I’ve really wanted to read books by Anna-Marie McLemore for a long time, but so far only managed to read a short story by them in SERENDIPITY: TEN ROMANTIC TROPES TRANSFORMED. I loved the short story, and when I saw this book up for grabs as a review copy from MacMillan, I knew I wanted to read it.

To be honest, I had kind of a mixed experience with this book.

First, I loved the characters. Cade is a transgender prince who should be next in line to rule, but has complicated feelings about that. Instead, he impersonates his brother, Patrick, when Patrick needs things taken care of.

Valencia serves as a dama to her princess, but also as an assassin as Gael, a boy with an affinity for knives. Valencia wrestles with questions about whether her identity as both male and female is something her people will accept. Gael also makes some powerful enemies, which could be bad if those enemies connect his identity to Valencia’s.

The story world is definitely rich with magic and interesting elements that seem both inspired by Latine culture and Scottish culture. Super cool. The Eliane people are protected by Quetzals and other magical creatures that emerge from their tapestries. Sea monsters guard the Adare.

While the story world has some rich elements, I felt like there were also some confusing aspects. We know there’s been a curse, which removed both kingdom’s leaders and a few others. Descriptions of that night are choppy, which makes sense at first, because it’s a memory from years ago and both Cade and Valencia were not close enough to make out all the details.

As the story progresses, though, there were times information kind of got dropped into a scene and it felt like it was something we were already supposed to know, but yet was new information.

The progression of events from scene to scene felt choppy, too. At one point, a scene ends in the middle of a battle, with one character appearing to be the victor. The next scene opens with the apparent victor lying dead, but we never learn how they were overpowered or what happened. Stuff like that.

I did really enjoy the relationships between the characters and getting to see the representation of both Cade and Valencia/Gael. Both have chronic pain as well as queer identities.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions my own.

Enjoyable, great pacing, exciting settings kept me hooked. Fun novel that will be the perfect to lose yourself in. Thank you Net Galley for ARC in exchange for my honest opinion

Book Review of Venom & Vow by Anna-Marie McLemore and Elliott McLemore

Cover Story: Bad Idea
This cover is quite accurate to the character of Valencia/Gael, with her thick braid with knives stuck in it. But it just reiterates the concern I had every time the book mentioned her putting multiple knives in her braid. If they’re sharp enough to do damage as weapons, how are they not slicing hair every time they go in or out? There’s never talk of sheathes, just daggers in braids. I winced every time.

The Deal:
Valencia Palafox has a mission: Find the person who cursed the adults of the royal families of Eliana and Adare, whatever it takes. As an attendant of the teenage queen, she is an adept spy and great with disguises, but being Gael Palma is more than just a costume.

Cade McKenna, the bastard son of the Adare queen, must protect his brother—the heir to the throne—at all costs, from pretending to be him in battle to fending off advisors who aren’t what they seem. But he, too, wants to end the curse … and also has very personal secrets to keep.

BFF Charm: Roger Murtaugh x2
I feel terrible getting so fed up with Valencia/Gael and Cade, as they both seem like decent people with a lot riding on their young shoulders—and the added weight of unique gender identities in societies where the man-woman binary is the norm. But I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at their stubbornness and unwillingness to think about situations in ways that went against their own ideas. And their complete lack of communication. Certainly appropriate for YA characters, but they just seemed SO young.

Swoonworthy Scale: 5
Valencia/Gael and Cade are enemies to start, both thinking that the other set the curse upon their families. But they also can’t help but be drawn to each other although neither realizes that it’s more than just animosity until late in the book. Sadly, both the enemistry and the actual chemistry are lacking, and their eventual relationship is more tell than show.

Talky Talk: Room for Improvement
Venom & Vow is a novel told from two distinct POVs, one being Valencia/Gael and the other Cade. I assume that Anna-Marie wrote Valencia/Gael’sand Elliott wrote Cade’s, and each author wove a lot of their own experiences and cultures into the characters and their worldbuilding. (Anna-Marie is bigender and always includes Latinx-inspired elements in their work; Elliott is a trans man.) The characters are strong, and the folklore elements—Adare leaned more Celtic/British where Eliana leaned Latin American—are the kind of magical I’ve come to expect from Anna-Marie.

But the worldbuilding of the novel, the details that flesh out the countries, their cultures, and the literal dimensions of the setting, needed a lot of work. People were traveling from country to country throughout the novel, but there was little explanation around how long it took; the quickness of the book’s plot made it seem like the distance between them was only an hour or so, which in turn made the world feel awkwardly small. Some of the magical elements, too, like the living castle of Adare and the curse at the center of the book’s drama, needed more explanation or to be better woven into the story.

The villain, too, is obvious and one-dimensional. Like an afterthought that the authors felt they “needed” to have, but really did nothing for the plot.

Bonus Factor: Fantastical Creatures
The countries of Eliana and Adare are magical places, with histories rich with folklore elements come to life. Valencia/Gael rides “luminous foxes” whose fur shines in the moonlight and are much larger—and more vicious—than your average fox. The Elianan queen is protected by ancestral spirits of large cats come to life. The Adarian people are often brought to justice by sea monsters.

Bonus Factor: LGBTQ+ Representation
It wouldn’t be an Anna-Marie McLemore novel without truly great LGBTQ+ representation, and Venom & Vow certainly includes a variety of queer folks. Specifically, Valencia/Gael is a bigender individual; sometimes they’re a girl (Valencia) and sometimes they’re a boy (Gael) and both feel equally right. And Cade is a transgender boy who lived for a while in a monastery of like-minded individuals.

Relationship Status: Bummer
I wanted our time together to be special, Book, and while I had a nice time, the chemistry just isn’t there. I wish you all the best in finding your person. See you around the castle, maybe?

This book had potential but it was honestly so hard to tell what was going on and who's POV we were seeing that I had a super hard time enjoying the story and ending up not finishing it about 25% in. It wasn't enjoyable to stop every three seconds and ask myself wait, what's going on, who is this?

"Like the boy you love telling you that he wants you, days after telling you that he needs to stop fighting, after you've seen the ways that war has broken him down."

5 reasons why you should read the YA queer high Fantasy novel Venom and Vow:

The characters: Cade and Valencia both bring their pasts into this enemies to lovers YA high fantasy.

Representation: Latinx, Transgender, Bigender, and disability Representation

World building: fascinating and amazing. The names of the places are Latinx.

The story: told by the points of view of both Cade, a Transgender prince and Valencia, a bigender dama to the princess. Venom and Vow fast paced and has lots of action. Valencia is also Gael, an infamous boy assassin. Cade places Gael under his protection, not knowing that Gael has plans for the Prince of Adare Castle.

The cover of the book: fierce, powerful and beautiful

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

While on it’s face, this may seem to be a pretty standard YA fantasy plot, the whole thing is only enhanced by the beautiful and seamless integration of diverse characters and cultures. One kingdom seems to draw from Celtic mythology and traditions, the other Aztec- I didn’t know how much I wanted to see these two cultures meet until now. The gender diversity is also so well done- no one could possibly accuse the authors of just “throwing it in to check off diversity boxes”, as I often see some readers accusing other authors of doing in their works. And both the leads use mobility aids and learn to work with and even fight and dance using them! I cannot tell you how much I loved that.

So yes, maybe the plot could be a touch predictable at times. I still think the story was beautifully told.

Just to make it clear; if you don't like miscommunication thanks to mistaken identities, don't read this book.
If you do like that stuff, oh boy, this is the book for you.
A year ago, a mysterious enchantment caused both ruling families of opposing kingdoms to fall asleep forever, leaving their children to take up their mantles. Cade McKenna is a trans prince who moonlights as his brother, who really does not want to be the crown prince. Valencia is the bigender assassin who is able to change herself into anyone via her bag if disguises. She follows in her father’s footsteps by acting as the spymaster for her best friend and heir to the throne. Both think they saw the other casting the enchantment on that faithful night and will do whatever it takes to bring the other to justice.
Another thing to be made aware of. this isn't a magical realism fantasy, it's more of a traditional YA fantasy with some of McLemore's flair thrown in (flowers, magic foxes, etc.). The writing is still beautiful.
I really enjoyed the characters. Cade McKenna really grew on me as a character as a passing trans man and what that means for his ability to rule. Valencia Palafox was also great to learn from, balancing the weight of wanting approval from his father on his shoulders and also figuring out his gender identity at the same time. I also didn’t mind their enemies-to-lovers storyline, which is impressive for me, but I think it helped that both had disguises (Cade as his brother, Patrick, and Valencia as the boy assassin, Gael) to help mix it up.
With all that, it was the plot that left me wanting. I was confused by some of the lesser plot threads and wanted more from others. Some reviewers said they felt bored by the book and I wouldn’t say I felt that. It definitely moved slower than I expected, but I wouldn’t say I minded it.
It reminded me of The Witch King by H.E. Edgmon for some reason. There are only slight parallels (internal strife in a royal family, some enemies-to-lovers vibes) but I got those vibes when reading. Maybe it’s a good “if you liked this book, then you’ll enjoy this book” recommendation, or maybe it’s just me being weird.
I rated this book 3 stars. This is definitely a case where a 3-star rating doesn’t indicate a bad book, but it wasn’t as good as what I consider a 4- or 5-star book.

I just love Valencia and Cade they are such unique characters! The rep in this book is amazing! Disability rep with both of them using canes for different mobility issues and the queer rep.
The journey they both went on and the world was amazing! Loved it!

Thank you turnthepagetours for including me on this tour and the gifted copy.
4.5⭐

DNF 30%

I was really intruiged by the characters and if this was character centered I probably would have kept reading. But its too plot heavy and I just completly felt lost. The plot and setting was underexplained and the setting seemed to just change with little explaining where they were going or what they were doing

I was just to lost to continue

This book is stunning. I loved the wonderful characters, the amazing world building and brilliant fantasy. There was so much going on and although I got lost a bit at points, which could be me and the perimenopause, I didn’t love it any less. Full of representation, trans, disability, queer, beautiful writing, I can’t recommend this enough, brilliant

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

"If you want to sit in this chair, brother, be my guest," he says. "I'm only in it because you didn't want to be.""It's far more complicated than that, and you know it," I say.

Venom & Vow is a YA fantasy novel with a large cast of interesting characters including Cade, a transgender prince who doubles for his brother, Patrick, the ruler of a country called Adare, and Valencia Palafox, a handmaiden to the princess of Eliana, and also a boy assassin named Gael. Valencia is in the forest one night during an important negotiations meeting between the heads of the country of Eliana and the country of Adare. She witnesses someone in a dark cloak cast an enchantment that left the heads of each country in an enchanted sleep, including her father. She vows to find out who cast the curse and how to break it.

I have mixed feelings about this book because while I enjoyed some aspects of this book, I also feel like there were several glaring problems about this novel as well. I enjoyed the character development and relationship development of Valencia and Cade as well. Cade ended up being my favorite character in the book because he was brave but also not afraid to stand up for what he believed in and what he felt was right. Patrick was absolutely insufferable in the best way and Bryna felt like an older sister to Valencia and kept her from making some really bad decisions.

In terms of aspects that I didn't enjoy, I felt like there needed to be a cast of characters at the beginning of the book. There were a lot of characters and it felt harder to keep track of each one as more characters were introduced. It also would have been nice if there was a map at the beginning of the book to reference in order to see where these countries were and where the characters were going. There were a lot of different settings, which kept the book interesting, but at the same time, it was hard to figure out where they were going. The only other thing that I didn't like was at certain points in the story, it was hard to keep track of the storyline, almost like the authors just dropped the reader into the story without all the information. It felt like there were things that the reader should've known before the beginning of the book.

Overall, it was a solid read with an interesting concept and lots of diversity. just a bit hard to follow at some points. 3.5 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Venom & Vow (what a fantastic title) follows Val, a bigender lady-in-waiting/assassin, and Cade, a transgender prince who often doubles for his brother Patrick, the reluctant heir. Val and Cade are from warring lands whose leaders were hoping to make peace but at the summit an enchantment was cast on basically all of the adults with any kind of power and the next generation is left to pick up the pieces and continue on with the business of ruling while trying to save their parents. Val and Cade each think the other are responsible for the curse.

That's all ... ambitious to try to handle well in one book and I don't think it was entirely successful. That said, I'm not the target audience. There are some YA books that read well for teens and adults and there are others that really only cater to teens. I think Venom & Vow is one of the latter. There were some phrases that were overused to the point that they began forced and almost meaningless ("poison I paint onto my lips") and the fight scenes were so unengaging I seriously considered DNFing. The authors hint at some hidden force being behind the enchantment but it wasn't enough for me. Generally as a reader, I want to be able to follow along and figure things out a little bit before the characters. I want to know and anticipate was is going to come but the authors didn't provide enough clues for me to be able to do that here.

On the other hand, we've got Pride & Prejudice meets Twelfth Night in a YA fantasy setting vibes which is fantastic. We've got absurd amounts of representation going on (transgender, bigender, Latinx, born with a disability, injury that leads to long term disability, lesbian gals, gay guys, matriarchal queendom, etc.) and I love to see it, especially for younger folks. And honestly the world the authors created was really interesting and I wanted to know more.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ (2.5)

Content Warnings: injury that leads to long term disability, fear of not being accepted for gender

I was quickly drawn into this story. I really enjoyed the characters and the presentation of gender identity as well as how capable they are in spite of issues. I thought it was a good fantasy though it was a bit slow at times.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

Venom & Vow presents an unfamiliar world with a somewhat complicated set of magical rules. Not gonna life, if you asked me to explain those rules outright, I'd struggle to articulate them, but as the story unfolds it's clear that the world is fully thought out. One of the families is kind of *roughly* Scottish-ish, and the other is roughly Hispanic, and each of them has their own magic skills, in addition to the natural magic of the world. I'm not sure how collaboration between the co-authors applied to the actual writing, but I adored this book. I loved the comparison between the two narrators, and the shifting ways they both think about allegiance, family, and communities.

Sidebar, but from now on, I will only be accepting enemies-to-lovers flirtation in the form of sensually-charged combat, please and thank you.

The tone reminded me a bit of Mindy McGinnis's "Given to the Sea" duology, with its various political machinations and unfolding royal drama. I'm so glad that I got to read this book through NetGalley--Anna-Marie McLemore remains an auto-read author for me, and the way this story unspools the implications of identity, disability, and assumptions is just lovely.

I absolutely loved this book. A.M. and Elliott's writing voices mixed together so seamlessly, while allowing each character to feel very distinct. This book was very obviously a labor of love, and I really hope that they write more stories together in the future. The normalization of canes as mobility aids, and the way that they are treated as necessary tools and things to customize and beautify was really lovely to read. I loved that this story felt very self-contained, but also left the door open for A.M. and Elliott to revisit this world if they decided to down the line. So far, this book is a very strong contender for my favorite book of the year.

Venom & Vow is a YA stand-alone romantic fantasy novel with trans, bigender, and disability representation. It has romance and political subplots with enemies-to-lovers, Spanish influence and inclusion, mistaken identities, and the younger generation coming together to solve the issues of their elders.

The kingdoms of Eliana and Adare are at war. The current leaders of both countries are struck by an enchantment, leaving their heirs to rule in their place. Cade McKenna is a transgender prince of Adare who body-doubles for his brother. Valencia Palafox, who also goes by Gael, is a dama and spy to Eliana’s princess. Both were there the night the enchantment struck, and both hold the other responsible. When both sides are brought together to hammer out peace, Cade and Valencia/Gael have plans of their own.

3.5/5 stars.

I absolutely loved the transgender and bigender and just plain genderqueer representation in this book and will be recommending it to many people for that purpose alone.
In terms of the plot and characters, I struggled to get fully invested with motive and plot the entire way through, it was a little underwhelming, because I was kind of expecting a super epic adventure and it just fell a little flat. I did like the story and I will still absolutely recommend it, but I have also heard that other titles from these authors are great, so I think I will be giving those a shot as well.

I absolutely loved this. The representation is so beautifully done it makes you realize how books should portray every aspect. These authors wove together a fascinating tale that, above all else, speaks on love. While I thought the storyline started slow, as the two main characters became more familiar with each other, I began to fall in love with this book. This is a story about secrets and subterfuge. About not knowing who we can trust and when betrayal comes where we least expect it. The world building is so good. With every side of the war having their own mystical animals to support them, a mystical changing castle; every point of this book is exciting. This is a really fun fantasy book!

Since ‘Venom and Vow’ was first announced, I have been absolutely dying to read it. Consistently, Anna-Marie McLemore’s world building has been some of my favorite (I love and frequently rec ‘Wild Beauty’ and you can go back to my ‘Self-Made Boys’ post to see my glowing praise of that) and I was so hype to see this co-written, queer, dual perspective fantasy; from the jump, it has every I’m looking for in YA fantasy. I love a clear, concise set up for a plot and I love a world that’s familiar as a fantasy setting, but new, so I was enthralled by this immediately. But then…. The Gender Stuff™️ is what brought me from loving this book to being truly unable to put it down. (I got a big 4.5 hours of sleep last night as a result 🫠)
What gets me is how this book tackles what feels on the outside like sort of complex identities and ideas, and it holds space for that complexity, but it really makes it feel like at the heart of it, none of this should be so hard. The characters forthrightly communicate with eachother— what they want to be referred to, how they want to be thought of, how they want to be seen— and then they do their best to respect those wishes. I think some readers might see a description like “a transgender prince and a bi-gender assassin” and have a Certain Impression, but when you’re in these characters’ heads, it all feels so easy. It’s just communication and understanding! Whyyyyy do we make things more difficult than that?
Anyway. I just love this book, y’all. Would love to rec to some teens (it’s going on my classroom wishlist 🤗) but would also love to rec to a lot of adults👀! 5/5 stars 💃

2.5 stars rounded up.

The trans and bigender representation was excellent in Venom & Vow, but everything else fell really flat for me.

I'll start with the positives. I loved how the authors presented both MCs' LGBT journeys and growth. Over the course of the novel, we get to learn how Cade, who's trans, and Val, who's bigender, came to terms with themselves, how they presented themselves, and how they wanted others to view them. There's a lot of inner conflict that really lends weight to their experiences, which readers might really connect with.

I also liked the contrast between the two characters. Cade knows that he's trans since he was young, but Val, who doesn't have role models (as opposed to Cade who grew up in a monastery with other trans men), is conflicted about their identities and the ramifications of presenting themself as either a man or woman or both.

I liked how after the midpoint, they both start helping each other in their journeys and it turned out to be such a positive thing. There was like literally no hate or judgement. It was so cool.

Also, the fact that both MCs deal with chronic pain but that they're both still seen as bad ass was super cool. The authors kept mentioning how they hurt and how they dealt with the pain, and it all felt very realistic. It made the MCs feel very real.

But other than that, both the story and writing just weren't good. I'm not sure how else to say it. There were many times where I felt as if the novel needed another pass or two with an editor. Val's chapters kept repeating certain phrases right after it was written and it was jarring and made me think I misread something.

Anything related to diplomacy was just glazed over. In the beginning, Cade (as his brother, Patrick the Adare prince) captures Val (as Gael) and brings them to the Elianan palace. The way that it's written makes it seem like the Adare prince could willy nilly cross the border of a country they're at war with and grant an audience with the ruler. And everyone's just cool with it.

Second, the passage of time made no sense at all. There's a scene where it sounds like Adare is preparing for the Elianan delegation to arrive (so they're decorating the palace and stuff), and then suddenly the delegation just arrives? I had to reread the passage to figure out that Cade only saw the decorations right before the Elianans arrived, and that his close circle were just arguing over some minor decorating detail. It wasn't some random time jump, but it sure as hell felt like it.

Another thing, so I assumed that the monastery where Cade grew up in is in some remote place in Adare. Maybe I misread a description, but color me surprised when Cade and Val show up to the monastery like right after leaving the Adare castle. Literally no time went by.

And then Val just disappears into the orchard to change after arriving on only one horse with Cade. This is after the monks see them and help Cade off the horse.

But after that, no one followed Val? I was so confused to the point that I couldn't suspend my disbelief anymore.

I saw some Goodreads reviews where people DNF early because the world building was so confusing. I didn't have a lot of issues, but I do agree with them to an extent. I feel like the would building could've been tighter. It honestly kind of felt all over the place, and I think I was fine with it only because I'm a seasoned fantasy reader.

So, the characterization of the secondary characters was also subpar. I won't lie, everyone else but the MCs, Bryna, and Patrick just blended together. They had no distinctive personalities and were just there most of the time. Shit, even the mini Big Bad was so obvious to the point where it was kind of cringe in a way.

Also, there's one thing that really bothered me for some reason. There's a scene where Cade (as Patrick) tells a town that everything's gonna be a-okay, but suddenly a sea monster shows up. Cade sees it as an omen and then the chapter just ends.

So did the townspeople not react or anything? They were totally cool with some random sea monster just showing up? I was waiting for some Cade vs. sea monster action where he saves the people, but then that plot point was only mentioned again once or twice in passing??

I'm so confused.

Also one last thing, I promise. So Cade and Bryna have to marry because they're both the eldest heirs. But Cade and Val are in love, and Bryna and Patrick are in love. So... Just marry for political reasons and be with the person you love on the side? Isn't this a thing with monarchs? And all four are cool with each other. Literally no one hates anyone, so what's the issue??

Okay, I lied about that being the last thing. The fight scenes were so confusing. I liked that the authors included the MCs' fighting styles with their canes, but the way that the fights were written made it sound so technical to the point where I wasn't sure who was actually doing what.

Lastly, wtf is that last minute tacked on lesbian romance between Ondina and Nessa? It just appeared out of nowhere. Lesbians deserve better.

I'll end on a good note. The Adare castle was really cool. It felt like its own secondary character with the way that it could magically change its construction, grow plants, create rivers, etc. It was so cool!

Thank you to Feiwel & Friends and NetGalley for this arc.