keato 's review for:

Tears in the Water by Margherita Scialla

1.5

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

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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.