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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
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
I really enjoyed this book! I wouldn't add it to my list of favorite books (I am kind of picky with those), but it's definitely one I'd recommend. Especially if you're interested in a coming-of-age, college set, young adult story. That's definitely the main focus of the book <3. A short, character-driven, contemporary story with lessons of love, friendship, and self-discovery.
I think the author did an incredible job with the anxiety and neurodivergent representation in their characters, especially our main, Alex. So well written, you can feel those emotions being described so accurately. ALSO - the romance is a sweet and loving friends-to-lovers trope that I'm obsessed with! Margherita really knows how to write these. And don't get me started on the ton of lgbtqia+ rep, too! 10/10. I'd definitely say this is a story about the characters and their lives in college and preparing for the competitions- but there's no actual plot behind it.... It's still worth it, though. I enjoyed it!
At White Ravens University, where athletes train to become professional sportspeople, Alex is on the swimming team with her best friend, Xiuying. Having grown up mostly alone, parents absent and brother often busy with his own life, Alex tends not to meet new people unless she and Xiuying are together... After an embarrassing encounter with a boy from the volleyball team Alex soon discovers that the world isn’t so big after all and the universe has a funny way of setting people up, especially when and with whom they’re least expecting...
Despite her reserved character, Alex becomes part of a newly formed friend group consisting of four amazing people with different identities and personalities :D. As she tries to overcome her anxiety and negative past events, Alex finds herself both struggling with romantic feelings for a new acquaintance and a full-blown gender crisis... Tears in the Water is a story of self-discovery, found family, friendship, and love. For fans of queer coming of age stories.
I think the author did an incredible job with the anxiety and neurodivergent representation in their characters, especially our main, Alex. So well written, you can feel those emotions being described so accurately. ALSO - the romance is a sweet and loving friends-to-lovers trope that I'm obsessed with! Margherita really knows how to write these. And don't get me started on the ton of lgbtqia+ rep, too! 10/10. I'd definitely say this is a story about the characters and their lives in college and preparing for the competitions- but there's no actual plot behind it.... It's still worth it, though. I enjoyed it!
At White Ravens University, where athletes train to become professional sportspeople, Alex is on the swimming team with her best friend, Xiuying. Having grown up mostly alone, parents absent and brother often busy with his own life, Alex tends not to meet new people unless she and Xiuying are together... After an embarrassing encounter with a boy from the volleyball team Alex soon discovers that the world isn’t so big after all and the universe has a funny way of setting people up, especially when and with whom they’re least expecting...
Despite her reserved character, Alex becomes part of a newly formed friend group consisting of four amazing people with different identities and personalities :D. As she tries to overcome her anxiety and negative past events, Alex finds herself both struggling with romantic feelings for a new acquaintance and a full-blown gender crisis... Tears in the Water is a story of self-discovery, found family, friendship, and love. For fans of queer coming of age stories.
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book reads like a bad translation. Which SUCKS because it was such a fantastic premise and I was looking forward to this book coming out for so long 😭 and because it’s an indie book and I hate hating indie books because I feel like a bad person. But the writing was bad, the dialogue was painful, and there wasn’t enough filler content or much plot.
Alex and Tate were not even cute. They were awkward, Tate was too unconditional from the get go, and Alex needed to go to therapy soooo badly and that whole mental health thing was never addressed. Xiuying and Sky were cute though!
I might’ve liked it better as an audiobook because a narrator could have added natural inflections and stuff, but it’s not an audiobook yet or at least not available at my library.
I am obsessed with the bing bang boom triple ace reveal lmaO it was so funny and heartfelt. Alex’s convo with Uriah felt very “I’m reciting a Wikipedia article” at first but I like that they had a moment. Then Tate telling Alex was super cute and then Alex’s realization was just hilarious.
All for the gender & sexuality journies and the storylines. But it was so bad. And I feel sooooo bad that I hated it.
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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
NEW FAVOURITE ALERT
THESE CHARACTERS HAVE ALL FOUND A WAY INTO MY HEART AND THE FOUND FAMILY BETWEEN THE 5 OF THEM I CAN'T AND WILL NOT EVER GET OVER I SWEAR TO FUCKING CHUCK THIS IS THE BEST THING I READ THIS YEAR
Alex's gender journey and being Neurodivergent was a hell of a callout to me Woah was not expecting that
THESE CHARACTERS HAVE ALL FOUND A WAY INTO MY HEART AND THE FOUND FAMILY BETWEEN THE 5 OF THEM I CAN'T AND WILL NOT EVER GET OVER I SWEAR TO FUCKING CHUCK THIS IS THE BEST THING I READ THIS YEAR
Alex's gender journey and being Neurodivergent was a hell of a callout to me Woah was not expecting that
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Dysphoria
Moderate: Self harm, Sexual harassment
Minor: Homophobia, Transphobia
Body/Gender dysphoria
Self blame
Self hatred
Negative thoughts
Self harm (not cutting)
Anxiety
Panic attacks
Neurodivergent burnout
Going non-verbal
Anger issues
Homophobia
Transphobia
Misgendering
Brief sexual harrassment
Mentions of Diet, eating outside of meal times
Parental neglect
Alcohol
Cussing
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
what I liked
- the representation of a neurodivergent mc
- a very diverse cast (so much good representation)
- how the topic surrounding gender was discussed
- Tate (he was amazing)
- the side characters were well fleshed out; I wouldn’t mind reading books about them, too (Uriah especially - loved the ace representation <3)
what I didn’t like
- the internal dialogue of Alex’s self-doubt was a little repetitive at some point (while it was a good portrayal of how debilitating it can be to have these thoughts, it was hard for me to read after a while)
- I generally don't mind slice-of-life stories, but at times I had trouble getting in the mood to read because there wasn't much happening in the story; the main conflict was Alex
questioning their gender identity which wasn’t driving the story forward as much as I would have liked - the ending felt a little too abrupt, and a lot of things were left without a conclusion (there would be enough to put into a second book, so if that’s the author's plan, I guess it would make sense to leave it at that)
emotional
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
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
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
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
emotional
lighthearted
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
This was cute and I could relate to so many things the characters discussed! I did feel like there was something missing, like we were just wandering aimlessly through the book though, which is why it's not a 5 star.
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
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
Trigger warnings for Tears in the Water include: body dysphoria, gender dysphoria, self-blame, repetitive self-hatred and negative thoughts, self-harm, anxiety, anxiety/panic attacks, neurodivergent burnout, nonverbal episodes, anger issues, homophobia & transphobia, misgendering, brief sexual harassment, mention of food and dieting, parental neglect, alcohol consumption and cussing (swearing).
☆
☆
I felt like the way that Tate and Alex were set up in the begining was going to go somewhere, because that's how stories work. But it felt comfortably predictable in that way.
~
While I enjoyed reading about all of the characters, and all of their relationships with each other, I particularly enjoyed reading about Alex and Tate. I think that's because Alex is written as an autistic character, even though it isn't specifically stated in the book. And Tate because he's trans. And between the two characters I had experiences I could really relate to.
~
It felt like a really cosy, comforting read, and it felt like such a safe read.
•
Thank you to author Margherita Scialla for sending me an ebook copy of this book.
☆
☆
I felt like the way that Tate and Alex were set up in the begining was going to go somewhere, because that's how stories work. But it felt comfortably predictable in that way.
~
While I enjoyed reading about all of the characters, and all of their relationships with each other, I particularly enjoyed reading about Alex and Tate. I think that's because Alex is written as an autistic character, even though it isn't specifically stated in the book. And Tate because he's trans. And between the two characters I had experiences I could really relate to.
~
It felt like a really cosy, comforting read, and it felt like such a safe read.
•
Thank you to author Margherita Scialla for sending me an ebook copy of this book.