This review is for Chasing the Light
No surprise but I love, love, love it! It always brings me joy to return to the Spires world.
Prickly, angry Marius and tender, patient Leo. It's grumpy / sunshine dynamic and I found it very engaging. Marius is quite difficult to like and I super appreciate that he is given a second chance at love. Leo has his own issues to deal with though he seems to be in a better place emotionally than Marius. The story doesn't make attraction/intimacy/love a magical solution to one's problems. And it doesn't promise a forever, it rather gives the character a new starting point, the possibility of happiness. This is very much true for Edwin and Adam and found the closure Marius and Edwin got here so, so important and tbh, quite rare in romance. They are angry and sad and bitter but after some late night confessions, they find a way to move on from their break-up.
Beautiful prose, funny at times, higher heat level than Alexis Hall's recent books, this one is a perfect companion to Waiting for the Flood and it made me remember how much joy and happiness I can get by reading romance.

Waiting for the Flood is a heartwarming novella that fits a lot into a small story. Set over a few days during a potential disaster, it explores grief, love, self-reliance, and letting go.. Adam was so sweet and kind, and patient. His persistence and judgement-free support helped Edwin find his way, eventually. A low-angst, slow-burn story of finding your person in an unexpected situation.

This book is comprised of two stories, Waiting for the Flood, which I adored, and then Chasing the Light which I liked. I think that the characters have depth, and that I was wildly invested in Edwin's story which got me through Marious's. Overall though a good and romantic depiction of what kind of hardships can come with love.

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TL;DR: I really enjoyed the first novella in this collection but the second one didn’t connect for me in a great way.

Waiting for the Flood by Alexis Hall is the Spires short story collection that comes after the first book, Glitterland. This collection follows Edwin and Marius in their respective stories. Edwin is pretty much a shut in after his messy divorce from Marius and he finds love in a gentleman who comes to assist when a flood threatens the neighborhood. In Marius’s story we find him hurt and stranded next to a row of boats. A lovely man rescues him and a relationship develops.

I really enjoyed Edwin, though at times I found him a bit too pretentious. Marius’s story is what actually destroyed this for me, and that’s entirely on me. Marius is very hard edged, sarcastic, unlikable, and takes it out on everyone and himself via an eating disorder (not named, but plainly visible on page). That was a little too close to home for me so I connected in a bad way to that.

These stories were fun, I’m not sure how or where they’ll plug into the main story overall but I enjoyed them (mostly). I do recommend if you’re following the story and enjoy Alexis’ style and unlikeable leads.

This story was really sweet. Was glad to see the love interest introduced immediately. loving their vibes - and what seems to be love at first sight? Their story seemed low stakes, slow burn but with the time constraints that a natural disaster would bring. Their tale was over before I was ready - but I wasn’t through the book, so what was going on?! A novella from the perspective of the main character's ex? A very pleasant surprise I had no idea I needed.

Both couples had me swooning. I can't wait to read again.

🏳️‍🌈 ARC Review 🏳️‍🌈

Edwin knows a flood is coming he prepares as the water comes to ravage the home he once built with his ex, however, engineer Adam sees something worth protecting.

Marius has only made self-destructive decisions in the last four years since he left Edwin, but when he sprains his ankle lost, he finally needs to let go and learn to let someone in.

I read the original story a year ago and this book is so much better enhanced with the addition of Marius’s story. The book has become about moving on, about two sided stories, exploring want, need in balance with another’s and how they work together. It is like a missing puzzle piece has been added but with beautiful lyrical imagery with reoccurring symbolism of water for change, letting go and cleansing to start a new. Those who are familiar with Hall’s work will see a more serious rather than comical side to their writing but with the same humour side characters they are known for.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Perfect for those who enjoyed the Holiday Trap or the Charm Offensive. Thanks to @netgalley and @sourcebookscasa for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. Waiting for the Flood comes out 20 February.

Waiting for the Flood and Chasing the Light by Alexis Hall is a wonderful dual-novella installment in the Spires series. For people who discovered Alexis Hall through his Boyfriend Material series, this series will feel like a departure from his signature snark--but really, what it really shows is that Alexis Hall contains multitudes.

Waiting for the Flood, like Glitterland (book 1), is quieter, almost melancholic in its style and tone--but at its core, this is a love story about second chances. This romance defies the genre's stereotypes and begins with a breakup. What happens after a ten-year relationship ends? That's what both Edwin and Marius have to figure out, in their own separate ways. In Waiting for the Flood, Edwin meets Adam, who works for the Environmental Agency, while dealing with flooding. Chasing the Light begins when Marius literally trips and falls into Leo's house-boat, with a sprained ankle and years' worth of emotional baggage he hasn't worked through.

Ultimately, this book is an ode to second chances and new beginnings. About how to balance the faded love for a person who meant so much to you for so long and the bright, shiny love you have now for a new partner. About how loves change, and wane, and shift, but a break-up doesn't mean the love is completely gone. It just means it's different. About wanting the best for someone, even if that means it's not you. About recognizing happiness and wanting that happiness for your ex, even though they broke your heart.

Will Watt narrates the audiobook, and he once again delivers an incredible performance. He voices Marius and Edwin so differently that it's easy to tell the characters apart. He effortlessly brings Hall's character's to life.

TL; DR? I really liked it. Melancholic, yet hopeful. It's all about new beginnings. Alexis Hall never fails to make magic. Also, the audiobook is good.

Once again, Alexis Hall blows me away. I read the rest of the Spires series last year and for some reason just couldn’t get through the first chapter or two of Waiting for the Flood. I think my timing was just off, or perhaps something in me knew that this edition was just around the corner.

It was moving, beautifully written, and deliciously haunting!

Heartfelt and a bit depressing, this was a combination of starting over after a breakup and moving on, heavily influenced with some dark, mental health struggles. I didn't love this one as much as the first book in the series and found the dual novella format a bit hard to keep straight when things switched POVs but overall it was a spicy, moving MM love story featuring two sides of a breakup. Recommended for fans of authors like Timothy Janovksi and good on audio. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy of this reissue which included recipes!

I read this novella in 2020 and immediately fell in love with it, so it was a no-brainer to request the reprint (and new story!) three years later. And I’m so very glad I did … Waiting for the Flood seriously had me smiling the whole time. A sweet story of allowing yourself to love again, taking chances, and overcoming obstacles, all set over the course of a few days of an Oxford flood. When I had read this before, I wished that we could have more of Edwin & Adam’s story, and I’m SO glad we got to see them more in Marius’ story, Chasing the Light. Although I had a harder time with Marius’ story (he’s just so unlikable, but so damaged … complicated emotions abound!), I really enjoyed his story and his adventures meeting Leo. The way Hall writes is just devastatingly beautiful - I was fascinated by the descriptions of light on the water, which could be such an otherwise mundane thing.

I love the way Hall writes realistic characters that aren’t perfect, and does it respectfully - Edwin has a stammer/stutter, and it’s really interesting to read his inner monologue and learn how much it has held him back over the years. Very interesting and not something I’ve really found in other books.

Bonus: Edwin is a rare book conservator at the freaking Bodleian (seriously one of my dream jobs).

After Gwen and Art, I knew this book would be so fun. Really charming and cute with characters representing a range of experiences and identities. Didn’t expect to enjoy the regency this as much as I did so I would also like to give props there.

Well this was a lovely (if melancholy) duo. I have read Waiting for the Flood a couple of times so that part was more of a comforting re-read. I still found it remarkable how much of the story was about Marius, without Marius ever being on page. The writing is beautiful in a languid way and the structure adds a lot of depth to a short story with the brief glimpses of the past being very evocative.

Chasing the Light could totally stand alone and fits neatly into the Spires narrative aesthetic (I don't know if that's really a thing but hopefully you know what I mean!) It's got a damaged and pretentious yet charming protagonist in Marius and the signature dreamy and descriptive language.

While each story is great on its own, they are each elevated as companion stories. They each highlight just how unreliable each narrator is and there are many subtle yet striking parallels and contrasts between the two stories. And the ending of Chasing the Light brings a beautiful closure to both stories that changes how I experienced Waiting for the Flood, making it feel fresh.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book and I look forward to listening to the audio of this one when it comes out.

The Spires series is one that I hold dear to my heart with its themes and the writing style that Hall has here. Waiting for the Flood was one of my favorites even when it was just a novella with a theme of moving on from a relationship, and also has a quiet kind of somber tone! I'm so glad that Hall expanded upon the book here with the extra content and also included another novella about Marius. I loved and appreciated the journey that Edwin goes through in this book, and rereading it in its full length reminded me just how much I loved him and Adam together. 💖 It's a HFN, just as many of the Spires books are, but I believe in both of them and enjoyed the kind of slice of life feel that this book brings as well.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This deserves all the stars!

Waiting for the Flood is one of the sweetest and most romantic novellas I've ever read. It needed no improvements, and I was happy to see that none were made in this new addition (at least as far as I could tell).

Chasing the Light is a PERFECT companion novella and addition to WFTF, it continues many of the same themes, while also giving context to Edwin's story, and then giving us a bit of an epilogue for WFTF as well. And as usual, the characters (Marius and Leo) were so well developed and there were lots of awkward, tender, and laugh out loud moments. It fits right in with the Spires series, which is to say it is absolutely amazing.

Three and a half stars.

I first read/reviewed Waiting For the Flood in 2020, now it has been republished, I think there have been some updates, and there is a brand new novella about Marius.

Waiting For The Flood
This is very different from the first novel in this series, no glitter pirates to be seen. Instead we meet Edwin Tully an introspective man with a severe stutter, grieving the loss of his long-term relationship with the outgoing artist Marius.

Edwin catalogues and restores old books in Oxford, he lives alone in the terraced cottage he and Marius bought, trapped by his speech impediment and his inability to get over the end of their relationship. Then torrential rain and rising river levels put his home at risk of flood and introduce him to a man from the Environment Agency, Adam Dacre.

This was a sweet, gentle romance. more about Edwin learning that he is still lovable than about the burgeoning love between Adam and Edwin, full of imagery of glittering waters and peace. It felt so packed with emotion and imagery that I was amazed it was only just over 100 pages long, it felt like a full-length novel.

Chasing The Light
A totally new novella about Edwin's former love Marius. Reluctantly returning to his family home for the Polish festival of Wigilia, Marius is discombobulated when he sees Edwin and Adam at the party. Unable to cope with the suffocating love of his parents, Marius runs away and slips on the icy canal-path, dropping his phone into the canal and severely spraining his ankle. Marius is found by narrowboat owner Leo who brings him to safety.

Leo and Marius are tortured souls, although Leo has come to terms with his past and is trying to live a better, simpler, life away from his toxic family and fair-weather friends. Marius doesn't know how to deal with kindness and support, he'd rather be sarcastic or f*ck, both of which he employs with Leo. But somehow the cramped narrowboat eases Marius' soul and enables him to open up to Leo about his issues in a way he doesn't feel able to do with anyone else.

What I love about Alexis Hall's writing is they can make you hate a character one minute and the next, even though they are being obnoxious, you start feeling for them. Marius is just such a character, even when he's being a d*ck.

BTW apologies for the asterisks but the B&N review censors are very puritanical about any mildly offensive words, particularly relating to s*x which is itself a no-no word LOL.

My love for Alexis Hall's writing continues.

So glad I requested an ARC, especially because of the new novella.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.

I enjoyed the first part of this book a lot. I loved the interaction between Edwin and Adam, it was so cute. I wasn't a great fan of the second part. I found Marius too selfish and snarky. I would have much rather read more about Edwin and Adam.

Coming off the heels of the first novella in The Spires Universe, I was excited to get my hands on a copy of Waiting for the Flood; which follows Edwin, a lonely and geeky book worm coming off the heals of the abrupt end to a long-term relationship, who finds love and acceptance from a literal ball of sunshine named Adam. Right off the bat I could tell the pace of this books felt more accelerated than the previous one. Given the restraints of writing in a novella format, I can understand where this frustration comes from. However I wanted more from this story. I really would have loved to have seen Edwin and Adam given more space to fall in love. That is wholly a me thing though as I'm almost positive most people will love this sweet story about two men finding one another and healing together.

Chasing the Light, the second story within this book, follows Edwin's ex Marius as he accidentally hurts himself on Christmas and is forced to recuperate on the narrow boat of one Leo. Leo and Marius complement one another, I got that sense right off the bat. While Marius can come across quite crass, Leo takes all his snide remarks in stride, frustrating and intriguing Marius in similar turns. THIS was the story I loved most out of the two. I felt more of a genuine connection between Marius and Leo than I did with Edwin and Adam. While I would have loved a longer story in general (more time with the characters), the abbreviated nature of this story did not feel as rushed as the last one did.

All in all, Alexis Hall continues to bless their readers with lyrical prose, new takes on romance stories and new characters to love. I'm excited to pick up the next book in the series!

Edwin is still mourning the loss of a decade long relationship. He sees Marius everywhere in the home they once shared, but when a clever and playful civil engineer shows up and puts a smile on Edwin’s face for the first time in a long time, Edwin must decide if he can let love back in again.
Marius is still blaming himself for his past behavior and blocking out his current pain by acting the uncaring playboy. Can a chance meeting with another person who understands what it’s like to feel stuck break him out of his self-imposed punishment?

I love Alexis Hall; they are actually one of my favorite authors to read. Understanding that this is a novella helped me to get past the need for more character and relationship development, but I still really wanted the development to happen! I love the story and the characters I just wish I got more of them. This would have been better as a full-length novel.

This was my first Alexis Hall book and I loved it. I just want to live in Edwin's head. The romance is so sweet and quiet and lovely. I will be diving right into their backlist.

I hate that I have more negatives to say here than positives because this had a ton of potential.

Negatives:

I was surprised to find that the story described in the summary, which drew me in to the book, was over in the first section. I was very confused when the book suddenly jumped to a different point of view and different story in general. That is not to say that I didn’t enjoy both of these POVs and aspects of overall story but the summary was definitely misleading.

I feel like I could’ve read two separate books, one about Edwin and one about Marius but instead was presented with rushed and forced versions of their stories. I understand that adult relationships can be fast paced and it can be difficult to build up realistic timelines in books but roughly 3 days for both of these men to dive in to pretty serious ‘relationships’? This seems like too much of a stretch.

Maybe it was the rushed stories, but I felt like there were a lot of unnecessary details/characters.

Overall, the writing in this book was littered with big words which felt out of place and made the prose choppy. At times this made pages difficult to get through and the general understanding of the writing hard to grasp.

Positives:

I really enjoyed the character of Edwin. He seemed sweet and it was interesting to read a story from the perspective of someone with a stutter.

The tropes of endearing loner meets perfect match (Edwin and Adam) and grumpy/sunshine (Marius and Leo) were generally interesting.

I feel like I learned a lot about Narrowboats.