommend checking this out!

This book was INCREDIBLE. The depth of the characters really sucked me in and had me feeling like a part of the story. This is one of those books where, I think, it’s best to go in blind and let it take over. The illustrations were gorgeous and added so much to the story. Just really incredible. I don’t want to give too much away. Go read it! Also, the cover!!! Stunning.

This was really good 😭

Rating: 4 ⭐️

This book has such an amazing aesthetic. It is 1910s New York, with circus performers and mermen. I love it so much. And there are pictures. Certain important scenes are illustrated and it's amazing!

This story follows Benigno who, permanently down-on-his-luck being a queer Puerto Rican immigrant in the 1910s, finds himself embroiled in a scheme to capture a mermaid. Along with a circus troop, they find and capture a merman who is slated to become his very own attraction. Now imprisoned in a tank of Benigno's own making, Río and Benigno form an unlikely friendship and something... more?

More so than anything else, this book is about finding home. A place where you belong. These performers have created a family that is less about what you look like or who you love, and more about who you are.

Now, it wasn't perfect. There were definitely parts that frustrated me. While for valid reasons, Benigno was afraid to take action to protect himself and others and it made me want to shake him sometimes and say "you gotta do something, man! Time's a wastin'!" But I did really love him. Such a sweet, lost character just trying to find his way home.

Overall, When the Tides Held the Moon was a delightful read. It took me a little while to get into it at the start, but once I was in it, I was in it. The book started to fly by. I would recommend it to anyone who loves mermaids, found family, or queer romance 💘 Put it in your TBR!!

Thank you to Netgalley and Erewhon Books for providing me early access to When the Tides Held the Moon in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

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Pre-read:
Mermaids/mermen are an automatic read for me 👏 every 👏 time 👏
This is only the first of 4 different mermaid books I requested on NetGalley!! Let’s go!

Oh MAN, this book was GOOD. Fuck. I loved it from start to finish. And the art???!!! IT'S AMAZING. This book is absolute gold.

My heart is going absolutely apeshit, still. The suspense towards the end had me so captivated I almost forgot how to breathe.

I'm gonna need to buy a physical copy of this too; that's how good this one is.

They say don't judge a book by its cover, but I'm so glad I did. This was my first introduction to Venessa Vida Kelley's work, and I'm totally blown away as this was my favourite read of the year so far!

When the Tides Held the Moon was packed full of gorgeous prose and even more gorgeous illustrations. I knew almost straight away that this was something special. I can't wait to pick up a physical copy when it is published so I can see the finalised artwork!

The story follows Benigno, a Puerto Rican immigrant in New York City, as he struggles to find his place within an unwelcoming new country. Drawn to Río, a captive merman on Coney Island, he takes the plunge and joins a team running a sideshow. Benigno begins to think about what he calls home as he meets this multifaceted family and is seen for who he truly is.

I knew I would love this book when I felt an instant connection to both main characters. I think this was due to the dual first-person POV. The representation in this book was also fantastic. I especially liked the choice to leave most Spanish phrases untranslated. I was able to translate using the Kindle feature, but a glossary was also included at the back of the book. This gave a realistic dimension to the communication between Benigno and Río. The connection between the two characters was beautiful, and I loved seeing their relationship flow naturally.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys more romantic romances and lyrical prose. Although, I'd recommend for everyone to give it a try!

thank you so much NetGallery for allowing me to read and review this book before it’s official release.
and what a book that was. I started it not having any idea what I was getting myself into, save for the fact that I’d loved Venessa for their art i’d seen across many platforms before. I was excited to get into this very first book of theirs—and I come out of it having loved every second of it.

it’s true that it took me a few pages to find my footings with the story, not used to reading much fantasy books with that many characters these days, but once I’d gotten into it it was impossible to come out. all the characters are delightful, and the found family that is built throughout the story is a delight to read. I have loved getting to know them through the pages, adored that they got their own backstories as well, and I am so delighted to have gotten so many wonderful illustrations throughout the pages.

all in all, when the tides held the moon was a truly beautiful queer read about love, identity and family, and I would recommend it to anyone who’s looking for their next emotional read. you’re in for a rollercoaster of emotions, and you’re going to like every second of it.

5 ⭐️

This was a really enjoyable book to read, and the artwork was superb throughout. It's a beautiful cover. I found Benigno and Río to be fascinating characters, and I particularly liked their early relationship. I enjoyed watching them get to know one another, discuss their pasts, and share their love of music. Even though the second half of the book seemed to move more slowly, I still thought it was a great read! The passages from Río's point of view were particularly poetic and rhythmic, and I thought the prose was stunning.

Bewitched by the cover, I jumped in joy when Venessa and Kensington approved my request for the ARC.

It is MASTERPIECE!! I’m in awe. I’m in tears. I’m in pieces. This book literally melt my heart and mold it into bright full moon. As a fans of The Little Mermaid and American Horror Story (guess which one?), this book (WTTHTM) is a MUST read.

Benny and Rio officially become a permanent tenant in my heart. They choke my hollow heart with such joy and delight.

Venessa’s writing style is poetic and elegantly composed. One of my favorite line
“All I know is that he misses the moon. If I could, I’d ride a rollercoaster to the sky just to steal it for him.”

and imagine how shocked I am to find illustrations between the pages!! oh Author, this is bad for my heart. The artworks are beautifully drawn! I can FEEL the drawing, does that makes sense?

Anyway, WTTHTM is indeed a hidden GEM, and I would be upset if it does not become viral in 2025. I already recommend WTTHTM to many friends, and will post this clumsily worded review in many platforms. I hope WTTHTM have special editions, because it DESERVES THEM, and this book is WORTH every penny.

My very first merman/human lovestory! I will admit I wasn't sure what to expect because I've never read a book on this basis but I will say I was pleasantly surprised. I loved that this book mostly took place in a circus. It was such a rich and entertaining setting, the atmosphere was palpable. The characters were vivid and the love story was so sweet and pure. The dialogue is so poetic, especially between Rio and Benny, they have a gentleness between each other that's just so precious. This is a must read for 2025!

Where do I even begin to rate this masterpiece? UGH! Everyone, it was so beautiful! I couldn't put it down. It followed me to work and it followed me to class. It kept me awake at night, drifting me off to sleep on a cloud of blue light. It was packed full of emotions and finding your identity in a foreign country. It was about finding peace in another intelligent creature, and finding comfort in a family of oddities. It was about weighing the values in your life, hoping not to come up short in the end. Y'all, this book had everything I wanted in a merperson-human love story and the author did a fabulous job of writing it just right. It's not cringey, it's not sappy, there's no over-used tropes! I beg of you, read When the Tides Held the Moon! You won't be able to put it down! (especially once you realize how the title correlates with the story AGHHHHH!!) (Also, the illustrations are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Vanessa Kelley's artistic abilities! This woman can DRAW!)

Thank you Kensington publishing and netgalley for the chance to read this ARC.

I have been following Vanessa Vida Kelley for a few years now - for those who don't know, she's a very gifted illustrator who has also created official art for the Red, White and Royal Blue adaptation - so when she announced she would be writing her own novel, I honestly was very excited to read it.

Kelley has proved to be not only very skilled with images, but also very good with words.

Her novel is a queer fantasy love story set in the 1910s made of love, hope, friendship, diversity and acceptance against a world of hate, tragedy and sorrow.

There was a tenderness in this book that I especially felt in the main character Benny/Benigno, a kind soul in search of a home he had lost any hope of actually finding.
His life changes forever when he meets the Menagerie and he finds himself the unwilling captor of Río, a creature of the sea.

Their relationship develops slowly into a love made of understanding, tenderness and vulnerability, two lives destined to find one another in tragic circumstances.
I very much appreciated that we get a glimpse into Río’s thoughts and feelings too, although more briefly compared to Benny's.

The side characters that make up the menagerie are fleshed out enough to be likeable both individually and especially as part of the found family of misfists and outsiders that welcome Benny and give him a place to belong.

The pacing felt more slow in the first half and a tiny bit rushed in the second, but on the whole I think it worked well enough.

Although the final revelation was actually rather expected considering all the clues were there, it didn't take away at all from the tension that kept rising in the last chapters towards the end.

I think the ending was just right, although I wouldn't have minded seeing more of Río and Benny in those last few pages.

Much appreciated is the glossary at the end of the book, where one can find the translations to all the words and phrases spoken in other languages other than English by the characters.

And finally, I must of course mention the gorgeous illustrations that Kelley herself included in the book every few chapters, a more than welcome addition that enriches a beautiful evocative story.

If you're looking for a book with found family, queer protagonists that celebrates diversity and hope in the face of adversity, this is the story for you.

As always, my most sincere thanks to the publishing house and the author for sending me an advanced copy of this masterpiece, I enjoyed it deeply and I felt very lucky to have read it so early.

I hoped, from the moment I saw the beautiful cover, that the book would be amazing. I knew, after reading the first chaper, that it would be more than that.

I was more than pleasantly surprised at the quality of the writing, the richness of the story, the roundness and depth of the characters… I was hooked. I was rooting for Benigno from the very beginning and my heart ached with his as the plot advanced.

I fell in love with these characters. The beauty of this found family is unmatched. The romance was, as well, so charmingly well written that I felt myself dragged into it and worrying for the characters as if they were alive outside the page as well, which in itself speaks for a writer’s talent and hard work.

I gave it five stars, and if you’d have told me this was a debut novel I wouldn’t have believed you. To me, everything was perfect. The story, the characters, the Puerto Rican heritage and the words in spanish (and I was privileged enough to understand them without consulting the glossary, which made the reading experience more fluid and uninterrupted). The ending had me sobbing, and if a book makes me cry then I instantly hold it in high esteem.

I will buy the book as soon as it is released, and I can’t wait to see the illustrations on paper because the digital copy does them no justice.

Please read this for yourselves if you love mermaids and stories that stick with you for a long time. This is my favourite historical romantasy story BY FAR.

I absolutely adored everything about When the Tides Held the Moon and I couldn't put it down. I devoured it in a day and just want to go back to the beginning and read it again immediately.

The entire book is beautifully written and illustrated. The family in the found family was full of interesting characters I loved. The romance was heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time and perfecly paced.

I could have kept reading another hundred pages about Benny and Río, I wasn't ready to let them go.

Thank you NetGalley for an advance copy of this book!

I enjoyed reading this a lot and the art throughout was excellent. The cover is gorgeous. Benigno and Río were interesting characters to follow and I enjoyed their early relationship especially. I liked seeing them getting to know each other, share their love for music, and talk about their pasts.

I feel like the pacing slowed a little in the second half, but I still thought this was an excellent read! The prose was gorgeous and I loved the sections from Río's POV, how distinctively poetic and rhythmic they were.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Wow what can I say! I LOVED this book. Prose is beautiful and felt like a breath of fresh air. The characters were all interesting and came alive on the page. The romance was so sweet, just a lovely comforting read overall. The illustrations were a gorgeous added touch throughout. I will definitely be picking this up when it comes out!

I sincerely tried writing this review several times because it felt impossible for me to do it justice. The characters, the relationships, the story, the writing - it was all done so well. No notes. (New Girl reference, anyone?)

I can only say that I was completely *swept away* by this absolutely beautiful novel that weaves an emotional tale of a forbidden love between a human blacksmith and a captive merman in 1910s New York City. The story’s themes of self-discovery, loyalty, and the power of love resonate deeply as Benny navigates the expectations of those around him, the complexities of his heart, and the moral dilemmas that come from loving someone from a different world.

Not all of the illustrations were viewable for me on my kindle, likely an eARC issue, but the ones that did load properly were absolutely gorgeous. It added so much to the story to have the character art in there, and for it to be done by the author as well just makes it so special. I cannot wait to get my hands on a physical copy!

A beautiful story of self-acceptance, of found family, and of an incredible love between two souls, When the Tides Held the Moon is an absolute must-read for 2025.

I received an early copy of this novel on NetGalley and a HUGE thank you to the author for the opportunity to read her debut novel!

This book here has all the elements for me to like it: a found family, mermaids (well, a triton to be precise), it is set in a historical context (US, 1911) and has a Porto Rican main character.

The story follows Benny, an orphan who has dealt with quite a bit of trauma before moving to New York. And, once there, shitty job aside, he ends up joining the crew of sort of exposition of strange people (very circus like, everything). The boss of this fair has decided he wants to add a merman to the show, so the kidnapping begins... and ends with Rio, the merman, caiged in the same acuarium Benny built.

Now, pros and cons I found on this story:

The thing I liked the most was the relationship between Benny and Rio. It was a slow burn and they became friends over time spent together. I loved how Benny´s asthma also played a role in the story and somehow, with Rio´s help, Benny became better to the point he learned to swim and was braver by the end of the novel.
All characters have different backstories, which also contributed to my overall enjoyment and the illustrations are outright gorgeous. There was so much love put into this book and I anyone can tell.

The things I didn´t enjoy that much include the character of Sonia (the clingy girl with an unrequited crush for Benny, who made things very difficult for everyone... and who was forgiven by the power of the script), the annoying amount of Spanish words and phrases especially at the begining of the story (and Spanish is my mother tongue; if it was too much for me, who understood everything without the need of the glossary, imagine someone who knows nothing of it), and the mysterious fact that Rio seemed fine within his cage... until he didn´t.

Overall, there are one or two plot holes, but it doesn´t make the book less enjoyable. I recommend.

This is one of the most beautiful and heartwarming book i've ever read. My heart aches thinking about it, you will feel so much for the MC and his little found family. The romance is absolutely perfect, the author is demisexual and i think it shows in the way the romance was written i loved it so much. If you like to feel joy and hapiness read this

Oh my goodness, this book is phenomenal! Venessa Visa Kelley weaves an enchanting tale set in 1910s America about a young Puerto Rican trying to make it in NYC when he gets roped into constructing a cage for a merman that he ends up helping to capture. Through a chain of events, he winds up back with the merman and finds a family with the “circus freaks” while also falling in love with the merman. This is beautifully told, the illustrations are gorgeous, and the characters are so real. Everything is weaved so wonderfully, the plot, the characters, the setting, it’s all just amazing. I cannot recommend this enough! One of my top reads of the year for sure.