This book is a lot darker than your typical YA book. There is quite a bit of trauma in it, which can be expected from a story that takes place at the fall of Pompeii. If you're looking for a lighthearted gay book, this is not it.

That being said, it is still enjoyable. The author is surprisingly accurate about Pompeii (from what I remember taking Latin, at least) though does change a few things to make it YA. I personally really loved that, as there are quite a few books out there that are only loosely related to Ancient Rome despite claiming they take place in that empire. One of the characters also has touch aversion, which is not something I read about a lot but I think was handled well.

Despite what a couple other reviews said, I'd say the bad decisions made by the characters might not necessarily seem bad at first glance. Some pan out pretty well and where mistakes are made, they're reasonable considering the trauma they've gone through. And while it is a YA book, it has a lot more cursing than I've typically seen, so it's more on the older end. I do think some other adults could enjoy this book without it being spoiled by the fact the characters are 17 (which would have been adulthood at the time anyways, which is another [understandable] inaccuracy for the book).

Overall, if you don't mind a sad book knowing the history of Pompeii, I think it is a good book to read.

The pros: reading this went by quickly, and I really enjoyed the play on why Pompeii was destroyed.

The cons: I had a hard time getting invested in either character, making it hard for me to root for them together. Loren comes across as, for lack of a better word, a bit pathetic. I understand why he is the way he is, but that character type doesn’t ever really fit with my tastes. I also felt like Felix felt pretty one dimensional for most of the book; a thief who doesn’t get close to people and lies a lot. I wish they both had just broken through those archetypes more for me.

I cared much more for the story and the plot than I did characters, which isn’t necessarily a negative thing. Most people have a preference over story driven books or character driven books.

I still had a good time with this and really enjoyed the overall plot, and would recommend it to fans of YA fiction.

Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for the ARC!

This was one of my most anticipated requests on Netgalley so far. I absolutely love the cover and the concept speaks to me a lot! There are a lot of things to like about the book. Felix was extremely lovable, the mysteries were interesting, and it's very well written, even if it ended up not 100% being a perfect fit for my tastes.

Many thanks to the publisher for allowing me a chance to read this book before release!

Overall rating: 4.5/5
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and read it in one sitting. I'm looking forward to reading it again in the future!

The good:
- The main leads were wonderful, both in character growth throughout the story and in their characters themselves. I felt that their backstories were revealed very nicely, and their relationship progressed in such a way that felt natural.
- The side characters too! Aurelia, Elias, Livia, Nonna... They were such wonderful additions to the story. The only thing I wish we'd gotten was more knowledge of their fates at the end.
- Even knowing where the story was going, thanks to the historical setting, I still felt as though there was plenty of suspense as to what would happen. Yes, we know the volcano erupts eventually -- but it was less part of the plot itself and more part of the setting. It gave the plot a sense of urgency and unease throughout the whole story that really adds to the whole experience.
- I could sing praises about the character arcs all day. Felix and Loren's growth felt natural and I loved seeing how they grew *with* each other. The way their roles almost swapped at the end really highlighted their growth.
- In the end, they're not okay, and that's okay. They went through some really horrible experiences and it would've been incredibly unrealistic for them to immediately spring back as if nothing had happened; luckily, they didn't, and their healing from their experiences formed a large part of the ending. I liked the hopeful tone of the ending, signifying that their growth as people wasn't done yet even though the story was over.

The not so good:
- There's lots of modern language that breaks the immersion of the setting a bit. At times it was easy to get confused about when the book was set -- 79AD? 2025? -- from the way characters spoke and certain things were described. Lots of care was put into describing some things specific to Ancient Rome, so the casual use of modern terms for other things felt super jarring in contrast.
- Typos, typos everywhere. I believe it was an issue with the file itself and they should hopefully be fixed in the final release, but they still made it difficult to read at times
- The climax of the story felt as if it was missing a piece. It may have been the distracting typos, but I felt as though I missed a step in the events; afterwards, when the characters reflected on what happened, I felt myself go "wait, when did that happen???" and had to scroll back to reread in hopes of understanding what I missed
-A minor nitpick: the way the characters' injuries were described made them sound severe, but the way they shook them off and kept going regardless ... didn't. Were they truly injured so badly? Did I misunderstand the severity of their injuries? This was a constant problem throughout the book and I felt myself going "wait no, stop, you're going to reopen your wound!!!" several times

Volcano boys!! This was a highly anticipated read for me, and while it didn't exactly let me down, I didn't love it as much as I thought I would. That's not to say it was not a good book. In fact, it was quite well written for a debut novel, and clearly well researched. As a fan of Roman history and mythology, I thought Biehn did a great job of bringing Pompeii and its complex politics to life. At times, the language felt a bit modern for the setting, but it didn't really bother me.
I enjoyed the plot which I think had the potential to be confusing but was actually quite easy to follow. The pacing was pretty good too.
I only had one problem: I don't know if it's just me and my love of slow burn, but the main romance felt rushed. I felt like the speed ran mutual suspicion right to being into one another and then VERY devoted for only having known each other for four days. The skipped the friends stage!
I've also seen a lot of reviewers who didn't like Loren's character as much. I really loved him, though! Maybe even more than Felix.
Anyway, I would recommend this if you're interested and enjoy Roman history.

This is an extremely well-written debut novel. It opens with Felix... a thief who has just managed to steal Mercury's helmet from a temple. When he's spotted, he hides the helmet and goes on the run. While fleeing he eventually darts into a temple and is promptly knocked out by a temple attendant.

The reason he's knocked out is because temple attendant, Loren has seen Felix's face in his nightmares for years and they are dark, dangerous and portentous.

The two characters circle one another for a time, untrusting, nervous... from very different places in their word. The helmet brings Loren visions of the horrific things to come and the adventure begins in earnest.

What I really enjoyed about this book was the mixture of magical and historical. We all know about Vesuvius and Pompeii but this novel manages to spin the huge historical event down to something two characters are dealing with.

I didn't expect such a … poignant ending. Don't want to spoil it.

This is a very solid debut, and I'm happy I read it!

I always applaud authors with dual/multi POV debuts that are incredible. Felix and Loren's respective chapters are distinct from the other, and both boys had struggles and challenges that were so relatable and well told. Four days is really fast for a romance to form, too fast for my tastes, usually, but there's a lot that happens in that time span between these two that I find it realistic that a extremely intense bond would form underneath cataclysmic, end-of-the-world doom conditions. Plus, these two had really sweet chemistry and banter; I couldn't help but be bought into it.

The side characters are pretty amazing, too. Aurelia, her mom, and Nonna add a very nice touch of found family into the story, but Aurelia on her own, despite being the little sister character, had much more depth and nuance to her than I ever expected. In fact, many of the side women characters are complex in a variety of ways, an aspect I found so refreshing in a book with male leads. Camilia and Julia are a couple more examples of this, though I do wish there was more closure on Julia (Though, given the end, it's more realistic, to be honest).

While I loved the writing, with its blunt endings and reliance on character reactions rather than saying their direct thoughts, I also found the modern language to be distracting, especially the swears. I don't know much about Latin, but I don't think they'd curse like how we do today. It was a slight distraction time to time, but not so much to deter my rating too much.

The plot was also very thick with a lot of mysteries, some of which felt underdeveloped and rushed by the end. The whole thread with Julia is the one that sticks out most in my mind, because it comes a third into the story and goes out in a whimper by the end. In fact, the politic side of the plot felt like it was overshadowing the big Vesuvius moment. I do understand that the characters don't know about it, that all the bickering and scheming really don't matter in the face of an erupting volcano, but I really felt all that built up could have been trimmed a little to make more room for that big moment.

Overall, this is a really good debut with only a couple hindrances, but I still think this is still a worthwhile read! I can only hope Biehn goes up from here, and I very much am looking forward to their sophomore book!

I found this book to be an enjoyable, fast-paced read. I think certain things could’ve been fleshed out and explored a bit more, but overall I did like the story. I wasn’t expecting the romance to veer quite so much toward a tragedy (though perhaps I should’ve based on the description), but I was pleasantly surprised by the ending. I thought it was a bit bittersweet but ultimately satisfying (can’t say anything more without getting into spoilers, haha).

I really hate to say it, but I was kind of bored reading this. I just didn't particularly care about these characters or the stakes all that much, and I almost wish this were a true tragedy. I did like the references to Icarus and Patroclus and Achilles though. Ultimately this was just fine, I'm sure there will people who love it, but unfortunately it just didn't do much for me.

Absolutely adored this! I'm a major history and lgbtq+ fan so I knew from the beginning that I was going to adore and highly recommend this book! Can't wait to get my hands on a physical copy!

This book is the perfect example of why I do tend to run away from YA.

And don´t get me wrong: I still enjoyed this story and would recommend. I don´t think it was bad. It´s just that, plot wise, it was... too simple. Too convenient, even. There were times when I got to a certain part and I thought, does the author think readers are stupid? Because it was that obvious a character was making a bad decision.

So, here´s the thing:

The story is set in the 79 CE, same year as the Vesuvius tragedy happened (after all, this is what the novel will be about, isn´t it?). Anyway, my first problem with the story is that I felt that there was not enough historical research done. In fact, Pompeii and the vulcan seems more like a background for an idea the author had in mind, rather than the central thing in this entire story.
I cannot say I learned new stuff about the city or how the eruption happened because, to be honest with you, I believe this plot could have worked exactly the same as it did if instead of Pompeii the book had been set in literally any other Roman town where we also make up a vulcan.

Now, as for the plot. It was a bit strange and I couldn´t quite understand (even after finishing) if the Vesuvius had something to do with anything.

Let me explain: The story revolves around Loren (a priest in training at a temple who has visions and, much in the style of Cassandra in the Illiad, he is not believed) and Felix (a thief who just came to Pompeii and stole a valuable helmet from another temple).
In his visions, Loren has seen Felix multible times, and he knows bad shit will happen if he puts on the helmet (that turns out to be a God´s helmet and not anyone can lightly touch).
So, Loren will spend the plot trying to get into a better position (job wise I mean) and also trying to stop Felix in whatever trouble he got into.

I cannot tell you here why Felix was able to touch the helmet so freely or about his past, because it´s too much of a spoiler. But it was a potato. It was such a convenient nonsense you cannot even imagine.

The romance in this story was cute, although there was my always dreaded *misscommunication* and some people who tended to run away without proper explanation. But that´s okay, I didn´t hate it. Felix was nice and there were other side characters that made the story kinda worth it.
I just didn´t get the motives or the cartoonish villain to get the helmet (and why didn´t he get it before Felix stole it? No, wait, why there wasn´t more people looking actively for the helmet?). And neither did I get what the gods had to do with the vulcan (I felt there was some points what were desperately trying to connect, but it didn´t felt believable).

Overall, I think a teen could enjoy this one. If you´re adults in search for some LGBTQ+ historical fiction, I think there are better books to read.
Still, kudos to the author because I never find much queer stuff set in Roman times.

Don't you just LOVE when a book grips you from the very first page?

This book had such a strong, refreshing voice that stole me from the beginning. I must admit that some of the modern language through me off a bit, but the main two characters are charming enough for me to disregard an occasional cringe moment.

Felix, my baby boy <3

This was okay. I really liked the beginning but then the story was all over the place. The eruption starts 75% in and it's over as soon as it started. The characters don't really grow and the romance was poorly executed

So, when I came across this book in Netgalley, it looked intriguing and thought I'd give it a try when I received a copy. But, after a couple of chapters in, I found that the story wasn't that interesting to me, and I had trouble staying invested in the book. So, I've decided to not finish the book and perhaps come back to it at a later time. I would suggest this book to anyone interested in historical fiction, especially books set in ancient history.

This one really grew on me, so stick it out! While I had a few quibbles—the modern language, a few too many characters that made reveals a tad muddled—I adored Biehn’s main characters. This is a fantastic debut, so readable, and what a stunning premise! Will definitely read more from Biehn!

thanks to netgalley for the arc -

Hey, I loved this.

The concept is what drew me to it initially, and boy was I satisfied. I've had a rocky road with YA stuff this year, but this is definitely the kind of YA that I vibe with at my age now. Less Heartstopper, and more aged up Percy Jackson shenanigans.

This is the kind of book that hits the ground running from the very first page. I was hooked, and once I carved out the free time to sit down and actually read, I didn't stop until I was done. I love a one sitting book that grabs you, and this one certainly did for me.

The main characters are great, however I do have to say that between the two I liked Felix more than Loren. Then again, I do love a scappy thief archetype so that's no surprise.

My only two complaints are that it did seem to drag a little bit near the middle, and the build up to the main event felt like it took longer to get to than it needed and like we were just meandering to fill time. The second issue is actually an issue I had with another period book recently, which is the modern language. I get it's what we are most comfortable with, but if you're going to go to the lengths of having such a high concept book then I think taking the few extra steps of making the language less modern would really benefit it.

Other than those two small issues, I loved this one and it was a highlight of the year that came it at the wire.

Hooked from the first page. This was an easy read that keeps you engaged with a mystery on a timeline, a cute romance, all in an easy to digest historical fantasy. I didn't know what to expect and was pleasantly surprised by the unfolding of events.

Add a little magic, some ominous premonitions, and a case of locked up memories and there was plenty to keep you turning pages.

The Main Characters had interesting qualities and flaws--and certainly acted their age. Both were easily distracted by personal wants and were more than happy to ignore the impending deadline to go after their desires and ambitions.

The politics is where the story slowed down. It had an interesting mystery going on that I wished there was more time to develop. As short as the story and deadline was, it felt like a distraction that made me impatient to get back to the Helmet, the volcano, and the memories.

I was hooked from the first page, it had that element that I was looking for and enjoyed from this type of book. This had that historical fiction element that I was looking for and enjoyed the use of Pompeii. It had that element that I wanted and enjoyed getting to go on this journey with the characters and how it was used in the time-period. Cass Biehn has a strong writing style and am excited for more from Cass Biehn.

I have been following the author's writing journey for quite a while, and it is so cool to see their dreams and plans materialize. Vesuvius has an audience; I am absolutely sure of this. However, I sadly was not able to enjoy the book as much as I had hoped. Maybe it's my relative unfamiliarity in recent years with YA books, but this book failed to click with me. The many typos were easy to look past, but noticeable too, so this needs another thorough edit. I was also somewhat disappointed with the book's supposed climax of the titular volcano erupting...it was not as dramatic and gripping as I had hoped and it was also over as soon as it began. I did appreciate, though, the foreshadowing sprinkled throughout the book.

I was excited to read this book but I didn't know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised!

Felix grew up learning how to be a thief from his now deceased father. Loren is a temple attendant who has big dreams to make life better in the government. The two meet by chance after Felix takes refuge in Loren's temple and Loren clocks him with an alter bowl. This is when Loren realizes that Felix is the boy he's been having premonitions/dream about his whole life.

This is an exciting enemy to friends to lovers all with the backdrop of the soon to be doomed Pompeii. The two boys seems to be endlessly drawn together no matter how hard they try not to be.

I saw a few people mention how the language seemed to modern, but honestly with the backdrop of the story, including these two queer boys with a mix of magic and premonitions I didn't notice and it did not bother me.

I absolutely loved both Felix and Loren. They're lovely opposites attracts. Loren also has some wonderful friends in his corner who open their arms to Felix as well. The story kept me guessing and on my toes. I was so invested in this story. The characters felt real and had realistic emotions and flaws.

Highly recommend this story if you're looking for an exciting slow burn romance with the backdrop a doomed city.

Thank you NetGalley and Holiday House/Peachtree/Pixel+Ink for the ARC in exchange for an honestly review.