Back of Book: 

Give him your heart. Grasp your destiny. Get out alive.

Clever thief Felix seizes an opportunity to steal a helmet in Pompeii. But as he's chased by a mysterious patrician, Felix discovers the helmet is not only a priceless artefact but a relic of the god Mercury. When Felix touches it, pieces of his forgotten past begin to simmer.

Loren, an aspiring councilman and temple attendant, is plagued by nightmares of Pompeii's destruction. Nightmares that feature Felix, who stumbles into Loren's temple as an earthquake rocks the city.

Loren knows they have mere days to uncover Felix's ties to the relic and to Loren's own dreams if they have any hope of saving Pompeii from the boiling fury of Mount Vesuvius. But the Ancient Roman world is ruled by bloody politics and unstoppable destinies, with dangerous, desperate people lurking in every shadow.

Felix and Loren will have to piece together their fates - and their growing feelings for one another - to make it out of a burning city alive. 

Book Number: One

Genre: Young Adult | Fantasy | Historical | Romance | LGBTQIA+ 

Review: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

A queer love story set in Pompeii days before Vesuvius erupts. . . what could possibly go wrong? 

Felix is a thief that moves from one town to the next with his one goal being to survive. When he makes his way through Pompeii, he can't pass up the opportunity to steal a helmet that could earn him big bucks. Unfortunately, the helmet ends up being a holy artifact of Mercury and Felix is soon pursued by an army of guards. Desperate to escape, he thrusts himself into the temple of Isis, where he is given sanctuary and then knocked unconscious by one of Isis' disciples. Loren didn't mean to hit the stranger, but he's seen that face every night in his dreams for quite some time now and didn't know how else to react to Felix's sudden appearance. Loren does know that his reoccurring vision and this strange boy does have something to do with the destruction of Pompeii that he keeps foreseeing. Felix wants nothing more than to get out of there, but Loren has other plans for them. The two boys reluctantly team up as they work to discover how to save Pompeii before it is too late. 

I have to start out this review by saying that I have been so excited to read this book for so long! I am a huge sucker for books based on mythology and queer loves stories, so I knew that "Vesuvius" would be up my alleyway. Due to this, I feel I may have overhyped this one for myself, but I still enjoyed my time with it. 

My favorite part about this one has to be the relationship between Loren and Felix. Loren is a talkative, follower of Isis who is desperate for attention and yearns to make a difference politically. He is a bit of an outcast for several reasons, but he tries not to let that get him down. Felix, on the other hand, is a moody thief who cares little for others, and struggles to remember his past. These two work well together despite them being opposites. And their banter is pretty peak.

Another thing that I really appreciate is the fact that both the boys have some serious issues that they are both dealing with in turn. It takes most of the book for the root of Felix's issues to be revealed, but it is quite obvious that he lived a traumatic childhood. He shies away from people's touch, tries his hardest to avoid forging connections with other humans, and care for little else than surviving the unfortunate situations that life throws his way. 

Loren's secrets come to light a bit faster than Felix's, but I'll still avoid going into too many details. Loren fled from a previous lifestyle that didn't fit him in order to live as his more authentic self. Both of these boys being queer is another thing these two obviously have to contend with—they live in the Roman Empire, after all—which leads to complicated feelings toward society at large. Knowing that these two boys have so much hardship to contend with is hard but also makes them feel way more real. 

I must say, I did find myself getting lost a bit in the plot of this one. There are so many political things happening in this one, and my brain had a hard time keeping all the major political players straight. I just found myself not caring all that much about these events, which had me zoning out at times, which in turn led to me not one hundred percent understanding all events that went down in the end. 

I was pretty invested in Loren's vision side of the plot though. If one knows literally anything about history or science, one can surmise that there is absolutely nothing Loren can do to stop an active volcano from blowing it's top. However, Loren is convinced that he can fix things, which leads to quite a pickle for him. This definitely paints the book with a feeling of unease, which is pretty exciting. 

Despite all this, the ending felt rather anticlimactic. The actual eruption of Vesuvius was skimmed over rather quickly, and I was pretty disappointed by that. A few of the end events also felt rather gimmicky; many felt as though they only happened so these boys could have some semblance of a happily ever after. Which, I get it, we want the book to be angsty, but not so angsty that everyone blows up and dies. But still, I would have appreciated if some things didn't work out quite so perfectly. 

Overall, I had a pretty good time with "Vesuvius." I enjoyed Loren and Felix as characters; their relationship was a major highlight of this one.  The magical elements of the plot kept me turning the pages, even though I found myself bored by the abundance of political scheming. I like a romance with a little bit of tragedy, and I figured a Pompeii romance would deliver on that pretty well. However, that wasn't exactly the case, so consider me surprised by that. I think it is cool how Biehn took a tragedy such as the end of Pompeii and turned it into a touching romance though. If you are a fan of Roman mythology, this is a must read. 

Back of Book: 

Grief moves in strange ways.

After narrowly surviving Pompeii, Felix and Loren move to Rome for a fresh start as partners—though the process of healing is far from linear.

When Aurelia, the oracle girl Loren once considered a sister, arrives to issue a grave warning, the boys discover escaping the ghosts of their pasts isn’t so simple. With the completion of the new Colosseum looming, and with no psychopomp in Rome to handle the deaths it promises to bring, the veil between the spirit world and the living threatens to burst.

Struggling with survivor’s guilt, Loren has shut out his prophetic dreams to focus on the present: proving he can actually do good for society as a senator’s assistant. But Aurelia’s arrival throws Loren into a vision that brings him face-to-face with his old enemy—the ghost of his partner Felix’s traumatic memories.

The ghost confronts Loren with an ultimatum: Destroy Felix’s memories entirely or be escorted to the underworld to face the fate he deserved in Pompeii.

Meanwhile, Felix has left thieving behind to build a stable life. But when curiosity about his missing memories leads him back to the Temple of Mercury, he discovers a figure from his past who should be dead. They might be the key to finally granting Felix his memories—and psychopomp powers—back... if Felix can prove himself worthy first.

As the walls of the arena close in, Felix and Loren must brave their trauma before the veil between life and death is torn—even if saving each other will rip them apart. 

Book Number: Two

Genre: Genre: Young Adult | Fantasy | Historical | Romance | LGBTQIA+ 

Review: ?