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**Many thanks to NetGalley, Flatiron, and Julia Armfield for an ARC of this book! Now available as of 7.12!**

That's where I belong
And you belong with me
Not swallowed in the sea - Coldplay

Strange and lyrical, confusing and haunting, this is an interesting look at love, loss, and unexplained change with a bit of Guillermo Del Toro's The Shape of Water tossed in for good measure!

Leah and Miri are in love, but circumstances have thrown a wrench into their relationship. Leah is an underwater explorer, and her last expedition via submarine working as an employee for the Centre went terribly wrong. She was gone for a whopping SIX months. When she returns, Miri notices stark and alarming changes...Leah constantly runs taps in the house. and has a need for salt water in and around her. Blood leaks from her gums, and her skin takes on an odd sheen. The divide between these two women widens, and although Miri searches on her own for more information on what REALLY transpired during this unusual expedition, she feels the woman she once loved fading away, possibly becoming something else entirely. Is it possible for Miri to reclaim what she once had...or has Leah given her mind, body, and soul irrevocably to the sea?

This is an interesting book on a number of levels. It's a bit of a genre bender, with the obvious romance, a heavy dose of sci-fi/horror, and some drama and even non-fiction-esque writing about oceans thrown in. I figured this would be a quick read due to the page count, but it did take me a little bit longer than I'd guessed to get through it. At first, I was caught up in Armfield's lovely prose, which was haunting and eerie, and figured that would carry me through till the end.

However, as the book wore on, all of the strange happenings to Leah were sort of reiterated over and over to the point where it felt unnecessary to keep mentioning them. We get that she constantly needs the salt water...but WHY? After a while, in this sort of book, you want some sort of answers, but this book is more like one long unexplained mystery. The writing is strong and held my attention for quite a while and I thought I was going to rate this one higher than I decided I could by the end...but basically, I just wanted MORE!

We got so many glimpses into Leah and Miri's past relationship, Leah's time trapped on the sub with her colleagues, and of course their current situation, but nothing CONCRETE. I don't want to say too much as to not spoil potential theories, but although this story is beautiful crafted in many respects and evocative, there was so much room for expansion. Which of course makes sense, given the length of the book...but based on the content that WAS there, I tend to think the author probably would have cycled back over some of her themes and ideas without truly going the extra mile to make everything come together in a cohesive way if the book had been longer.

While this book does vary dramatically from del Toro's Shape of Water in certain respects, I do think fans of that book would connect to this one, and I will be looking for Armfield's next work. I hope that NEXT time, however, the answers and conclusions I'm seeking won't feel so much like buried treasure, lost at sea.

3.5 stars

Nominated in the ŷ������ Choice Awards for Best Horror!