Title: Waiting for the Flood
Author: Alexis Hall
Publication Date: February 23, 2015
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Rating: ★★★★/ 4 Stars
Genre: Contemporary, m/m romance
People come as well as go.
Twelve years ago, Edwin Tully came to Oxford and fell in love with a boy named Marius. He was brilliant. An artist. It was going to be forever.
Two years ago, it ended.
Now Edwin lives alone in the house they used to share. He tends to damaged books and faded memories, trying to a 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, but he offers Edwin the hope of something he thought he would never have again.
As the two men grow closer in their struggle against the rising waters, Edwin learns he can’t protect himself from everything—and sometimes he doesn’t need to try.
If you have not read my review of Alexis Hall’s For Real, which is a far longer novel than this one, which wowed me with its writing and nuance, then please head over there, if you’re a fan of age-gap romances which have incredible chemistry.
I picked up Waiting for the Flood out of my enamoredness with Hall’s writing. Hall is so talenting making you fall in love with characters who carry so much charm and a hint of sadness. Totally the kind of character I love. Edwin is no different. It’s so good to see representation of stuttering in a main character. Edwin is also heartbroken. Although he and his boyfriend of ten years broke up almost two years ago, that doesn’t take away from the fact that Edwin built do much for a life with Marius and how the very same home they shared became a somewhat of a prison for him.
Inquisitive and stammering, Edwin restores books, not only to read, but because the whole process is fascinating. He has a neighbor he’s quite close with and the scrappy Mrs. P, who also lost her husband a while back. The interactions between the two is not unlike a son and his mother and they warmed my heart a great deal.
The flood! Adam! What a nice thing. Edwin’s neighborhood gets a group of me of some environmental group that want to help avoid getting stuck in the flood, and hence introduces Adam Dacre into Edwin’s life. Adam is a beautiful redhead whose earnestness made me smile. The development of their friendship was so spontaneous. I kind of wished there was more but although since the whole thing spanned closely less than a week, I didn’t mind it. They had some seriously cute moments but also ones in which Edwin faced the heartbreak sitting in every corner of his house. There is a bit where he even tries to maneuver his couch up the stairs but has a breakdown… I can relate. Anyway, Adam also comes with his own bag of sadness, his family is missing one estranged sister which he feels quite responsible for losing. The two are a lovely pair of middle aged men, very proudly out, and who, despite the initial worry, fall into something beautiful.
I bet somewhere, there is a great meaning in how the flood that damages his house (and brings forth Adam into his life) is probably the best thing ever. I remember some of my professors droning on and on about how water has healing powers. Maybe it’s for Edwin’s broken heart.
I think I’m going to be a big fan of Hall’s as long as he keeps on writing me beautiful prose and engaging characters. I even felt something for Marius’ mom, who is incredibly nice to Edwin! This is short, and sweet. In case anyone’s curious about any sexual content, there is allusion to nudity but it’s not very explicit.
Also, only reason I am rating this as four and not five stars is because I wanted more! Either way, it was a perfect novella for a calm morning to read in one setting.
Advertisements Share this:
