This book was such a cool mix of queer romance, historical fiction, and fantasy. Benny and Río’s connection was so sweet and emotional, and the circus setting made it feel magical. A few slow spots, but overall a really touching, beautiful read. I also loved the little illustrations throughout ❤️

Thank you to NETGALLEY and the publisher for an E-Arc in exchange for an honest review 🥰

Completely and totally obsessed with this book and with Venessa Vida Kelley! I mean, gay mermaid love story -- need I say more? The "human curiosities" sideshow on historical Coney Island made for such a lush, immersive setting, and Kelley clearly weaved a ton of research into the rich details. And the illustrations make it all the more magical. It's a gorgeous queer romantasy that swept me off my feet.

Benigno, a talented ironworker, is assigned to make a giant tank, framed in iron and with unbreakable glass walls; as he learns too late, it's intended to house a captured merman, whom we come to know under the name Rio. The kidnappers' leader murders Rio's mother, who with her last breath asks Benigno to save her son -- and so he does, helped by the members of the "freak show" of which Rio is intended as the star. Of course Benigno and Rio fall in love on the way.

The historical background here is wonderful -- VVK has not only done her research (about Puerto Rican independence movements, about labor conditions in early 20th century NYC, about Coney Island amusement parks of the era), but also assimilated it, so the world Benigno moves through is thickly described and fully realized. I caught a few possible anachronisms in vocabulary, and that's all. The supporting characters -- the fake conjoined twins, the fat lady, the strong man, the firebreather, the tiny woman who has banned use of the m-word, the giant, and the contortionist -- aren't as fleshed out as Benigno, but each of them got enough page time to emerge as people rather than collections of attributes.

Notice I left Rio out of that list. I felt for him, I wanted him to get free and get his man, but ... unlike all the human characters, he's perfect. Merpeople in general are perfect. They're nonviolent, they live in harmony with the Current, they are healed by water and they heal it in return, etc. etc. Whereas shock! horror! human beings are capable of great stupidity and cruelty. I balked at all that mer perfection, which struck me as a lingering trace of the Noble Savage myth.

Kelley misses a few steps in worldbuilding -- sometimes Rio is familiar with an English idiom, sometimes not, in no consistent pattern. (Problems seem never to arise when he and Benigno are communicating in Spanish, though there's no apparent reason for Rio to know one culture better than the other.) I don't think it would ever have occurred to me to wonder why Rio knew so much about human life and language if Kelley hadn't made a point of his being baffled a couple of times. Oops. It's a minor point, really, but I did snag on it, so.

Saving dessert for last: My goodness, but the illustrations are lovely, even as seen in a PDF on Kindle. There's one on the author's website that I don't think appears in the ARC, of Benigno dreaming of Rio: do take a look. I'd like to get my hands on a physical copy of the book just to look at them all properly.

4.5 stars happily rounded up. Thanks to Kensington/Erewhon and NetGalley for the ARC.

When the Tides Held the Moon is an historical fantasy story set in early 1910s New York. The main character is 22 year old Benny who came to New York from Puerto Rico. Benny becomes involved with a Coney Island carnival after he helps them capture a merman named Rio. As Rio remains in captivity, an unexpected romance develops between them.

I liked the early 1910s New York setting, especially the descriptions of Coney Island. There were a lot of great side characters that created a nice found family dynamic. The love story between Benny and Rio was beautiful and complicated. The pacing dragged a bit in the middle for me and I found myself wishing things would move along faster at times. Things picked back up toward the end and the ending was very satisfying!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Beautiful prose and even more breathtaking setting. However, the pacing of this book makes the reader's enjoyment very difficult. I liked the characters but the fated mates felt way too rushed to me. I would have liked to have seen the romance more flushed out than just the inner monologue sappiness.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Easily a 5 star read. I loved this book. Might be my top read of the year so far. I love the characters and I love the story. I was obsessed with The Greatest Showman when it came out and this kind of gave me that circus vibe. There’s love, there’s found family and there’s characters just trying to belong in a world where they are not fully accepted. So stinking good. Pick this up.

Premise:

A man, fired from his job and evicted from his house, is lured in to a circus in hopes to find a new home. The ringleader is trying to keep the circus afloat by taking sketchy deals and capturing a mythical creature for a new exhibit in his show.

Rep:
LGBT Rep

Mermen, circus folk, and found family.

I had such a good time reading this book!
It did take me a little while to read it, I kept putting it down, but I think that I just wasn't in the mood for a circus/sideshow setting.
Other than that, the found family was great, the romance was so sweet, some of the things Rio and Benny would say to each other made me tear up multiple times.
It was beautifully written, I would really recommend it for anyone that loves a good merman story, or a circus setting.

4.5 stars

The gay yearning in this book is unlike any other, and this story is so emotional and heartwarming. I absolutely loved it.

The slow burn romance was top tier, and the slow mutual trust and understanding built between the two main characters was so enjoyable to read about.

The found family aspect was also very enjoyable. I loved the diversity in the cast, but one thing I will say is that I would have loved to see the side characters talk more about their identities and differences, and how they feel when needing to show their differences off to a crowd. To read more about their experiences on versus off stage, and how they cope with feeling like they're less than human due to constantly exaggerating their differences to appeal to a crowd, especially in that time period.

I also adored the illustrations included throughout. The art style was so beautiful, and the art really rounded off the story well, and made it even more enjoyable.

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who loves romances with mermaids, found family, diverse casts, or yearning and longing.

A huge thank you to Kensington Publishing and Netgalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars, rounded up

It took me a little while to get into this book - you can definitely tell this is a debut, and it's clunky in places. But once I got into it the setting and the love story absolutely swept me away. All the characters were great, too.

4+⭐

This is a beautiful historical fantasy romance focusing heavily on found family and social issues. The historical faire setting is something that has always appealed to me with its different sides: the fantasy with all the garnish, and then the mundane and wretched side of it all. The sense of time and place is strong here, and Benigno is a wonderful protagonist: a kind man with so many struggles. The writing in general is lyrical and all around impressive for a debut novel. There's a lot of Spanish and a bit of other languages used in the mix, the glossary in the end (that I didn't notice) will be helpful.

The book is quite long and the plot is completely predictable. There's not a single twist to it. But this isn't a mystery, so it's fine. It's possibly something that might disappoint some readers, though. I didn't feel the book was necessarily too long, though I might have wished a bit more emphasis on the romance and the mermen in general. The romance is lovely, but we don't see the couple being happy together much, and considering the length of the book and all Benigno's struggles, I wish we would have just a bit more happy moments to balance things out.

My thanks to the author and NetGalley for the arc.

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.

DNF

I really wanted to like this book. And the reason why I stopped was a personal dislike of the writing style esthetic. I can tell that it was a choice to match the 1910 NYC atmosphere, and it was unfortunate that I just didn't connect with it.

What an amazing, fantastical, beautiful story! When the Tides Held the Moon is a multi-genre masterpiece. It’s a gay romance, a historical fiction novel set in 1911 NYC, focusing on Coney Island, a fantasy featuring a merman dubbed Rio, and a window into our country’s abysmal history of xenophobia, racism, classism, eugenics, and organized crime. I chose this book to fulfill a reading challenge prompt of an illustrated book, and the ink drawings scattered throughout are gorgeous renderings of the cast of characters (members of a freak show) who populate the book. This oddball assortment of carnival sideshow attractions (or the dehumanizing term “exhibits” coined by their unscrupulous boss Sam Morgan) welcomes fellow misfit Benny Caldera into their chosen family after he helps capture the merman who will live in the elaborate tank he created. Benny has spent his entire life being rejected for who he is: an asthmatic, brown-skinned, Puerto Rican gay man whose self-esteem has plummeted as a result of loss and unwarranted hatred. It isn’t until he befriends and is championed by Rio that he finds the strength to stand up for himself and defend the people who he has grown close to. When tragedy strikes, will he be able to save those he’s come to love and save himself as well?

If you like gay romance, romantasy, and a glimpse into the spectacular, yet also sordid and corrupt underbelly of early 20th-century NYC, you’ll love this phenomenal, magical novel. Highly recommended.

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Erewhon Books through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

I really enjoyed this beautifully illustrated queer historical cozy fantasy! Thank you so, so much to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for allowing me to read this title!

Blurb:
Benigno “Benny” Caldera knows an orphaned Boricua blacksmith in 1910s New York City can’t call himself an artist. But the ironwork tank he creates for famed Coney Island playground, Luna Park, astounds everyone, especially the eccentric side-show proprietor who commissioned it. Benny’s work earns him an invitation to join the show’s eclectic crew of performers—his first welcome in the city—and share in their astonishing secret: the tank Benny built is a cage for their newest exhibit, a living, breathing, in-the-flesh merman stolen from the banks of the East River under a gleaming full moon.

The merman is more than a mythic marvel, though. Benny comes to know Río as a clever philosopher, an observant traveler, and a kindred spirit more beautiful and compassionate than any human he’s ever met. Despite their different worlds, what begins as a friendship of necessity deepens to love, leading Benny’s heart into uncharted waters where he can no longer ignore the agonizing truth of Río’s captivity—and his own.

A cage is no place for a merman to survive. Though releasing Río means betraying his new family, bankrupting their home, and losing his soulmate forever, Benny must look within for the courage to do what’s right, and find a love strong enough to free them both.

"When the Tides Held the Moon is a beautifully illustrated novel with artwork throughout by Venessa Vida Kelley, known for her stunning romance and fantasy art. This novel includes two different full-color endpapers for front and back, fully-designed chapter headers, and 27 pieces of detailed illustrations throughout, using beautiful two-color, aqua blue and black inks.

When The Tides Held The Moon- Venessa Vida Kelley
Narrated by Joel de la Fuente and Lee Osorio

Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice .5
Narration 🎧🎧🎧🎧🎧

Everything about this book is absolutely stunning. The writing, the cover, the narration, the illustrations. This will definitely be a top probably 3 book of the year for me. I loved it so much. I wanted to draw it out and make it last longer but at the same time I *needed* to know what was going to happen between Benny and Rio. Their love was SO beautiful. Their chemistry burned like a blazing fire…or rather flooded like the sea…because Rio’s a merman. 😂 I was very intrigued by how the events in the book, while fictional, correlated to actual real life events that happened on Coney Island. Everyone just needs to read this book. I could ramble for days about everything I loved about it and why it was so good but please do yourself a favor and just read it for yourself.

This narration was incredible! I’m not sure if all the side characters were performed by the same narrator or if the two narrators split the side characters, but one, if not both of them have some insanely good accent chops. There were *so many* different accents in this as you’d expect to hear in Coney Island, and they were all perfect. The narrations for Benny and Rio were absolute perfection.

I can't believe I almost DNF'd this. This book.. this story.. the art.. was everything. This book is a literal piece of art from the cover, the inside artwork and the words. I loved this so much 😭. The beginning is a slow and almost made me DNF it, but once the story started and everything came together.... I was absolutely hooked. Growing up on the Atlantic always made me feel a special connection to the ocean and this book embodied that feeling. This is an absolute must read.

Thank you netgalley and Hambright PR for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is a really sweet/cozy historical fantasy romance with found family, vivid imagery, and beautiful prose. As a bonus, the author also does beautiful illustrations throughout that book that really bring the story to life. Benny and Rio and all the side characters stole my heart.

Thank you Kensington Publishing and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy.

I was going into this book fully expecting it to emotionally wreck me. Did it? Just a little🥹 Was this a captivating read and experience? Yes, it absolutely was. I loved the storyline and all the characters. My only complaint is I wanted more background and story behind that ending. I was just craving a little bit more detail in the end. Otherwise, this was a solid read and easily one of my favorites this year. I’ll be thinking about this book for a while.

A really enjoyable read, not like anything I’ve read before! I loved the 1910s setting, and the overarching plot of finding home whatever that looks like to you

I did find it slow to start, but once the story picked up I didn’t want to put my kindle down! Anything with found family automatically melts my heart. There are some frustrating moments (I wanted Benigno to step up several times!) but overall a heartwarming story. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the arc!