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opalmars 's review for:
When the Tides Held the Moon
by Venessa Vida Kelley
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Yeah… idk wtf happened here. I’ve been a fan of Venessa Kelley for several years now, and I read this fanfic as it was coming out – and I really liked it! However, in book form, this just didn’t work for me. 🥲
The story is slow and not much happens. You go into this book knowing it’s about a merman being captured to be part of a “Human Oddities Menagerie” and falling in love with a man who works there, who later tries to release the merman. After reading, you realize that that’s the whole story. Nothing else happens at all.
And listen: this languid pace worked for the fanfiction! I enjoy a slice of life romance. I enjoy seeing my favourite characters falling in love in 100 different ways! But this book was longer than the fanfic, and was just filled with nothing.It’s just annoying to see Benny refuse to release Río for like 200 pages, even after he “fell in love” with him… Like… Just fucking HELP RÍO??!!!?!!??!!!?! 🤨 It got suuuuper repetitive! And when he bashed Sonia for not helping Río, as if Benny himself hadn’t spent MONTHS refusing to do it?? Lmaooo okay. And, because I didn’t care about these new characters the same way I cared about the ones in the fic, this just kind of fell flat, for me. I mean, I did like Benny and Río! But I could not understand why they fell so deeply in love… I just didn’t feel their romance at all. I do appreciate, however, that the romance was really sweet and tender!
Regarding the side characters: they were… fine. They were developed enough, but I honestly never cared much about them. And I didn’t really understand why they were so close to Benny, and especially Río! Towards the end, the whole crew just quickly accepts to risk their livelihoods to help release the merman, even though they barely knew him?? You could say that they were doing it for Benny, and not necessarily the merman, but I also feel like their bond with Benny wasn’t strong enough to justify risking everything they had… Idk… I just wish we’d seen more of these friendships.
Aff… Overall, I’m just really sad I didn’t love this, not only because I’ve been a fan of Venessa for so long and loved her writing already, but also because I had literally already enjoyed this story (when it was a snowbaz fanfiction)… With that said, I plan on reading more of her work. And I’d still recommend this one if you enjoy languid love stories. This was really tender and unique, and the illustrations are to die for!
The story is slow and not much happens. You go into this book knowing it’s about a merman being captured to be part of a “Human Oddities Menagerie” and falling in love with a man who works there, who later tries to release the merman. After reading, you realize that that’s the whole story. Nothing else happens at all.
And listen: this languid pace worked for the fanfiction! I enjoy a slice of life romance. I enjoy seeing my favourite characters falling in love in 100 different ways! But this book was longer than the fanfic, and was just filled with nothing.
Regarding the side characters: they were… fine. They were developed enough, but I honestly never cared much about them. And I didn’t really understand why they were so close to Benny, and especially Río! Towards the end, the whole crew just quickly accepts to risk their livelihoods to help release the merman, even though they barely knew him?? You could say that they were doing it for Benny, and not necessarily the merman, but I also feel like their bond with Benny wasn’t strong enough to justify risking everything they had… Idk… I just wish we’d seen more of these friendships.
Aff… Overall, I’m just really sad I didn’t love this, not only because I’ve been a fan of Venessa for so long and loved her writing already, but also because I had literally already enjoyed this story (when it was a snowbaz fanfiction)… With that said, I plan on reading more of her work. And I’d still recommend this one if you enjoy languid love stories. This was really tender and unique, and the illustrations are to die for!