Waiting for the Flood by Alexis Hall

From the acclaimed author of BOYFRIEND MATERIAL comes a deeply moving romance about losing the life you always thought would be yours...and finding something beautiful in the wreckage of the past. Quietly heartbroken, Edwin Tully lives alone in the house he used to share with the man he once loved. He tends to damaged books and faded memories, trying to build a future from the fragments of the past. Then the weather turns, and the river spills into Edwin's quiet world, bringing with it Adam Dacre from the Environment Agency. An unlikely knight, this stranger with roughened hands and worn wellingtons offers Edwin the hope of something he thought he would never have again. As the two men are drawn together in their struggle against the rising waters, Edwin slowly lets down his guard as he comes to accept he can't shield his heart from everything—and perhaps he doesn't even need to try. Because love doesn't only leave scars...sometimes, it heals them, too. This lyrical, moving LGBTQIA+ romance contains never-before-seen content and exclusive bonus material—including a NEW novella, Chasing the Light, following Marius as he rediscovers love and the complicated joy of being truly alive. The World of SPIRES: Glitterland, book 1 Waiting for the Flood, book 2

Wish this had been longer.

Short and rainy. Common old ephemera collecting and restoration sounds like fun. Like some random person's old calendar from like 2008 with all their little notes like appointments and birthdays and trips. How do you go about finding stuff like that?

(actual review starts on third paragraph)

Quite an adventure with this book. I started reading it a while ago, then I decided I wanted to try something else and left it aside for a bit. It really didn't entice me and I didn't think I'd like it. But then I went on Hardcover while planning what to read next and I saw there's a 100% probability I would enjoy it so I started reading it again. And last night I got in bed and thought I'd read one more chapter of it, and that's how I discovered I had one more chapter left.

I was surprised, really, I thought I'd get a bit more, but I guess a recipe is pretty useful (is it accurate, though? I'm kind of tempted to try it).

"Waiting for the Flood" is the definition of short and sweet. I liked Edwin. At first he didn't make such an impression on me, but as I learned more about him, I got to really like him. He was so endearing and his emotions were so raw, it was impossible not to feel him.

Adam was great too, I liked his reactions and his honesty. I feel like he's a what you see is what you get type of person and I really liked that kind of transparency.

And throughout the book I liked the metaphors, some of them actually made me melt, they were so well picked and so full of meaning. Everything together made this book feel very gentle and real. I really enjoyed it a lot.

Note: Just found out this story is part of a series, but I am not really interested in the series and I also don't feel like I missed some context.

That's left to be seen, of course, but I feel like this short side-story can be read as a standalone with no issues.

tragically boring and unbelievable and corny in a bad way. i wanted to love this book so much but i kept waiting and waiting to connect with it and it never happened. edwin is still obsessing over his ex and never appears to get over it and the romance just appears out of nowhere and is completely surface level and made me feel nothing.