Like Water (novel)

The setting of Like Water is based on the period when Rebecca Podos was studying for her undergrad at an art school in Santa Fe, New Mexico. When Podos began writing the book, she was already set on having main character that is bisexual and a queer romantic relationship.^[2]

Like Water was described as a "poignant coming-of-age story" in a Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books review,^[3] and "[a] strong coming-of-age story, if at times just slightly predictable for sophisticated readers" by the School Library Journal.^[1] The Bulletin review also praised the way the struggles that the main characters goes through, both in respect to her romantic and personal life.^[3]

Elisa Gershowitz, writing for The Horn Book Magazine, thought Savannah and Leigh's love to be "satisfyingly complex", as well as Savannah's relationship to her parents. While both reviews found the mix of English and Spanish in the dialogues added authenticity and made it more natural, Gershowitz called the writing, at times, "uneven".^[4][3] Podos' writing was also praised in the way it "perfectly captures the comforting yet cloistering feeling of living in a rural town". Although The Booklist's reviewer found Savannah to be somewhat "amorphous", she also found the protagonist's self-discovery of her bisexuality refreshing for being simply a "matter-of-fact".^[5]

Kirkus Reviews appreciated Leigh's character, but wrote the narrative was weakened by "[Savannah]'s personality", which was "hard to pin down". The reviewer still praised how the characters' sexuality and gender were handled by Podos, as well as the "richly and authentically [description of] the culture of a small New Mexico town".^[6]

The book received a Lambda Literary Award in 2018, in the Children's and Young Adult category.^[7]