
Member Reviews

This book was splendid! Whilst it was a slow start, I loved Benny's self discovery and the love story.
Found family is always my favourite trope and this was just exquisite. The writing style is quite unique and the art work is gorgeous!

When I first opened this book, I thought I had accidently requested the Spanish version and started panicking because I am a no sabo kid through and through. So, I will just go ahead and mention this book might be a bit frustrating if you didn't take at least Spanish 1 in high school.
However, wow, this book was an experience. I haven't been this completely immersed in a story in quite some time. It's a historical urban fantasy set in a New York carnival during the 1910s.
This a book where you can just tell the author put so much thought and care into it—every detail meticulously researched. I adored most of the writing, only minor grievances, and for a debut novel, this is amazing work.
I really also just learned a lot. I had to take like a 20 minute break to go learn more about Mohawk Skywalkers and how they helped build the city.
That being said, this book is often on the slower side and its heavily character focused with people from all walks of life. It’s definitely not for those looking for a quick mermaid romance—this is a weighty somewhat angsty read, rich with characters and prose.
*full blog post scheduled for April 22nd*

This book was full of beautiful, figurative language. I can't deny that the author could string together some gorgeous words to make compelling sentences that were enjoyable to read. However, much of it felt hollow. Despite trying, I felt myself continuously pulled out of the narrative by the inconsistencies in characters' voices, the inconsistencies within the narrative itself, and the fact that I couldn't find a foothold to bring me closer to these characters. It may have read better from a 3rd person omniscient perspective, because despite being in the 1st person, Benny's narration felt distanced from his character. The way he spoke in his head didn't match up with any other characterization we were given, and the language felt like a barrier to actually understanding Benny's thoughts or emotions. He referenced his hardened heart and his inability to cry several times, but the reasons behind this were half-explained if they were given at all. I am all for trusting the audience to connect the dots, but I could barely find the dots to connect. Beyond Benny, the other characters also tended to blend together until the only way to differentiate them was by the accents their voices were written in (which, as a smaller note, also tended to draw me out of the narrative). The cast felt a little too large and dependent on their stereotypes, which was a disappointing to see. Rio felt flat, his only purpose there to be a mystical figure that conveniently had the right words at the right time and thoroughly understood certain aspects of humanity, unless it would make a good joke for him to not understand. Outside of character, the tone was also rather inconsistent - there were some plot points that came up like a smack to the face, because the tone otherwise had not dipped so darkly (namely thinking of Sonia's storyline). Similarly, the emotional pacing was erratic. The emotional distance didn't lend well to following it through, characters' moods shifted on a dime, and while it made sense theoretically most of the time there was just no build for it in the narrative itself. I just couldn't buy in because everything felt very convenient, everyone seemed to inherently trust Benny for no real reason, and Benny also lacked a clear drive as to why he trusted others, especially when he was consistently referencing his "hardened heart". Even Rio flipped to Benny's side rather quickly when their first interaction was full of violence and death threats, and the best reason offered is this otherness he feels in Benny that doesn't feel built upon or even earned. Rio's sections felt as hollow as his character, it felt like we were just reiterating in even wordier passages what had just happened without adding much from Rio's perspective that we weren't already given through Benny's strangely omniscient viewpoint. The illustrations were gorgeous, though they also sometimes felt like a distraction, but I'll assume that was more due to the format and I do hope they're more seamlessly integrated in the final novel because they are just as beautiful as the language.

I appreciate Netgalley providing an advance review copy in exchange for my honest opinion.
While the book's setting and worldbuilding showed promise, the writing style unfortunately didn't resonate with me. I found the dialogue and narrative confusing, and the editing could have been more polished. As a result, connecting with the characters became a challenge.
However, I did appreciate the lovely love story between the two main characters, particularly IlBenny's heartfelt journey of self-discovery and acceptance. The quirky cast of characters in the menagerie added a delightful found-family element to the story.
The artwork was breathtakingly beautiful, effectively conveying the emotional depth of key scenes.
Overall, while the writing didn't quite work for me, the book's unique elements and stunning artwork made it a compelling read.

Thank you netgalley for the arc!
This book left me speechless- to the point i dont even know what to say other than READ IT!
I cried- i cried so much. My heart was ripped out of chest and then put back. I really dont have the words to describe the beauty of this book. <3

"I have collected your smiles, your laughter, your songs like precious pearls".
Thank you NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for the eARC!
When the Tides Held the Moon is a story about a young immigrant in the 1910's who escapes the hurricane-ravaged island of Puerto RIco only to realize that the American dream is not as much of a reality for people like him. While trying to survive on seemingly the only job he can get in Coney Island, he becomes entangled with a sideshow troupe and their charismatic boss who is trying to bolster their park by planning the ultimate exhibition: a real merman captured from the East River. As Benny comes to know both the sideshow group and the merman, he finds family, belonging, love, and a courage he did not think was inside.
This book is a both a tender love story and a reflection on what it means to be different in a world that is not ready to accept those differences. I really loved the lore behind the merman's world and how his POV chapters were so lyrical and beautifully-written. I also liked the theme of being bilingual and how love can transcend language when needed.
For a debut novel, this was a wonderful story, and the illustrations (done by the author!) added so much magic.

It took me a while to get into it but when I did I was hooked. Such a great book about mermaids and found family. 10/10 recommend for the fantasy and mm romance lovers.

I initially rated this book 4 stars, but after sitting with it for a few weeks and reflecting on the story, the characters, and my reading experience, I decided to lower it to a 3.
I had a good time reading this, and I thought the general idea of the book and the love story were excellent. The story gave Benny and Rio time to get to know each other before getting together, and that time was really lovely. The illustrations in this book are incredible and added so much to my enjoyment of the story. You can tell that the author put a lot of effort into making everything go well together.
Something this book really struggled with was pacing. The majority of the story was very slow, with a great focus on character relationships, but then towards the end the pacing becomes extremely rushed. I can appreciate a more open ending, but something with the execution of this just left me feeling unsatisfied and unrewarded. I also felt a lack of connection with the side characters.
It was also very disruptive how much of the main character's inner monologue was in Spanish. Don’t get me wrong, I think including Spanish was a good choice and it added to Benny’s character, but it could have been done in a much better way for the reading experience of non-fluent readers. Often you understand enough from context but there were many times when I felt that I would need a dictionary to understand, and I just did not care enough to bother looking it up. For context, I want to mention that English is not my native language and I took Spanish as a third language in school, so I’m used to mixing languages and have a basic knowledge of Spanish. With that context, I still thought it was badly incorporated here.
I think the reading experience for this would be best in physical format, with the beautiful illustrations and easier access to the glossary in the back.
Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for the eARC. I will not be posting this review elsewhere as I’ve heard about the author responding to negative comments.

I feel mixed about this because the premise is fun, the book cover is lovely, the interior artwork is great, and I like the cast well enough. But parts of the writing - particularly the merman's portions - are incredibly poorly written and visually frustrating (the long center-justified visual is something I wouldn't tolerate in fanfiction, either). To be clear, it's not an issue that this started off as fanfiction: many original novels and stories start life as fanfiction (e.g., anyone writing Sherlock Holmes or Cinderella fanfiction), and fanfiction is a wonderful medium, with many stories being better than many published novels, and many authors have written fanfiction, licensed or otherwise (e.g., no one writing Superman now was writing him back in the 1930s). But I think some quirks of this might come from its fanfiction background, and that turns this novel into a your mileage may vary read. If nothing else, Rio's sections should have been better edited. I understand this is an early copy and maybe stuff will change, but I can only review what I have in front of me.
While I appreciate that the protagonist is bilingual, and enjoy a story set from the perspective of a person of color, and appreciate that Benny does, realistically, often incorporate Spanish into his thoughts and dialogue, so much of the story is in Puerto Rican Spanish or other languages, and rather than having footnotes, translations are solely available in a glossary. I appreciate that the glossary exists at all, but this is better for a physical book or some other app that isn't the Netgalley app. I have no desire to paginate back and forth between where I'm reading and the glossary constantly. This may simply be a sign the book is not for me, but rather folks more comfortable doing that or who have more Puerto Rican Spanish fluency in particular than I do, and that's fine! But personally, it makes for a less than enjoyable reading experience. To be fair: it'd be a lot of footnotes each page, and that's difficult to justify. But also to be fair, "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell" managed, and with historical footnotes to boot, and that book is massively beloved.
I am also less than enthused to see the activity of the author, who has seemingly ignored the professional boundaries of reviewer and author on at least three occasions, reaching out to at least three less than positive reviews with long explanations for things. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the book started life as fanfiction for the "Simon Snow" series, and the author is treating this like an Archive of Our Own comment section, when that's not a thing you do with novels not published on Archive of Our Own. Nothing is obviously stopping any author from doing that, or this author from doing that, and I can only imagine they'll hate this review, too. But it makes me deeply uncomfortable as a reader and reviewer, especially when they do so on Goodreads, where reviewers cannot block author accounts. It seems like an abuse of site privileges.
I wish this author the best of luck. People seem to like their book, and I'm glad for them!

(spoiler-free review)
This book is a beautiful, lyrical, carnival and mermaid-lovers dream. Full of whitty, fleshed-out characters with deeply emotional backstories and journies with endless talents and quips, along with the romance and journey blooming between our main characters, I couldn’t put this book down.
Also, within the book, there seems to be artwork that will be included in print, which I am beyond excited to see! It is surely going to shape up as a lovely novel to add to reader’s shelves as soon as they can get their hands on it!

"You make me feel like I am holding the moon"
I loved this.
I've been in a huge reading slump for the last few months and every book I read did not hit the spot, or was boring, or was infuriating (we're not gonna talk about So Not My Type because I might cry) and this book right here pulled me right out. I read the first 40% in one sitting (which is a lot for me) and the other 60% today because I needed to see what would happen with Rio and Benny and Morgan. And it was great.
I loved the menagerie troupe (Matthias my beloved), everyone felt real and full, and I loved their stories and how they took care of each other no matter what (even if Eli was a little shit in the beginning). Lulu deserves everything and I love her. Sonia's story felt a bit rushed to me, it felt a little bit like whiplash.
The drawings are gorgeous (even if the ones here are not the final ones), and the aesthetic was beautiful. There were enough descriptions to build the world and make me feel like I was in New York but without making it boring and tedious, which is something very important to me because I get bored easily.
The only reason why I didn't give this 5 stars is because I felt like the relationship developed kinda weird? It definitely wasn't instalove, but at some point it went from kinda flirty "we like each other" to full on love and soulmate talk. I feel like it could have been better developed. I still love them a lot.

This book was recommended highly by a trusted friend, and it did not disappoint - I loved this! It's beautifully written, and exactly the escape from modern reality that I was needing. Thank you for the opportunity to review!

Venessa Vida Kelley masterfully combines the aesthetics of Michael Gracey’s The Greatest Showman and Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water with her cinematic writing, but they hold no bars when it comes to back story and context. A satisfying pay off awaits patient readers, especially those who loved Hafsah Faizal’s A Tempest of Tea. The book also superbly delivers a slow-burn romance and themes of found family.
The solid execution of representation in the ensemble cast will appeal to diverse readers. This is also demonstrated in the well-researched inclusion of Puerto Rican Spanish, Hindi and Russian dialogues that are defined in the book’s glossary.

I've been following Vanessa Kelly as an artist for a few years and admire her talent very much. I was curious to see what her debut book would look like and I was not disappointed. I think this book is very much needed in the times we are unfortunately currently living in. The whole found family aspect of When the Tides Held the Moon was definitely a standout for me. But I'd recommend this title to anyone who loves mermaids and queer romance because I believe this exactly the kind of book they'll love, just as I did.

Dotted with gorgeous illustrations, When the Tides Held the Moon is a masterpiece of imagery and atmosphere.
Set in the early 20th century, it follows Benny, a Puerto Rican smithy with busted lungs (asthma) a deep-rooted feeling of unworthiness, and a suspicion he'll never be happy and must simply survive. He falls into a scheme to capture a merman for a side show, finds a new family in the show's cast, and falls in love with the merman (oops).
The atmosphere is seriously impeccable. Coney Island, the slightly run-down sadness of an amusement park out of season, and the the overwhelming spectacle of it being back turned on. Characters in a show of human curiosities but seen as people who have to survive, and above all, a family. Emily and Emmet were so good! Sonia's arc was heartbreaking! And Benny <3
The writing does something interesting with Benny's voice, in that it's really quite idiosyncratic. Lots of words remain in Spanish, but in a way that feel organic and gives a real sense of personality. It does make the novel slightly less easy to read, but I loved it, especially once I got fully used to its beautiful rhythm.
The part that worked less for me, maybe, was the romance itself. It's enjoyable in the beginning, but remains slightly flat throughout, especially in the middle, and is extremely cheesy.
I'd have loved for the novel to actually develop the other characters more (what we got was so good but still firmly in side character territory!) and focus less on the large portion in which these two declare love to each other over and over. Either way, I enjoyed this immensely.
Thank you to Erewhon Books and NetGalley for the chance to read the ARC!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I am definitely an outlier here. Although I loved the premise of this book and was eager to read it (and the artwork was absolutely stunning and an amazing addition to the story), unfortunately, this book did not work for me.
The writing style and pacing issues in this book made it feel drawn out and I did not feel emotionally attached to any of the characters. In addition, it felt like there were separate stories going on and I did not feel invested in the romance.
One critique I have is that I wish translations were put at the bottom of the page. I love dialogue both spoken and unspoken and much of Benny's was in Spanish. I personally do not speak Spanish and I would have to stop reading and either use the translate button on my Kindle or flip to the back of the book in order to see a translation. I liked how the author included Spanish in the book and felt like it added to Benny's character, but the constant flipping back and forth took me out of the story, especially when the translations could have been included as footnotes on the same page.

If you know me you know that I love anything to do with the circus. When I found out that this was going to be set in Coney Island, Luna Park I hit request so quick. I crossed fingers and toes that this book would give me the same feelings in does when walking through the park itself, and I was not disappointed.
I love the dual POV, I feel like it really accentuates the storyline and gives it more in depth emotion.
The message of staying true to yourself whilst trying to navigate finding family is captured perfectly.
For a debut novel, this is really strong work. I would love to read more from this author and I can't wait for people to experience reading this for the first time.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me early access to When the Tides Held the Moon in exchange for an honest review.

It's a perfect story if you like whimsy and found family. All the characters have big personalities and are flawed in their own way, but you still grow to love each one. Through hardships, family means everything to all the characters even if it's not blood and I'm such a sucker for this concept.
The writing voice is perfect for the different perspectives and the plot hooks you in so it was hard to put this down, especially at the end. It's a beautiful read all the way around! I would definitely recommend and read it over and over again.

Reading this book was a delight for many reasons, but partially because I am a huge fan of Venessa Vida Kelley’s art, and have followed their art for many years now. I found them due to their art of Carry On by Rainbow Rowell and Red White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston, and when they began posting art of the characters for an upcoming novel, I waited with baited breath for the release. I want to thank netgalley and the publishers for granting me early access to this book. I’m so excited to support Venessa Vida Kelley.
I do think this book will be hit or miss for many people. The reason for this is simple: Venessa Vida Kelley writes like an artist. All of her words are chosen for the beauty of them. It reads in a very lyrical, maximalistic sort of way that revels in the space on the page, the sound of the language. As such, I think some looking for something light will be disappointed. But enjoyers of historical and literary fiction that leans on the lyrical, poetic side of writing will be enthralled. I know I was.
Bringing artistic prowess to a literary endeavor, Venessa Vida Kelley brings beauty not only through a fantastical love story, but through lyrical, poetic prose. Perfect for fans of queer historical fiction and romantasy.

When the Tides held the Moon was riveting! I truly was not prepared for this story, I went into it blind and I have to say I was so pleasantly surprised! I depth the author went to in creating such a beautiful piece of art was just mesmerising. Seeing the friendship between the 2 MMC was so organic and really lulled me into what I perceived as such a fated love story. Thankyou so much for allowing me the privilege of reading their story. It will stay with me for an age ❤️