Someone hold me… WHEN THE TIDES HELD THE MOON is having an incredible week of year-end accolades, and I’m simply overwhelmed with gratitude! Thank you to everyone who read and uplifted my book to send a message that queer, BIPOC Latine stories matter! 😭🇵🇷🎡🗽🧜🏼‍♂️🌊🌙

Still celebrating that these 3 titles are Amazon's best books of 2025! THE SNIPS: A BAD BUZZ DAY by Raúl the Third @raulthethird.bsky.social FISH DON’T GO TO SCHOOL by Deb Pilutti @dpilutti.bsky.social WHEN THE TIDES HELD THE MOON by Venessa Vida Kelley @venessakelley.bsky.social

🧵/2 There's struggles with identity, found family, falling in love with a merman while also learning to live oneself. What are you doing reading this post? Go read When the Tides Held the Moon by @venessakelley.bsky.social instead, then come scream about it with me 😁🙌🏼

QotD: So you have a favorite sea creature? Hola readers! I just learned last minute that November is Puerto Rican Heritage Month, so here's a book by a Puerto Rican nonbinary author that's been living rent free in my head since Mermay that you should definitely be reading! 🧵/1

Venessa Vida Kelley @venessakelley.bsky.social has written “When the Tides Held the Moon,” a lovely Boricua gay sideshow merman romance set on Coney Island in 1911. It’s full of freaks and longing, found family and villains, and finding one’s power even within powerlessness. Very satisfying. #book

The Goodreads Choice Awards 2025 is open and these ABLA titles are in the running! Science fiction: LOCAL HEAVENS by K.M. Fajardo Horror: YOU WEREN’T MEANT TO BE HUMAN by Andrew Joseph White Debut: WHEN THE TIDES HELD THE MOON by Venessa Vida Kelley YA fiction: I AM NOT JESSICA CHEN by Ann Liang

✨Happy Asexual & Aromantic Awareness Week!✨ Though “Demisexuality” as a term didn’t exist in 1911, there are a number of scenes scattered throughout WHEN THE TIDES HELD THE MOON that articulate Benny’s experience of being on the gray-asexual spectrum. This one might be my favorite.

Love seeing @venessakelley.bsky.social’s WHEN THE TIDES HELD THE MOON in Swoon’s list of sexy and spellbinding paranormal romance books! www.swooon.com/book-list/pa...

When the Tides Held the Moon by @venessakelley.bsky.social is so beautiful I’m actually weeping

When the Tides Held the Moon by @venessakelley.bsky.social absolutely slammed me would be a gross understatement. Please, read it! #whenthetidesheldthemoon #fanart #digitalfanart #illustration #queerlit #historical #romantasy #lgbtq #merman #mermanart #commissionsareopen #queerartist #lgbtartist

Singing Each to Each: Night Hunt🧜‍♀️ Off the coast of Aotearoa, Iamiq struggles to balance raising his orphaned sisters and his own needs. This is a pilot for a much larger project I want to get published. Part 1/4 #mermaids #mermen #comics #art #ocart

A book that helped get me through a particularly dark few days in American life: WHEN THE TIDES HELD THE MOON by @venessakelley.bsky.social. Rich prose, vivid detail, grounded in the actual world we live in but with a tidal pull of solidarity and hope. Oh, also it’s a boricua merman romance.

🌈COVER REVEAL🌈 From the acclaimed author of Chef's Kiss and A Gentleman's Gentleman comes a riotous Regency romp, featuring a charming and unforgettable genderfluid lead. A LADY FOR ALL SEASONS is out March 10. Preorder & full synopsis: tjalexander.com#books6

@venessakelley.bsky.social I've just finished When the Tides Held the Moon and I can only say "Thank you" with my whole heart. I love everything about it: the way ALL the characters are portrayed, the historical setting, the beautiful love story, the drawings (just gorgeous and sooo moving).

I'm so glad I requested that my library buy When the Tides Held the Moon by @venessakelley.bsky.social - it's a fantastic story and has gorgeous illustrations!

I CANNOT stop reading When The Tides Held The Moon by @venessakelley.bsky.social. It’s so good I wanna scream and run thru walls like the Kool-Aid man.

This was a great event today with @rrvirdi.bsky.social, @kcsmithbooks.bsky.social, @venessakelley.bsky.social, @chelsabdullah.bsky.social and @clydeboyer.bsky.social. Good folks and talented writers all. Do yourself a favor and check ‘em out!

I just finished Tides and it's so, so good. A beautiful physical object as well as story. It's healing to see a queer book crafted with that level of care and respect.

At @moonpalacebooks.bsky.social for the release of The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World by @jrdawson.bsky.social (which I'm very excited to read), and I spotted another great book as well! Always happy to see work by @venessakelley.bsky.social out in the wild.

I recently finished @venessakelley.bsky.social‬’s amazing debut, an illustrated historical adult romantasy called When the Tides Held the Moon. Hot damn, Venessa. What a beautiful story of queer love, found family, and the tug of war between caring solidarity and corrupting greed. Well done.

Of course I saw K-Pop Demon Hunters and lost my chill just like everyone else who’s seen it. Between the music, art design, romance, humor, and all that blessed bisexual lighting, I fell back on my old coping mechanisms. [Close-ups & Timelapse in thread]

🌈📚 📖 When the Tides Held the Moon by Venessa Vida Kelley @venessakelley.bsky.social beautifully illustrated queer historical cozy fantasy Affiliate Link bookshop.org/a/100590/978... #booksky #queerbooks #fantasy #merman #romance

To share, for those in DC area, @loyaltybooks.bsky.social will host convo between myself and @venessakelley.bsky.social on Thurs., July 10 at 7pm, at the DC Pop-Up as we discuss The Ghosts of Gwendolyn Montgomery and When the Tides Held the Moon. For free RSVP, visit loyaltybookstores.com/gwendolyn

On this last day of Pride and Caribbean Heritage Month, I figured I’d remind old & new friends that I’m already hard at work on my next book: MANU FACES THE MUSIC (@onipress.bsky.social, 2026) 🎶🇵🇷 Get ready to see a lot more about this sapphic urban fantasy in the coming months!

Loving “When the Tides Held the Moon” by @venessakelley.bsky.social . Listening to the amazing audiobook narrated by Michael Crouch and Christopher Salazar. Beautiful writing set in an early 1900s Coney Island side show. Love all the characters that make up this chosen family. #booksky #queersff

“This ailment is a part of you that you did not choose and cannot help. You are not your body, Benigno.” Living with multiple invisible disabilities, I take such solace in these words. @venessakelley.bsky.social , thank you for treating all bodies with kindness and dignity. You are so cherished 🧜🏼‍♂️📖🎵💙

I'm nearly halfway through when the tides held the moon and listen, it just occurred to me that Eli and Emmett are EACH OTHER'S OTHER HALF IN AND OUT OF THE SHOW. I'm obsessed. Well played, @venessakelley.bsky.social well played. I take my hat off to your genius.

Finished “When the Tides Held the Moon” by @venessakelley.bsky.social A really beautiful love story with a wonderful found family. Adored all the gorgeous illustrations! Really great to learn more in the author’s note at the end. Love Benigno and Río! 🧜🏼‍♂️🌊🌙💕

I picked "When The Tides Held The Moon" by @venessakelley.bsky.social yesterday and haven't been able to put it down 💖😭💖😭 This book is making me feel so many things!!! 😭😭😭 Last 150 pages left and Rio is so unwell. I am fragile!! 😭😭😭😭

I don’t know about you, but I’m in need of community right now, and to that end, I’m very grateful to have Lavender Con to look forward to this weekend. Here’s where to find me at the event. Hope to see you there! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

I'll be talking with @venessakelley.bsky.social who wrote the lovely When the Tides Held the Moon! stores.barnesandnoble.com/event/978006...

Finished "When the Tides Held the Moon" by @venessakelley.bsky.social and I'm obsessed. A beautiful story with beautiful illustrations that has me now wanting to learn everything I can about the history of Coney Island and the fight for Puerto Rican Independence.

See you at @peoplesbooktakoma.com tomorrow evening! I can’t wait!

favorite book I've read so far this year and it's not close!!! thank you for this beauty, @venessakelley.bsky.social 🩷

It’s Pride Month AND Caribbean-American Heritage Month, and if you’re looking for a way to observe both, may I offer my queer historical romantasy about a Puerto Rican blacksmith who falls in love with a kidnapped merman in Coney Island? 🇵🇷🧜🏼‍♂️🌊💙🗽🎡🌙🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

7/ When the Tides Held the Moon by Venessa Vida Kelley, aka @venessakelley.bsky.social #MerMay 2025 was a bit more exciting with this at my desk. A beautiful tale of worlds colliding, found families, and unrepentant queer love amid the electric glow of early 20th century Coney Island.

Today marks one month of WHEN THE TIDES HELD THE MOON! To celebrate, the team at @erewhonbooks.bsky.social and I pulled together a special behind-the-art featurette about how this fully illustrated historical romantasy was created. I hope you enjoy it! youtu.be/IGHoH9yZYqE?...

Less than a month ago, my queer BIPOC immigrant New York fairytale WHEN THE TIDES HELD THE MOON launched. Last week it went to reprint. 😭🎉 Thank you to everyone who has taken a chance on this little Boricua merman romantasy. I am beside myself!

Just received an emotional email from a reader in the Boricua Diaspora. They’d just finished WHEN THE TIDES HELD THE MOON and wanted me to know that seeing themself in Benny’s struggles made them feel less alone. This. This is why I wrote it. 😭

A wonderful book by @venessakelley.bsky.social and a book sleeve by @customcritters.bsky.social

Been reading @venessakelley.bsky.social When the Tides Held the Moon and it is so lovely and I adore the illustrations! Looking forward to diving deeper into this book and these characters🌊

I hardly know how to process this, so I’m putting it here: The @nytimes.com’ glowing review of WHEN THE TIDES HELD THE MOON showed up in the Sunday paper today 😭

In case it helps: a huge theme of the book is about how important amends are and what it takes to make them 💙

Undone by this beautiful review of WHEN THE TIDES HELD THE MOON: “Evocative illustrations, a little-represented moment in history, and lyrical prose mark When the Tides Held the Moon as a standout debut and Kelley as an author to watch.”

Talking about my merry month of May w/ merpeople books from @aardvarkbookclub.bsky.social today! @venessakelley.bsky.social @kellwoods.bsky.social #booksky

@venessakelley.bsky.social is participating to the OFS zine all about trans and enby books Characters ✨🏳️‍⚧️ Follow us for more amazing artists introductions! . . . #transright #enbybook #transbook #Queerbooks #Queerzine #zine

I finished When the Tides Held the Moon by @venessakelley.bsky.social pls send help and ao3 links to post-canon Benny/Río fics 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 #Brío

I finished my granny square for When The Tides Held The Moon for my book blanket. I loved the book so much it needed glittery yarn (that's the highest of praise) @venessakelley.bsky.social

This book is sooo beautiful!! 😍 My brain is still very much stuck in The Nightingale, but I'm diving into this the first chance I get. I can't wait to meet Benny and Rio! #whenthetidesheldthemoon @venessakelley.bsky.social