a highly anticipated release that was everything i wanted!!! i’ve adored vanessa vida kelly’s art for years now, and seeing they were releasing an illustrated novel felt like a dream—not unlike how reading this book felt! kelly transports the reader to the early 20th century world of new york and the (affectionate) weirdos who call it home. benny and río’s romance is beautiful and sweeping, but i also adored the cast of misfits that all made a family with one another. a beautiful triumph and i hope to see more by kelly in the future!

4.5 stars rounded up to 5

3.5 stars

The writing & prose was beautiful, but it just didn't connect overall for me. I think the comparison of greatest showman meets shape of water is bang on.

I loved Benny & Rio as a couple, and I felt their love. I just felt this took longer for me to read than it should have and it wasnt the book/story it was likely a me thing; as in right book, wrong time.

Also, the incorporated pictures was a beautiful touch.

This was excellent! I loved the setting, the feeling of history come to life, Benito and Río's love story, and each of the members of the circus. The ending was spectacular and I can't imagine a better closure for this story.

rep: Puerto Rican demisexual gay MC, queer merman love interest, queer side characters, Black side character, side characters with dwarfism

spice: none

tw: attempted murder, discussion of forced prostitution, murder, kidnapping, entrapment

When the Tides Held the Moon is a charming historical fantasy that beautifully blends a unique setting with a captivating romance. Set in 1910s Coney Island, the story follows Benigno, a recent immigrant from Puerto Rico, who finds himself entangled with a sideshow and its newest, most unusual attraction: a captured merman named Río.

The novel's greatest strength is the sweet, heartfelt romance that develops between Benigno and Río. Their relationship, which begins as a secret friendship born of convenience and empathy, is a tender exploration of trust and connection. Readers will find themselves deeply invested in their journey as they navigate a hostile world and discover a kindred spirit in each other.

Another standout feature is the inclusion of stunning illustrations, which add a magical layer to the storytelling and perfectly capture the whimsy of the setting. The book also shines in its portrayal of a found family, as Benigno bonds with the other performers in the sideshow. These characters, each with their own history and heart, provide a sense of belonging that resonates throughout the narrative.

While the story’s pacing can be slow at times, particularly in the beginning, the final act delivers a thrilling and emotional climax. The book is a perfect read for fans of historical fiction, fantasy, and magical realism who appreciate a character-driven romance and a story filled with yearning, love, and the fight for freedom.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

I hardly have words to describe this book. What a magical and fantastical journey! I immediately fell in love with the world and the characters. The found family trope is one that always draws me in and this was no exception. Seeing all these characters come together to support each other was truly heartwarming.

Benji and Rio´s love story was fantastic. The writing was beautiful and really showed their immediate connection. There were moments where I had tears in my eyes and got extremely emotional.

There should definitely be more illustrated books in the future. It was such a delightful surprise every time I turned a page and saw a new illustration. They really brought the story to life!
In the future, I will read everything that Venessa Kelley writes.

While the art is gorgeous and I enjoy the concept, I don’t like light fat phobia in books as someone who is a larger person. For that reason, I do not recommend this book.

Sweet and relentlessly affirming. Surprisingly rich in period detail. Heartwarming, though a bit formulaic. Spice-rich flavorful home-made meal of a novel.

i liked the second half of this book a lot better than the first, so it's left a favorable impression, even though it's not quite my cup of tea. but it took me a little while to get to that point, and there were some moments in the middle where i put it down for a while.

the premise is charming, with lots of elements i particularly enjoyed: Benigno, recently arrived in 1910s Brooklyn from Puerto Rico, gets a job with a Coney Island sideshow after being roped into capturing a merman as the new attraction ("attraction" in more than one sense—this is a supernatural romance story). the setting was fun, and the found family of the sideshow performers was delightful in concept but a bit clunky and unsubtle in execution, especially early on. this is the sort of book where i truly appreciate the spectrum of representation offered, but i wish it felt less spoon-fed and more organic. only Benigno is really offered much opportunity for character growth; even Río, the merman, feels surprisingly static.

their romance is very sweet, though, once it gets off the ground (off the sand??), and the ramped-up tension in the last quarter of the book made it a much more compelling read as the abusive showrunner Morgan and his mob connections clash with Benigno's feelings and Río's need to escape his aquarium cage. i enjoyed the thrills of the ending, in spite of some elements that felt both predictable and lacking in foreshadowing.

overall, i think the romantic elements are much stronger than all the other parts, which is not my cup of tea but might be yours! oh, but also, IT'S ILLUSTRATED! the art is really beautiful, and definitely added to my enjoyment.

Reading the kindle version of this was not great. There are illustrations you don’t get to see, and that made me sad. I need a physical copy. I ended up putting it aside for now, but intend to return once I have a physical copy. I felt like the main character was mostly just obsessed with his aunt and was unable to get attached to the side characters because there were too many all at once. Will update this review if/when I come back.

Update: I finished via audiobook! It really picked up in the second half and I enjoyed the ending a lot. I did feel like there were some characters that weren’t fleshed out as much as I liked, and the romance happened too quickly for me to fully believe. But it was really sweet and the audio was really well done! Need to track down the physical for the illustrations now.

When the tides held the moon by Vanessa Vida Kelly

"Abhi na jaao chhod kar
ke dil abhi bhara nahi
Tr:
Please don’t leave yet,
my heart isn’t satiated yet"

Oh how I crave that soft love the two of them share!

The best of 2025 for me. Seriously . Every other book I've read/I'm gonna read this year can go home now because the winner has already been chosen. And I LOVE authors who are also artists because they can show us EXACTLY what they thought up in their brains. The illustrations are to die for 😩💯.

It's a historical fantasy set in America , featuring a merman captured by a human freakshow runner (think- the greatest showman but less friendly)longing for freedom, and an immigrant blacksmith's woes, choosing between his found family and doing what's morally right.

But how does a love story between a disgruntled merman and an apologetic human man turn out , anyway? Vanessa knows how 😌❤️

Loved all the members of the menagerie, most of the characters I think were inspired by real people from the past.

I LOVED the greatest showman (still do)(musical nerd) so I am the exact target audience for this book.

Benigno is a talented (and exploited) blacksmith in New York. After building a large ironwork tank for a man named Morgan, and becoming an accomplice in the theft and imprisonment of a merman, he stays with the rest of the performers in Morgan's sideshow troupe and take care of the tank. But his morality kicks in the more he's exposed to Morgan's cruelty.

What starts as a promise and a secret friendship of convenience between Benny and Río turns into a heartbreakingly beautiful romance between the human and the merman. The more they interacted with each other, the more we got to see Benny learn to trust someone with the pieces of himself and see Río discover that not all humans are bad. Even though their secret meetings (and the progression of their relationship) were the highlight of the book, Benny frustrated me with his inaction about Río's captivity sometimes. But his personal history and fears were so well written and grounded in reality that I genuinely didn't know what I would do if I were in his shoes.

As for Río, he starts out with so much (justified) hatred towards humans. But around Benny, he starts to soften at the man's kindness, to confide in him, to take comfort in the presence of someone who is good. He finds a friend and a kindred spirit in Benny, and eventually safety in him too💖

Besides the romance, the performers in Morgan's Menagerie were another highlight. They were given roles like the strongman, contortionist, bearded lady, etc. The more Benny develops these bonds with them, we get insight into their personal histories, cultures, inside jokes, ideals and the relationships between them as they adopt him into their family💖

This book is absolutely magical. It's full of love, yearning, loss, family, and it's about finding your place and your people in the world. It's about fighting for the freedom to be seen and loved for who you are, and extending that kindness to the people around you.

Thank you to Hambright PR and the author for an eARC of Benny and Río's story💖

This was a fascinating story of a man who fell in love with a merman. I enjoyed the historical fiction and the merman lore. The culture was great and written well.

I first received this as an ARC from NetGalley before it was released, but I couldn't get into the story. I'd heard so much good about this so I decided to give it another shot. I'm sad to say this book was not for me. The illustrations were gorgeous, of course, and it's clear that Kelley did a lot of historical research related to Benny's story. I really wish the same thought and development had been afforded to the mer people. The worldbuilding on that side of things was just not there.

The first 2/3 of this book were a slog for me—I just couldn't get invested in any of the characters or their relationships—and then the last third was only fast because I was rushing through it to get to the end. I found Benny and Rio's captor/captive relationship to be more uncomfortable than romantic, especially in the latter part of the book when Benny starts coming up with all kinds of justifications on why Rio should remain in captivity even after he promised Rio he was trying to find a way to get him out. The randomness of the Spanish words in Benny's narration really took me out of the story, not to mention it goes against every piece of advice I've ever read about writing bilingual characters. And the ending! It was so unresolved and left me with so many questions.

There are some nice moments in this, but for me they don't outweigh all the other issues I had.

i found this one underwhelming i fear. it moved pretty slow at points and i feel like i didn't buy the chemistry between rio and benny until nearly the end of the novel. this author writes beautifully, and i felt that there was a rich world that was built here as well as benny's experience of it as both puerto rican and gay in new york city in the early 1900s.

When the Tides Held the Moon was a lovely historical fantasy, with tons of atmosphere, bold characterization, and lots of bilingual texture to the narrative!

Sweet Benny was simply trying to make a life in Brooklyn, with his brown skin, his artist's soul and his asthmatic lungs. And as was (is) true for all unrelenting, sooty, sky-kissing cities at the turn of the century (now), Benny got served the hard times even harder before New York's brand of freedom (read:sketchy opportunity) came on the scene to deliver him from a bad break.

Benny found himself entangled, and then a part of a Coney Island sideshow at Luna Park, after aiding in the capture and containment of Río, a soulful merman, who was to be T H E attraction to end the Amusement War between Luna Park and Dreamland. Their romance was a gentle one, and even though i thought Río forgave Benny a bit too easily, their love story wasn't complicated.

Benny and Río were super soft darlings, both in survival mode negotiating their individual prisonscapes, so the plot basically wrote itself. Things went down as expected, and everything worked out for everyone in the end. I love a sweet HEA more than anything so the epilogue made me very happy!

The seaside amusement park vibe was delightful as well! This threw me back to the magical fair setting in Before We disappear . Both stories took place around the same time, and both stories showcased magical, evocative atmospheres. Here, Luna Park came alive with bright calliope music, spinning carousels, and ofc Morgan's Menagerie were the most lovable mysteries of all! I'm happy i've a few books now for whenever this mood hits!

When the Tides Held the Moon was a dynamic, charming read with ample illustrations throughout. Looking forward to whatever Venessa Vida Kelley releases in the future because this was a lovely debut.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Erewhon Books for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

This was a sweet and unique queer novel, set in an interesting setting with diverse characters. I loved the found family aspect, and I found the mystical/fantasy aspect intriguing. It wasn't my fav blend of genres, but I still enjoyed reading it!

Queer rep: MM main couple, secondary gay characters.

Ughhhh my heart! I'm a sucker for found family, and boy did this book deliver! I loved Rio and Benny's relationship. I thought it was super sweet and heartwarming. The ending was kind of cheesy, but I feel like it tied up everything nicely.

In this fun and fascinating LGBTQ+ historical fantasy novel, readers follow orphaned Boricua blacksmith Benigno “Benny” Caldera as he works on the project that will be his big break in 1910s New York City -- an ironwork tank created for the Coney Island playground Luna Park. Having impressed the side show proprietor who commissioned the tank, Benny gets invited to join the crew of performers which now includes a real, living mermaid. As Benny gets to know merman Rio, he discovers that he is complicated and a kindred spirit, and their friendship becomes something more and reveals that they are both trapped. Forced to choose between freeing Rio and his new family, Benny must make a hard choice that will change his life in New York forever. Packed with incredible details and insights into 1910s Coney Island and side shows, readers will love the emotional intensity and beautiful writing in this incredible novel. The characters are the absolute stars of the book, and their relationships are well-written and packed with details that really bring them to life. Entertaining, fascinating, and totally immersive, this beautiful historical fantasy novel with a LGBTQ+ romance is a must-read for fantasy and historical fiction fans alike.

“The softest hearts wear the thickest armor. I have seen enough of your heart to know it exists.”
✮ 5 out of 5 stars
Thank you to Netgalley and Kensington Publishing for the free ARC copy of this book.

Benny is a Puerto Rican orphan, who’s found his way to New York for a new life. He’s a blacksmith working at a foundry under less than stellar conditions for an asthmatic boy, who looks and speaks a little differently than his colleagues. When he’s cheated out of a promotion after completing a unique commission, Benny decides to head after the commission and finds Morgan’s Menagerie of Human Oddities. Here, he is more than welcome to join the crew, when they go to catch a real merman and become part of the weird human crew too. Here, Benny finds a new family and acceptance, but he also finds a kindred spirit in the merman. But a cage isn’t a home, and Benny stands with a hard choice, considering what kind of freedom he wants.

Okay, I’ll admit it. I am absolutely a person who judges a book by its cover. I won’t even be ashamed by it this time around, because this absolutely gorgeous cover promised me good things and the summary also told me I would be in for a good time, and I absolutely was.
I usually don’t find it necessary to describe my reading mood when rating and reviewing a book; most of the time I’ll be able to distinguish what I disliked due to my own mental status and what I thought the book didn’t deliver on. I do, however, find it worth highlighting for this specific book, because I was not in a reading mood when I started this one. Despite me not being in a reading mood, I absolutely enjoyed every second of reading this book, and I adored all of it.

First things first to compliment this book for - the illustrations?! What an absolute marvel to open a book and be surprised by even more art to enjoy along with a beautifully written story.

I don’t even know where to start with the story specifically; I loved the pacing, I loved the small moments between Benny and Rio, the small setups and the found family. This book has been an absolute joy to read, and every single interaction between Benny and Rio had me in an absolute chokehold. The story works with a lot of themes, but I think the main ones absolutely are love and acceptance, and it really shines through every single scene shown in this book.

If you need more mermen in your life, but also want just want to be blown away by a lot of small details, this book is a must to pick up.

3.25 ⭐️
OKKK - this was super hard for me to get through. It’s not that i didn’t like it, because i did. There was a lot of aspects i really LOVED, but there was some things that i also wasn’t super fond of as well.

I loved the time period and setting of the story, it felt new and unique and i was immediately drawn into the story due to that. I really loved that the merman was a male. I feel like so often mermaids are only women in books and i loved seeing that! I loved the queer romance in the book. I actually really loved Rio and Benny’s romance. It was slow burn and subtle in a sense that it wasn’t a romance that meant they were “all over each other.” The swimming lessons was something i really enjoyed as well, and the two of them jus teaching each other about their respective worlds.

I struggled because some things didn’t quite make sense to me. I don’t know or at least remember what everyone thought Benny was doing all the time when he was talking with Rio. The other thing that I struggled with was that it really dragged at points. After reading about 5 chapters I actually paused to edit for the audiobook to become available on Libby because i was really bored.

The audiobook was extremely well done. It brought the characters to life and i really think it elevated the story.

Overall, i didn’t dislike this, but i didn’t love it either. I would definitely recommend it and tell you to form your own opinion but for me, unfortunately, it just fell a bit flat.