“Meet cute” but it’s Loren whacking Felix over the head knocking him unconscious. lol

I didn’t hate this by any means, the writing is solid and the story is interesting, it just didn’t completely grab me. I love volcanoes. I love queer lit. I even took extra unneeded archaeology classes in college. I should love this book… but I ended up just liking it. And that’s okay.

I think this one fell victim to too much hyped built up by myself haha.

Ok,,, that said, this is a good book! I really enjoyed the dynamic between Loren and Felix—it had some genuinely funny moments, and their relationship was engaging in a way that kept me reading.

I also really liked the atmosphere of the book. The fact it’s set in Pompeii, with all the temples and the subtle fantasy elements. It’s incredibly immersive and does a great job with the world building.

I’ve seen other reviews mention the use of “modern” language given the setting, and I agree. Normally, that sort of thing pulls me out of a story, but here? It weirdly worked? It straddles the line between historical fiction and fantasy, and the prose, modern touches and all, just seemed to somehow fit the tone.

Honestly, I’m still tempted to get a physical copy because I think this would be so much fun to annotate and fill with nerdy Pompeii facts.

Also… I just learned this is the author’s debut novel?! It reads like someone who’s already published multiple books. Super impressive. I will definitely be on the look out for anything else written by this author.

side note: “Virgin in a brothel” deserves to be a trope. hahaha

This was a fantastic concept! I loved the setting of Pompeii, and the main characters Felix and Loren had a lovely relationship which was well developed. I liked the idea of a magical godly helmet, and apocalyptic prophecies. It was initially a little bit tricky to follow but it all unfolded well the more I read. I loved this author’s style and would read more of their work!

This was one of my most anticipated reads for the summer, and it definitely didn't disappoint. I loved that this was set during (just before?) a major historical event that WASN'T a world war (I know it is important to learn about, but I am burnt out on historical fiction set during WW1 or WW2). I loved the dual perspective, because I really enjoyed both characters. The narrative voice was strong, and while I thought that the pacing was good overall, the ending did feel a little bit rushed. This was a really solid debut, and I am really looking forward to whatever Biehn writes next---they seem like a great author and their online presence is fun.

A very interesting premise and book set against a major historical event, with queer romance and a mystery taking center stage. Fully enjoyed the dual perspective and I had a great time reading it. The ending felt a little rushed but overall, I was a big fan!!!

Thank you to NetGalley and PeachTree for an ARC. All opinions are my own.

Full disclosure, I ended up DNFing this book around the 40% mark. I can’t really figure out what it is about this book that I didn’t like. The concept is very interesting, the writing is fine, and the plot feels like it should be very thrilling, but I’m just not invested. I think it’s mostly because I don’t care for either protagonist. I wouldn’t necessarily say they’re poorly written, but I just don’t think we’ve been given enough information about either of them so far, and I don’t think I have it in me to keep reading until we do.

This is a bit of a soft dnf for now. Maybe in a few months I might see if my library has a copy and give this another chance then, but for now it just isn’t working for me.

3.75

I was sold when I saw that this was a queer coming of age historical fantasy set in Pompeii days before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and while yes it is that, I think that was also maybe a little oversold. This is a queer coming of age story and it is set in Pompeii days before the volcanic eruption but I think what I was missing was the fantastical elements. Like yes, Loren has prophetic visions but I think I was expecting more direct interference from actual gods level of fantasy rather than what we got. Potential spoiler? <spoiler> but I also expected a tragic ending especially given the comp titles are They Both Die at the End and The Song of Achilles and was maybe just a little sad about the happy ending which is never something I thought I’d say but I went into the book expecting to be wrecked and wasn’t</spoiler>.

That being said, I think this was a really solid debut. I loved how easy it was to buy into both Felix and Loren as real people with real struggles and the way Biehn was able to use the tension of the countdown to Vesuvius to pull through the story while also making me as the reader forget that disaster was eminent. I also think they did a great job of building up the relationship so that I as the reader was invested despite the short time frame/instant attraction.

While I don’t think this was a perfect book and I don’t know if it’ll be all that memorable in the long term, I did have a good time reading it and would be interested to see more from Biehn in the future.

Obviously I expected this book to be a thrilling adventure, but I was SO impressed at how we just dive right into the action. No hesitation, super high stakes, with the volcano’s (historically accurate) early warning signs starting to rumble.
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And yet, for all the action, the queer love story at the heart of this novel, was so endearing. Maybe it’s the ancient setting, but it felt so…tender. I became really attached to Felix and Loren….which just made the stakes feel even higher.
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The light touches of fantasy helped keep things light, but the historical detail is the real star of the book. The class divides, religious cults, societal structure….I worry this book has indeed turned me into someone who thinks about the Roman Empire daily. Or Pompeii at least.
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I was worried this wouldn’t live up to the hype but it did! There was a lot going on but the execution was well done and- especially in these of fast publishing and poor editing- that’s what matters most.

This book filled my heart with joy and gave it a big squeeze.

Anyone who knows me knows that there are two types of books I love more than anything: queer stories and ancient mythology. This wonderful novel combines them both. I've always had a fascination for Pompeii and its been on my travel bucket list for ever.

I loved each of the main characters both separately and as a couple and the dual POV worked really well for this story! The way the story unfolded with readers (and characters) learning about the secrets of each of the main characters was really well done and kept me on the edge of my seat. I even read through the last half of the book in one sitting!

This book also involves the miscommunication trope which I love when done well, and in this case, it was. Just enough angst to keep me wanting more!

You guys know I am a completionist, right? Well, not today I guess, but generally speaking. I DNF infrequently, but when I do, it is often out of mercy. For example, Vesuvius. This is a great example of a merciful incompletion, because there is nothing wrong with this book! Nothing! I just simply wasn’t feeling it. Others seemingly love it! I think for me, it was more fantasy feeling than historically/emotionally compelling, and while that is totally fine, I was hoping more for the latter. Add to it that I am so behind, and it just seemed like the right choice to call it. No reason for me to give it a bad rating just because it wasn’t my jam, right? Right. I actually marked this as “Ask Again Later” on Goodreads, but you and I both know I’m just lying to myself.

Bottom Line: This was not bad, I think it was just different than I expected and I wasn’t feeling it.

I had such high expectations, and I am extremely let down. The first 50 pages were okay, but then it just unraveled after that. My biggest issue here is the writing. This is supposed to be ancient Pompeii, yet all the characters use modern curses and phrases all the time. It was jarring, and really took me out of the story

I am a sucker for love stories told in tragic circumstances, so to say this book was right up my alley was an understatement.

Vesuvius follows two young boys, Felix and Loren, as they clash with the cruel conditions of their world on the eve of the famous volcano's eruption. As mentioned in the author's note, one of the main themes of this book is defying fate, and not letting the circumstances of your life define you. That message alone I think is worth the read. In our current world, things can seem helpless. So using books as a mean to escape, while still discussing themes relevant to our everyday life, are vitally important.

Aside from the theme, the writing was also wonderfully done. It is very apparent early on that the author took inspiration from Madeline Millers's The Song of Achilles, and it really shows in the writing. It can be downright lyrical at times, and while it may not hit necessarily as hard due to being limited as a young adult book, it was still a beautiful read.

The story is where I took some issues. The pacing of the book is very slow, but then things pick up almost too fast towards the end. Because of this, the fate of some characters,. ones that we took an endless time getting to know, weren't nearly as impactful as they could have been. The book also has a twist that anyone even remotely versed in Greek Mythology can see coming a mile away. But the themes and writing of the book are so good that it is hard to fault the book, the first from this author, for things that are sure to improve with future books when the core is so strong.

If you are looking for a retelling to stand out among the sea of retellings we have been getting recently, I recommend checking this one out!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

As an Ancient Rome history buff, this book was right up my alley. The story of Pompeii and Vesuvius always makes me so sad but so interested as a historian to see just how well everything was preserved. I loved this romantic interpretation of the story with our two main characters, Felix and Loren. The mix between real historical events, mythology and such an intriging suspensful plot was amazing.

VESUVIUS is a captivating book of two passionate boys trying to find their own way in the city of Pompeii, unaware of the looming calamity. This book drives me crazy in the best way possible. With each read (yes, multiple reads) I still find myself gripping the edges of the book internally yelling at Felix and Loren to run. Like the book They Both Die At The End, you go into the story expecting tragedy, you just don't know the extent of it, and better yet, neither do the characters. That anxiety drives the book forward just as much as the plot does. It makes you as the reader reflect on your life in that "what would you do if today was your last day" sort of way. Would the characters have made the same choices had they known for certain what would happen? Would I have in their shoes?
Brilliant work all around, and I look forward to reading everything Biehn creates.

This was one of my most anticipated releases so I'm sad to say I really struggled to stay engaged with this one and really had to trudge my way through this one. The writing was lyrical and the atmosphere fleshed out, but the characters fell flat to me and I'm a very character driven person. I couldn't always follow the characters motivations and I also couldn't really feel the chemistry between the two MC's which is sad but I did enjoy the writing enough that I would pick up more from this author in a different story.

Things I loved about this book: a mythological / historical retelling centered on something other than Olympus/Greek gods. Two young boys as protagonists--I honestly see a lot of younger books about girls being brave and growing in relationships/themselves, and the ones about boys usually feature them being lawless. The characters were cute and I enjoyed the Pompeii setting a lot.

Things I would love to see in future writing by Biehn: better pacing and more thoughtful historical writing. While I'm interested in Pompeii, the writing felt too contemporary for me to really feel like I got an imagined sense of living in the place--whether the real Pompeii or the fantastical one. The pacing was a little bit of a rollercoaster but I think not out of bounds for a YA style.

I really wanted to love this book, but it didn't land for me.

The characters didn't feel as fully developed as I wanted, and the setup with the helmet didn't pay off as strongly as it could have. I was expecting more magic and for the eruption of Vesuvius to play a bigger role than it did, which made the story feel anti-climactic.

I did, however, enjoy the setting and the narrative atmosphere.

So one thing about me is that I will read about any book that takes place in Pompeii, so of course this one had to get on my tbr. But sadly, this time around the book and I weren't meant for each other.

For one, when I read historical fiction (or historical fantasy, as this has minor mythology-based fantasy elements to it) I prefer the writing style to reflect the period at least in some way. "Vesuvius" reads like a modern contemporary YA that's accidentally set in ancient Pompeii, and no amount of name dropping of historical events, places or deities could help that. The characters talk like teenagers would talk today. There were on the whole too many tonal, language and thematic inconsistencies that kept me from being transported into the story and its world.
There is some political drama but it's not fleshed out enough to be interesting, and it's also very on the nose. The resolution to it also presents our protagonists with a very convenient (and if you think about it a little harder very unrealistic) way out of their problems, which felt contrived.
For a book that deals with the destruction of Pompeii, said destruction also feels rather rushed and anticlimactic after all the build up before, the whole ending chapters left me rather numb to be honest. There's a mythological plotline that felt very weak and, in Felix' case, completely unnecessary.
Loren and Felix are cute enough as characters and they are likeable in their own right, but there wasn't much depth to the development of their relationship, maybe because it also takes place over just a few days.

So yeah, this is not my kind of book but I can absolutely see a younger audience enjoying it, and there are some emotional moments for both characters. A quick read with a great premise, its execution just didn't work for me at all.

You had me at "dual POV YA queer romance with magical elements and a social class trope set in Pompeii right before Vesuvius erupted."

Loren, a boy with high aspirations in government has visions involving Felix, a thief who stole Mercury's Helmet.

Felix, jaded by life and missing memories, laughs when Loren says he believes they were fated by the gods to meet, but as earthquakes rock the city and mysterious connections keep surfacing, the boys need to work together to restore the gaps in Felix's memories and try to save Pompeii.

This one just ticked all the boxes for me. The enemies to lovers felt authentic because the characters were well-developed and flawed. The setting was stunning. The dramatic tension was there. And the unveiling of Felix's relationship to the helmet was well-timed and not easily predicted. Definitely a touching read.

I received this ARC from publisher @peachtreeteens through @netgalley. The opinions are my own.

Vesuvius was just released on June 10, 2025 and is available at booksellers now.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

4.5/5 stars

✧ Retelling of the destruction of Pompeii
✧ Characters that will rip your heart out
✧ Identity, belonging, self-purpose
✧ Achillean romance
✧ TWs: violence, death, historically-relevant homophobia, sexual assault

I really, really enjoyed this book! I am a big fan of mythological retellings, and this was done so well. It’s based on Roman mythology (obviously, as it’s set in Pompeii in the Roman Empire), which I don’t think is explored as much in fiction as Greek mythology, for example. It definitely leans more toward the historical fiction/mythology genre than fantasy, in my opinion, so don’t expect super heavy magical or fantasy elements. The plot of this story is incredibly layered and kept me interested at every turn! There was a good amount of political intrigue woven in, although keep in mind it is a YA novel, so it’s not super complicated. I never really knew where the story was going to go next, especially regarding the main plot point of Loren’s visions and Felix’s involvement with Vesuvius. But every twist and turn felt very intentional and related to the characters’ own flaws and misunderstandings of the situation – there weren’t any “gotcha” moments, everything really came together in the end!

I think my favorite part of this book was the characters. They felt really complex and layered and flawed, but they acknowledged these flaws and grew so much throughout the story. Whenever a book is dual-POV, I tend to be a bit wary, because it seems to be a big trend in fiction right now without actually serving a purpose in furthering the story. But in this book, I felt like each POV allowed me to get to know the characters so intimately, and then compare their own thoughts with how the other character sees them. I loved both characters so, so much, for all of their flaws and their complicated histories. The romance, too, didn’t feel cliche or forced. I do wish that there was a bit more time spent building up their feelings towards one another, although I wouldn’t say it feels like insta-love at all. I legitimately cried multiple times in the last 25% of this book (mostly because of the characters and their relationship).

Overall, I would highly recommend this book for anyone who loves mythological retellings and a beautiful love story between two flawed characters with difficult histories. I’m really excited to see what comes next from this author!

Vesuvius is a fast paced, heart wrenching YA fantasy set in the final days before Pompeiis legendary eruption. This was such a fun read! I’m definitely not the target audience as I don’t read much YA, especially younger YA, but even still I devoured this! I adored the prophecies and Loren’s abilities in the particular, and enjoyed the critique of religious and power systems. The romance was very sweet and believable. Overall, a great read that I think many readers will enjoy!