I've started and stopped this review like ten times and I need to just commit and get something written down. The problem is that I have so much I want to say about this book and no idea how to really say it.

Normally this review would just be me explaining why this was a great read, like the endearing characters, the compelling storyline, the sweet rivals-to-lovers romance, the stunning prose, and the perfectly eerie dark academia vibes. Then I would spend a brief moment talking about the things that prevented me from giving five stars, like struggling with the pacing or finding a certain plot twist a bit dissatisfying. And while all of this is true for this book, there's so much more that merits saying about this book and what it means to me. Because this book is so much more than all the things in the blurb and all the things I expected it to be.

At its core this book is about so many sharp things that many people will relate to. It's about institutional sexism and power dynamics. It's about how young women are simultaneously dismissed and underestimated, while also being blamed for the actions of the predatory men around them. It's about how every woman has so many stories she could share about all the small violences accrued throughout their lifetimes, all the harms they nickel-and-dime and force themselves to think nothing of because 'it could have been worse' and because they know every other woman is collecting the exact same stories. It's about mental health and anxiety and the way these things can fool us out of trusting ourselves. It's about autonomy and finding your voice and all the little ways our voices can be stifled, ripped away, returned to us. It's about finding refuge in a story and the people wrapped around that story and how jarring it can be when that safe place falls apart around you. This book is about so many important things that shape and define people and their experiences and I don't even begin to know how to voice that immense value found within these pages. I guess I should just say that I'm extremely grateful to have experienced this book and envy the younger readers getting to experience it much earlier in life than I did.

An enjoyable and important read that has a permanent place in my heart from now on. Is it the perfect read? Maybe not. But it doesn't need to be to make an impact. Highly recommend.

Special thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for an ARC in exchange for review.

Wow wow WOW!!!! I remember almost not requesting this book earlier in the year because I just wasn't feeling ANOTHER YA romantic fantasy (I just assumed based off of the cover). Thankfully... I decided against my initial thought and put in a request anyways, which was granted. And am I SO THANKFUL THAT I GOT TO READ THIS BOOK.

Ava Reid's writing had me hooked the entire time. The way she would weave small hints to Effy's experience in the background of her storytelling, making you stressed the entire time for when the truth would come out surrounding what happened to her. The slow burn build-up between Effy and Preston that feels like it takes years but is only the course of a few days (maybe a week or two?) was my perfect form of academic rivals to lovers.

The way this book touches on racism, misogyny, war, religion, class war, sexual assault, and so many other topics with such a delicate and intentional hand made me actually believe the story being told without feeling like Reid was trying too hard to push a specific agenda relevant to today's society (which can be done well but feels tiresome at some points).

I would call this book New Adult rather than YA, as there are some sexual scenes that are probably too old for the younger age of YA (aka 13-16 in my brain), but I do think everything is done so well that it can be enjoyed by many different age ranges. Highly highly HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone - it's probably in my top 10 books of the year so far. Maybe even top 5.

I've loved everything Ava Reid has written, and this one is no different. Atmospheric, mysterious, and multi-layered, this is a complex gothic/fairy tale-esque novel with dark academia vibes. It also is a critique of the misogynist mindset and treatment of females in the academe (and any place, really), so it truly was fulfilling to see the protagonist's Effy Sayre's journey throughout the novel. Loved the two main leads. Highly recommend!

I enjoyed this book for so many reasons. Since it is October, the vibes for this book were spot on for Fall: dark and dreary, lurking fae, a crumbling and decaying mansion, and an air of mystery. Not only did this book contain all those things, but it contained quite a few different messages: the relationship between an author and their reader, how women’s stories and even lives are taken from them, the lack of women in academics and the misogynistic way they were viewed, and surviving sexual assault or any trauma.
Normally I like a fierce, powerful FMC, but I won’t lie, Effy made a huge impression on me and really expressed how staying “soft” and just trying to survive is equally as impressive as a FMC who can wield swords and is “hard” to the rest of the world. There’s so many ways people can be powerful, and I think that gets lost sometimes.
I also liked that the Fairy King was the VILLAIN, not the eventual love interest. And speaking of love interests, I loved the academic rivals to lovers throughout this novel. It was just the right amount of build up and Preston has my whole heart.
All in all a fantastic read that I think everyone should read once (especially you soft femmes out there, this one’s for you). Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC!

Such a fun book! I really loved the gothic atmosphere of this book. It's a rivals to lovers dark academia gothic ish tie up but also has fae elements in the more traditional sense! I also like how it touched on feminism and how it was describing effie's experience with being a student and all.

Technically, I received an eARC of this from the publisher on NetGalley...but then I read my OwlCrate version because I'm that behind on ARCs and reading. 4/5 stars.

I feel the same way about this as I did with another one of Reid's books where I loved the premise and the prose was beautiful, but it felt like it just...lagged? Like, it's such a slow moving and opening up of the plot that it felt like wading through water (pun intended).

Besides that, I really wanted to read this because of 1) the COVER and 2) the fact that it's about what books mean to us as readers...on top of it having the Fairy King and some other mythology in it. Oddly enough, I didn't really lean either way for the romance. There were good lines and some great forced proximity, but I didn't consume the romance elements like I would usually do.

Effy, the main character, is in the architecture college (of which the school or the world building was never really explained...but what else can you expect from a standalone) because they don't admit women into the literature college. Effy also was taken advantage of by the architecture's head dead/professor person (consensually?) but it's left an impression on Effy and of those toward her. This then gets tied into what the book by her favorite author ends up meaning for her.

4.5 stars-

The beginning of this book truly, completely captivated me. This is my first book of Ava Reid’s, but I’ve heard and seen so much about their writing, as well as the premise of this book, that I felt quite certain I would love this book before even starting it. The setting is terribly atmospheric and unique. It mostly takes place in a crumbling, gothic manor on the edge of a cliff about to tumble into the sea. It definitely leans into gothic stereotypes, but the sea town setting puts a unique twist on it. The beginning starts off in a college, however, and I loved those vibes as well. The characters feel pretty real and personable, right from the start. Preston—he delivered on his role. A love interest with glasses and a stand-offish, raging academic personality might be enough for me to give this book 5 stars on a good day (but not today lol). This book also touches on themes of sexual assault, grooming, mental illness, and much more, and it’s all handled very maturely. The premise is definitely intriguing, although the plot ended up taking a pretty different direction than one would expect based on the premise.

This book follows Effy—a student at an architectural college who wants nothing more than to be a literature student, but she can’t because women aren’t allowed. She takes up an assignment to design a house for the late Emrys Myriddn, her favorite author. But when she arrived, she is confronted with Preston, a student at the literature college, who is trying to expose her favorite author as a fraud…

The premise SLAPS! But while this book totally ensnared me at the start, I started to find something about it lacking as I got closer to the end. It took me a while to put my finger on it, but I think it’s that, in some ways, it doesn’t exactly deliver on the premise that is promised. Most notably, the academic rivals to lovers is…just not very rival-y. (I still loved them though, don’t get me wrong. The romance was a tiny bit forced at some points though tbh) I won’t go into detail because of spoilers, but first and foremost, this book is a mystery. Mysteries are cool and all but it was just not what I was expecting from the premise. There’s also some potential unreliable narrator stuff that I found really interesting at first, but as the book went on, started to frustrate me as no questions were answered until the very end. This made the ending feel a little bit clunky for me, and I started to feel kind of detached from the characters and events because there were so many unanswered questions, and I was having trouble piecing together what was real and what wasn’t. Also, a smaller note, but the world building ??? I was just generally confused on that front. Time period, technology, societal structures, relation to other countries…just everything lol. And I wanted to feel more connected to Effy than I did, honestly. I hate to say this because I know that her character was exploring struggles with mental illness but there were many points where she just really frustrated me in the sense that I didn’t understand why she was doing/thinking certain things. I just felt like I didn’t have the best grasp on any of her character traits for some reason.

I recommend this book to anyone looking for gothic, edge-of-the-sea mystery vibe, a love interest with glasses, and a smattering of faerie folklore (personally I would have loved that to be more of a thing). A complete recipe for a book that I would love, but just didn’t 100% deliver for some reason.

A Study In Drowning has a fantasy meets dark academia vibe that is perfect for spooky season. We have a MC who has known mental health issues and because of that doesn't always trust her own observations of the world. We have an academic rival determined to prove her wrong. We have the son of a famous author who seems to favor her perspective, but gives off weird vibes. And we have a mix of folklore and local legend that ties everything together. This is really the book to read in October with a nice hot cup of cocoa or tea.

“You took away all the other wanting from me.”

Finished this book last night and I’ll try to do it justice in my review, though I feel like that may be impossible. It feels like there aren’t adequate words to describe all the things this book made me feel. This book is worth all the hype and more!!

The story follows Effy Sayre, an architecture student with a haunted past and a desire to escape her passionless studies and the rampant sexism accompanying them. When an opportunity to do just that comes her way, she takes a leave of absence from university and travels south to redesign her favorite author’s—the late Emrys Myrddin’s—estate. Soon after, she realizes this project is nothing like she imagined it would be, and her only shot at the life she imagined for herself lies in the hands of a cynical and smug literature student who is trying to prove that Myrddin is a fraud.

Equal parts haunting, magical, and macabre, this gothic-fantasy-meets-dark-academia story is everything I hoped it would be and more. Ava Reid seamlessly weaves a variety of social issues into her narrative, including sexism in academia, female objectification, racism and nationalism, and authorship/ownership. While this book would definitely still have a plot without the romance, the slow burn between Effy and Preston was *everything* to me.

This is the perfect book to read on a crisp fall day. I’m so glad I read this in October because the vibes were perfect. Highly recommend to any and all readers!

A 3.5 - places where the plot slows or gets repetitive and it's a 3, but other places where it's just the right about of gothic and creepy that it bumps to a 4. I can see many people of the dark academia crowd loving this book and the beautiful writing. For me, I just needed a little more to happen. When you look at the plot overall, there's not a ton there, but the story kept me compelled to read it in two sittings anyway.

I enjoyed this dark academia story. I loved the Gothic vibes and the eerie mansion that is literally about to fall into the sea.

I enjoyed Effy as our protagonist and her development throughout the story. While the ending did seem a bit too wrap up quickly, I loved it.

The only thing I wish we got background on the two countries and why there is so much hate amongst them.

Being that is a YA book I really appreciated the soft and sweet relationship between Effy and Preston.

Definitely recommend reading this one!

4 maybe 4.5 stars!

It took me a few tries to get into this story but once I did I could not put it down. The story deals with some complex topics, the main being sexism and misogamy. The characters , narrative, mysteries and fantastical setting all blended together so well. I was left questioning again and again.

Thank you NetGalley for early access to this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

"The only enemy is the sea."

Except that's not quite true, as A Study in Drowning slowly reveals. To be certain, the sea broods over the setting--a crumbling mansion on a windswept cliffside, in a secondary world with more than a passing resemblance to Wales in the early twentieth century. And certainly the sea as a metaphor for the impermanence and unreliability of memory is a running theme throughout. But the true antagonistic force, as is clear from the opening pages, is the patriarchy.

A Study in Drowning follows Effy, a timid young architecture student who longs to be a writer in the vein of her favorite poet, Emrys Myrddin, the recently-deceased national poet of the nation of Llyr. Her ambition is thwarted by the literature college's refusal to allow female students, but when she wins a contest to redesign Myrddin's decaying home of Hiraeth Manor, Effy has a chance to see her dreams fulfilled.

But when she arrives at Hiraeth Manor, Effy soon begins to discover that her hero may not have been who he seems. The mansion has been left to decay, slowly crumbling into the sea, while its master Ianto--son of the late Myrddin--is possessed of a mercurial temper. Effy's discomfiture is further compounded by the presence of Preston Heloury, a literature student from her university who is intent on proving that Myrddin is *not* the poet Effy thinks he was. And most troubling of all, Effy's dreams are constantly haunted by visions of the Faerie King, who promises to claim her as his bride...

A Study in Drowning is primarily a character piece, as the reader experiences the world of Llyr through Effy's eyes. (Side note: "Llyr" is the Welsh word for "sea," and is pronounced close to "fear," both of which feature prominently in both the novel itself and in Effy's psyche.) Effy begins the story as a shy and withdrawn young woman in a world that disregards and diminishes women, to such an extreme degree that even Effy herself does not trust her own perceptions. Ava Reid uses Effy's status as an unreliable narrator to great effect, leaving it ambiguous throughout most of the book whether Effy's continued visions of the Faerie King are the hallucinations of an unstable psyche, or something much more sinister and real.

A Study in Drowning is part dark academia, part coming of age, and part Gothic literary homage, as the brooding, decaying Hiraeth Manor would not be out of place among the works of the Bronte sisters. But more than anything, it is the story of a woman finding her voice despite those who would silence it.

This one started slow for me, and I wasn't sure I was going to like it, but by the time Effy got off the train in the South, I was in and blew through the rest. I really liked the way the author addressed mental health, and I loved how respectful Preston was as a romantic lead.

A Study in Drowning was so whimsical and haunting and the perfect read for a cold spooky fall day. I loved everything about this story and the setting, and the creepy old house that was on the verge of falling into the sea was so enticing to learn more about. I loved the characters and their flaws and how they overcame them and learned not only about themselves but also about each other and the world around them. My only draw back with A Study in Drowning was the twist was quite evident to me from very early on, but it did not make the story any less enjoyable because I was curious to see how it would all play out! I definitely loved this book and even ended up buying not only a physical copy but also the audiobook so I can enjoy it again in the future!

I was really looking forward to receiving the ARC of this book, seeing all the rave reviews on Booktok, but it wasn't for me. I enjoyed the descriptive, beautiful writing, but I found myself losing interest in the story itself as well as the characters. It has a definite eerie vibe going for it, but I guess I don't vibe with the vibes these days. I feel like if you liked Divine Rivals, you will like this book. I found both boring in equal measure and DNFd both around 30% or so.

A Study in Drowning is a swirling tempest of hope, love, and finding a way forward against all odds.
I was not connecting with this. I don't think dark academia is a genre for me

“Will you sign it for me?”

Never has a line devastated me so deeply and it doesn’t appear until 95% into the book, right at the end after I’ve been devastated by the pain of girlhood and fandom and drowning. Ava Reid’s writing is so thick and syrupy, you truly feel as if you’re in the story. A story that feels like a fairytale, a true one, that hurts. I love Effy so deeply, I felt such a kinship with her. I don’t want to say more in case of spoilers but Effy did it, she survived everything that happened to her and there’s such hope in that.

The world is fascinating, there’s so many layers of strife in every area: political, academic, magical, societal. Effy’s past in particular is extremely fascinating and the vague sense of confusion built around is there actual magic in this world? It was a fantastic reading experience, I love this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins/HarperTeen for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Disgraced architecture student, Effy Sayre, needs to get away it all. Her beloved novel, Angharad, no longer provides the escape she needs—nor do her little pink pills. So when an announcement comes that an architecture student is needed to repair the home of her deceased favorite author, Effy jumps at the chance. And to her amazement, gets picked.

But it’s not long after she arrives that she regrets signing up in the first place. The house is too old and rotting away. The author’s son wants to be too familiar to her. And there’s another student from her university that is trying to discredit the legacy of the author. And at the crux of it all lays Angharad—her fight against the Fairy King. Her little pink pills are supposed to tell her he isn’t real, but Effy can’t shake the feeling the Fairy King is after her as well.
•
•
•
I enjoyed this, but not as much as I was hoping. besides not liking 3rd POV, I started losing interest in the story pretty fast. There were some compelling moments but I felt like the pace dragged on and the details got convoluted at times. Everything did wind up making sense at the end and most of the major plot points were nicely wrapped up, but I couldn’t get into the writing style. I don’t think it’s any fault of the author’s—just my own personal bias. I think others would really enjoy it, just sadly not my cup of tea.

Thanks so much to NetGalley for the ARC!

4.75/5 stars

Wow….just wow. This was my first Ava Reid and MAN she is an INSTABUY now! This was creative, provocative, dark, intriguing, addicting, dramatic, intelligent, atmospheric….I loved it. I couldn’t stop once I started. I had to know what was going to happen. Did I figure out the twists/reveals ahead of the end - yes. Did that hurt my experience - no. The journey was so good that didn’t matter.

Major trigger warnings, however; sexual assault and parental loss and neglect are significant plot points. They’re handled with care and respectfully executed, but they’re persistent throughout so please go in aware.

Ava Reid is a phenomenal storyteller. The romance was sweet and passionate, the plot dark and intriguing, the magical realism just *chefs kiss* - plus the female empowerment was subtle but there and important. It was just so good at every turn, I’m not sure what could have been done better!