A queer YA romance set in ancient Pompeii??? Sign me the fuck up, like this was written specifically for me (my insta user is literally Jaypompeii)…

I really enjoyed the writing and the characters were very well written and fleshed out. I do think Felix’ past could have been written a little better but I did like the representation for trauma repression lol

I am thankful to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy in exchange for my honest review.

I unfortunately couldn’t finish the book. The writing was solid, and the plot intrigued me at first, but the format made it difficult to read—PDFs just don’t work well on my e-reader. An EPUB file would have been much more user-friendly.

Additionally, I didn’t realize how strongly the book leaned into the young adult genre based on the synopsis. The characters’ reactions felt quite immature, and I struggled to connect with their emotions and decisions. That being said, I think this story would be a great fit for younger readers who enjoy YA fiction.

2 boys falling in love days before the desecration of Pompeii, what could go wrong?
The vibes of this book were immaculate and truly the perfect read for fans of Percy Jackson who wanted to see more of the Roman lifestyle. I fell in love quickly with both Loren and Felix and watching them deny their feelings over and over again because they both knew it couldn't end well for them - for very different reasons - only to finally give in was heartbreakingly sweet. Their whole dynamic was very interesting in a 'boy who doesn't believe in anything' x 'boy who desperately believes in everything' kinda way; also they were both vaguely Wylan and Jesper vibes for some slightly spoilerly reasons...

It was a pretty dense story and took me a minute to really get into it and there were a few moments where things felt a little rushed in order to keep the plot moving. As a lover of character-driven stories it did make it a little hard to connect at times but it did kinda force me to get lost in the atmosphere and to trust the journey of it all. The modern style didn't bother me as much as I've seen others talk about as it felt more true to the YA style of it all but it is still a fair note.

If you know anything about the mountain of Vesuvius or the city of Pompeii, you might think you know what kind of a story you are in for but I promise you it is so much better with only a small dash of heartbreak...

thanks to peachtree and netgalley for the arc!

I cannot tell you how excited I was for a queer historical romance set in Pompeii. There are true moments of greatness in this novel, but unfortunately for me it tried to do too much and lost focus as a result. The lack of characterization made the decisions the characters chose fall a bit flat.

The fantasy elements were such a wonderful surprise and something I wish we got to explore more of! The plot felt far too convenient keeping the stakes from properly developing. The language was beautiful and there were interesting moments that never came quite together. I would definitely give this author another try down the road.

Thank you the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I’ll start my review with a big thank you to the author, Cass Biehn, the publisher, Peachtree Teen, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read Vesuvius. I will share my review to Amazon, Goodreads, and Barnes & Noble upon release. This YA historical fantasy blends romance, mythology, and thrills into a story that captures the terror and tension of Pompeii’s final days. If you’re fascinated by the history of Pompeii and the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius, you’ll love the premise of this novel—watching a city and its people face an inevitable, earth-shattering disaster.

The story follows Felix, a clever thief with a mysterious past, and Loren, a temple attendant haunted by apocalyptic visions. When Felix steals Mercury’s helmet from a temple, their fates become intertwined as they uncover the secrets of the artifact and their own connection. I loved the way the characters balanced each other, pushing one another to grow and confront their internal struggles. Their dynamic is heartwarming, even as we know their story is set against the backdrop of impending doom. The slow-burn queer romance adds another layer of emotional depth, exploring themes of identity and love in a historical setting where such relationships are rarely acknowledged.

The world-building is immersive, though I wished for more vivid descriptions of Pompeii itself. The city’s rich history and culture could have been explored further to ground the story and enhance the stakes. That said, the novel does a great job of highlighting class divides and the stark contrast between the lives of the rich and the poor, which felt true to the historical context. The political intrigue woven into the plot adds complexity, though some subplots felt underdeveloped or rushed.

I did notice a few typos and awkwardly worded sentences throughout, which occasionally pulled me out of the story. Some dialogue felt a bit modern for the historical setting, and the pacing was uneven at times, with the eruption of Vesuvius feeling somewhat rushed in the final act. However, these issues didn’t overshadow the novel’s strengths—its compelling characters, emotional depth, and unique premise.

Overall, Vesuvius is a promising debut that will appeal to fans of historical fiction, mythology, and queer romance. While there were moments that felt unpolished, the author’s potential shines through, and I’m excited to see what Cass Biehn writes next. If you enjoy books by Madeline Miller, Erin Morgenstern, or Adam Silvera, this one might be for you!

Suitable for ages 14 and up (mature YA readers).

Major themes and tropes:
- fate vs. free will
- queer/LGBT romance (no explicit scenes or spice)
- tragic romance
- classism and social hierarchy
- mythology and divine intervention
- found family and purpose
- political intrigue

3.7/5 stars, rounding up!

A nonchalant thief and a wary temple attendant fatefully cross paths while impending, earth-shaking doom looms in their future.

Biehn weaves a story that constantly has its main characters play tug with heritage, being self-made vs inheritance, privilege, self-belief, class, believing in the gods and fate vs taking things into your own hands, having priorities lie in yourself vs in your society, and the prices one pays for freedom and love. Felix's recklessness and sharp tongue and quick hands made for fun banter with the cautious, semi-naive Loren. Their ambitiousness and desire to be independent and free and *live* ties them together.

We bob in and out of the different systems and parts of Pompeiian society as the two crack Felix's ability to hold the alleged Helmet of Mercury without injury, what Loren's visions tell him, how Felix and Loren can achieve the independence they want, and as time went on, how can Loren make Felix stay and where do the two really belong.

I really enjoyed the realistic dialogue, especially with the politicians as there's weight to the conversations. I love the direct, explicit allusions and characters' reflections on Homer's Illiad, especially on Achilles and Patroclus. Intertextuality is always fun, and when characters have their own opinions and myths and stories, it adds so much to the worldbuilding and their characterisations. So, I thought this particular intertextual element was a rich addition.

The arcs and the story scope are ultimately intimate and small, grounded by Felix and Loren learning more about each other's worlds, fears, and dreams.

In other news: my heart raced at the They Both Die in the End comp...but whew. And oh my god I should've looked closer at the book cover. It gives away a critical twist.

Anyhoos, lovely read!

Thanks to Netgalley and Holiday House / Peachtree / Pixel+Ink | Peachtree Teen for providing me with the e-ARC/DRC in exchange for an honest review.

Vesuvius by Cass Biehn is a breathtaking queer YA fantasy set against the backdrop of ancient Pompeii. Felix, a clever thief, and Loren, a temple attendant, find themselves bound by fate as the city teeters on the edge of disaster. A stolen relic, haunting dreams, and an impending eruption force them to navigate deadly politics and their own growing feelings, all while trying to survive.

I love a queer romance, and this one tugged at my heartstrings. Vesuvius was full of passion, and yet it felt deeply familiar, like coming home. Biehn’s characters are beautifully written, and her unique spin on Pompeii’s story adds layers of intrigue and emotion.

The politics in this book were infuriating in the best way. They felt all too real, mirroring the corruption and power struggles we see in the world today.

Also, there is a cabbage merchant, and I can only hope it’s a reference to Avatar: The Last Airbender.

My favorite quote? “I would rather listen to you talk poetry than be awake with my thoughts.” That line alone captures the tender intimacy woven throughout the novel.

If you’re looking for a book that’s rich in history, myth, and romance, Vesuvius is an absolute must-read.

thank you Peachtree and Netgalley for the e-ARC!

I was drawn in by the premise alone—a queer story with Pompeii/Vesuvius as the backdrop is such a compelling concept. I loved following the journeys of Felix and Loren, they were very well-round characters/narrators and it was incredibly endearing to watch their arcs and see how they complete each other. This book is gripping, witty, emotional, raw, and an incredible read. I can't wait to see more of Biehn's works

i guess there's nothing wrong in a technical sense with this book. i just found it boring, the scope pretty small. i think it's probably going to have limited appeal.

3.5

Vesuvius by Cass Biehn. Let’s talk about it. Felix draws you in from the very beginning. He’s mysterious and clever and fast. You want to know his secrets so badly it almost feels like a need. Paired with timid but intelligent Loren, Felix’s trait manage to stand out while also highlighting Loren’s. Opposites attract here. With the infamous Mt. Vesuvius as the backdrop, we know how this story goes. History will always remind us of how this story goes. Yet, the story is what kind of lost me. I enjoyed the events, but I wish we could’ve spent more time in them. Same goes for the characters. I wish this book would’ve been 100 or so pages longer. Felix and Loren were a great, but I would’ve liked to see them more fleshed out. All in all, Vesuvius was an enjoyable book. Vesuvius releases on June 3, 2025! Thank you to Netgalley for early access to this title!

“Our fates have always been tied."

It took me a little while to settle into Vesuvius, but once I did, I was all in. A YA novel set in Pompeii, featuring a brooding thief, a reluctant oracle, and the ever-present threat of an exploding volcano? You don’t see that every day—and the premise alone had me hooked. (Not to mention the stunning cover.)

Felix and Loren are complete opposites in the best way possible. Felix is a thief who’s spent his life running, never staying in one place long enough to grow roots. Loren is a temple attendant, burdened with visions of death and destruction that he desperately tries to ignore. Their dynamic? Absolutely delicious. They don’t trust each other, they don’t even particularly like each other at first, but they’re stuck together, navigating stolen relics, political intrigue, and a city on the verge of collapse. Watching their relationship shift—from reluctant allies to something more—was one of my favorite parts of the book.

The setting of Pompeii adds a constant layer of tension to the story. We know what’s coming, and yet, the slow build-up to the eruption makes every moment feel even more urgent. I do wish the volcano had played a bigger role in the plot, considering the title (Vesuvius had shockingly little, well, Vesuvius-ing), but I was so caught up in the characters and their struggles that I didn’t mind too much.

That being said, the pacing was a bit uneven. Some plot points wrapped up too quickly or didn’t have the impact I was expecting, and there were moments where I wasn’t entirely sure where the story was going. But despite that, the characters carried it for me. Loren and Felix felt fully realized, their flaws only making them more believable, and the side characters added so much depth to the world.

Overall, Vesuvius is an impressive debut—atmospheric, gripping, and brimming with tension. A truly compelling read that left me wanting more. Now, about that sequel… 👀🔥

This was my first book by Cass Biehn. This was an interesting read! I enjoyed it and I look forward to reading more books in this genre.

Looking past the typos here and there, this book was a solid/good debut, but I think I was expecting a bit more of the historical aspect. While the author does an amazing job setting up Pompeii as the backdrop, that’s where the historical aspect was strongest for me.
Overall I’m sad to say that I was kind of bored reading it so it took me a while to actually get through it and I was kind of hoping it would get better but it just stayed consistent and I couldn’t really connect the story and characters but at least I loved the cute little romance between Loren and Felix.
I think if I had picked this up as a teenager I would have loved it, so I cant really say it’s bad because it is intended for a younger audience, but as an adult, it just wasn’t my cup of tea.

originally i requested this book when i saw it on netgalley days after the thought ‘why doesn’t anyone write yaoi about the vesuvius eruption’ popped up in my head.

i found out it was YA later which i think is the main reason i didn’t really like this book. the general story was alright, but i feel like marketing this as YA wasn’t the best choice to make. i kind of wonder if biehn had originally intended this to be that because it doesn’t really read as something for young adults? and i mean this as a positive thing because their writing’s very rich.

vesuvius is long for a story about two kids on the run who spend a couple of days together, essentially, but at the same time it didn’t feel fleshed out enough to really pull me in. things only started to get excited after the 75% mark and then there was just one fight and it was over. overall a bit of a letdown.

A solid 4-star debut turned into a 3 star read for me because the formatting of the arc given to me was at some points entirely illegible. I tried to see if anyone else has thins issue but it seemed like people only mentioned spelling errors. There were no paragraph indenting which I could have ignored, but sentences would have a paragraph break in the middle, two lines of dialogue were often on the same line, and it seems like every time a word had a double F in it, the Fs were deleted entirely (office, officially, stuffed, all were written as “oce, ocially, stued”). The lack of care given to the formatting of this arc genuinely almost ruined a good book.

Okay. Now that that that’s out of the way.

Vesuvius is a solid debut novel. I really enjoyed the political intrigue and do wish that we could have really leaned into that a bit more than having it as a side plot. I loved how different Loren and Felix were so different and how they interacted when they came together.

There were parts where what was happening was too vaguely described, that I had trouble parsing what was going on until the characters were reflecting on it a couple pages later. But otherwise, the author had a clear vision and clearly had a lot of fun writing it and clearly loved these characters, which showed and made me enjoy it a lot.

I really look forward to giving this a reread once it’s published and see if I have more fun with a properly formatted copy!!

Huge thank you to NetGaley and Peachtree Teen for an advanced digital copy of Vesuvias for a fair and honest review.

Pub Date: Jun 03 2025
Rating: 3 stars

I reall wanted to love this one, but unfortunately Vesuvias fell a little flat for me. I had a hard time connecting to Felix and Loren, and maybe it was because of the dual POVs or maybe because we weren’t given enough about them. I liked the twists in their identities and pasts, but they both came so late it was like I barely knew the protagonists for the whole story. I liked them, sure, but not as much as I should have for the main characters.

Also, I don’t think the romance was the best. They seemed to be at odds until the very end of the book, which wouldn’t be horrible if this wasn’t set up like part-fantasy part-romance. Additionally, none of the conflicts were gripping to me. I didn’t understand their motivations, most antagonists had a very haughty air and not much else, and the biggest conflict of all– the audience knowing Pompeii’s fate– felt SO overlooked.

Like, yes, Loren did see ruin in his visions, but when the eruption happened it didn’t seem to be a big deal since conflict resolution was actively happening as the volcano was spewing magma and ash.

I did enjoy this book a bit, the banter was fun and the action scenes were written well, but I almost DNFed halfway through. If you really like mythology retellings, atmospheric writing, and high action, this would be perfect for you!

First, thanks to NetGalley for sending me an ARC.

From the synopsis, I was HOOKED! Pompeii, YA, action, Percy Jackson vibes—everything sounded perfect. Yet here I am with a 1-star rating… Let me clarify: I loved the characters. That wasn’t the problem (yes, plural) with this book. Felix and Loren were lovable, and their bond developed smoothly throughout the story. That’s actually part of the reason why I gave this book at least one star.

Now, onto the issues:

First: The format. For a digital ARC, I received a PDF... Reading a PDF on the NetGalley app is frustrating—it can’t be personalized. No zoom, no color adjustments. I couldn’t read comfortably at all.

Second: The dialogue felt off. I understand it’s not the final version, but the way they spoke felt too modern for the historical setting.

And lastly: The pacing wasn’t balanced. The story takes place over four days leading up to the big incident. About 80% of the book was focused on relationship building, and when the major moment finally arrived, it felt rushed. Too rushed, in fact.

That said, I think this is a strong starting point, and I’m curious to see what changes will be made in the final version!

A YA novel about two queer boys navigating the streets of ancient Pompeii shortly before its collapse? You certainly don't see that premise every day, and it of course caught my attention. (The pretty cover helped too.) And it was indeed a unique and well written story, with two distinct main characters. 17-year-old Felix is a thief and despite his name not very lucky, for he steals himself from place to place and has no attachments to anyone and anything. 16-year-old Loren is a temple worker and a virgin living in a brothel, and he also might be an oracle but hopefully not, because he only ever dreams of death and destruction. The two meet in the first chapter and are somehow stuck together from that point onwards, dealing with a divine object that Felix should rather not have stolen, with Loren's political ambitions, with their growing feelings for each other, and with the more than usual shaking earth beneath Pompeii. What may sound like a lot actually unfolds pretty slowly, and it wasn't clear to me what the main story line was supposed to be. I still don't know, because many plot points wrapped up in an unsatisfying way or didn't play a bigger role in the end. Like, for a book that's literally titled "Vesuvius" there is very little actual volcano-ing here. I never really knew what the story wanted from me, but I did like to follow these characters around. They were explored thoroughly and although they met in the very first chapter, I got a good impression of what their lives were like until then. The Pompeiian setting was nice as well, on the one hand because it was unclear if this story would end in the known tragedy or would rewrite history, on the other because the underlying Roman mythology could never disappoint me. (I am a child of Rick Riordan, after all.) It wasn't too heavy on the fantasy elements and leaned more into the historical fiction genre, though. The ending definitely made room for a sequel, so maybe the Gods could play a bigger part there. I would be interested in returning to these characters, for I don't think that their story is over yet. My actual rating is 3.5 stars, but I'm rounding up on Goodreads.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Peachtree Teen for providing a digital arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book, for me, was the definition of *fine*. I didn’t hate it! But I also didn’t love it. I fundamentally don’t think I was the target demographic, and that’s okay.

I want to start positive, because I don’t think this book was wholly bad at all. I think fundamentally it was written well; it was witty, it was funny, and it was emotional at points. I can tell it was well researched and that the author put in a lot of effort. It read pretty well, though the formatting of the ebook was a bit messed up. That is something that can be fixed though, and I assume it be between now and June, when the book is released.

I find it a bit odd that, in a book called Vesuvius, Mount Vesuvius doesn’t erupt, or isn’t really mentioned, until about 71% in. And I fundamentally struggle with the idea that the killer mountain ISNT the bad guy (I think the movie Pompeii, staring Kit Harrington, had this problem as well lmao).

I didn’t go into this book expecting the fantasy element, but that was probably my fault, not doing enough research before reading. I saw the name and the cover and I LEAPT, perhaps prematurely. I was expecting historical fiction, not historical fantasy.

But beyond that, I thought the fantasy element of the story wasn’t as fleshed out as it could’ve been? I don’t think Loren’s oracle abilities were detailed enough and I found it a bit silly that much of the conflict was tied to a magical helmet, and that said magical helmet was just put freely on display in a temple, though I take this as another sign that I wasn’t the target demographic.

Felix being the descendant of a demigod though? Loved that. Saw it coming a mile away, but it made perfect sense. Did a little fist pump i found out because I was RIGHT.

The final issue for me was the characters themselves, mainly the background cast. I didn’t understand their purpose half of the time, and they seemed to just come out of nowhere. Like, I didn’t fully understand WHY Elias was there or what purpose he served. Also, Loren and Felix’s relationship seemed to just develop out of nowhere, with Loren talking about running away together after they’ve known each other for FOUR DAYS. Again, don’t think I’m the target demographic.

So fundamentally this book was fine! I think it was written for a younger audience, and I can see a reader of teen fiction or YA really loving this; that just isn’t me I think, not generally. I look forward to this author’s other project though, that they’ve been talking about on Instagram!

i was obsessed with the roman mysteries series by caroline lawrence when i was a kid, and when i saw this book i was reminded of that obsession all over again - this book delivered. the relationship between loren and felix was delicious, i love the blending of history with the fiction (Isis being a revered goddess, the pomegranates being in season) and the whole story was just gripping, especially when everyone knows what happens to Pompeii. brilliant book, loved it.