Venom & Vow

Ages 13 to 18

Two enemy kingdoms are forced to work together to break a curse in this lush YA fantasy, featuring a transgender prince and a bigender dama/assassin in the lead roles.

Keep your enemy closer.

Cade McKenna is a transgender prince who’s doubling for his brother. Valencia Palafox is a young dama attending the future queen of Eliana. Gael Palma is the infamous boy assassin Cade has vowed to protect.

Patrick McKenna is the reluctant heir to a kingdom, and the prince Gael has vowed to destroy.

Cade doesn’t know that Gael and Valencia are the same person. Valencia doesn’t know that every time she thinks she’s fighting Patrick, she’s fighting Cade. And when Cade and Valencia blame each other for an enchantment that takes both their families, neither of them realizes that they have far more dangerous enemies.

Cowritten by married writing team Anna-Marie and Elliott McLemore, this is a lush and powerful YA novel about owning your power and becoming who you really are—no matter the cost.

About the Author

Anna-Marie McLemore is the author of The Weight of Feathers, When the Moon Was Ours (longlisted for the National Book Award), Wild Beauty, Blanca & Roja, Dark and Deepest Red, The Mirror Season (longlisted for the National Book Award), and Lakelore.

Elliott McLemore is a nonbinary trans guy who, as a child, romped in dresses, fought with plastic swords, and dreamed up his first stories. Venom & Vow is his debut novel.