This was truly lovely. I went in expecting something simpler, and I could not be more happy to be wrong. The setting, a 1910s Coney Island park, feels impeccably researched and alive, and I loved how much the author clearly cares for all the people of NYC. The details of Puerto Rican identity and diaspora were central to the character of Benny, which I loved.

I spotted the twist early, which at this point may as well be on all my reviews like a forum signature, but I mention it here not to complain but the opposite: the themes and worldbuilding are deftly foreshadowed and well-executed. The romantic conflict felt real and the choices felt meaningful even if we know from the genre that some of them are inevitable, which is legitimately hard to do. We know Benny must help Río escape—it's in the description after all—but the delays never feel manufactured. You can be a good person and doing the right thing can still be hard.

A charming romance with a great cast of characters and a well-wrought setting. Highly recommended.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

If I had a dollar for every five star read that's been compared to The Shape Of Water, I'd have two whole dollars. Not a lot, but it's happened twice in three months.

I had a feeling this was going to be a new favourite, but I wasn't prepared for the range of emotions it evoked.

It's no secret that I'm a sucker for found family- and I ended up loving this one as much as the romance.

The few illustrations that were included in the ARC really enhanced the story. I can't wait to see the rest when I'm able to get my hands on a finished copy.

I was so excited for this cozy historical fantasy. This debut author is an incredibly talented illustrator and the cover and illustrations throughout were beautiful. I was drawn in by the beautiful cover, the blurb, and the tropes, but I stayed for the story. This story was FANTASTIC! The slow burn romance between Benny and Rio was beautiful, the found family of misfits aspect was entirely endearing, the book was descriptive and alluring. The story poses thoughtful questions on ethics and morality that I appreciated. As a World History teacher currently teaching about the early 1900’s, I really appreciated the historical setting of the book. I really fell in love with the characters and loved everything about it!!

𝓣𝓻𝓸𝓹𝓮𝓼 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓥𝓲𝓫𝓮𝓼:
🧜‍♂️Historical Cozy Fantasy
🐚 Queer Romance
🧜‍♂️ Found Family
🐚 Slow Burn
🧜‍♂️ Merman x Monster
🐚 Author Illustrations Throughout
🧜‍♂️ Grief & Comfort
🐚 Friends to Lovers
🧜‍♂️ Forbidden Romance
🐚 Dual POV
🧜‍♂️ One Tank 👀
🐚 1910s New York Setting

“All I know is that he misses the moon. If I could, I’d ride a rollercoaster to the sky just to steal it for him.”
SWOON

Thank you netgalley and Venessa for such a beautiful and tender read!

Outside of the enchanting writing, the characters were super attaching. The found family Benny discovered in the circus menagerie felt so real and their interactions were so adorable. The romance was sweet and tender and I absolutely adored the historical aspect of this book, the spanish words perfectly mixing up with the english or the fact that we get to follow such an original story though the eyes of a Puerto Rican immigrant in early New York. It gave me everything I wanted and then more!

I can’t do anything but recommend this book! Think M/M x Water for the elephants x The Shape of Water! ♥️

I’m heading to London in a few days so I’ll be sure to grab a physical copy of it when I’m there!

Normally, when I come across a synopsis pitching a book as a mix between two or more books or movies, I end up with either feeling like it don’t meet those expectations, or thinking it felt like a “can I copy your homework” situation. I was excited and worried when I saw that 'When the Tides Held the Moon' was pitched as The Shape of Water meeting The Greatest Showman, but I couldn’t have described it better myself.

The art and illustrations Kelley has produced for the book enhances the reading experience, but even without it I could easily see this story visualised on screen just from how vibrantly she wrote the story. Adding the songs she wrote into the story, I struggle to comprehend how she managed to infuse all types of art into the pages so smoothly.

The characters were a delight to get to know, and every time I thought "this is my favourite side character", one of the others said or did something to shift it again for me (minus the obvious guys, of course). The more I learned about them, the more I found myself joining Benigno in dreading the decisions he would have to make. Including the glimpses into Río’s mind as a dual POV added so much depth to plot, and complemented the story in a perfect way.
The found family and the romance storylines both delivered so perfectly, and somehow didn't felt overdone at any point for me. While the story ended with a few questions unanswered, it felt more right than if Kelley had given us the answers, and left my heart feeling warm despite the fact that a few tears were definitely shed on my part.

I have so many thoughts on this story, yet finding words to do it justice in a review feels less likely than me stumbling upon a merman myself. Venessa Vida Kelley coming out with a debut story like this is a testament to what we might expect from the author in the future, and I can’t wait for whatever she writes next.

Ah, this book just was not for me! It had a few too many of my writing pet peeves and did not really grip me. I am sure this will be someone's new favorite book, it just will not be mine. I decided to put it down at about 25%.

Thank you to Netgalley and Kensington Publishing for a review copy!

Gorgeous, lyrical and immersive! I went pretty blind into this book (I didn't even read the blurb) and found myself absorbed with the mythology, the history, and the characters of this wonderful edition.

Set in Luna Park, a historical amusement park that existed in Coney Island from 1903 to 1944, the story follows Benny (Benigno), a Puerto Rican blacksmith turned stagehand who was tasked with building a large portable aquarium for Sam Morgan, a side-show proprietor, and is bribed into participating in the capture of a mermaid. The Mer they capture (named Rio by Benny) is a beautiful, devastated, and grief stricken merman, and Benny is immediately filled with regret. Joining Morgan's Menagerie, Benny vows to set Rio free, but as they grow closer, he realizes that setting the merman free also means losing him...

I loved Benny and Rio's love story, and the assorted cast of unique side characters who are each sideshow performers in Morgan's act. Morgan's Menagerie forms a unique, found family of oddities, including a giant man, a miniature woman, a fake "conjoined twins" act, a contortionist, and a bearded lady. This family immediately accepted Benny as one of their own, even as he worked hard to hide his true self and his secrets from them. All of the characters in this book felt incredibly well fleshed out, made even more so by the gorgeous illustrations accompanying this tome. Both the prose and illustrations completely immerse you into this story. The art is absolutely gorgeous, and I haven't even seen the final edition of the drawings yet (the ARC I received contained only the in progress sketches).

I highly recommend this book. It's worth picking up for the art alone, but the story is equally enthralling! Perfect for fans of historical fiction, magical realism, and tropes including hurt/comfort, found family, and amazing Latine / Puerto Rican rep.

Note: This book does contain quite a few Spanish phrases. I muddled through with Google Translate, only to realize there's a full glossary of translations in the back! Be sure to check the glossary if you're looking for any translations. I do wish the translations had been footnotes so they would be a bit easier to find.

Big thank you to Erewhon Books for the gifted eARC. Thoughts are my own.

This is such a cozy, magical little gem. Set in 1910s Coney Island, it follows Benny, a Puerto Rican blacksmith who ends up building a tank for a captured merman and things get emotional from there. The story blends queer romance, found family, and a bit of fantasy in a way that feels super heartfelt and unique. I had a really fun time with this!

I am a sucker for early 1900s New York + fantasy, and this book is no exception. The emotion between the two main characters is what particularly stood out, the progression of their feelings for each other was beautifully written. Furthermore, the action and suspense felt well balanced, I didn't feel constantly on edge the whole book, but the 'forbidden' element of the romance always lingered.
My only issue is that there is a lot of Puerto Rican in the text, which is not an issue in itself as for the most part, the author does a good job of contextualising non-English speech so the reader doesn't need the exact translation to get the idea of what was said, but there are some moments where I felt I was missing something because it wasn't super contextualised. There is a translation guide at the back of the book (and google exists), so it isn't a big issue, but the guide is quite long and reading on an ereader (as I did), it can be annoying to flip to.

I think technically this is more of a 4.5 for me, but based on everything and how half stars aren't a thing here I'm going to round it up to 5. For the most part this was really sweet, and the fact that it's a debut makes me even more excited, because that means that Kelley will no doubt get better with every book they write. I think technically this book is billed as sci-fi/fantasy, but honestly if you told me it was just magical realism I would buy that as well, because the only thing that's really fantasy about this book is the fact that there are mermaids. Everything else about the story is wholly grounded in reality. In fact, I have a feeling that fans of The Night Circus and Suzanne Clarke will just eat this book up, because it has a similar vibe going for it, as well as the beautiful prose. The illustrations are also gorgeous (and done by the author), and while they don't really add anything to the story as a whole the enhance the book by giving it that little extra something special. Now, while the plot is a lot of fun, where this book really shines is the characters. Benny (Benigno) and Rio shine through as our stars, but the supporting cast is just as wonderful, and Kelley really makes you feel the love everyone has for each other. Honestly, the only "issues" I had here were 1) it takes a little while to really get going, and 2) the main character will just throw random phrases and words of Spanish into the narration. I will note, he's from Porto Rico, and thus it makes sense, and there is apparently a glossary in the back of the book (although it's not overly helpful in an e-book), so while it makes sense I still found it jarring because I don't speak Spanish and for the most part it doesn't seem to have much of a purpose. I will also say that I didn't find the reveal at the end to be all that surprising; in fact, I saw it coming from miles away and I almost think it would have been more impactful if it had either just not happened, or happened differently. I also kind of have a question about it, and while it's not overly important it's bothering me more than I thought it would. But honestly all it all I can't really complain too much. Kelley has created a beautiful love story and interwoven it with themes of belonging, exclusion, and what it means to be different (especially in America). I'll almost certainly be buying a copy for my own shelf when it comes out, and I'll definitely be writing a shelf talker and trying to hand-sell this to all who will listen. I'm excited to see what Kelley comes up with for their next book, because if it's anything like this one it's going to be spectacular.

This book was a little too weird for me. I really struggled with reading this one. I also thought the art throughout the book was weird.

A haunting, lyrical blend of historical fantasy and queer romance, When the Tides Held the Moon follows Boricua blacksmith Benny Caldera in 1910s New York as he builds a tank for Luna Park only to learn it’s meant to imprison a living merman, Río.

As Benny and Río form a deep, unexpected bond, their growing love challenges the limits of captivity, identity, and sacrifice. With lush prose and aching emotion, Venessa delivers a powerful story about finding freedom, even when it comes at the highest cost. I loved the story and how powerful it was definitely a must read.

I was really interested in reading this book but unfortunately it was a chore to read with flowery language, slang speech, and lots of Spanish words mixed in without definitions. I will have to pick it up again when it’s fully illustrated in the final edition.

Omg so heart-wrecking!! This was so raw, emotional, and real!
From the start I was swept away in this historical world that gave me a lot of The Great Showman vibes coupled with merman romantasy! This world was rich in history but the real delight was the characters. I loved how real they were. I easily found myself caught up in their tale and rooting for them.

Benny was an easy character to like. He had a tough life and was only trying to get by. I loved his growth and how his confidence grew throughout the story. He really came into himself and it was beautiful to see.

Rio, oh dear real he was something else. I loved him and you couldn’t help but feel for him. Despite what he had gone through he still had a good heart. I loved him!

Now Benny and Rio together… perfection! It was so heartwarming and sweet. I loved how they complimented each other despite what was going on. The slow burn was beautiful between them and I couldn’t help but fall in love.

There was so many great tropes in here like enemies to lovers, captor/captive, found family, angst, tramuance, romantasy, merman romance, slow burn, historical m/m, building each other up, teaching him, music, lqbtq reps, sweet, discovering oneself, menagerie, and so much more!

thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!

this book was so good!! it was fun, adventurous, heartwarming, and I loved the setting. the found family was surprising yet very endearing! it was so sweet between Benny and Río, their relationship developing was so special to read and to see them both open up more and more for each other.
the set of characters was very diverse and fleshed out well, I loved reading about everyone and it was nice to see the author didn’t just make them background/disposable characters. benny bonded with them each and we got to see a part of their story.
it was also really nice to read benny’s character development and watch him grow into the person he wants to be. after everything he went through, he is strong as hell and grew to be very confident.
the ending was just so perfect I wanted to cry🥲 I love benny and río so much!! they deserve the whole world.

I got a little past 50% of this book before deciding to give up. It's just so boring. Nothing is happening. I also don't really understand why Rio warmed up to Benigno so quickly. Benigno literally helped to drag him out of the water and forced him in a cage, yet Rio is over it in just a few days and smitten within a few weeks? I'm also not a fan of the quirky cast of characters. The members of the crew just feel like a bunch of caricatures. While these characters do have backstories, the backstories honestly make them feel even more like caricatures. They just feel like they are there so the author can put a checkmark on a diversity checklist. To be honest though, I've been noticing this with a lot of romance books that include a quirky group of friends. One thing I can say that I really liked was the artwork. Anyway, this book isn't necessarily bad, just boring and basic.

This very well may be my favorite book I’ve read so far this year.

It absolutely delivered on everything it promised to be and exceeded all my expectations. Once I started reading, I couldn’t put it down.

The prose is beautiful, it’s filled with a lovable cast of found family side characters, and the illustrations that are scattered throughout really add to the whimsical aesthetic of the story.

I truly adored this book and cannot wait to get my hands on a physical copy once it’s released.

This was really good! Anything that has a queer romance and mermaids is going to be absolutely on my list. I thought the chemistry between both characters was extremely well done and the plot was so engaging, I could not put the book down.

4.25 stars

This was so cute! Benny is a Puerto Rican boy who finds himself unexpectedly joining the crew of a Coney Island sideshow after he builds a tank to house their newest exhibition: a merman. Benny and the merman slowly find themselves drawn to one another and find love.

I was not sure if I’d enjoy this book, but I was so pleasantly surprised! I loved the cast of characters and the love between Benny and Rio was so charming. I found myself not wanting to put this book down!

Highly recommend to romance or fantasy readers. The physical book is a must - the pictures included heightened the reading experience for sure!

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for access to this work. All opinions are my own.

I truly enjoyed this story of finding love when you least expect it. Set in NYs Coney Island this story unfolds with love, magic, finding your true self and found family.

Some quotes i absolutely loved... I have more!
The entire book is a great work of art, literally and figuratively

“All language is music, all music is language. But the song of the sea is a dialect unlike any other.”

“You mean merpeople don’t care?” “Benigno, why in the Seven Seas should it matter who we love?”