Thank you Harper Teen for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.

I have been having a difficult time trying to sum up my thoughts on A STUDY IN DROWNING. It’s a book about fairytales, mental illness and keeping the stories we love close to our hearts. I think most readers will immediately fall in love with the main character Effy. She’s a soft and anxious girl and unlike any YA heroine I have ever read. Effy is someone who’s been hurt by the people around her so she is extremely vulnerable. She’s a survivor. Effy is also a young woman in academia trying to navigate spaces that were not meant for her. All while she is having visions of the Fairy King that cause her to question her own reality.

Ava Reid continues to show that her strength lies in writing compelling narratives centered around the experiences of female suffering and anger. But the biggest strength of this book is probably the gothic atmosphere that serves as a backdrop to this story. The present is being haunted by the past. Effy and Preston trying to discover the secrets of Emrys Myrddin in his manor that is literally crumbling into the sea is a perfect example of that.

I loved how sweet and tender Effy’s relationship with Preston was. At first, their relationship was a little rocky, much like the rocks that are crumbling into the sea. But once Effy saw that Preston wasn’t there to judge her, her personality unfurled like a little delicate flower. The “romance” that takes place between Effy and Preston isn’t the focus of the book by any means but it shows that you really only need one person in this world who sees you for who are to make you feel like you can be brave and take on the world.

I could go on and on but you don’t need to keep reading for you to know that I am in love with his book and will continue to ready anything and everything that Ava Reid writes. A STUDY IN DROWNING just might be my favorite book from Reid yet!

5/5 stars!

A Study in Drowning is the first book I’ve read by Ava Reid. I enjoyed Effy and Preston. The mystery of the house and Emrys Myrddin kept me intrigued through the whole book. I really liked the poetry and snippets of Angharad in the beginnings of the chapters. If Ava Reid wrote and published Angharad, I would buy it.

However, I found the world building a little confusing. It starts off in what seems like a fantasy setting before mentioning more modern inventions such as cars and phones. We are given bits of background information about the world but some parts felt like they could’ve been explained with greater detail.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and its message.

Content warnings include sexual assault, grooming, victim blaming, parental neglect, and mental illness.

I am sitting here in complete awe to be honest, having just finished this beautifully crafted work of literary perfection, and feel strongly compelled to go back to the start of the book and re-experience the entire story all over again.

I absolutely loved the immersive world building. The trauma responses of the FMC are completely accurate for that level of trauma. This is a gothic academia novel with fantasy elements. The imagery used through the book is just absolutely beautiful.

The rivals to lovers romantic subplot is very very sweet, with a partner mindful of the FMC's past s*xual assault who waits until she is ready without expectations and with so much gentleness. The banter of the main characters is perfection.

And that ENDING!!!! The whole book was just so well crafted. It felt like stepping into a world of friends you never knew you needed with an outlook on the world your soul has been searching for. This book really is so healing for those who have gone through trauma events themselves. Please be mindful of your triggers.

This book reminds me of Margaret Rogerson's books (in particular, Sorcery of Thorns), Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brönte, and books by Rebecca Ross as well, with some light Series of Unfortunate Events: The Wide Window elements. So basically everything you would want to feel while reading a Gothic academia novel.

Favorite quotes:
"Writing that book was like shining a beacon from a lighthouse, I suppose."
"You don't have to take up a sword. Survival is bravery, too."

Content Warning: Low Spice romance, old boudoir photos, mentions of bare breasts, very minimal swear words, mentions of past s*xual assault by predatory professor, missing finger

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, HarperCollins, for sharing the advanced reader copy of this book with me.

Thank you so much to Ava Reid, Netgalley and HarperTeen. Ava Reid has a way of telling such a unique and dark story that had me hooked from the start. Our FMC is Effy, she is the only female student at her architecture college. She entered into a competition to redesign her favorite author's home. Not only is she shocked when she is selected she is a bit daunted not only at the property she is so draft blueprints for because she looked up to the author, but the building is located on an isolated cliff. If you enjoy dark academia with a hint of romance, A Study in Drowning is for you. I finished this book in less than 48 hours because I was unable to put it down. I will say you may need to check the trigger warnings on this one, but I did appreciate the mental health representation. It was my first read by Ava Reid and I can't want to read Juniper and Thorn next. I highly recommend for the fall and halloween vibes.

Special thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Content Warning: This book includes: on-page alcohol consumption, sexual content: (one on-page vague scene, a couple of kisses, implied & stated sexual content from other characters and written works, a huge storyline is the sexual assault that occurred to our main character-this is not overly descriptive, but you do understand what happened because of her trauma and fear), toxic relationships, professor and student power abuse, older men/younger girls power abuse, lots of misogynistic references and slurs. A couple of on-page swears.

This was my first introduction to Ava Reid’s work. A Study in Drowning is her YA debut, and it is rich in history and the fantastical. Cleverly written with the purpose of empowering and giving voice to young women whose voices were being silenced. Reid delivers a fresh perspective on equality, race, and how admiration and respect are quite different terms.

This book has soft fantasy elements, which I enjoyed. Sometimes, regular fantasy can be a little too hard to get into, but this book did a perfect job of blending both the academic world and fantastical together. Honestly, Reid created vast and descriptive settings that brought you along with the characters. The characters too were all written to have such unique and interesting personalities that made them feel both relevant and real.
My absolute favorite part of this book was the chapter headings, which gave us a glimpse into the history and this world’s works of literature. I absolutely adored Reid’s history behind Myrddin’s books and poetry as well as the history of the world’s Drowning.

The only thing that I did not care for was the repetitiveness of the book. It seemed like there was too much information being handed to us at once, which I would have rather had sprinkled throughout. Of course, that is my own preference, but other than that it was an enjoyable book. I think that it would be a great fit in any public or private library collection.

I would recommend A Study in Drowning to anyone who loves light/dark academia and soft fantasy. Recommended reading would be The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson (The history/literature focus), A Winter’s Promise by Christelle Dabos (Soft Magic/Artifact & Literature focus), The Darkest Part of The Forest by Holly Black (If you liked the Fairy King) and for a more mature audience the wolf & the woodsman (same author)

Very cozy and autumnal dark academia-esque novel featuring a rivals to lovers romance. I think teens who are interested in this kind of story will be greatly pleased, and it also has quite a bit of crossover appeal. Atmosphere of this story is perfectly done. Very engaging work.

It took me a while to get through this, but simply because, although beautifully written, it just wasn't for me. I liked the concept, but I just didn't fall in love. Effy and Preston had great character development. The academic setting added to the eerie atmosphere, perfect for someone seeking a slow burn, dark academia read..

Poetic, melancholic perfection—Ava writes for the heart of my soul. There are few things outside of my own inner turmoil that can make me cry and FEEL, the way Ava’s writing can.

I waited months to finally read A Study in Drowning after being approved for the eARC because I was in a severe reading burnout and though I knew that, most likely, reading it would bring me out of my slump…I love Ava’s writing too much to risk that the burnout would affect the experience because I’d been sooooooo looking forward to this book.

Fortunately, by end of August I was finally feeling ready to pick it up and got to start reading it on my birthday, which was the best birthday treat. Though I tried to pace myself, I flew through it in a few sittings…but wish I could have made it last forever.

The beautiful, solemn world building transports you immediately and completely into Effy’s melancholic world. My heart aches for this girl who has spent her life being made small, being made to feel she is not enough, that there is something wrong with and inside her. Lost in the overwhelm of life, being forced to live an outer life that doesn’t match who you are inside is such a deeply resonant theme. Tbh, I didn’t think I would really like Preston but turns out, I adored him. He and Effy have my whole heart and I absolutely love them. The world, the story, the lore and mythology…everything about this story is so well and beautifully done and should absolutely be an immediate add to everyones tbr—and is especially perfect for a curled up under a blanket on a gloomy, chilly fall day read.

I am forever in awe of the depth, atmosphere, nuance, feeling…in Ava’s stories, and am ravenously awaiting Lady Makbeth’s arrival next year.

Myth: 5/5

An enthralling dark academia story with evocative drowning vibes from start to finish. This book had me in a chokehold from the third chapter on. Delving into a famous writer’s works after his passing, Effy has to confront both the heroes and demons in her world.

Magic: 5/5

I have to say that this was fantastically done. A slight play with the concept of an unreliable narrator leaves you on the edge of your seat throughout the entire book. I won’t say more!

Overall: 5/5

Captivating! I had to know more, I needed to and wanted to believe in everything Effy saw, but her self-doubt is a powerful tool in dancing the unreliable narrator line. This story felt wholly fresh to me, even in the growing popularity of the dark academia subgenre. I highly recommend it.

A gothic dark academia mystery featuring two rivals-to-lovers who find themselves hunting down the truth about the author of a famous story... only to find themselves fighting against the Fairy King and other dangers as the truth will come at a price. Effy Sayre lives in a world where women aren't afforded the same opportunities as men, and as the only woman in the architecture college (when she wants to be a literature student but it is forbidden for women to be in the literature college), life is hard enough, especially since she is still reeling from the scandal with her advisor... the one in which people think she slept with him to get ahead when the truth is that she didn't want any of it. Effy's only solace from her haunted visions, her terrible childhood, and the assault she faced is her book Angharad, a book that tells the epic story about a mortal girl who falls in love with the Fairy King and destroys him. Effy idolizes the author, Emrys Myrddin and the author himself is shrouded in mystery. Yet when the Myrddin family is offering to let a architecture student redesign the house, Effy knows its her chance to find out more about her author. What she didnt expect was that she would be going with Preston Héloury, a literature scholar who wants to expose Myrddin as a fraud and not the true author of Angharad. Things to also note about this universe is that Effy's home land is at war with its neighbor and one of Preston's parents is from the neighboring war land and he is also faced with prejudices. Effy immediately dislikes Preston because he rented all the books on Myrddin when she wanted them, she is also jealous that he is able to be a literature student. Though they both get off on the wrong foot they both find that they are hunting down the truth of the Fairy King, yet Effy is plagued by visions of the Fairy King and she doesn't know what's real and what's in her head. Yet the more they try to find answers the more danger closes in on them. Will they be able to find the truth before it's too late or will they die trying?

This is Ava Reid's third book and her first young adult novel, it features her gorgeous writing and its definitely an atmospheric read. The story deals with a lot of triggers: sexism/misogyny, a sexually-exploitative power imbalance, grooming, rape and dubcon, ableism, mental illness, an emotionally abusive parent, alcoholism, PTSD and intrusive memories, mentions of drowning, and child abandonment. Effy isn't really a likable character and comes off very very young and the writing feels a bit juvenile at times when it comes to her. I did like the overall mystery but I wish there was some character work on Effy and Preston, I wanted them to be a bit more fleshed out and kind of wished there was a better flow to their romance. I liked the book overall but it's definitely not my favorite of all her books. This is her first young adult novel and it definitely feels young as the characters read a bit more juvenile despite being in college. Overall, it's a beautiful atmospheric gothic read with a dash of mystery, romance, and fantasy!

*Thanks Netgalley and HarperCollins Children's Books, HarperTeen for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

I enjoyed the book, it is great in that certain things are not explained when introduced, but are slowly given context as the story progresses. I loved the dark fairy tale feel, against a backdrop of misogyny and political progress. Things that are briefly mentioned that don’t seem important later become much more involved in the overall story. I absolutely enjoyed this book, it was a great read for me!

I was shocked by how much this book pulled me in, I read it quickly and in one sitting, needing to know what happened, who wrote the book in question. And honestly if anybody was going to get a lung disease from how moldy that house was.

????/5 ⭐️

I don’t know how to rate this book. I loved so so much of it but there were a few things that bothered me. So, while this is five stars it’s also not?

Ava Reid always, always creates an amazing atmosphere. The crumbling house on cliff, the dark academia tones, the unknowing of what’s reality and what’s not is just incredible. My skin had goosebumps so many times because Reid’s writing just sucked me into the story. Effy is an ode to those whose homes are stories. Whose life surrounds them and it was written amazingly. Effy is a complex character who shows you there is power is softness. The way she was depicted, especially the ableism and misogyny she faced, was handled wonderfully.

And Preston and Effy?? I loved them so much. They encouraged one another and helped each other grow. I spent so much time giggling at them, they were so cute.

While I did love Preston and Effy, Preston did feel a bit two dimensional and flat. He got better at the end but I wish we got more development on his end. I also wish some of the world building could have been explained a little bit more.

I love this book so much and I highly recommend it. I just can’t figure out the rating so at the moment I’m leaving it unrated.

From the first chapter I was hooked into this atmospheric and haunting gothic tale and it consumed all of my thoughts. I was even dreaming about it.

A Study in Drowning hits so many things I love to read about - a protagonist going to a mysterious manor with dark secrets, a story about the power of storytelling, a lovely slow burning rivals to lovers romance, the blurring of the lines between reality and fantasy, epigraphs at the beginning of every chapter...I could go on and on. To me, this was a perfect gothic fantasy and I think there are a lot of readers that will deeply connect with Effy's story in the way Effy connects with the story of Angharad.

This gets pitched as "dark academia" and while the story does have a lot of those elements and expertly engages with academic themes (particularly the institutional sexism/misogyny in academia, questions of authorship, and the concept of "The Death of the Author"), this is more of a traditional gothic novel with a slow-building plot full of haunting atmosphere and dread. It also is quite dark for a YA novel (major TW for sexual assault - though nothing is explicitly on the page it is a major element throughout) and I think it fits firmly into the upper YA/new adult/crossover age-range.

This was my first Ava Reid novel and now The Wolf and the Woodsman and Juniper and Thorn have climbed higher on my TBR. I can't wait to delve into those stories.

A Study in Drowning is a gothic infused, dark academia fantasy that reads like a creepy fairytale. There are a lot of themes woven into this novel, which is difficult for an author to balance, but Ava Reid handles it wonderfully. There are multiple genres in Drowning that are expertly crafted together: mystery, horror, paranormal, romance and fantasy. The writing is beautiful and enhances the story and atmosphere. I was very easily immersed in imagery while reading this novel.

This book would have been flawless if more character growth had been addressed. Effy, the main character, at times was difficult to like. She was stubborn and prejudice towards others from the country neighboring hers. While she did apologize for some of the words spoken, I felt a little more emphasis on character growth would have rounded out the character development.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this!

Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was an interesting book. I wasn't really sure how I felt about it in the beginning, but I ended up liking it about halfway through. I typically enjoy dark academia books, so that was a plus. This book is about Effy, who isn't taken seriously as someone who wants to be a literature student. When she receives the opportunity to redesign her literary hero's estate, she jumps at the chance. Unfortunately, when she arrives, she meets Preston who is determined to discredit all that the late author, Myyrddin's estate.

Their romance starts off as an enemies to lovers, but as Preston starts to ask her questions that don't add up, the two of them work o discover the truth about the late author. I didn't mind the romance, even though it may have been a little cliché. I didn't feel like it was insta-love, as Effy was adamant that Preston was wrong and the two of them couldn't stop bickering.

Overall, it was a unique story that I ultimately enjoyed. It did take me awhile to get into it, but once the mystery started, I was hooked.

Autumn is quickly approaching and, even though it’s still 80+ degrees where I live, I crave the autumnal, academia vibes. A Study in Drowning provides that atmosphere in spades – moldering manors, slowly drowning towns, and hints of an alternate reality at the edge of your vision. And if that’s not enough to sway you, it’s also a book about books.

Effy Sayre is dealing with a scandal and failing out of her architecture curriculum until she submits a design to the estate of a preeminent author who has just passed away. While she feels like she’s running away from her problems, this could also be a chance to salvage her academic career even though it’s in a remote location along the crumbling southern coast. Once there she finds she’s not the only university student at Hiraeth Manor. A boy named Preston Héloury from the literature college is also there putting together notes for his thesis, where he seems to be trying to defame the recently deceased and nationally beloved Emrys Myrddin. The two are immediately at odds because Effy dearly loves Myrddin’s works, though like rational folks, once they spend some time together their opinions of one another change. They begin working together on a scholarly article, determined to find the truth about Emrys Myrddin and the authorship of his most well known work, Angharad.

Though this is set in a fantastical world, there’s more of the idea of magic present in this tale than actual magic. Effy gets glimpses of what she thinks is the Fairy King, but it’s unclear if she’s hallucinating, as she has a history of seeing things that aren’t there and takes medication for it. There’s a great deal of folklore surrounding the Bottom Hundred area where Hiraeth Manor is located and there’s a vague protective magic attributed to figures called the Sleepers, but little information is given regarding them. Though light on magic, the story is absolutely dripping with evocative writing and some rather interesting excerpts from Myrddin’s poems and stories. This is, in my opinion, something that fans of The Night Circus might enjoy though the setting is certainly a bit darker.

While I loved the writing style and the general setting, I must admit I did not care for Effy much at all at the beginning of the story. She has her tragic backstory and is presented as a girl trying very hard not to drown in her circumstances, but that’s not why I didn’t care for her. She was so hostile and accusatory towards Preston when she first met him and then she pried into people’s business shamelessly while also getting angry when people asked her probing questions. I did grow to like her more towards the latter half of the book, but I found Preston to be my preferred main character. He was scholarly and smug, but he was also kind and patient even when Effy was at her most frustrating.

This was a surprising book, mostly because I had no idea what to expect from it when picking it up. I snagged a copy mostly because I liked the cover and it mentioned a Fairy King – what did I really have to lose except time? If you’re a fan of academically inclined books that are practically overflowing with *vibes and atmosphere* you should definitely check this out. Though it is labeled as young adult, I would say that it skews toward the older end of the YA demographic, as both the characters are in their first year of college. Overall, I enjoyed this and wouldn’t mind checking out Ava Reid’s popular adult book, Juniper & Thorn at some point.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc of this book! <i>A Study in Drowning</i> comes out September 19, 2023.

<i>A Study in Drowning</i> follows Effy Sayre, who has always believed in fairy tales, even when those around her called her silly and made for doing so. Since childhood, she's found solace in her favorite book, Angharad, an epic about a mortal girl who falls in love with the Fairy King, and then destroys him.

Effy's love of this story leads her to pausing her studies at her architecture college (a place where she feels alone and yearning for a life where she can study literature) to enter a contest to rebuild the author's, Emrys Myrddin's, crumbling, sea drenched estate. There, she meets Preston Héloury, a young literature scholar studying Myrddin’s papers, and is determined to prove her favorite author is a fraud.

This story has some pretty immaculate Gothic vibes. You can smell the wooden decay, taste the salt of the sea, feel the wind brush against you as Effy explores the caverns of Hiraeth Manor. The writing is, for the most part, superb. This is definitely a story for the spooky literature girlies. Reid does a fantastic job at crafting the atmosphere of the novel, building up that creeping, claustrophobic, Gothic dread. This is the perfect novel for the "ber" months as the days get shorter and colder. I would not say this is a dark academia novel, so if you're looking for those specific vibes, adjust your expectation. There's a lot said about literature, but it's less of a critique or exploration of academia as an institution and more of a Gothic about the ways men harm women.

Effy is a great main character, especially for younger readers. The way Reid explores her trauma and PTSD is so well done, and I think it's something that is so important to discuss in YA lit. Preston was kind of one note, but I liked his character. He's got the grumpy yet tender scholar vibes down. I do wish there had been more of a resolution to Effy's initial prejudice of him. It kind of just gets forgotten amidst the rest of the plot, but the author takes such great lengths to describe how these two cultures have been at war together and how they view one another, but doesn't really do anything with that. There's slight conversations around colonization and stereotyping, but it doesn't go much further. Considering this is a pseudo fantasy world based on Welsh folktales and stories, I think that could have (and should have) been given a bit more nuance.

Really, I think this book suffered the most from having the too much gene in terms of plot. The main framing of the story, Angharad, Myrddin, and the Fairy King was well done. But the rest of the world building was a bit underdeveloped. For instance, the story is an amalgamation of Welsh folktales and the real Victorian/early modern era, which didn't always work for me. There was a dissonance there that I couldn't ignore. And there is a great subplot of the Sleepers that was so underused and underdeveloped, which is a shame because it was super interesting. <spoiler> I also have no idea what to make of the Effy as a changeling subplot. That felt...thrown in.</i>spoiler> Some more extended developing or trimming of the world building would have made this a tighter story.

I do love what this book has to say and its overall message, though it does feel a bit didactic, especially near the end.

Overall, I had a good time. I think this is a story I'll revisit over the years in the colder months.

I have really enjoyed Ava Reids's previous two books, however, this one just didn't work for me. I didn't feel like we got too much in the way of world-building, and I didn't get any chemistry at all between Effy and Preston. At their first meeting she has an immediate dislike of him not just because he is part of the county their at war with, but mostly because he checked out all the books she wanted at the library. Which is irritating but not a reason to immediatly hate someone.
I enjoyed the setting of the estate, and liked how Effy and Preston went about digging into Emry's past. But I felt like nothing really happened until almost the end of the book, then everything resolved super fast, and most of my reading experience I felt bored.

While this one in particulat didn't work for me, I will definielty check out other books by Ava Reid in the future.

Absolutely loved this!! It was a thrilling read and I will read anything that Ava writes. I think this book needs to be picked up by more book box companies to create special editions. Thank you to NetGalley for the advance review.