What do you think?
Rate this book
Above the Waterline: Strange Waters, part i
Lilith Hunt isn’t on the run. She left her abusive husband legally, for a new life on the small, close-knit island of Grey’s Skerry. There, she’s forged a home and a successful business, in a place that fills her with power and belonging. There isn’t much Lili can’t do- run a coffee shop, raise her son alone, protect her island home with old magic.
But even if Lili isn’t running, forces she can’t control are chasing her. Lili is a witch and has been through the many lifetimes she remembers- and even more that she doesn’t. Stalking her through all those lifetimes is something dark, something evil. Something so powerful that it was locked away in a cage eons before humans even existed. But the cage splintered, and the Shadow God is after Lili. Luckily, Lili refuses to back down. But while she can and will face any threat to her new life- from ancient evil to unanticipated ex-lovers to her teenage son’s hormones to the Skerry PTA- she does sort of wish those threats would decide not to come all at once. Can she and her family survive the darkness that’s coming to Grey’s Skerry? Or will she lose the life she’s worked so hard to build- and the rest of the world with it?
But even if Lili isn’t running, forces she can’t control are chasing her. Lili is a witch and has been through the many lifetimes she remembers- and even more that she doesn’t. Stalking her through all those lifetimes is something dark, something evil. Something so powerful that it was locked away in a cage eons before humans even existed. But the cage splintered, and the Shadow God is after Lili. Luckily, Lili refuses to back down. But while she can and will face any threat to her new life- from ancient evil to unanticipated ex-lovers to her teenage son’s hormones to the Skerry PTA- she does sort of wish those threats would decide not to come all at once. Can she and her family survive the darkness that’s coming to Grey’s Skerry? Or will she lose the life she’s worked so hard to build- and the rest of the world with it?
392 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 14, 2024
4 people are currently reading
3 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 18, 2026
⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ – A fucking wild Ride on Waves!
Everyone Needs to Be Hit With Bread (Including the PTA)
This book is like the ocean:
It pulls you in.
It spins you around.
And every time you think you’ve figured it out, a wave comes out of nowhere, **takes your legs out, and spits you back onto the shore like driftwood**.
I was invested. Deeply.
The characters?
Complex. Emotional. Well-written.
And yet:
**Every single one of them deserves to be hit with a stale baguette.**
I have never read a book with this much swearing, snapping, and general bitchiness.
Sometimes it was funny.
Sometimes it was just… a lot.
There were moments where I didn’t just want to yell at Lili —
I wanted to **launch the swear jar at her head**.
The details in this book are… uneven.
Either:
* extremely detailed
OR
* completely missing
At some point I genuinely wondered if my Kindle had skipped pages.
**WHO the hell is Gaby???**
And then there’s the pacing.
This book runs on:
* rush
* slow down
* emotional chaos
* sprint
* pause
* repeat
It’s basically a literary version of “hurry up and wait.”
And the final confrontation?
After all that build-up.
All that foreshadowing.
All that tension.
…it was just **over way too fast**.
Not bad.
Just… underwhelming.
ALSO.
I would like to formally point out that the **PTA felt more like the actual boss battle than the literal god they were supposed to be fighting.**
Make it make sense.
And still:
I liked it.
I was hooked.
I cared.
I just also spent a good portion of the book mentally throwing bread at everyone.
Final thoughts:
* Emotional like a storm
* Messy like the sea
* Characters in desperate need of therapy
* PTA: secretly the final boss
Not perfect.
But definitely a ride. 😌🥖
Everyone Needs to Be Hit With Bread (Including the PTA)
This book is like the ocean:
It pulls you in.
It spins you around.
And every time you think you’ve figured it out, a wave comes out of nowhere, **takes your legs out, and spits you back onto the shore like driftwood**.
I was invested. Deeply.
The characters?
Complex. Emotional. Well-written.
And yet:
**Every single one of them deserves to be hit with a stale baguette.**
I have never read a book with this much swearing, snapping, and general bitchiness.
Sometimes it was funny.
Sometimes it was just… a lot.
There were moments where I didn’t just want to yell at Lili —
I wanted to **launch the swear jar at her head**.
The details in this book are… uneven.
Either:
* extremely detailed
OR
* completely missing
At some point I genuinely wondered if my Kindle had skipped pages.
**WHO the hell is Gaby???**
And then there’s the pacing.
This book runs on:
* rush
* slow down
* emotional chaos
* sprint
* pause
* repeat
It’s basically a literary version of “hurry up and wait.”
And the final confrontation?
After all that build-up.
All that foreshadowing.
All that tension.
…it was just **over way too fast**.
Not bad.
Just… underwhelming.
ALSO.
I would like to formally point out that the **PTA felt more like the actual boss battle than the literal god they were supposed to be fighting.**
Make it make sense.
And still:
I liked it.
I was hooked.
I cared.
I just also spent a good portion of the book mentally throwing bread at everyone.
Final thoughts:
* Emotional like a storm
* Messy like the sea
* Characters in desperate need of therapy
* PTA: secretly the final boss
Not perfect.
But definitely a ride. 😌🥖
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 of 1 review