Episode Sixty Eight

A blacksmith builds an iron tank for a Coney Island spectacle, then realizes it’s a cage for a living merman. That’s the hook that pulls us into When The Tides Held The Moon by Vanessa Vida Kelley, a queer historical fantasy romance set in 1910s New York City with Luna Park energy, sideshow found family, and a love story shaped by captivity, survival, and the risk of choosing freedom.

We also warm up with talk about DragonCon and the kind of bookish news romance readers actually care about: Holly Black’s return to faerie with multiple upcoming books, the surprisingly delightful pull of a themed cookbook, and what an adaptation could get right if it leans into danger, beauty, and worldbuilding. Then we talk cozy fantasy through Sarah Beth Durst’s new announcements and why her stories often work because of one odd, charming “sidekick” element that makes the whole world feel alive.

From there, we get into the messier questions behind the genre. What happens when an author rewrites previously released books to remove explicit scenes and the only versions left are “clean” edits? How does Kindle ebook ownership change the power dynamic for readers, and why does purity culture language still land like a judgment even when closed-door romance is a valid preference? After that, we dig deep into Benny and Rio’s relationship, Puerto Rican identity and belonging, the story’s poetic voice, the debate over the ending mechanics, and why representation matters when a book shows people living openly and unapologetically.

Listen now, then subscribe, share with a romantasy friend, and leave a review so more readers can find us.

When The Tides Held The Moon by Vanessa Vida Kelley
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