this was pretty captivating! it had me engrossed while reading it. the setting and cast were very interesting to me, even though i couldn't connect with the romance as much because of the short time span and because i feel we didn't get enough depth to it. another aspect of this that really irked me was the anachronistic dialogue; no one speaks like that in ancient pompeii, i'm sure. still a fairly fun ride, and worth giving a shot.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this eARC!

It took me a while to get round to this one, and I'm beating myself up for it now that I've finished. Vesuvius had the perfect blend of high charged emotions, tense stakes, and comforting comedowns. Altogether, a perfect queer experience and an utter delight to read.

Biehn's biggest strength is in their character work, how well-fleshed even the side characters like Elias and Camilia felt to read. The complexities of Loren and Felix's lives will stick with me for a long time to come.

I read this in two days. TWO. DAYS. That is how good it is, you just want to devour it and want it into your eyeballs as fast as possible. They made me so sad and so happy and i just loved them the entire time, especially the orpheus and eurydice moments between them.

Vesuvius is a YA historical fantasy about two young men thrown together by fate and thievery four days prior to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
Thank you to NetGalley and Peachtree Teen for the opportunity to read and review this book which I am giving 2.5⭐️.
Unfortunately this book was a miss for me. I did not care for any of the characters or much of the plot of this book. The ultimate eruption of Vesuvius at 75% relatively lackluster. This book is being equated to A Song of Achilles but other than one of the characters constantly bringing up Achilles and Patroclus this feels like a miss for comparison.

I was really excited to read this book- the eruption of Vesuvius and Pompeii have always interested me. The main characters, Felix, a thief with missing memories, and Loren, an outsider in his own city, have an interesting dynamic full of banter. I think their love story was adorable, but I also feel like opportunities to add more depth to their character were missed. I loved the first 75-80% of the book, but the pacing was somewhat off in the end. Overall, I think this was an enjoyable read, and I'd love to read more of Felix and Loren's adventures.

Thank you Netgalley and Peachtree Teen for the opportunity to read this book early.

3.5⭐️
Thank you netgally for letting me read this in exchange for an honest review.

I liked this book but I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would. When I saw a ya queer historical fantasy I got really exited but I had a hard time getting through it. There were some elements I really loved like Loren hitting Felix with a bowl the first time they meet cause he thinks he’s a ghost. I laughed out loud when that happened. I also really liked some of the side characters like Elias and Aurelia.
Some things that I didn’t like that much were the story seemed to drag on for a little bit too much in the middle. For me it was the last 30 percent that really got me into the story. I also wasn’t a fan of all the political stuff but I also understand that’s an important part of the story.
I would have liked to see a little bit about Felix his life when he lived in Rome, what he got up to there. Maybe that’s something we get to see in a potential next book.
I also thought the story would be more about Felix and Loren being on the run after Felix stole the helmet so that’s why the story was a little bit different then I expected.
All in all I would recommend the story, it’s a very interesting read. The ending had me stressing for a little bit there but I am happy with how it ended

I will start by saying that this is so much more than just a book set in Pompeii in the lead up to the eruption. It’s magical, it’s political and it deals with some very difficult topics. Going into many books with a background that is already well known, you get some presumptions, but this story was incredibly written and planned out. We all know what is going to happen, Vesuvius will erupt and take down Pompeii with it, but for 80% of this book, the volcano is just a background character. Sometimes they pass it, or visit, or it’s there looming over them, yet even with Loren’s visions of a foretold disaster, they have no idea that the volcano is to blame. I thought this was well done, as you had no idea when it was about to happen, and the story wasn’t overshadowed by it.
I loved the political elements to it. I am a fan of when books delve into the workings of a town, especially fantasy or one such as this. It was tricky to understand sometimes, but I blame my own shortcomings for that, as most of it was well explained. The plot itself was neatly done, you had a clear end goal and vision for what was to come. I did enjoy that, though there probably was a main villain, there were others that came into it that were also villainous, it wasn’t just a one-way street.
The characters were easily loveable, I think I fell in love with Loren as soon as he swung that bowl. Their relationship was beautiful, and even though it was over the span of a few days, it didn’t feel like insta-love as each day and each interaction was detailed and you could understand why they were drawn to each other. The side characters were also adorable, but I do wish we had some inclination as to their fate at the end of the story, though some were alluded to, I wanted some confirmation.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book, it was beautiful and mysterious and thrilling. I loved seeing Loren and Felix break free from the shackles they were each in and learn from their time together. I loved that though you can’t fix everything, you can pick up what you have left and begin again.

Final rating; 4.5

I follow the author on instagram and their posts made me very excited to discover Vesuvius. I'm happy to say it absolutely lived up to my expectations!

The main characters Felix and Loren have very distinct personalities and both are very likable. I did take a bit longer to warm up to Felix, mostly for reasons I should take to my therapist tbh, but then I felt so protective of him. Their connection is sweet, their banter is great and I loved reading a bit about their backstories, as heartbreaking as it was. Their relationship does move a bit fast as 90% of the book covers just a handful of days, I know not everyone is going to be a fan of that, but it still felt progressive enough that it didn't bother me. I would have loved the side characters to be even more developed because I loved them. Livia, Nonna, Elias and Aurelia were all great and I enjoyed the found family vibe.

My one criticism is perhaps that the last 10% felt a bit unnecessary. The whole book leads up to a big event (I'm sure you can guess which) that happens around the 90% mark and then it's just the aftermath of it. I didn't dislike it, but I do feel I would have been fine with the story ending straight after said big event. Or for the aftermath to really be more developed. As it is, it feels like a bit of a middle ground and I wasn't fully satisfied with it. Again, it's not that it's bad; it just feels... unfinished? A bit too surface-level?

Regardless of this minor flaw (to me), what I really adored is that this book truly feels like a labour of love. I don't know how to explain it, but there's a certain quality in the writing that allows you to feel how much the author loves this story and these characters. And their passion made me love it even more too. So overall, I had a fantastic time reading this and the author's next works will be on my radar!

Everyone is lucky that I couldn't annotate my digital copy of this book because there would have been a lot of screaming.

Vesuvius has been on my TBR pretty much since I saw the cover, and I'm so glad I got to read it early because this is the most invested I've been in a book in a while. The world and the characters immediately drew me in, and if I would've had the chance, I probably would have read this book in one sitting. The ending leaves a possibility of a second book, and I would love to read more if the author chooses to continue expanding this into a series.
The story follows two boys living in Pompeii: Felix, a thief who has lost the memories of his past, and Loren, a temple attendant with a penchant for seeing the future...even when he doesn't want to. I found the story pacing to be well-done, although there were a few chapters in the middle where it dragged a bit. I also wish the implications of part of the ending were touched on a bit more, just because it would've had more emotional impact. The story excels at balancing political intrigue with action, romance, and angst. While I did call most of the plot twists, I still found them exciting and looked forward to each chapter. There were some subplots that didn't have the most satisfactory endings, so that's why I'm hoping for a sequel, but I'm still happy with the way the story ended.
The characters were my favorite part of this book. Felix (as most thief-type characters are) was charming and his POV chapters were fun, but I also loved learning about his backstory. Loren was so sweet, but his character arc was so touching. I've seen some other reviews saying he didn't feel as detailed as Felix, but I personally thought he was really fleshed out. Livia and Aurelia were super kind as well, and I surprisingly grew to like Elias by the end even though I didn't like him at first. The villains were cunning, and while there were a few side characters that I thought could've used a bit more personality, I still loved them all. The romance between Felix and Loren was sweet but also angsty, and I really appreciated how they communicated their feelings realistically.
Vesuvius is a YA historical fantasy novel featuring a diverse cast of characters and exciting mysteries and romances, all centered around a volcano on the verge of explosion.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the free e-ARC!

4.5/5

Thank you to netgalley and to the publisher for an advanced copy to review!

This one comes out in June

A gay Mt Vesuvius story? Sign me up!

I don’t know about yall, but Pompeii is one of those historical events that I think about constantly. It’s up there with Tudor era and Titanic as far as my Roman Empire moments.

So when I saw this, I was immediately intrigued.

I loved the first 76% of this book, but the ending lost me a bit. I felt like the big climax just dragged on and then the conclusion also lasted far too long.

But other than that, I still really really enjoyed this and would definitely recommend it to all my history nerds and queer book lovers

Interesting in premise, I found the writing to be hard to follow and I was not a fan of the main character. there were one or two supporting characters that stood out to me but all in all, one that I will not revisit.

This is a neat story with a lot of great world-building. The cover is beautiful. Hope to see more titles like it!

Felix and Loren galavant around Pompeii in the four days preceding Mount Vesuvius's interuption and maybe fall in love a lil.

This was kind of delightful, if not particularly deep. I feel like this could have been a 5/5 banger if it was constructed a little bit differently. As it is, it was pretty light and fluffy. I didn't feel like the romance that developed between the characters was any kind of earth shattering, and there wasn't any kind of deeper meaning that I felt like I got in the aftermath of the story.

I would recommend this to someone who wants to read for the vibes and some relatively low stakes romance.

I was so excited for this book. The cover is beautiful and the plot is very unique.Unfortunately, I had a hard time remaining engaged. The story felt like a lot of back and forth with very little movement. Sort of like running around just to stay in the same place. It kind of felt like very little progress was made. This made the pace of the story feel slow. I was disappointed because I had high hopes for this one. I still think everyone should check it out.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc

This book caught my attention by the description alone. I was super excited to read this. I wanted to see how the author did on the time crunch they created. I will say that I connected more to Felix than Loren for reasons that had more to do with me than the writing. This was a solid debut novel by Cass Biehn!

Turns out stealing ancient artefacts from temples – like Mercury’s helmet from a temple in Pompeii – is a dangerous business. Felix finds this out the hard way. Strange things start to happen, interested parties are trying to get to the helmet through him, and forgotten memories about his past start to resurface. Loren, a temple attendant determined to rise in the ranks, has had prophetic dreams – or rather nightmares – about Felix for years. Even then, he is shocked when Felix stumbles into his temple, fleeing pursuers at the same time an earthquake hits the city. When Loren sees the helmet, he has a vision of the world and everything and everyone he loves being destroyed. They only have a few days to figure out Felix’s link to the helmet and his past memories, as well as make sense of Loren’s apocalyptic visions. But anywhere in the Ancient Roman empire is a dangerous place to be… but especially in a city that could very soon be reduced to nothing but ash and rubble. 

A meet-(sorta?)-cute in Pompeii, just before Vesuvius explodes? Well, this should be fun! I absolutely loved this book. The author managed to combine the historical and mythological elements really well. I would love to learn more about the research the author did into Pompeii at the time, they painted a vivid picture of the streets and politics and different religions. I was really interested with one of the main characters Loren being an assistant at the Temple of Isis – an Egyptian goddess. It made complete sense however when I remember how large the Roman empire was at this time, how Egypt was part of it, how the Romans allowed other religions to practice… The plot of the book was incredible, I felt like was reading a thriller, knowing that the volcano was going to erupt at any point. Loren trying to hide from his past and political and romantic aspirations and Felix’s memory block about his past and his reluctance to get close to anyone certainly made for some great tension – both narrative and romantic! Loren was definitely a relatable character, wanting to pursue a life beyond that of others’ expectations, but his ambitions, though admirable, sometimes get in the way of his relationship with others, like Felix. Also, the bit where Loren said his favourite moment in the Iliad was the part where Achilles and Patroclus were spending time alone together, at peace, in the midst of a war…? That part hit hard. If you know, well you know. (Light spoiler – Felix didn’t).

I would highly recommend this book to any historical fantasy and mythology fans, as well as anyone who enjoys complex characters and queer romance! I look forward to reading more by this author.

Felix is a pickpocket who has set his eyes on a divine prize. Loren, an aspiring politician and lonely follower of a foreign god, saw Felix coming. When the two of them meet, they set in motion an effort to defy death, destruction, and destiny itself.

A queer romance that pulls from the mythic relationships of Achilles and Patroclus and yet sets itself apart. Fast paced, high energy, and engaging from start to finish. While some of the character development was a bit inconsistent and political intrigue was a bit weak—especially given the Roman context—it didn’t detract from the story too badly. Some of the language choices were out of time (you could describe being drunk with any word at all and you pick “blitzed”?), but overall it was a fun read.

Great for readers who love historical fiction with a tinge of fantasy.

Thank you to NetGalley and PeachTree Teen for the ARC! All opinions are my own.

A thief drawn into a larger plot, a boy with visions who no one believes, a city on the edge of ruin, and secrets upon secrets upon secrets. When Felix steals the helmet of Mercury, he expects it will be an easy job with big rewards, but when it turns out other, more powerful people have their sights set on the helmet and the power it holds, Felix finds an unlikely ally in Loren, a temple attendant of Isis with dark vision of a future that Felix seems to be responsible for. In a race against time to unravel the mysteries of his vision before they come true and before Felix disappears, Loren and Felix find themselves drawn closer together as political forces seek to use them as pawns in their own game. A boy who needs to make things right and a boy who never stops moving, Loren and Felix's story is almost as explosive as Vesuvius.

I thoroughly, thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed this book. The setting was lovely and cozy, the characters were fun and nuanced, and knowing there was a ticking clock in the form of a very explosive volcano kept me flipping through page after page to see if Felix and Loren would manage to solve the mystery of Loren's visions, the helmet's pull on Felix, or their own secrets and feelings before Vesuvius went off. Cass Biehn has clearly done in-depth research in Pompeii at the time of Vesuvius' eruption, which helped immerse me in the ancient city. I didn't see the various twists and turns of the boys' secrets and literally gasped out loud at one of them.

If you're looking for a read that will keep you on the edge of your seat and unsure of what the characters will do next, pick up Vesuvius.

Spoiler alert: the volcano DOES explode.

A queer YA romance set in ancient Pompeii??? Sign me the fuck up, like this was written specifically for me (my insta user is literally Jaypompeii)…

I really enjoyed the writing and the characters were very well written and fleshed out. I do think Felix’ past could have been written a little better but I did like the representation for trauma repression lol

I am thankful to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy in exchange for my honest review.

I unfortunately couldn’t finish the book. The writing was solid, and the plot intrigued me at first, but the format made it difficult to read—PDFs just don’t work well on my e-reader. An EPUB file would have been much more user-friendly.

Additionally, I didn’t realize how strongly the book leaned into the young adult genre based on the synopsis. The characters’ reactions felt quite immature, and I struggled to connect with their emotions and decisions. That being said, I think this story would be a great fit for younger readers who enjoy YA fiction.