Where do I even begin with this review. Thank you to NetGalley and HarperTeen for an early copy.

This is likely going to be my favorite book of the year. This was absolutely, breathtakingly, hauntingly perfect.

I’ve never felt so emotionally connected to characters before. Both Effy and Preston represent one half of my heart, and to reference another review I read, there is no way I can pretend to be Normal about this book.

The writing was gorgeous. The story pacing was perfect. It was an incredible blend of unreliable and grounded, haunting and captivating, romantic and tragic. Ava Reid is truly our modern day fairytale storyteller, and I will purchase absolutely anything she ever releases to the world.

The way Reid demonstrated the quiet strength that being a survivor of a world that feels built to destroy you is something that will live with me for the rest of my days.

Five stars. I cannot say enough good things about this book.

This was an okay book for me. The first 1/4 started out promising. Effu was trying to figure herself out. However, I didn’t feel like I truly understood her. The middle of the book was quite slow for me. The last 1/4 of the book where her and Preston figure things out that had been in question the entire time was good. I wish there would have been more of the figuring things out throughout the book and not just at the end.

4.5**

A Study in Drowning was such a delight to read. How is it possible that a book could be cozy and magical, and yet haunting and gloomy at the same time? I loved the setting of Hiraeth Manor - I wouldn't call this book exactly dark academia but gothic is definitely one to use to describe this book. Ava Reid is so good at creating the haunting and cold atmosphere around the setting which made this book a million times better to read.

I loved Effy's character and how her story kind of parallels some plots from the fairy tale she's trying to uncover the truth. Watching her overcome her struggles and her fear was one of my favorite thing about this book. I loved the way this book highlighted the misogynistic and sexist treatment women has to live through just for existing, although it was definitely painful to read. I'm so glad of Effy's character honestly. In a way, I think a lot of girls can relate to the situation she was in and gain confidence to overcome their fears thanks to Effy.

I loved the romance too! I haven't been enjoying romance in YA fantasy (or fantasy in general) that much because they don't necessarily add up anything to the plot but the romance in ASID was so well done. It was definitely a case of insta-love but the way the romance progresses from Effy and Preston not liking each other and having the same views to them being partners to them being each other's safe places as they try to survive in Hiraeth Manor. I loved how Preston was very respectful towards Effy and cares about her consent and boundaries. I love the tenderness of their friendship and relationship. One thing I would comment on is that there were some scenes that were borderline graphic to be put into the YA category so maybe this book would be better marketed as upper YA.

This book wasn't a perfect read. There were some elements that I wish could be explored more like the Fairy King and the world building. But I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and this book makes me want to start reading Ava's other books as well. I would recommend this book if you're in need of a cozy mystery fantasy to cuddle up to in your blankets and cardigans.

A Study in Drowning is a mystery set in a spellbinding world, with a little romance on the side. There were so many things going on. It's the kind of book you can reread and find something new every time.

Days have passed since I finished the novel, yet I remain in shock. While I technically rate out of 5 stars, this book deserves all the stars.

Firstly...

The writing is hauntingly beautiful. This is a full, five-sense experience. Everything is so vivid. Both books, the official and Angharad, were everything. I couldn't get enough. (If a full-length version of Angharad is ever published, know that I would be first in line.)

The plot had me permanently on edge. Every time I thought I figured something out, there was yet another twist. I was completely captivated by the magic and the mystery. Putting this down to eat, sleep, and work was such a struggle.

And Effy!

Effy is the perfect main character, precisely because of her imperfections.

I loved that she isn't fearless, that sometimes she's absolutely terrified. Despite her apprehension, Effy chooses to see this through. That made her an even more likeable MC.

Bottom line: I loved it. I'm hoping you'll love it too.

"A Study in Drowning" is a gorgeous YA dark academia. Rich and folkloric, suffused with myth, literature, and the sea, it's also a powerful tale of survival.

I admit that I was not a fan of Effy at first--for a scholar with otherworldly visions, she seemed remarkably close-minded, something that didn't change as much as I would have liked throughout the book. I also felt that the backdrop of war was not explored to its full potential. But overall this is a compelling and beautiful read with a mystery at its heart and a highly satisfying conclusion.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc! Opinions are my own.

AHH this book is SO GOOD! I was so lucky to get a copy and I'm so grateful I did. I read this in two sittings because I could not put it down, but I wished I'd taken my time to draw it out and savor it. I already preordered a physical copy so I can reread it in the fall—it's the perfect cozy fall read.

There were a couple things I didn't love, a couple things that were too convenient/just there to move the plot along, but I didn't really care. The vibes and the story just swept me away. I loved Effy and Preston and them together. This is a long book and I honestly wished it was longer, even a duology perhaps? There was a lot that I felt lacked the depth I craved and there was so much more to be done with the characters and the world. But I very much enjoyed it and would recommend this to anyone who wants a properly gothic atmosphere and mood.

A Study In Drowning is set within the world of dark academia, in a crumbling mansion on a cliff, and in a dark and dreary sea side town. It’s a mystery, a dark fairytale, and a slow burn romance. It’s filled with tons of metaphors and foreshadowing, and offers gorgeous imagery and settings. The character relationships thoughtful and dynamic.

The characters in A Study In Drowning, Euphemia Sayre, a Llyrian, of the Architecture College, and Preston Héloury, an Argantian, of Literature College come from different places of the world and different backgrounds. The Argantians are more skeptical and have less belief in the saints and myths of the Llyrian people of the North. The Llyrian people rely heavily on the myths of The Fairy King, changelings, saints, and other mystical tales. They see them as reality. The people of Argantia see the stories of the North as some mumbling metaphor.


Effy Sayre has had a difficult time at college. She has had a professor take advantage of her, and has been victim blamed relentlessly by her fellow classmates at college. On top of that, she also has a terrible mother who denies her any real compassion. These events and experiences compiled have left her with a disparaging relationship with herself and others. Her favorite book Angharad, written by Emrys Myrddin is her only escape. She’s read it cover to cover over a hundred times and has memorized every passage.

The book Effy is obsessed with, Angharad, is a story about a young woman named Angharad, and the Fairy King, a vicious and fierce looming creature who ascends from the sea dripping in tepid water, whose relationship mirrors the dark experiences of Effy’s past.

When Emrys Myrddin passes away, his son Ianto sends a letter to the college of Architecture to request that students apply to write blueprints to rebuild the crumbling foundation of the Myrddin estate.

The estate is set on the ocean side cliffs near what’s known as “the bottom hundred”. A sea that drowned what was once a thriving town of people crashes violently against the steep rock formations bellow the mansion. It’s feared that a second drowning is coming any time now, and the superstitions and tensions rise as the next encroaching storm approches. The Myrddin estate is creaking, swaying, rotting, and falling to ruins. It seems an insurmountable task to build additions within this slanted foundation. Non the less, Effy applies, and is accepted for the role of architect for the Myrddin Estate, and excitedly and nervously accepts.

I loved how this book’s plot is centered around a book, while the book the main characters are focusing on is also parallel to the characters. The slow burn romance is dreamy, as are the characters. The overall plot is a gothic dream of long hurried secrets, creeping looming violence, ghostly apparitions, strange and unruly men, and naturally crumbling cliffs along roaring sea side.

This was an absolute treasure of a book. It adresses the serious and harsh reality of the power struggles women face everyday in just about every environment we find ourselves in. But what this book also does is offer an escape. A place to process these evils while also feeling a myriad of magic and romance. Well done Ava Reid. I’ll read anything you publish.

I received this books as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

This book was beautifully written, a story of a young woman fighting her own demons and not being able to trust her knowledge that they're real. Dismissed as young, flighty, inconsequential, Effy is used and taken advantage of her whole life, and finds comfort in a fairy tale. Given a chance to design the home of her favorite author, she jumps at the chance and the escape. Stuck in a a crumbling place, where her fairy tales seem more real than ever, working with her foil, Effy does what she always has - she survives. And in doing so, she links her experience to the story she loves, the story young women everywhere know too intimately.

This was my first book by this author, but I may need to go read more. It starts a little slowly, but I think that's meant to mirror the slow rolling dread Effy feels as the storm comes closer and the danger becomes more real.

3.5/5, rounding up to 4 here. The writing in this book is beautiful. Reid's descriptions paint such a vivid picture of the surroundings. There were a few points during my read that felt like I wasn't quite connecting the dots, or that things we're suddenly dropped from the plot. Overall, I really enjoyed the slow-burn romance and the incredible atmosphere so much that I really don't care if the storytelling wasn't flawless.

I love this book violently. I am feral, I want to tattoo it onto my body somehow. The prose is gorgeous and lyrical, with all the romance, lushness, and horror of a fairytale, but with the added brilliant element of the story-within-a-story. The love story is so electric and sweet and the overarching themes of trauma recovery, sexual violence, and the ways women's intellectual and artistic production is silenced and demeaned are so brilliantly woven together. It's incredible that the worldbuilding is so rich and successful given it's a standalone that's also about so many other things. A million weepy stars.

I picked up this book without reading any of Ava Reid's previous works mainly based on seeing shared posts and recommendations by one of my favorite authors, Allison Saft, and was not disappointed. In A Study in Drowning, Reid expertly balances the cozy vibes of knit sweaters, warm fires, and shared body heat of the blossoming relationship between Effy and Preston with the dark, dripping horror of the impending Drowning. As the books starts to pick up, the pacing really feels like we are racing the storm to uncover the mysteries of Hiraeth Manor.

It was exciting to follow along with a familiar face in this new story! I absolutely adore books that take place in an academy setting, books that have fantasy elements ... put the two together and I was so excited! Unfortunately, it was a little darker than I was expecting and well ... creepy lol but I enjoyed the characters and their development, and the writing is exceptional!

A Study In Drowning is Ava Reid's follow up stand alone novel after her crazy success with Juniper & Thorn. Many of her fans found Reid through Juniper & Thorn based off of #BookTok and I daresay they will love the dark academia setting of A Study in Drowning.

Readers will follow Effy Sayre to the mysterious and crumbling Hiraeth Manor where she and somewhat rival scholar Preston Héloury will have to match whit and wisdom to unearth dark forces surrounding reclusive author Emrys Myrddin's legacy and his crumbling estate. Read this book in the dark of night, or buried under the covers on a dark and stormy day for the best atmospheric immersion.

A STUDY IN DROWNING is my first experience with Ava Reid’s writing. This is also marketed as their first young adult novel…it’s definitely upper YA and leans toward the darker side.

It’s CREEPY. Like, I really don’t know any other way to say it, but “haunted” houses really make my skin crawl, and I loved every word of it.

The book does touch on mental illness, which brings a whole extra layer to the story. There are things happening to Effy, and it’s hard for the reader to know if it’s really happening, or is it all in her head.

This is a true rivals to lovers story. Both Effy and Preston are highly like-able and relatable characters. And it’s romantically beautiful!

ARC provided by NetGalley

**Go pre-order this now and submit your receipt so you can get that bonus scene from Preston’s POV!!

I really can’t say much ask I will spoil this for the world and I do not want to do that. So I will say that I loved everything about this book. I loved the story, the plot, the characters, etc. I highly recommend this book to everyone. Also I already preorder the book back in the spring and can’t wait for my physical copy to get into my hands.

I don’t know how Reid keeps getting better with each book, but this one takes the cake. This is the most beautiful, heart-wrenching, dark book I’ve ever read. I was crying and swooning throughout the entire thing. What seems like a dark academia novel filed with gothic fairy tales turns out to be an epic love story not just between Effy and Preston but for literature in general. This is perfect in every way and I am so grateful to have been given an early copy of it. I think any lover of literature should read this book as it truly pulls at the passion that every book lover possesses. Truly beautiful, well done.

A Study in Drowning is, not an exaggeration, a masterpiece. I’ve been an Ava Reid fan since The Wolf and the Woodsman but their newest instalment has made it extremely obviously to be that she will forever be one of my favourite authors. Their ability to meld together folklore, tender romance, a truly gripping plot and a nuanced portrayal of trauma and recovery is absolutely masterful. A Study in Drowning hit me right in the stomach, drawing up feelings around growing up as a girl trying to proof herself, of wishing to take up space, and of navigating the dangerous waters of who to trust— including yourself.

Drawing from Welsh folklore, ASID follows the story of Effy, a young student of architecture, though her true passion lies in literature, even if the school doesn’t permit women. When she gets the chance to design a home for her favourite author Myrddin‘s son at their ancestral home, she jumps at the chance despite her fear of what she might uncover while she’s there. At Hiraeth, Effy encounters a smug and mercurial fellow academic, a boy called Preston, and Myrddin’s son. Soon, Effy and Preston join forces to investigate the mysterious authors legacy, especially around Effy’s favourite story Angharad, or the story of a young woman and the fabled Fairy King. As Effy and Preston draw closer to the truth and myth comes to life, they realise the origin to the story might be far closer than they ever could’ve imagined.

Gothic and sea worn, Hiraeth provided a wonderful backdrop to the story and added a great sense of foreboding reminiscent of some of the best ‘house’ novels I’ve ever read. The Welsh scenery really came through and I liked the modern touches as well. Ava is truly talented at creating atmosphere and driving up the tension with the environment. I loved Effy and Preston’s story, and Effy’s slow acceptance that she was indeed in a romance. She’s anxious and soft, eager to please and desperate to be understood. I resonated with her so much and she’s made her way to one of my favourite characters of all time.

Like all of Ava’s work, ASID is raw and vulnerable, dark but yet carrying an unassailable torch of light that leaves you feeling hopeful at the end of it. I absolutely adored this story and feel truly honoured to continue to see how Ava develops as an author.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc of the book. It was an interesting read. I enjoyed the plot and setting.

This is one of the most engrossing and intense books I've ever read. It's not a thriller, and it only has a smidge of horror. But it also had me on the edge of my seat for a scene of our protagonist getting out of a car -- twice!
(I think the first exiting-a-car scene is my favorite moment of the book.)

This is the story of Effy, an architecture student in 1930's fantasy Wales. She is under intense pressure from her all-male classmates, and so it's a dream come true when she gets to escape to a remote project. She goes into the countryside to design a renovation of the manor of her FAVORITE AUTHOR OF ALL TIME. Effy is obsessed with the novel Angharad, a tale of a woman fighting the Fairy King. It's Effy's favorite because she hallucinates the Fairy King stalking her, and the novel is the only thing that makes her feel sane. However, the manor house is not the escape she wanted, as a rival student also has a project there, and the Fairy King lurks close in the wild cliffs.

It's a coming of age story. It's hauntingly gothic. It's a romance. It's a book that is playing with what fantasy stories mean, in a very metatextual way. Sometimes it feels like realistic dark academia, sometimes urban fantasy with a side of horror. It's YA, in a way that is accessible without ever being annoyingly teenagerish.

I love it. I'm obsessed with this beautiful novel. It's so emotional and raw and poetic and mysterious.

A video review will be on my Youtube channel, @ChloeFrizzle, in the coming weeks.

Thanks to Netgalley and HarperTeen for a copy of this book to review. All opinions are my own.

Thank you so much to Harper Collins and NetGalley for allowing me the absolute privilege of reading this book as an eARC in return for my honest opinion.

"You don't have to take up a sword. Survival is bravery."

Where do i even begin with this book? How can I accurately write a review for something that turned me into a complete mess for the last 60% of the book? I thought I should maybe sleep on it and write a review once
I have been able to fully process what I just read but my overwhelming need to get it out overruled that idea.

This book is for the woman who have felt like they've never had anyone take them seriously. For the women who have been told they're being hysterical for speaking about their pain or suffering. For the women who have been told they will never amount to anything.

This is the first book I have read by Ava Reid and I have already purchased her other works. There is something about her writing that just buried itself deep in my chest. The pages of A Study in Drowning contained everything
I love in a book; fantasy, a slow burn romance, and women coming into their power.

I saw so much of myself in Effy and so much of my own life experience in hers. I felt so much of her pain, wishing that someone would believe me when I talk about what and who haunts me. Her relationship with Preston was a perfectly paced slow burn and everything I could have hoped for in a romantic sub plot. I haven't been this attached to a set of characters in quite some time and I selfishly wish I could read about what happens once the veil has lifted but I can only hope they stick together and guide each other through the rough waters ahead.

I could write so much more about this book and how much I loved it, but I should probably not get too ahead of myself. But i will say, I cannot wait to get my hands on a physical copy of A Study in Drowning and re-read it all over again.