Review: "Waiting for the Flood" by Alexis Hall

Waiting for the Flood by Alexis Hall
Published February 2024 via Sourcebooks Casablanca
★★★

In Oxford, Edwin isn't quite drowning—but he's been treating water for so long that it's hard to remember what it felt like to be on dry land. And not so far away, his ex-husband Marius is floundering too, knowing just what he has lost but powerless to change some of the things most important to him.

This volume contains two novellas—Waiting for the Flood, Edwin's story, and then Chasing the Light, Marius's story. Two love stories, not one; by the time Waiting for the Flood opens their love story together is, well, too deep underwater for rescue. For Edwin, it's about figuring out that that's okay and finding a way to move on, while for Marius, the goal is in part to backtrack and learn to say the things that he never could.

Hall's books have been a bit hit-or-miss for me, which is fine—not every book by an author needs to be a personal hit. This one's somewhere in between: I like that Edwin has a stammer, and that it's just an accepted part of who he is rather than something any of the characters try to change, I like the recurring theme of water-water-everywhere, I like the way Marius's parents barge in as needed, and so on and so forth. I'm not as sold on the writing of Waiting for the Flood in particular; I believe it was one of the earlier books Hall published, and it feels quite overwritten in places. Maybe it's just the way Edwin thinks, but (I'm doomed to say this in half my reviews of Hall's books, I swear) it gives me the impression of a (good) writer who read a lot of angsty fanfiction once upon a time. Chasing the Light still has a fair amount of angst, but—perhaps because it's more recent—the writing feels more streamlined too. I'd say perhaps 3 stars for Waiting and 3.5 for Chasing.

Not sure I'll pick up any of the other books in this world, but I'm still eagerly awaiting book three in Hall's "Winner Bakes All" series.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy via NetGalley.