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Written in the Waves
"When the end draws near, and life leaves you,
I’ll be here, waiting to save you."
When Logan Vaughn nearly drowned off the coast of Hawaii, fate intervened in the form of a stranger named Adrian. A former Navy lieutenant, Adrian gave Logan more than just the gift of breath renewed; he offered him a heart filled with love and unlocked a profound happiness that Logan had never before dared to dream.
Brought together by fate and united through an inexplicable, illogical true love, Logan and Adrian set off on an unforgettable journey across continents. As Adrian embraces a fearless truth, Logan remains ensnared in a life of denial.
On a fateful night, everything vanished. Time stood still, and the lives of both transformed from a sweet dream into a horrific nightmare, pulling them back to a dark place they both feared to return. Yet now, they find themselves alone, living a colorless existence, with only a bracelet wrapped around Logan’s wrist, giving him the strength to breathe when the air has all run out.
"Maybe, in the place where endings fold into beginnings, where time is soft and love is not something to be lost—maybe there, I will find you again."
Written in the Waves is the first book in The Streams of Water Duet, a lyrical, heart-wrenching MM love story of soulmates who meet at the edge of death, fall in love across oceans, and learn that the current of true love never stops pulling.
I’ll be here, waiting to save you."
When Logan Vaughn nearly drowned off the coast of Hawaii, fate intervened in the form of a stranger named Adrian. A former Navy lieutenant, Adrian gave Logan more than just the gift of breath renewed; he offered him a heart filled with love and unlocked a profound happiness that Logan had never before dared to dream.
Brought together by fate and united through an inexplicable, illogical true love, Logan and Adrian set off on an unforgettable journey across continents. As Adrian embraces a fearless truth, Logan remains ensnared in a life of denial.
On a fateful night, everything vanished. Time stood still, and the lives of both transformed from a sweet dream into a horrific nightmare, pulling them back to a dark place they both feared to return. Yet now, they find themselves alone, living a colorless existence, with only a bracelet wrapped around Logan’s wrist, giving him the strength to breathe when the air has all run out.
"Maybe, in the place where endings fold into beginnings, where time is soft and love is not something to be lost—maybe there, I will find you again."
Written in the Waves is the first book in The Streams of Water Duet, a lyrical, heart-wrenching MM love story of soulmates who meet at the edge of death, fall in love across oceans, and learn that the current of true love never stops pulling.
- GenresM M Romance
689 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 15, 2026
25 people are currently reading
83 people want to read
About the author
Michal Guter
2 books6 followersDr. Michal Guter is a criminologist, victimologist, academic, and author with a deep passion for exploring masculinity, trauma, male sexual assault victimization and rape and resilience. She is also a dedicated teacher and researcher, often found at her computer working on either a book or an academic article, it really depends on the day. Addicted to coffee and in love with words, Michal has published in peer-reviewed journals and finds joy in reading dictionaries and grammar books just for fun, and occasionally turns to graphic design as another form of storytelling. But most of all, she loves to read stories, and you’ll rarely find her without a novel or audiobook close at hand.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 23, 2026
Best book of the year. No question.
This book redefined MM romance for me. I feel like calling it an MM Romance would not be enough to describe what this book is. This is an epic. This is almost cinematic!
I went into this book completely blind, and I’m honestly still recovering. This is a debut novel, but you would never guess it. Not for a second.
The story follows Logan and Adrian, and we meet Logan after he has already run away. The narrative moves back and forth in time, which I’ll admit is usually not my favorite structure, but here it works. More than works. It adds tension, depth, and emotional weight, and it slowly peels back the reasons behind Logan’s disappearance in a way that makes you understand, as the chapters progressed, the emotional reasons behind it.
What truly sets this book apart is the writing. It’s rare to come across writing like this anymore, especially in romance. Yes, the book is long, and yes, it could technically be shorter, but I didn’t mind at all. The length creates an atmosphere. It lets you live inside the story instead of rushing through it. The pacing matches the emotional journey, and that’s something so rare today. The writing is phenomenal. Intimate, lyrical, and so immersive. I didn’t just read Logan, I was Logan. I felt his turmoil, his fear, his longing. I sobbed, I ached, I laughed, and I cried, by the middle I was completely wrecked. I felt like I was spiraling with him, I could actually feel how much he missed Adrian. And in the chapters, they are together? I was them. I was absolutely and madly in love.
The love story itself feels incredibly unique. Logan and Adrian are deeply intertwined in a way that feels rare and honest. When they’re apart, Adrian writes letters, poems, and songs to Logan, and those parts nearly broke me (take this for example: “My heart, it hasn’t beat the same since you left”.) Reading them felt invasive in the most beautiful way. Some of those passages were genuinely painful to get through because of how real and raw they felt.
The separation is brutal. It’s lonely, suffocating, and heartbreakingly authentic. In the present timeline, we follow Logan, who is utterly lost, living a closeted, miserable life, while Adrian exists mostly through memory and through his writing. That contrast is devastating and incredibly well done.
I have never read a love like this. I have never felt this kind of emotional intensity from a book. This story didn’t just hurt, it consumed me. I’m honestly grateful the second book is already out, because I bought it after the first ten pages of book one. It was that good.
This isn’t just a romance. It’s an experience. And it will ruin you in the best possible way.
100% recommend!
This book redefined MM romance for me. I feel like calling it an MM Romance would not be enough to describe what this book is. This is an epic. This is almost cinematic!
I went into this book completely blind, and I’m honestly still recovering. This is a debut novel, but you would never guess it. Not for a second.
The story follows Logan and Adrian, and we meet Logan after he has already run away. The narrative moves back and forth in time, which I’ll admit is usually not my favorite structure, but here it works. More than works. It adds tension, depth, and emotional weight, and it slowly peels back the reasons behind Logan’s disappearance in a way that makes you understand, as the chapters progressed, the emotional reasons behind it.
What truly sets this book apart is the writing. It’s rare to come across writing like this anymore, especially in romance. Yes, the book is long, and yes, it could technically be shorter, but I didn’t mind at all. The length creates an atmosphere. It lets you live inside the story instead of rushing through it. The pacing matches the emotional journey, and that’s something so rare today. The writing is phenomenal. Intimate, lyrical, and so immersive. I didn’t just read Logan, I was Logan. I felt his turmoil, his fear, his longing. I sobbed, I ached, I laughed, and I cried, by the middle I was completely wrecked. I felt like I was spiraling with him, I could actually feel how much he missed Adrian. And in the chapters, they are together? I was them. I was absolutely and madly in love.
The love story itself feels incredibly unique. Logan and Adrian are deeply intertwined in a way that feels rare and honest. When they’re apart, Adrian writes letters, poems, and songs to Logan, and those parts nearly broke me (take this for example: “My heart, it hasn’t beat the same since you left”.) Reading them felt invasive in the most beautiful way. Some of those passages were genuinely painful to get through because of how real and raw they felt.
The separation is brutal. It’s lonely, suffocating, and heartbreakingly authentic. In the present timeline, we follow Logan, who is utterly lost, living a closeted, miserable life, while Adrian exists mostly through memory and through his writing. That contrast is devastating and incredibly well done.
I have never read a love like this. I have never felt this kind of emotional intensity from a book. This story didn’t just hurt, it consumed me. I’m honestly grateful the second book is already out, because I bought it after the first ten pages of book one. It was that good.
This isn’t just a romance. It’s an experience. And it will ruin you in the best possible way.
100% recommend!
January 22, 2026
This is not just a book, it is a masterpiece.
An easy 10-star read.
I was in a horrible reading slump, the kind where nothing held my attention, and I devoured this in a few days. I just couldn’t put it down.
This is a romance, and also a poetic journey. The writing is so emotional, and almost every page felt like it meant something. The slow burn is done so beautifully. This isn’t a romance like the ones I’m used to, I felt how deep the connection between them was, how intertwined they became.
We meet Adrian and Logan in Hawaii. Logan is alone and struggling, and he nearly drowns. Adrian, who has a military background, runs to save him. From there, they slowly become friends, and then something more. There is so much tension between them, emotional and physical, and it builds in a way that feels natural and real.
The story moves between two timelines: the past, when they are together, and the present, when they are not. The past felt like an endless summer, surfing, laughing, falling in love. It was warm and tender and honestly made my heart ache in the best way. Their chemistry was there from the start, with dialogue felt genuine, moving between a beautiful banter of them fighting and joking, and emotional, deep conversation up until the awaited “I love you” (that I nearly threw my phone from how excited I was at that part!).
The present timeline was really hard to read. In a good way, but still painful. Adrian isn’t fully there in the present, but you still feel his longing through memory and reflection. Knowing what they were, and seeing where they are now, hurt. Seeing Logan with Adrian versus Logan without him, especially through the back-and-forth timelines, added a layer of depth that really hurt. One moment you’re in this warm summer of surfing and kissing and falling in love, and the next you’re sitting in Logan’s loneliness. The contrast was devastating.
The book is written in third person, which usually isn’t my favorite, but it worked surprisingly well here. The openings of each chapter give you such an intimate look into their emotions that it never felt distant.
The pacing is slow, but in a way that lets you really live with the characters. You get time to sit with their pain, their love, their fear. I felt completely inside their emotional world. It’s marketed as a slow burn, but it doesn’t feel like a typical one. Because the story moves between past and present, you already know they end up separated, and that makes the memories of their time together even harder. When you finally get their full summer romance, it feels almost cruel, in the best storytelling way.
Logan absolutely broke me. He felt so human, so flawed, so scared and confused. I cried with him more than once. His reactions felt messy and real, and that made him incredibly relatable.
The plot also surprised me. I’d never read a surfing romance before, and a lot of the things I expected to happen just… didn’t. The story kept going in directions I didn’t see coming.
And the poetry. There are so many poems and songs throughout the book, not just one or two. Usually that wouldn’t work, but here it completely did. They added so much emotional depth, and I honestly don’t see writing like this very often anymore.
If you like emotional romance, especially if you enjoy Tal Bauer’s style, I really think you’ll love this.
An easy 10-star read.
I was in a horrible reading slump, the kind where nothing held my attention, and I devoured this in a few days. I just couldn’t put it down.
This is a romance, and also a poetic journey. The writing is so emotional, and almost every page felt like it meant something. The slow burn is done so beautifully. This isn’t a romance like the ones I’m used to, I felt how deep the connection between them was, how intertwined they became.
We meet Adrian and Logan in Hawaii. Logan is alone and struggling, and he nearly drowns. Adrian, who has a military background, runs to save him. From there, they slowly become friends, and then something more. There is so much tension between them, emotional and physical, and it builds in a way that feels natural and real.
The story moves between two timelines: the past, when they are together, and the present, when they are not. The past felt like an endless summer, surfing, laughing, falling in love. It was warm and tender and honestly made my heart ache in the best way. Their chemistry was there from the start, with dialogue felt genuine, moving between a beautiful banter of them fighting and joking, and emotional, deep conversation up until the awaited “I love you” (that I nearly threw my phone from how excited I was at that part!).
The present timeline was really hard to read. In a good way, but still painful. Adrian isn’t fully there in the present, but you still feel his longing through memory and reflection. Knowing what they were, and seeing where they are now, hurt. Seeing Logan with Adrian versus Logan without him, especially through the back-and-forth timelines, added a layer of depth that really hurt. One moment you’re in this warm summer of surfing and kissing and falling in love, and the next you’re sitting in Logan’s loneliness. The contrast was devastating.
The book is written in third person, which usually isn’t my favorite, but it worked surprisingly well here. The openings of each chapter give you such an intimate look into their emotions that it never felt distant.
The pacing is slow, but in a way that lets you really live with the characters. You get time to sit with their pain, their love, their fear. I felt completely inside their emotional world. It’s marketed as a slow burn, but it doesn’t feel like a typical one. Because the story moves between past and present, you already know they end up separated, and that makes the memories of their time together even harder. When you finally get their full summer romance, it feels almost cruel, in the best storytelling way.
Logan absolutely broke me. He felt so human, so flawed, so scared and confused. I cried with him more than once. His reactions felt messy and real, and that made him incredibly relatable.
The plot also surprised me. I’d never read a surfing romance before, and a lot of the things I expected to happen just… didn’t. The story kept going in directions I didn’t see coming.
And the poetry. There are so many poems and songs throughout the book, not just one or two. Usually that wouldn’t work, but here it completely did. They added so much emotional depth, and I honestly don’t see writing like this very often anymore.
If you like emotional romance, especially if you enjoy Tal Bauer’s style, I really think you’ll love this.
February 6, 2026
A fresh and powerful masterpiece.
I honestly have no words for how breathtaking this book was. Just… wow.
It’s written so beautifully, it broke something inside me. This felt like a genuinely fresh take on MM romance. There’s something almost Shakespearean about it, the intensity of the emotions, the way love and longing, and loss present in the story and the devotion the MCs have for each other. I was a little intimidated by the length at first, but the pages flew by. I never once felt how long it was because I simply couldn’t stop reading. And honestly, this book should be long. The poems, the songs, the depth, it all adds layers that completely pulled me in and tore my heart apart in the best way. It was painful and beautiful and overwhelming all at once.
The emotional delivery, the poetic and lyrical writing, they just don’t make books like this anymore. I’ve never read a gay love story with this level of depth. I was an emotional wreck by the end. This book absolutely shattered me, and it far exceeded every expectation I had. The characters are so compelling, they grab you immediately, make you love them, make you root for them, and then take you on a brutal emotional rollercoaster. I cried so much reading this.
And oh… my Adrian. He was the first to fall in love with Logan, and seeing how he fell, was breathtaking. He was so deeply attuned to Logan, so connected to him, it felt almost otherworldly. He literally said: “I’ll take a breath just to give you mine.” This is soulmate-level love and companionship!!!
What made this even more powerful is the way the story unfolds across different points in time. When they’re together, their love feels cosmic, they are soulmates. And when they’re apart, you’re forced to be in darkness and watch Logan fall apart. Logan is such a fascinating character, deeply complex, but presenting himself as emotionally flat. He’s utterly captivated by Adrian, even though he believes he shouldn’t be. At first, it might seem like Logan doesn’t love Adrian enough, but on some level, I think he may love him even more. He’s terrified of that love, and that fear shapes everything he does.
Watching Logan try to live a life without Adrian, seeing his grief, the way he shatters and struggles, makes it painfully clear just how deeply he loved him. There’s such a strong dissonance between what he feels and how he acts, and it’s handled incredibly well. You see him constantly battling himself, fighting his demons, trying and failing to adapt to a world without Adrian. His family, his upbringing, the expectations placed on him, all of these forces collide and push him toward the choices he makes, even when they destroy him.
I’m so excited that there’s a second book, because I’m not ready to say goodbye to this story or these characters. I’m really excited to see what book two brings, especially knowing it focuses on their reunion. After all the heartbreak, distance, and emotional devastation, I can’t wait to see how they find their way back to each other.
I honestly have no words for how breathtaking this book was. Just… wow.
It’s written so beautifully, it broke something inside me. This felt like a genuinely fresh take on MM romance. There’s something almost Shakespearean about it, the intensity of the emotions, the way love and longing, and loss present in the story and the devotion the MCs have for each other. I was a little intimidated by the length at first, but the pages flew by. I never once felt how long it was because I simply couldn’t stop reading. And honestly, this book should be long. The poems, the songs, the depth, it all adds layers that completely pulled me in and tore my heart apart in the best way. It was painful and beautiful and overwhelming all at once.
The emotional delivery, the poetic and lyrical writing, they just don’t make books like this anymore. I’ve never read a gay love story with this level of depth. I was an emotional wreck by the end. This book absolutely shattered me, and it far exceeded every expectation I had. The characters are so compelling, they grab you immediately, make you love them, make you root for them, and then take you on a brutal emotional rollercoaster. I cried so much reading this.
And oh… my Adrian. He was the first to fall in love with Logan, and seeing how he fell, was breathtaking. He was so deeply attuned to Logan, so connected to him, it felt almost otherworldly. He literally said: “I’ll take a breath just to give you mine.” This is soulmate-level love and companionship!!!
What made this even more powerful is the way the story unfolds across different points in time. When they’re together, their love feels cosmic, they are soulmates. And when they’re apart, you’re forced to be in darkness and watch Logan fall apart. Logan is such a fascinating character, deeply complex, but presenting himself as emotionally flat. He’s utterly captivated by Adrian, even though he believes he shouldn’t be. At first, it might seem like Logan doesn’t love Adrian enough, but on some level, I think he may love him even more. He’s terrified of that love, and that fear shapes everything he does.
Watching Logan try to live a life without Adrian, seeing his grief, the way he shatters and struggles, makes it painfully clear just how deeply he loved him. There’s such a strong dissonance between what he feels and how he acts, and it’s handled incredibly well. You see him constantly battling himself, fighting his demons, trying and failing to adapt to a world without Adrian. His family, his upbringing, the expectations placed on him, all of these forces collide and push him toward the choices he makes, even when they destroy him.
I’m so excited that there’s a second book, because I’m not ready to say goodbye to this story or these characters. I’m really excited to see what book two brings, especially knowing it focuses on their reunion. After all the heartbreak, distance, and emotional devastation, I can’t wait to see how they find their way back to each other.
February 13, 2026
4.5⭐️
If yearning were a book, it would be this book. Adrian saving Logan's life was the start of so much more. Michal writes with such a beautifully poetic style that you can feel every ache, every kiss, every missed opportunity & every unspoken desire. It is written with clever phrasing and lots of lyrical similes.
What is just as tragic as nearly dying at the start is the denial involved by Logan; I ended up feeling so sorry for his wife. How devastating that he was scared to be himself and had to shut down his emotions to be the man he was expected to be. Yet clearly, it was gnawing away at him internally.
By contrast, when he opens up, the warmth and love he has to share is both all-consuming and powerful. Watching love unfurl will always be beautiful in books but Michal has an elegant writing style I really adore; anyone who loves poetic/lyrical words will too.
This really is a beautiful love story full of yearning and ache and if you like those 2 things, along with a long slow build MM romance you will really enjoy this.
If yearning were a book, it would be this book. Adrian saving Logan's life was the start of so much more. Michal writes with such a beautifully poetic style that you can feel every ache, every kiss, every missed opportunity & every unspoken desire. It is written with clever phrasing and lots of lyrical similes.
What is just as tragic as nearly dying at the start is the denial involved by Logan; I ended up feeling so sorry for his wife. How devastating that he was scared to be himself and had to shut down his emotions to be the man he was expected to be. Yet clearly, it was gnawing away at him internally.
By contrast, when he opens up, the warmth and love he has to share is both all-consuming and powerful. Watching love unfurl will always be beautiful in books but Michal has an elegant writing style I really adore; anyone who loves poetic/lyrical words will too.
This really is a beautiful love story full of yearning and ache and if you like those 2 things, along with a long slow build MM romance you will really enjoy this.
December 1, 2025
What stood out to me most about Streams of Water is how soft yet powerful it sounds. A simple act of saving a life turns into an unexpected love that stretches across continents and that’s the kind of slow-burn emotional story I adore. The idea of Logan holding onto a bracelet because it’s the only piece of Adrian he has left? That hit me right in the chest. There’s an ache to this story, but also so much hope like love isn’t gone, just waiting to rise again like waves returning to the shore. If the full book carries the same depth and poetic tone as the description, it’s going to break hearts in the most beautiful way.
December 1, 2025
Streams of Water sounds like such a beautifully emotional story the kind you can already tell will hurt in a good way. I love that it begins with a rescue at sea and grows into something deep and life-changing for both characters. Logan and Adrian’s relationship feels like it’s built on gratitude, vulnerability, and a kind of soul-level connection you don’t see every day. The idea that fate brought them together only to pull them apart makes the story even more compelling. It sounds like a love that never really lets go, even when life gets messy and painful. Honestly, I’m already invested and the book isn’t even out yet.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews