I'm going to start with saying that YA and I have a difficult relationship. In fact, I tend to avoid it, because I feel too strongly that I am not the intended audience. There are exceptions though, and I was hoping this book would be one. It wasn't.

The story is alright, I could even say great because the idea is good, and it is well enough executed, for the genre. Both characters have enough flaws and qualities to be at least a little interesting, despite one of them being a difficult to care for. They do act like their age, at least for me. Given how I experienced by own teenage years, it means I couldn't really connect with them, nor prject, since there wasn't much said about how their age impacts them in their society. Though I wasn't invested in either of them, so I don't know how much value my words hold.
The romance part didn't convince me, but that has to do with the book's timeline. A few days don't make for convincing romance unless there is a on going big threat putting the characters into a high drive vulnerability and accelerates the feelings. But that a me thing.
The secondary characters were... okay? I didn't get enough of a feel from them, and there was a undertone of antagonism with a lot of them.

My main problem is the modern tone. Words used that, I feel, have no place in a historical fantasy, but also the mentalities, who feel too modern. I didn't get that sense of plunging into the mind of other people, millenias away. Even for the religious aspect, if felt very... christian? I get that this is YA, it needs to be accessible. But for me, having such ground in the present when reading a historical fantasy kills the fun of it.

If you're looking for an easy read, with a cute but quick romance and accessible historical fantasy with a modern feel, that might be book for you!

I really liked the concept of this novel, however it really fell flat in my opinion. A novel set in a Pompeii should be really interesting but no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t get hooked. The writing was very to the point, and the romance was very insta love, which just isn’t for me.

A very interesting modern take on Vesuvius — I loved the plot and felt that the characters were well-rounded. Unfortunately, I felt like their dialogue / interactions were a little too modern and most of the time, the book was spent on the build-up.

I saw that this was a mythological version of the Vesuvius eruption, and I knew I had to read it! I loved the mythology elements and I think both of the main characters were well-rounded, and I enjoyed how their relationship developed. The descriptions of Pompeii were vivid and I felt like I was there with the characters. However, I do think the dialogue felt too modern for the setting/time period and I think there was too much time spent on the build-up and not enough on the actual eruption of Vesuvius. Overall though, I enjoyed this and would recommend it.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Visiting the ruins of Pompeii last year breathed an extra layer of believability into this book for me that made the atmosphere so immersive (though Cass Biehn certainly did a great job painting a picture of the city before its destruction on their own)! I was immediately sucked into the described setting, and loved the way we got thrown into the story by following Felix as he steals what he would soon find out is much more than just a shiny temple relic he can sell, instead being the supposed magical helmet of the god Mercury.

The dynamic between our two protagonists Felix and Loren was peculiar—completely unlike what I expected it to be, but at the same time strangely engrossing. Rather than becoming fast friends or star crossed lovers upon their initial meeting leading up to the inevitable eruption, their relationship proves itself much more layered and complicated than that. Loren’s confusing prophetic visions make it difficult for him to trust the real Felix once he turns up at the Temple of Isis (which Loren attends to), and Felix himself is every bit the flighty thief unwilling to let anyone into his heart because of the consequences attachment can pose for his life on the run. Their distrust towards each other wasn’t fleeting, but that made things all the more sweet once they began to see each other’s true selves.

The only thing preventing me from a 5 star is a mix between the structuring and writing. The writing on its own was very beautiful through most of the book, with just a little bit of modern slang that could be strange to see in a historical setting. This is YA, though, so I was willing to forgive that kind of thing. My main issue was the few moments where things were written so hazily that I was left partially unsure of what just took place; this was probably the intention at least some of the time with Loren’s visions or Felix’s memories, but it ended up resulting in a story that didn’t have a ton of distinct plot beats, feeling instead like the very lived-in journey of two boys through every unusual or mundane moment. The majority of this book (before the climax) takes place over the span of 4-5 days though, so it’s hard for me to complain about being so close to the protagonists. It makes sense for the author to stretch our time with them thin in comparison to the real time passing, squeezing in as much characterization as possible.

There were a few side characters I really liked as well. Aurelia was such a sweet little girl with an earnest heart. I loved her and her mom Livia’s dedication to caring for Loren even when he felt like more of a burden than anything else. Elias was an interesting addition as well. I kind of wish we got more on his history with Loren, and how their friendship fractured slightly over time. Even some of the guard’s piqued my interest with how unfalteringly loyal they were to either Servius or Julia. I wouldn’t have minded learning a little more about them as well!

This was a very beautifully written, strong debut novel! Things were wrapped up very carefully, with ample time to accept the ending. I’m so used to things being rushed that it was pleasantly surprising to get a decent chunk of page time with the aftermath of the main event. This is a story whose feel I think will stick with me for a long time. Certain scenes felt reminiscent of Greek and Roman myths and retelling with such potent atmosphere, I couldn’t help living this one too! This is definitely worth a read.

I loved this book. As someone with a BA in ancient Latin and Greek language and culture, this was a joy to me!
I loved all the details the author added about Roman society, Pompeii specifically and the way the Roman views influenced them. The lack of a clear law to protect both of them, to the patricians buying their way to political power. Something small I liked was the mention of how queer relationships as we see them today were seen as odd in Roman society, because their idea of a male/male relationship was very limited.

There were some slightly modern twists in here, but I guess that is why it is a YA book and not a serious historical drama filled with intrigue and suspense. The only thing that bothered be was that the eruption of the Vesuvius, the grand finale that the whole book had been building up to was over so quickly.

i really like the influx of queer YA that’s coming out in 2025– a lot of it is so emotional, raw, vulnerable in a way i haven’t seen before. you had my attention the moment you titled this vesuvius— when i was young i was obsessed with pompeii— and i was so curious to see how biehn would handle… well, everything.

first: the romance in this is excellent. in YA, so often everything needs to be so quick, you hardly have time to blink before characters are in love. this is something i tend to overlook, bc the characters are teenagers and, well, teenagers do that. but with this book, i could FEEL their connection. i could see who they each were and how they fit together like missing pieces of a puzzle.

i loved how much of the story was so emotionally packed. it felt like you are in pompeii, the writing is very vivid in that aspect. because you know how it ends, too, it adds a constant stream of high stakes and tension with every passing moment of time. you just want to grab the characters and yell at them to get out before it’s too late, but ofc the fall of pompeii is pre-ordained by history.

i will say: don’t expect a fully historical accurate novel. that’s just how YA works sometimes; the relatability for modern teens has to be there. anyway, i thought this was a beautiful story, and i can’t wait to see what biehn does next. :)

This book was more of a meet-cute kind of story in a historical setting than a genuine historical drama with manipulation and swordfights, but I thought it was fun and easy to read.

Loren is a temple attendant who has nightmares and visions of Pompeii's end and Felix is a thief who stole the wrong object at the wrong time. Both of them are running from things they rather not talk about.
I liked their interactions and the way they darted around town. Some characterizations were on the modern side, but it was clear that the author did their research. The Roman setting isn't just decoration, it clearly influenced the course of the book and the characters' moralities.

I also liked how this book blurred the lines between magical realism, superstition and geology. Of course Roman society would have stories and explanations for the earthquakes that preceded the eruption, and this was woven into the story very well. Even though an explanation is given in-universe, I really like that it is left a bit ambiguous for the reader. It could be mythological magic, or historical fiction with funny coincidences, depending on what you want it to be.

The entire novel takes place over 4 days, which made some parts (the romance) feel very fast and others (the fact that it took 3/4ths of the book for the volcano to erupt) feel slow. Still, the impending doom was present from the start and the big question was of course if and how they would survive the eruption.
Still, I recommend this book. I read and ARC and I think this will be great to read on a summer holiday when it comes out in June.

Vesuvius was one of my most anticipated 2025 releases, and I couldn’t wait to start reading. So as soon as I got the ARC, I dove into the story and immediately fell for thief Felix. I smiled so hard reading that first chapter!

Cass Biehn writing is awesome. I’m a sucker for blunt writing and Cass managed to get under my skin with her cut-off sentences.

So, did this book live up to my expectations? Yes, and no.

Yes, because I loved those boys, with their demons, so different and both still so lovable. I swooned over their budding romance and rooted for them to finally admit their feelings for each other. Aurelia lighted up my days and the story continually caught my attention.

But …

Even though I loved Felix, I connected less to Loren. His character arc fell a little flat for me.

The build up to that deadly day in 79 AD took a long time in the story (even though it was just four days for the boys), and I felt that the last part was rushed.

I also felt that the language was pretty modern. I saw other reviewers talking about this too and wonder if the language, especially the cursing, could’ve been handled in a different way.

Overall, though, this is an amazing debut.

Cass Biehn's Vesuvius is a young adult historical fiction that combines Roman history with themes of love, trauma and mythological elements.
Set in the days leading up to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, the story follows two protagonists, Felix and Loren, as they navigate personal secrets, political intrigue, and a looming disaster.

The novel's strength lies in its vivid portrayal of Pompeii, transporting readers to locations such as temples, vineyards, brothels and Roman villas. The relationship between Felix and Loren is central, marked by moments of vulnerability and conflict as the grapple with their emotional scars and aspirations. Social expectations, power dynamics, resilience, romance and faith are the themes the author is exploring.

I honestly really liked the book, it's a great debut novel, although some aspects of the story felt a little undeveloped. I would have loved to read about what exactly happened to Loren's friends and the remaining people of Pompeii at the end and I didn't really understand the goal of the visions and Felix's power. Even their relationship felt flat at times, I often couldn't relate much to why they behaved the way they did and what changed their motives and feelings. The numerous typos and formatting errors didn't help much either, but that will hopefully be fixed once the book is officially released. It would be fun to get some kind of sequel that answers all the questions still left open.

Overall, it's a compelling read with great characters and a fresh take on queer narratives within a historical setting.

Thank you NetGallery for access to the eARC! 3.75 ⭐️

“Felix couldn’t help the city. But he’d burn himself up to save Loren.” 329

This was a pleasant and quick read! Ever since I visited the remains of Pompeii myself, I can’t help but think of all of the ghosts that linger and the lives they lived. That’s what drew me to this book, and I enjoyed the journey.

My favorite, and the best chapter in this entire novel happens toward the end. Felix is gripping Loren’s hand, dragging him, seeking safety as Vesuvius rains down. They both realize they cannot make it out alive, unless Felix utilizes the helmet. In a turn of events, he places the helmet on Loren and hones in on his powers. He loves Loren, and he was ready to die for him. This entire chapter was what I had been longing for throughout this novel. For a while I thought they would truly stop Vesuvius from erupting, which was starting to disappoint me. But this CHAPTER. Honestly some of the strongest writing from the entire book.

There were some things that annoyed me, however, that hinder a higher rating. My biggest ick came from the amount of cursing Felix says. It feels immature, but really it annoys me as it doesn’t fit the time period. You can say the same about a lot of the dialogue, but I didn’t have an expectation of that level of immersion from a fun YA read. I would have liked to have seen some silly cuss words that are from the period, the kind that I would have had to google to understand the reference. Other things that I won’t go too deep into lay within the world building and plot. For example, as I have seen the ruins I was able to picture the street and surrounding homes, but if I hadn’t I wouldn’t have been able to imagine the world well. I would have liked little moments of intense detail to grasp the world in the first half of the novel. For the plot, some things were either thrown out of no-where or simple. The one that threw me off the most was Felix revealing he didn’t believe in the gods because of a priest that assaulted him. There were signs leading to this from his dislike of touch and priests, but it felt incomplete, a background story. Perhaps this is a good thing, however, is it didn’t make Felix’s whole personality about his assault (which many authors have faulted before). Some of these things bogged down my immersion, causing me to remember I was reading and not just enjoying.

Overall, I liked this book! Felix and Loren’s romance was sweet and I am very glad they left together in the end. I wish there was more about their grief journey in leaving behind Pompeii, but really they got a happy ending with one another. I would like to see more of Aurelia….perhaps a future story to be told?

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were loveable and well developed, and I liked how the book explored their trauma slowly, with Felix not actually remembering much of his past but still clearly struggling with post traumatic stress symptoms, and I really wanted to root for these characters. Loren was my personal favorite, I really liked how hard he tries to help even when he doesn't always know what he's doing.

The setting felt quite vivid to me, with lots of details that are as far as I know historically accurate, it really felt like a story set in the ancient roman empire.

As for the story, Felix is a thief who stole the helmet of Mercury from a temple, but finds out this helmet is a lot more valuable than he believed and powerful players are after it, and him, too. Whle he planned to flee the city, heightened security is making it difficult to take the helmet with him. Meanwhile, Loren stumbles upon Felix, a boy he's had prophetic dreams about for years, and figures Felix is the key to save the city from doom, if only he can figure out how to do that. There's political manipulation, uncovering mysteries and prophecies, cute children, and also children who are politicians, and I enjoyed the wider cast of characters. Aurelia especially was cute, and Julia was interesting.

The romance is slower paced, but I enjoyed how it played out. It's not the main focus of the story, I'd say, but it's pretty important just the same.

Would recommend this to people who are interested in the Roman empire, and enjoy YA queer love stories.

Probably a 3.5 for me.
Maybe this suffered from super high expectations. I see an ancient world queer book and I am there!!

I think this book is written really well, but the style isn’t quite for me. I like my historical fiction to have a bit more of a historical language feel so I’m more immersed in the world. I can understand that might be to do with it being YA.

However, the setting was really cool and I’m always eager for more ancient Roman and Greek fiction.

I did really like the romance and the way it developed. Just wanted more depth somehow so I could be more emotionally connected to the characters.

My favourite aspect of this was the mythology element and the lead up to the eruption. I’d have loved even more focus on those aspects.

A really good read and I think as a teenager I’d have lapped this up. I did enjoy it but just had a few niggles.

The formatting was a bit messy and there were quite a few typos, but I really liked the story. I love Felix, and I was okay with Loren. I didn't fully connect with Loren, but I loved Felix and his story. 3.5 stars

I enjoyed this! I loved the setting and world the story operated in but was a little disappointed by the writing—dialogue and prose specifically.

This was an exciting and epic story. Bringing in ties of ancient life with the dangers of relics and nature, it's a race to find a solution before everything they know is gone.

Overall, I liked this one. This is probably sitting at a 3.5-3.75 for me.

The highlights for me:

- Felix! I *adored* him.
- I felt and believed in the main relationship.
- The setting was unique. It had relatively modern prose, which really differentiated itself from the more dramatic myth retellings set in antiquity.
- The prose was really clean and I enjoyed the writing style.

The things that didn't work for me:
- Too many mysteries that took a bit too long to find out the answers to (I actually think I'd enjoy this more on a reread knowing what I know about the characters)
- I didn't really love Loren as much as the book needed me to. I loved his intro and thought he was very promising, but I couldn't quite get a read on his character and I didn't love him the way I loved Felix.
- I think this is more of a 'me' issue, but I was expecting more suspense around Vesuvius and there was more politics/plot happening

I cannot wait to see what the author brings out next because I will definitely be reading it!

Vesuvius is a book about Felix, a thief who has just stolen the helmet of Mercury, and Loren, a temple attendant who has has dreams (well, more like nightmares) of said thief for most of his life. One fateful night, Felix staggers into Loren's temple, helmet in hand, and from then on, their lives become inexplicably intertwined. They must work together to navigate Loren's dreams and save the town from its impending destruction.

PROS:

- i really enjoyed felix's character and really wish there were more hints as to his past throughout the novel. his past was easily one of my favorite parts of the book!! i wish we had been able to learn more about his dad.

- some of the descriptions were really beautiful/eye-catching!

- while their relationship was unstable (understandable considering the circumstances), i did believe that the main pair actually cared about one another, which was a plus.

CONS:

- i never really bonded with loren, and as a result the chapters from his pov didn't really hit for me. i know we were meant to sympathize with his plight, especially when we find out his backstory, but i just felt neutral/bored.

- same with the loren situation, i just didn't like the majority of the side characters. they were a little too antagonistic for my liking. the only one i actually liked was livia.

- it felt very modern, with pompeii just as a backdrop. some of the phrasing/dialogue used really took me out of the story. i understand that this is a ya book and is meant for younger audiences so i'm not judging it too harshly but it did make me stop and question what was going on at times.

This was absolutely one of my most anticipated YA releases of 2025 and I am beyond thankful I was able to get my hands on this as soon as I did. Vesuvius follows two boys, a thief and a temple worker, as they live out the last days of historic Pompeii, below the simmering Mount Vesuvius. I do love a doomed lovers story, and I went into this I was fully expecting both or one of the main characters to die, and to be completely honest, I was hoping for that outcome. This book was sweet and briefly tackled a few important heavy topics, which I always appreciate in teen books. There were a few spots with some lovely writing and the characters felt very well loved by the author, maybe even a little too much. I feel as if Cass Biehn had originally planned for the MCs to die off in the catastrophe and then decided she liked them so much she was afraid to kill them off and switched the entire last third of the novel to fit that new plan. It made the ending a little anti-climactic considering the thing the audience was waiting for the netire book (the eruption) last maybe ten pages and had seemingly no effect on the characters besides a few nonserious physical injuries. But other than that, the book was good and overall well-rounded. I will definitely pick up that author again, especially if they release a adult novel.

I wanted to love this book, but ugh, it was so hard to read with all the typo errors! The messy formatting made it even worse!

I’m quite surprised that this book had an editor, because the typos were so numerous and they appeared as early as Chapter 1. And there wasn’t even a proper cover. Is it because this is an ARC? Because I got two other ARCs and their formatting were ok and they weren’t littered with mistakes. There were also random phrases which were in bold type. What for?

On to the story- Biehn is a talented writer. All things considered, this is a pretty good debut. However, some words used were too modern, and I think there wasn’t enough fact checking done. One character was described as having a “bob cut.” Short hairstyles were not described as bob cuts until the late 19th century, and the word “bob” to describe the hairstyle started at around 1910. The characters were also described as young, or “boys,” but spoke like they were around 25-26 years old.

It’s still an interesting novel, but not really compelling. 2.75 out of 5.

This review has been posted on my StoryGraph account.