I really enjoyed this book. Although the plot seemed v familiar, it was a great read. Characters were built really well!

Thank you NetGalley, Kensington Publishing, and, of course, Vanessa Vida Kelley for the ARC!

Wow, this book was delightful. I usually don't like books with as heavy of a romance plot focus as this had, but I really thoroughly enjoyed this. The characters are diverse in every way imaginable, the plot is compelling, and there is something really magical about the way Vanessa Vida Kelley writes. I can't wait to read more from her! There are also gorgeous illustrations peppered throughout the book.

It's touching, substantive, entertaining, and heartbreaking all at once. It's also an incredibly detailed social critique disguised (masterfully) as a romance novel.

Kelley weaves together a narrative that highlights the desperate struggles that the main cast, all of whom are members of an oddities show and are marginalized in differing but parallel dimensions, face while contrasting them with the open kidnapping, imprisonment, and display of the merman. It's insightful, it prompts reflection (hopefully!), and it strikes the perfect blend of strong and clear messaging without being too heavy handed/transparent and losing the fantastical nature of the allegory.

Kelley also contrasts Benny's position at the ironwork factory, where the workers of differing marginalized identities are pitted against each other, with his position at the oddities show, where shared struggles unite the workers and how that allows them to do great things. I'm a bit of a nerd about this, because my schooling is in social psyc and sociology, focusing on group affiliation and how it motivates pro and antisocial behaviors, and I can't overstate how well she did this. She's able to distill so much information about sweeping social pressures and the fabricated need to step on others for survival into interactions that perfectly represent them.

While delivering this very thoughtful critique, Kelley also tells a comforting and heartwarming story of found family and unconditional love and acceptance.

I really can't recommend this book enough, especially after seeing people on booktok say they don't like to read diverse stories because they "can't relate" to the characters. Perhaps picking something like this up can help them develop greater empathy and understanding for those around them.

What I absolutely loved about this book and what drew me in in the first place were the stunning art, the premise and the way this story has a Puerto Rican and a Merman fall in love in a carnival/circus kind of setting.

The characters are diverse and the background of an old timed American city was beautifully set up.
Sadly, the writing style was not for me and so I struggled to finish this book.
I wanted to love it more, the time and cast of characters made this wonderfully exotic for me but I could not get into it.
I can see other readers adore this story though and give it the attention it deserves.

Oh, this book. This beautiful, beautiful book.

It's essential to note that I'm no stranger to Venessa Vida Kelley's work—she's an artist of a particular kind, who can put every emotion on the page in a single image. Love, joy, despair, longing. The pictures she produces are vivid and pull you into another world. And how fortunate we as readers are to have, now, her writing, that does the just the same in captivating detail with enormous care.

When the Tides Held the Moon focuses on our protagonist and narrator, Benigno “Benny” Caldera; an orphaned boy from Puerto Rico in the early 1900s who found his way to New York after losing all the family he has back home, searching for something...more. He finds it in a sideshow in Coney Island, where, after a spiral of events, he ends up mixed in with the group and their plans to capture a real, live merperson. The merman they capture becomes part of Benny's "something more", too; Rio, as Benny calls him, is homesick from the sea and caged from the life he should be living as a sideshow attraction at Luna Park, not dissimilar to the way Benny is caged as a closeted man of color in a time where the world seems to pigeonhole him. As the two fall in love, and the stakes become higher, Benny has to grapple with loving Rio—and therefore wanting him free—and knowing that means he'll never see the merman again.

I have no shortage of praise for this book—so many pieces of it feel as if it was written for me. For one, the lush setting of Coney Island and the surrounding city was brought to life with such impeccable detail, and, along with the early 1900s setting, such research. I'm a massive nerd for historical accuracy—tiny details about the way people speak in a certain time, or restaurants that might have existed on a street, or events that coincided with the events of a story. And I could see that care and detail for the time and place of Kelley's story poured onto every page.

So many people love to believe that stories that are "historically accurate" might preclude diverse groups of characters—race, sexual orientation—but the way Kelley immediately dispells that narrative with a crop of impeccable characters who feel lived in, loved, and real is a rare gift. I am incredibly fond of a found family dynamic, and the cast of characters at Luna Park were that and more—they were messy, and honest. They had journeys of their own that I would read books about each and every one of them. Each character had their own, smaller arc; pieces of the puzzle that made this lush group of oddities into a family. Standouts for me were Matthias, the "strong man" of the group whose greatest strength seemed to be his kindness and intellect, Lulu—the menagerie's "largest woman", whose position as a caretaker often masked her own struggles, and Eli and Emmett, the so-called conjoined twins with more in common with Benny than he knows despite their early clashing.

But this book, truly, is about Benny and Rio. The way Kelley works in her own experiences as a queer Puetro Rican woman into Benny, and parallels his struggles with Rio's displacement from the ocean was masterful. The pacing of the relationship had me aching, watching the two of them messily realize their similarities—and differences—and how they'd slowly but surely found home in one another. Kelley did incredible work also crafting original lore for her merpeople, and by the end of the book, I still had questions—and yet found myself alright not having them answered because of the wistful feeling the story left in my chest.

Somewhere around halfway through the book, one of my favorite feelings reading books like this hit me—the awareness that, while this is a romance book, and, by definition, I know the characters should get a happy ending, but I still don't entirely know how that's going to happen. And what a journey it was getting to piece that together, bit by bit. I'm already eager to reread the book knowing the way it all comes together in the end, which is for me the sign of a lasting favorite read. I'm particularly eager also to see the final illustrations in the book—as a longtime fan of Kelley's beautiful art style, and having seen what the eARC calls "unfinished sketches" (which on their own are captivating), I know they'll be as stunning as the text they accompany.

I am so incredibly grateful to have gotten to read this book ahead of its release, and cannot wait to read more and more from Venessa Kelley after this touching debut. It's going to stick with me for a long time. Thank you Kensington Publishing and NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review—I am so eager to tell the world how much I loved this one.

When the Tides Held the Moon is a beautiful and heart-wrenching tale of love, acceptance, and found family, featuring lovely lyrical writing and absolutely stunning artwork throughout.

Set in 1911 New York, this whimsical tale follows a struggling Puerto Rican immigrant and blacksmith, Benny, tasked with building an complex aquarium-like enclosure for a mysterious wealthy client, Sam Morgan. Through a series of unfortunate events, Benny finds himself taking a job from Sam and learning the cruel truth behind the tank's existence: to serve as a prison for a merman that is to be the main attraction for Sam's menagerie. While helping restore the menagerie's grounds to their former glory, Benny is drawn to the dubbed "Prince of Atlantis" and as their bond deepens, he finds himself facing his own secrets about who he is and whether he has the courage to do the right thing.

This was so much fun! A very quirky, whimsical, feel good tale with a diverse cast of characters and excellent BIPOC & queer representation.
It took me a minute to get into this one but once I got going, I couldn't put it down! Despite the plot being pretty straightforward and predictable, I still found myself up at 1 a.m, crying, unable to stop reading. While I enjoyed the writing style, it does have a quirky/whimsical element to it that I recognize might not be for everyone. The multi language phrases featured throughout were a fun touch, although I did find it broke my reading flow to keep having to go translate them. (It was only after finishing that I discovered the very convenient glossary of phrases at the back..oops)

I adored both the MCs, and their love story was just lovely - I only wish I'd had more time with them! Benny's struggle with his sexual identity and his journey of self-acceptance was heart-warming. The wonderful and chaotic cast of misfits in the menagerie gave this book a lovely found family element as well. The artwork was, of course, absolutely stunning, and really sold the emotional weight of some of the scenes.

Would absolutely recommend giving this one a go, and I will be picking up a physical copy for myself when it comes out!

Thank you NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for the eARC. I appreciate having had the opportunity to read this one!

⭐4.5/5 (rounded up for NG/GR)
🌶️ 0/5

WTTHTM is a beautiful and heartbreaking LGBTQ romance with fantasy and a splash of adventure, perfectly blended with a POC main character who is so human and complex that you cannot help but love him and his development over the course of this novel.

I absolutely ADORED this, what a refreshing read! The story is so special and unique, the writing is so well done, I just can't gush enough about this.
I'm not a super huge fan of historical fictions but this was so immersive and well-done that I couldn't put it down.
The small bit of magic in the story is placed just perfectly so that we get a hint of the lore and fantasy element, but not so much that we delve fully into a completely different magical world. I would definitely recommend this to friends that don't enjoy the fantasy genre as much but would still enjoy a damn good story.
Also, the illustrations are gorgeous and I loved them.

One of my favorite reads of the year.

**When the Tides Held the Moon** is a stunning blend of historical fantasy, romance, and self-discovery. Set in 1910s Coney Island, it follows Benny, a Puerto Rican blacksmith who becomes entangled with Río, a merman.

Why I love this book:
Found family
Queer romance
**The Illustrations!!** (I'm so glad Venessa found a publisher willing to let her include these works of art!)

I absolutely adored this book and *need* more time with these characters. I hope there’s a sequel in the works because I’m not ready to say goodbye to Benny and Río. If you love **historical fantasy** and **LGBTQ+** stories, this book is a must-read!

Thank you to Kensington Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC, and to Venessa for having the courage to follow this dream! I'm so happy that all of your hard work has paid off! :)

When the Tides Held the Moon is a hauntingly beautiful tale of a Puerto Rican immigrant in 1910’s New York. Through a series of events, he finds himself as a part of side show and helping capture a merman. Trust me, it works.

This novel doesn’t shy away from the realities of the disillusionment of the American dream, racism, homophobia and stereotypes without ever being heavy handed.

The romance is beautiful and sweet. I’m a sucker for found family and this had it in spades!

I personally loved the era appropriate ways this book discussed mental health, masculinity and the traps we make for ourselves and for others.

The prose is a bit like reading a painting, which is enhanced by the author’s beautiful illustrations throughout the book. There is a lot of Spanish with direct translations, which I prefer as it more authentic. The context lays out the meaning and there is a glossary in the back for a direct translation. I can’t wait to see what this author does next.

Thank you so much to Kensington Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC!

I was drawn to this book because of the beautiful cover and the Coney Island setting. I had a lot of fun with it! I’m not a capital R Romance reader, so this wasn’t totally in my wheelhouse, but I still really enjoyed it. I think many fans of queer Romantasy and Romance will love it. Reading up a little bit on the author, I think this started out as part of a fanfic challenge, which feels right in terms of how it’s structured and the way it is in conversation with various tropes. If you like cozy queer romance, mermaids, sideshows, found family, and lyrical writing, you should give this book a try.

Highlights for me:
- A well drawn NYC setting; it was lovely to experience a little taste of 1910s Coney Island
- I appreciated the queer rep and the emphasis on queer love, joy, and acceptance
- A fun glimpse into sideshows; I especially recommend this book if you like circuses, carnivals, freakshows, etc
- Very poetic and lyrical writing
- Beautiful illustrations! They weren’t all rendered properly in my copy of the ARC, but the ones I saw were lovely and definitely enhanced the reading experience
- Good found family vibes and a lot of fun banter
- An interesting use of 2 POVs. Benigno’s POV is written in 1st person and Rio’s is written in poetry; it was fun to experience those two different voices
- Benigno’s POV included some untranslated Spanish, and I really like how the author handled that. They were careful to make the context clear to non-Spanish speakers, but using Spanish felt true to Benigno’s character and I enjoyed the effect. It helped me as a non-Spanish speaker appreciate what it might feel like to struggle to understand everything someone is saying to me, which felt on-point in this book, which was about two characters trying to connect and communicate despite very different backgrounds and languages.
- While not the main focus, there was some good trans rep

Things that didn’t work for me:
- The pacing was a little strange, and I found the book hard to get into
- The plot was very bog standard and fairly predictable. I thought the villain was way too obvious
- This is not what I would call a deep read. It’s fairly surface level, and doesn’t offer a huge amount of characterization or depth. As much as I enjoyed it, I doubt I’ll remember much of it
- The characters used a ton of what I assume was period slang. A little bit of that kind of thing goes a long way, and here I felt that this particular device was overused. As a result some of the dialogue felt a little stilted and cartoonish to me.

While there were a few things that I didn’t love, overall this book was so fast-paced and sweet that I didn’t really mind them. I sincerely enjoyed my time with this book and I’ll definitely keep an eye out for Kelley’s future work. I think this could be a huge hit with queer Romantasy fans, and I’ll also recommend it to folks looking for a sweet story about found family, romance, and queer joy.

This was a 3.5 star read for me, but I’m rounding it up to 4 here because I know I’m not the target audience.

Huge thanks to Venessa Vida Kelley, Kensington Publishing | Erewhon Books, and NetGalley for generously providing an ARC for review!

This book was truly beautiful! 🥹 It perfectly captures the essence of found family, love, and bravery while telling a powerful story about embracing your true self and finding solace in trusting who you are. The relationship between Benny and Río was deeply emotional and raw, bringing an authenticity that makes their connection unforgettable. The supporting characters were just as well-developed, adding more depth to the story and making the world feel lively and engaging. I absolutely loved this book—it’s a moving and heartfelt journey that resonates long after you finish reading. Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for the ARC!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Absolutely breathtaking! Venessa Vida Kelley’s When the Tides Held the Moon is the kind of book that sweeps you off your feet and carries you away to another time and place. Benny and Río’s love story is heart-wrenching and magical, and the Coney Island setting is pure nostalgia mixed with fantasy. The illustrations? Chef’s kiss—they make this book a treasure to hold. If you’ve ever wanted a queer, historical romance with a dash of mermaid magic, this is it. Prepare for tears and swoons!

I am very much in the minority with this one, but I could not get into it. This has a very fanfic-like prose which, if that is for you, I think you will love. I personally don't usually love that style of writing as it makes the characters feels too young/two-dimensional. With that, there's a lot of telling and not showing, so not much trust was given to the reader. Altogether, I think if you know you like fanfic-turned-book style of romance, you'll really like this.

The one thing I absolutely loved though? The art. Art elevates a reading experience on a good day, but the art in this was absolutely stunning!

The fun parts: extremely cozy, solid representation (a little detail that I appreciated immensely and which honestly sold me was how on point the Punjabi curses were, that lady has my whole heart) the multilinguality wasn't awkward or clunky, the main characters were veryyy likeable and so easy to root for

The less fun parts: I honestly wish that we'd gotten more conversations and more time on paper to see the two MCs getting to know one another, not just having meaningful conversations. It's something I get very nitpicky about in romance, but I do like to see the quiet moments because I feel like they're what makes the chemistry between a couple really shine. Still, I adored this novel (read it at the right time, for one) and it was certainly a breeze to get through.

Thank you for opportunity to read an advance copy of this book!

When the Tides Held the Moon, by Venessa Vida Kelley is a romantic YA fantasy with lyrical prose, stunning artwork, and a world that will leave you mesmerized long after you've left.

Set in 1910's New York, Benny is an immigrant from Puerto Rico, working as a blacksmith in the mills when he receives a mysterious job opportunity to build an elaborate tank for wealthy business man Sam Morgan. Impressed by his work, Sam offers Benny a new job on Coney Island.

Soon things spin out of control as Benny is swept up into a world of carnies and sirens. By the time Benny realizes what he has done, it's too late. Benny's work has become a prison to showcase Morgan's latest attraction, the Prince of Atlantis.
As Benny works to help restore the old failing theater, he can't help but feel drawn to the Merman held captive by his own invention. As plans for survival and escape devolve into love, Benny must face everything he's kept hidden and choose between his friends, his love, or everyone's freedom.

While I found the plot of this book straight forward and predictable, it was a light and easy read. I enjoyed the complexity of the relationships in the book and the diverse representation of cultures and languages within the characters. I found even the sections written in other languages were easy enough to interpret the meaning given context clues, but a glossary of translations was included in the back for those who prefer to know exact meaning.
Rio and Benny were a beautiful couple and it was easy to root and swoon for them.
The artwork of course was breathtaking also, and paired well with the atmosphere of the book.
I would highly recommend this to any collector of beautiful books and covers.
I am looking forward to seeing the finished product when published.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc!
Just a gorgeous and beautifully written tale featuring lovable characters. Highly recommend.

Every great love story starts off with the protagonist kidnapping the LI and this absolutely delivers in its gorgeous storytelling, vivid prose, dazzling romance and representation for the LGBT and BIPOC community. Never have I ever read so fast in my life. I have so much love for this book and it was everything I wanted and so much more. I genuinely believe this will blow up when it gets released and I am so incredibly thankful to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for this eARC because this is easily one of my favorite reads of the year.

It took a few chapters for me to get into the book, but wow, what an experience it was once it took off where I could not stop turning pages. I loved absolutely everything about this book and I mean that with my whole heart. This book follows Benny, our main Puerto Rican protagonist, who moves to the USA during the 1910s in the hopes of a better future. There, he becomes a blacksmith and is commissioned to make a cage that winds up imprisoning his future love interest, Río, a merman, for a menagerie.

The found family theme was so wholesome and endearing it reminded me of the Greatest Showman. There were many quirky side characters in this novel and I came to love them in the end. They each have their own appeal and flaws and I love how this was all unraveled in the story. Some were easier to warm up to than others but I loved them all the same by the end.

Benny is a character that is so easy to sympathise for and it was so nice having a BIPOC and queer character be the star of the novel for a change. I loved the journey he goes through to belong and the identity struggle Benny has to navigate throughout the novel. Benny has hard choices to make and I loved seeing how his upbringing, race and sexuality affect them as well as shape him as a character. What I love even more is that all these issues are still so relevant today even if it is written as a historical fantasy. I’ve always loved books that are able to interweave fantasy as much as reality and tell an uplifting, empowering message. For the queers and people of color, you are acknowledged, seen and are not only represented, but celebrated in this amazing debut novel.

Benny and Río absolutely make the novel. I loved every scene they were in and there are a lot of them! They are genuinely one of my favorite book couples. Both are characters that are so easy to love and sympathise for. You feel Benny’s conflict as well as Río’s for they are both caged and want to be free. To Río, freedom is much simpler – to be released from captivity. But to Benny, freedom is much more difficult and complex. Freedom means becoming successful and making a name for himself as a person of color, but it also means continuing to keep his love captive and imprisoned. This conflict wouldn’t have been as impactful if it weren’t for the side characters – the other performers – that the author does well to incorporate into the story, making you care for them.

Even though there are many side characters that I found overwhelming at first, gradually you begin to understand them more. In time, they become a family to Benny and you see why the show matters to them the more you learn of their backstory and it ultimately makes Benny’s conflict greater and the choices he has to make even more difficult. Do you sacrifice your newfound family and freedom, or sacrifice your one and only love?

I need Río to be real. He is everything I want in a LI. Río is broody and sassy but he is so much more than that. Beneath his broody exterior is a wise, sincere and non judgmental soul. I love his words of wisdom and how he is so patient with Benny as he navigates his sexuality and feelings. They have so many memorable scenes together that I could not stop annotating. He really is the standard. We need more people like Río. The world would be so much better.

My only real nitpick with the novel was towards the end where a lot was happening and it was hard visualising the scenes and keeping up. The ending did seem a little rushed and I was left wanting a little more, but I’ll overlook it because I love this book so much.

This book is if the Greatest Showman and the Shape of Water crossed over and I cannot wait for readers to pick it up. Thank you NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for the eARC.

<i>When the Tides Held the Moon</i> is a special kind of book; impossible to put it down, yet you also want to stretch out the book and savor it for as long as you can make it last. I sincerely adored my time with this book and cannot recommend it enough for any reader longing for a tale about love of all kinds, about found family and embracing the uniqueness of each and every person, and about fighting for the freedom of the ones your love. This book does an incredible job of balancing the love between characters with weighty themes: how outsiders are defined not by who they are but instead by what can be taken from them, how systems of oppression force complicity from those it seeks to oppress, how coming to terms with one’s own identity can bring pain even as it also makes way for joy. The complex exploration of race, sexuality, and disability, paired with a breathtaking character-driven romance, make this book a truly spectacular read.

<i>When the Tides Held the Moon</i> takes place in 20th century New York City. It follows Beningo “Benny” Caldera, a skilled and asthmatic blacksmith from Puerto Rico who is commissioned to build an ironwork tank for the owner of a Coney Island sideshow. In need of money after a workplace injury leaves him without a job, he finds himself that night amid a crew of eclectic performers on the banks of the river, stealing a merman from its depths. Benny’s heart is the driving force of the narrative, drawing him to the often strange and always charming company of the found family of sideshow performers, and, at the same time, propelling him in guilt and, eventually, friendship, to the bars of the merman’s cage as he is caught between wanting to keep Río near him and to right the wrong that were done in his capture.

What more can I say about this book other than gush about how much I enjoyed it? So many pieces of the story were brilliantly written, capturing the complexity of identity while never forgetting its beauty. Benny’s struggle to put words to his sexuality, his attempts to reconcile his friendship with Río and his place as one of his captors, the times where the point-of-view shifts to Río as he seeks meaning in even the worst twists of fate—all are written with such heart and grace, embracing the ragged edges that make difficult emotions so human.

I normally would include a paragraph about the parts of the book that I enjoyed less but, in this book, I have little to say on this topic. I enjoyed this book immensely and didn’t feel that there were any aspects of it that took away from the overall reading experience.

In conclusion, if the premise of the book sounds interesting to you, you will love this book. I sincerely enjoyed my time with it. <i>When the Tides Held the Moon</i> is a book that will stick with me long after I have finished it.

3.5 stars

This was beautifully enchanting and the illustrations was gorgeous. The main characters were great and I liked the way the relationship developed. However, I do think the pacing was off in some parts, especially in the second half. Nevertheless this was an enjoyable read that I would recommend!

I got this as an arc on Netgalley and it will come out next year. This beautiful mlm romance was everything! This was one of those reads that completely takes you over and leaves you unable to pick up something new for a second. I wish I could unread it and then read it again.

I wasn't sure what to expect with this one, as I knew it would feel very "fan fic-y" and that definitely did happen, but once I moved past that I did enjoy the story a lot. The artwork as expected was gorgeous, and I think that's a great addition to a story that can really thrive visually as this one does. I can tell that the author had specific scenes that they could see in their head that they wanted to stand out along side the illustrations.

As a debut novel I think this is fairly good, it has all the makings of something that would be a hit with the right audience. The structure feels a little clunky at times, and oftens leans toward hand holding and explaining every minor detail without allowing the reader to use their brain. I think the first person POV makes that a bit harder to handle, as it makes the book as a whole feel a lot younger than is intended.

Overall I think this was a very fun debut to jump into. I love the atmosphere and the love that was woven throughout the characters. The setting was easily enjoyable and unique enough to stand out.