Tears in the Water by Margherita Scialla

A character-driven, slice-of-life contemporary story of love and self-discovery. At White Ravens University, where athletes train to become professional sportspeople, Alex is on the swimming team with her best friend, Xiuying. Having grown up mostly alone, parents absent and brother often busy with his own life, Alex tends not to meet new people unless she and Xiuying are together. After an embarrassing encounter with a boy from the volleyball team Alex soon discovers that the world isn’t so big after all and the universe has a funny way of setting people up, especially when and with whom they’re least expecting. Despite her reserved character, Alex becomes part of a newly formed friend group consisting of four amazing people with different identities and personalities. As she tries to overcome her anxiety and negative past events, Alex finds herself both struggling with romantic feelings for a new acquaintance and a full blown gender crisis.

New Adult • Romance/Contemporary • Diversity Representation/Neurodiversity/Own Voices • Diversity Representation/Mental Health/Own Voices • Diversity Representation/LGBTQ+/Own Voices

Content Warning: body dysphoria, gender dysphoria, self-blame, repetitive self-hatred and negative thoughts, self-harm (not cutting), anxiety, anxiety/panic attacks, neurodivergent burnout, going non-verbal, anger issues, mentions of homophobia and transphobia, misgendering, brief sexual harassment, mention of diets, eating outside of meal times, parental neglect, alcohol consumption (although all the characters can legally drink), cussing. Please take care of yourself while reading!