This book had so much promise and started so well. The waste of that potential is deeply frustrating.

I immediately attached to Felix, finding him lovable, three-dimensional, and active. At the start, I also quite liked Loren, especially his affection for the secondary characters and determination to protect everyone. Unfortunately, both character arcs had major cracks in them.

In Felix’s case, the issues were more contained. There was some repetitiveness. “Time to cut and run… Nope, Loren’s in trouble, gotta stay.” Again and again. This is believable in real life, but tedious in a book. And then, there was the amnesia plot and revelations of Felix’s past. The thing is, Felix’s past is exactly what you think it is. And if you take out the amnesia, the portrayal feels authentic and empathetic. But that’s precisely the thing: the amnesia adds nothing. In fact, dragging it out and making it a Big Revelation adds an element of melodrama and even exploitation to the mix.

This is not helped by how poorly defined and described the magic in this book is, particularly as it relates to Felix's amnesia.

Loren’s problems, unfortunately, proved to run even deeper. To wit, he is that character archetype, where the narrative wants you to think of him as super altruistic, while what is <I>shown</I> is him being self-centered through and through. Everything is about his feelings. He angsts about the fates of Pompeii’s people, but he never once throws himself full-body into convincing ant of his friends to leave. And I’d almost give Biehn the credit of being more aware of their character’s dissonance than the average author. But then they have Felix say something to the tune of “you’re the kind of selfish that comes around the other end and is actually selfless.” Which, no. Nope. Just selfish. Shilling doesn’t help this situation.

This particular self-absorbedness most fully manifests in Loren making a major decision which deeply affects Felix unilaterally and right over Felix’s head. In the moment, it does not even occur to him that the only correct course of action would have been to let Felix make his own choices. He realizes it later, and the narrative does treat his action as rotten and punish him for it. But not enough. For my mileage, I was cheering for Felix to leave him at the end. But this is a romance, so we couldn’t have <I>that</I>.

My other big issue with this book was the sheer amount of anachronism and ahistoricity. There were a couple of nice details describing life in Pompeii which felt authentic, but everyone talked like they were from the twenty-first century, and even some details felt off. Historians estimate that Pompeii’s population was about 10 to 20 thousand. About a thousand bodies were discovered, preserved by the eruption. This is still a tragedy, don’t get me wrong, but far from the implication that everyone not accounted for is now dead. 90-95% of Pompeii’s residents managed to escape, taking the rumblings as warning and getting the hades out of dodge.

In fact, one of the supposed deaths feels more like a continuity error than a historical one. Didn’t Servius say that Julia had left Loren to twist and dipped, after the contract was signed? Except the narrative treats her as dead from that point forward, when realistically, as a wealthy, well-connected woman, she would have had an easy time getting out, as suggested.

Adding to the ahistoricity, we have Felix’s relationship with religion. It makes psychological sense, at first glance, for Felix to lose faith in a god who let him suffer and didn't intervene. But here’s the thing. The Greek gods, whom the Romans ‘borrowed’ and renamed for their own use, were never portrayed as benevolent. They were amoral, capricious, and worshipped for being powerful and in charge of their domains, not for any idea of their kindness and justice toward mortals. Felix’s reaction feels much more like a modern person’s reaction to, say, the Catholic church’s sex abuse crisis than an ancient Roman’s relationship with his own gods.

Like I said, I was really excited when I started reading. By the end, I was skimming, just to finish already and move on. And I am so, so sad about it. Ugh. This could—and should—have been so much better.

Thank you to NetGalley and Peachtree Teen for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions within are my own.

3.5/5

Coming into this book I was intrigued by the premise of a meet cute with an explosive ending.
This book does meet that description, but with a couple additions I thought were interesting or peculiar.

The political side story was kind of boring and was used as a plot device for Loren to have a side goal and for Felix to hate Loren more.

The whole hot-cold-hot thing was just making me more frustrated with the characters more than anything. Like it was fun for like half the book but after Felix getting angry at Loren for the same thing for the third time it got tedious.

Loren's Hero complex that gets pointed out multiple times, and yet doesn't believe it. Makes it seem very comparative to how his father tried to shove on to him what he thought was right.

I liked the premise and the main story. Most of my snags are probably just nitpicks more than anything.

I actually have so much I want to say about this book I personally loved everything about it. The 4 days leading up to the infamous eruption of Mount Vesuvius the most tension filled, jam packed 4 days I’ve ever read in a book and I was absolutely HOOKED. Loren and Felix are both complex, flawed characters who I loved and wanted the best for even when I didn’t agree with what they were doing. And the way they fought to create their own identities really tugged at me in a way I can’t describe. Every single character you meet has an important role to play in the story and it all comes full circle at the end and it ties up so many loose ends although there’s some things I think we can still get More from (sequel 👀). Servius was such a hate-able villain I actually had to put the book down multiple times and go for a walk because I was SEETHING at the way he treated Felix. And Loren’s father as well, I wanted him dead the second I heard him talk do not talk to my boy that way. I can see some aspects of this book being a bit polarizing for people who are craving more historical accuracy particularly with the modern language but this was not something that personally affected my reading experience. I really do think this is a book that’s really going to find its audience. I loved my entire experience reading this story and I’m positive there will be more people out there who fall in love with Cass Biehn’s precise and clever writing and Loren and Felixes suspense filled story of love, fate, and everything in-between.

5/5 Stars

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for giving me a chance to read this book prior to publication.

Vesuvius by Cass Biehn instantly appealed to me as a LGBTQ+ reader and a fan of anything to do with Pompeii and the tragedy that befell it. I thought it was an interesting premise to mix queer romance with Pompeii but I can honestly say that it worked.

What DIDN'T work for me was the rest of the plotline; everything that didn't revolve around the romance fell short as it was soo confusing at times. I spent more of my time re-reading (something I believe one should never have to do on their first read of a novel) to try and figure everything out rather than just enjoying the book.

For me, this book was good but not great, especially because of the confusion but I did like the ending.

Vesuvius is a queer YA fantasy that two boys as they navigate the last few weeks before Pompeii is destroyed.

While I enjoyed my time with this book, I didn't find it quite as impactful as I'd hoped. It felt as though this story was supposed to hold a sort of weight that I just didn't quite feel. I think the fast-paced nature of the writing made it harder to have the slow-building dread that I expected. We learn quite early who our main characters and what their coping mechanisms are, and that stays pretty constant until the end, when we finally get to see more character development. I still found them engaging and I mostly liked their relationship. This book is fairly fast-paced, but it definitely prioritized some elements of the story more than others, and the fantasy elements felt surprisingly insignificant most of the time.

This book wasn't quite what I expected, and I think much of that is just that it fits firmly in YA and reads a bit more as an adventure novel than a historical queer tragedy. I still had a good time with this and will keep an eye out for the author's future works.

This book was one of my most anticipated this year! I read the story “dog of pompei” as a child; something about the tragedy of Vesuvius always enthralled me.

So, when i saw that there is a YA about it, i was instantly hooked.
However, unfortunately i didn’t enjoy the book as much as i thought i will.

I will start with the positives- loren and felix. Such interesting, interesting characters. And their love even more interesting. The build up for them was well, and their complexities was the most enjoyable part.


The plot itself was good too-albeit a but confusing. In fact, i spent more than half of the book confused on what’s happening. It was also a bit repetitive at parts. Loren has visions; felix doesn’t remember. Somehow the helmet plays a big part. But you were told that over and over again without giving you hints to maintain your focus that made it feel a bit dragged.

The writing was good;however, it felt *too* modern for the theme. I feel like i would enjoy cass’ writing more if it was in a different setting.

Also, there was a lot of missing points that i felt like werent developed well.
Overal, a fun read (especially the last 20%). However, not one i would recommend.
(Thank you netgalley for providing me with the arc)

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an Honest Review

3.5 Stars

This is Cass Biehn's debut and I think they have a promising career if this was their first book.

I loved the intrigue with the Mercury Helmet & all the characters felt pretty real. The relationship between Felix and Loren was very sweet and I ended up loving Felix so much. I love the concept of changing your destiny and having choices for yourself instead of having others made those choices for you.

I think the book tried to shove too many side plots into it, the political intrigue would have been good if that would have been what the whole book was about, instead I found myself annoyed everytime we veered from the helmet onto Julia's plot. I feel like once the last quarter of the book started is when it got amazing and I was fully immersed then but to get there took so long and a lot of it just felt like it wasn't really needed.

Nonetheless you found me crying at the end, I saw that Cass Biehn says they write messy queer characters and that is a perfect way to describe this story.

First couple of pages, I found it hard to get into the book. But then suddenly, I was completely hooked and could not put it down. I don't even know why, it just suddenly happened. I fell in love with Felix almost immediately. An energetic mischievious boy - what's there to not love? Loren was very sweet too. I really enjoyed seeing the story unfold through both of their eyes and learning about each more. It was not just a description of the demise of Pompeii but a story of love and friendship between two boys, mysterious elements at play and slightly unexpected plot twists. The story is well written. Hints to what is to come are peppered throughout the book and if you pay attention, you can guess. But there were still some surprises for me. Plus it made me cry - a good sign with me. Means I love the characters enough to feel deep emotions. To me, that's a sign of amazing character building and story presentation. The ending left me desiring more. I would love to continue following the story of Loren and Felix.

📚Felix is a clever thief who can’t remember his past. He start to pieces his past, after he steal a mercury’s helmet. Loren is an ambitious temple attendant and dream about apocalypse and Felix is in too. They both join together after Loren found Felix hiding in his temple. They both work together to stop apocalypse also dealing with Ancient Roman politics. Along the way the start catch feelings for each other.

💭: to be honest, I don’t wanna talk about badly but I don’t enjoy this book. It to be could because it wasn’t the final copy or I wasn’t the audience for it. I will definitely be reread this again it comes out. Just read to the final copy and my feelings might changed. ⭐️ 3.25
Release date, June 3 2025
And thanks to for NetGalley for e-ARC.

Thanks to NetGalley and Peachtree Teen for the free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Vesuvius by Cass Biehn seemed right up my alley. A historical, slightly fantastical queer story! Love! But unfortunately, by 100 pages in, I could tell this one wasn't going to work out. The writing is choppy, the characters aren't developed enough for me to grab on to, and side plots were still just being introduced. I wanted to love this one, but it just didn't work.

3.5 stars.

I had a bit of a hard time getting into this one, but I quite enjoyed the prose and characterization of Loren and Felix. We had one overarching plot with subplots sprinkled in, and I think that's where I was getting lost. New information kept being dropped in ways I didn't quite understand (maybe because I'm missing information about how things worked during this age) and I'm not sure if I enjoyed the subplots we were given. I think I would have much preferred a narrower focus on the overarching plot than breaking it up with the subplots to move it along. I also could have done with more Felix and Loren scenes.

Thank you to NetGalley and Holiday House / Peachtree / Pixel+Ink | Peachtree Teen for the eARC!

Very impressed with this debut novel. This is a moving book about identity and healing. Trauma haunts this story, and the main characters are flawed and hurt each other, but they also care deeply for one another and help each other learn to heal. They have amazing banter and incredible chemistry, and I was rooting for both of them the whole way through. The last 20% of this book had my heart absolutely racing (and breaking). The ending was beautiful and hopeful.

Most of the book takes place across four days leading up to the eruption of Vesuvius, and the overall vibe is tense and mysterious. Every single side character is important and well fleshed out. The romance is tender, heart-breaking, and life-affirming, and the story brims with lessons about family, grief, trauma, and love. This was such an emotional and satisfying read--I very much look forward to more from this author!

(side note: Since I have seen others mention typos, I will say that I did also notice a lot of typos in my e-arc file but there was a pattern. It must have been some kind of global glitch because it was literally every word that had a double f, and even some with a single f. "Traffic" became "trac" and "muffled" became "mued" etc. It was a bit annoying at times but I'm sure that will be corrected in the final print).

This book was impossible to put down while I hung to impossible hope against impossible odds. Biehn has crafted a masterpiece.

My netgalley time limit ran out before I finished reading... I was 2/3 in and I could tell it was going nicely!
I enjoyed the setting and background stories, all the intriguing twist and angst. Felix is adorable and annoying lol and I really like Loren! I wish I could get to finish it one day but I really enjoyed what I have read!

So much emotion, so many laughs and banter, so much yearning /pos, and the climax was mind blowing!! One of my favourite reads this year so far for sure! You can tell the research and passion that went into the writing of this book and these two beautiful characters

I would say that this book was pretty much middle of the road. I enjoyed the historical aspect but there were parts that were confusing at times (this could honestly be my own fault). The characters were flushed out and well-developed. The writing style is pretty simple so be prepared for that.

Thank you to PeachTree Teen and NetGalley for this ARC!

really love the vibe: gay guys on the run just before Pompeii blows up. Felix was an awesome char and the setting, story... was great. I just didn't love Loren as much as I felt needed to happen to make it become perfect. 4 stars. tysm for the arc.

This story had a lot of fun concepts but none of them really seemed to materialize. I wanted to like it but I just couldn’t get into it. Overall it ended up being just fine

thank you netgalley for the earc

This is a biased review from someone who was born and raised watching the Vesuvius from her window, who studied things about the Vesuvius and Pompeii in school.
If you’re not from Italy maybe you’ll enjoy the story more and you’ll learn more.
I’ve wanted to read this book since I first saw it so I was really happy to get an earc. But I found it really really boring. It took me so long to read it. The urgency and anxiety that a book about 79 ac is supposed to have was missing. And I know it is historically accurate that people from Pompeii weren't aware of what was about to happen but Loren knew and it seems like he doesn’t care much and other things matter more.
Also I expected the Vesuvius to be more present and central given the title but it felt like it was more marginal.
The book is not totally bad, the writing is really good and rich and I enjoyed the chemistry between characters and how they had a well defined personality but there are so many elements that I felt didn’t merge well together.
The book has like three plots. The political/social plot was, personally, the most boring and the one that got more space in the book. In Italy you get to study these things in school so I didn’t find it interesting. They were just elements to characterize some characters.
The romantic plot , that I thought was the most important one, was developed in some scattered scenes and honestly I wanted more because Loren and Felix had such good chemistry but they made me feel nothing :(
The mythological plot was sadly the weakest one and that’s a shame because it would have been interesting if explored more.
The book was full of interesting elements that got a bit wasted like the secondary characters that were introduced and then forgotten. I would have loved to know more about Camilia and Elias.

While I can see that research was made, some things left me confused (like the villa in Amalfi??) and i didn’t really get some name choices. But the thing that I really didn’t understand was the use of “pappa”. It’s papà in italian. Nonna and mamma were correct.

I’m really sad I didn’t enjoy this book as I wanted

What a whirlwind ride. Felix and Loren? Give me more. Set in the time before the infamous eruption of Pompeii, this story was such a journey to go on. The characters were well-developed and I loved seeing these two bond and form a relationship. I cannot wait to see what Cass Biehn does in the future. So excited for more readers to get their hands on this wonderful book.