Thanks to Hougton Mifflin Harcourt for the free copy of this book.

IN AT THE DEEP END is the story of Julia, a young Londoner who comes to realize she is a lesbian and throws herself into the city's queer scene. At first, it's all fun and full of discovery, but once she pairs off with Sam, a beautiful local artist, things take a darker turn.

I've seen this book called "queer Bridget Jones" a lot, but really, it's Bridget Jones x Fleabag. It's full of dry British humor and verges on satire of queer and poly social circles. It really does start off as a fun finding-yourself story about the joys of queer life and chosen family, but it quickly turns into something that's even less discussed - abuse in queer relationships.

The way Julia and Sam's relationship slides slowly into toxic and controlling almost before you realize it felt very real. Another thing that rang true for me is that way some people have of insinuating "if you're really as liberal and accepting as you say, you'll be okay with this thing I'm making you do." I'm not sure I've ever seen that dynamic in a novel before, and it's really quite insidious.

I do wish we'd gotten a little more depth in Julia's friendships. She had so many people in her life that I think a few interesting side characters didn't get filled out quite enough. Though maybe that's just another illustration of how one can be so quickly isolated from friends.

Add to these things the very real depiction of how hard it is to leave an abusive situation even when you know you're being abused, and IN AT THE DEEP END isn't a light beach read, but, I think, an important expansion of the types of queer stories we're telling.

Also, this book is SUPER NSFW, reader beware if you're in public!