Recommend!

I don't give away spoilers in my reviews. I am admittedly not usually the reader who loves fantasy but I knew from reviews that I wanted to read When the Tides Held the Moon by Venessa Vida Kelley. The cover is eye-catching with the graphic of Benny and the merman. I loved the oceanic colors used for it. Benny is on his own in life after losing his aunt. He has come to America and is working as a blacksmith. Benny has difficulties with his breathing and being in an environment such as a metal shop really affects his health. Benny is a talented blacksmith and his art is noticed by the owner of one of the local amusement parks - Luna Park in Coney Island. Benny is hired to build a large tank for a new exhibit and isn't told of all the details. Benny finds himself becoming attached to the new exhibit - a real merman from the ocean. I loved Benny's compassion and moral struggles within himself and with the merman. The other characters in the book that make up the menagerie were also such a great group of characters to read about. My two favorite parts in this book were the illustrations and the storyline. The illustrations added to the story and worked together with the cover. I usually don't read much fantasy but this was such a good story. (from my Goodreads review)

Very light-hearted good read. Such a sweet book.

Great read! Loved the story

Taught me much

This book is amazing and talks about the issue of book banning and how one teen fights to end unfair book banning in her town. The protagonist is brave, fierce, and unafraid to stand up for book banning even if it means going against some pretty powerful politicians. This book deserves a 10/10 star rating. I would recommend this book to anyone.

It's so good and funny

Book was pretty good. At times to much detail at once so it was a lot to sort out. There was a plot twist I did not see coming.

Stone and Dino live charmed lives with an adventure thrown in. We should all be so lucky

I don't know what this book wanted to be: spy thriller or anthropology fiction? Either way, it was trying to be too many things at once.