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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
Alex goes to White Ravens University, where she’s on the swimming team with her bestie Xiuying. Alex struggles with social anxiety so she only meets new people when Xiuying is around. This is where Alex becomes a part of a friendship group of incredible people but she begins to struggle with her romantic feelings for a new friend and have a gender crisis.
I absolutely adored this book and how it explores gender, sexuality and the use of different pronouns - I felt so seen with the aspec representation, which was absolutely stunning. I really loved the writing, although I do wish that certain things were expanded upon to make the chapters flow a bit more cohesively.
I really love the characters both individually and together and they had such incredible character development. They all had such an incredible dynamic that worked so well, and they complimented each other beautifully. My favourite characters were Alex, Xiuying, Tate and Uriah. I adored the t4t romance within this book but wish we got to see more of the sapphic relationship. There was so much queer joy in this book that made my heart so happy. I am such a sucker for found family and this book absolutely delivered.
⚠️ CWs: discussion about gender identity and sexual orientation, body dysphoria, gender dysphoria, self-blame, repetitive self-hatred & negative thoughts, self-harm, anxiety, anxiety/panic attacks, neurodivergent burnout, going non-verbal, anger issues, mentions of homophobia & transphobia, misgendering, brief sexual harassment, mention of diets, eating outside of meal times, parental neglect, alcohol use, cursing ⚠️
The writing style was not for me and the constant negative self talk and spiraling anxiety is not something I want to read about right now.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Easily one of my favourite reads now. It is such a cute story of found family, found identity, and acceptance that made me feel super seen. The honest conversations surrounding personal identity that each of the characters have is something I don’t often see in queer novels. I love the range of identities spanning the whole LGBTQ+ spectrum in a way that feels authentic to each character. Plus the main character’s neurodivergency was so relatable and realistic to my personal experiences. Overall amazing book, amazing character development, and genuinely made me cry tears of happiness to see my experiences reflected so well in these characters.
Disclaimer: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Disclaimer: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
“Tears in The Water” has so many great elements so I already knew I would enjoy it and I definitely did! This was a really sweet, and at times angsty, coming of age romance that was a delight all around. Despite me feeling as though it could have benefited from a bit of a longer page count, I really liked it.
Everything about this was really balanced. Many sweet moments are shared as well as some that made me tear up. This is very character focused which is something I always enjoy. The plot was mostly just vibes which felt cozy. The representation was great all around and I resonated to it a lot since I’m pansexual and nonbinary. Alex was a great main character to read about and I related with them so much. This was just a great read full of queer and neurodiverse characters.
Overall, I would definitely recommend if you’re looking for a quick, character driven, read with a diverse cast! Thank you so much to the author for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.
Everything about this was really balanced. Many sweet moments are shared as well as some that made me tear up. This is very character focused which is something I always enjoy. The plot was mostly just vibes which felt cozy. The representation was great all around and I resonated to it a lot since I’m pansexual and nonbinary. Alex was a great main character to read about and I related with them so much. This was just a great read full of queer and neurodiverse characters.
Overall, I would definitely recommend if you’re looking for a quick, character driven, read with a diverse cast! Thank you so much to the author for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.
This book was so nice, I loved reading it!
I was delighted to read a book with characters who really felt like uni students.
A book with a lot of representations, with characters at different stages of their journey to discover their identity and sexuality.
I had a very good experience reading the point of view of a main character dealing with anxiety. I could also identify a lot with some parts of their gender crisis!
“Gender was fucking confusing” Hell yeah, and I still don’t understand it!
All of the relationships were cute and healthy, each character expressed their love in a different way, Alex’s and Xiuying dynamic was so fun to read.
Asexueal and aromantic’s rep were so nice. All the talk about it felt real and I could identify a LOT to them. I cried through most of the conversations. They were the most impactful parts for me (chapter twenty-two in my vein).
I liked most of the characters, Tate was cute and cheesy, you get attached to Alex, Xiuying with her mullet is killing it and Uriah was my favorite character, I give him all of my love.
The book was very easy to read, even though English is not my first language.
It was a really enjoyable book, but of course, there are some parts that were less good.
Some scenes and events felt out of place or rushed. One of them being Xiuyong’s love interest and relationship, we didn’t really see much of it, so it felt abrupt. I was sad to see very little of Sky's character.
And what I liked the least was the epilogue and the last chapter. Mostly for personal reasons, but in general I just felt weird and uncomfortable reading both. For my personal experience, it almost ruined my whole experience but not to a point where I would tell you not to read it, it was still overall a good book.
Also the book wasn’t based on sport. Some parts of Alex’s swimming times were detailed, we can also see Tate’s playing volleyball, but it was mostly based on the character's development and relationships.
I was very pleased to read about Alex’s good times and struggles, and I would totally recommend this book!
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I started this book in the evening, hoping I’d get around 50 pages in since I’ve been in a little reading slump. However I was not able to put this book down, and I read it all in one sitting.
This book was such a fun read, definitely going to recommend it to others!
This book was such a fun read, definitely going to recommend it to others!
I really, really love the concept and ideas presented here but the writing is just so clunky. There are so many compound sentences, the way characters speak feels unnatural, and there’s a lot of telling without a lot of show. I hesitated to review the book because I feel bad because the concept is so great and we need more books that explore these ideas, but I had to put the book down multiple times out of sheer frustration at how clunky the writing is.
I’m really hopeful the author continues to grow their writing abilities because their ideas are just so great and they’re writing the types of stories we need to tell.
I’m really hopeful the author continues to grow their writing abilities because their ideas are just so great and they’re writing the types of stories we need to tell.