Beautifully written and deeply atmospheric. A Study in Drowning will likely haunt my dreams for a long time.

Many thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children’s Books — HarperTeen for the gifted ARC.

I should know by now to let books sit with me and steep a while before I review them.

“The danger was as ancient as the world. But if fairies and monsters were real, so were the women who defeated them.”

This book was the coming of age novel, but not in the same way that some coming-of-age novels are written. It felt true to the idea of the original bildungsroman, where in there is some deep trauma or naïveté, that must be dealt with, reflected on, and expressed, in a way that can allow the main character to rise above it. The main character had trauma, and was put into situations where she had no agency or choice, and she rose above it in a fierce and determined way that is inspiring. The male main character, was kind, and did not take away from her abilities and intellectualism, but actually encouraged her curiosity, and eventually earned her love in a natural way.

The theme of drowning was done on so many levels that it’s impossible to talk about all of them in a review, but the detail of hydrocephaly was so well done that I could not leave it out of this review.

This book was beautiful. It had the feeling of fairytale or a folklore retelling, and the lyrical prose was magnificent. This book was poignant, and intellectual, and also filled with the same magic that filled the plot. Everything was related back to water, but not in a way that was overdone, or overstated, if anything, it was poetic in its details of the slow death that water can bring, and the duality of the magnificence and the fearsomeness of the ocean. I know this is supposed to be a young adult debut for this author, but it reads more new adult, with pretty explicit sexual imagery, but it’s done so well that while explicit, it is still subtle. The love scene between the main characters had a tenderness and a quiet gentle longing complete with consent that, if you are slightly sentimental like me, would bring you to tears.

This book is very well written. It’s a little repetitive with some of the thoughts the MC has, and some of it is predictable but overall it kept me interested until the last page. The overly mean mother was clearly a necessary plot device, the environmental warnings were expertly crafted into the plot, and the concept of “believe women” and the lack of feminine agency was well done. I also enjoyed the idea that literary criticism was considered the highest level of intellectual study, with architecture/engineering being one of the lowest rungs. It was an interesting flip in a world that only currently values technology.

I am very thankful to have been given an eARC copy from NetGalley and my review will be 100% honest <3

This book was alright, I think I need to give it a better read during the summer when I'm less busy because I really struggled due to the plot but I stayed for the romance.

I really liked the Dark Academia setting, I thought the romance was cute and I LOVE <3 rivals to lovers. The romance was well done and didn't overpower the plot, though I was more focused on it. I was gonna give it a 3.5, but I bumped it up to a 4 bc I did enjoy it, but I think I would have enjoyed it much more if I had time to really delve into the environment and vibe.

YA gothic horror with a healthy dose of mystery and a splash of fantasy. Ava Reid continues to be one of the best writers today. Highly recommend!

I received an E-ARC through NetGalley, this review is my personal and honest opinion.

Interesting, complex realistic fantasy. The world Reid creates is complex, similar world to modern times with electricity and cars with an underlying belief of fae and their magic. I wish the religion and other aspects of the mysterious magic was elaborated on more and found myself a tad bit confused. The world is slowly built up over the whole book. The female main character is over coming trauma and is trying to find herself and find a way to find her confidence again. It's a beautiful written story with a underlying love story. I would classify this book upper ya. Overall a wonderful book and would recommend reading.

A Study in Drowning is an atmospheric, dark YA debut that takes its premise and runs with it.

While it’s technically a fantasy novel, I would categorize this as more literary in feel than a typical fantasy book. I think that it’s important to know that ahead of time, because my incorrect expectation definitely impacted my experience with the book.

Ava Reid’s writing is, as usual, so beautifully lyrical. There are so many quotes that I highlighted, and I can’t get enough of their dialogue. I think that given the themes of storytelling and truth in this book, that lyricism was very well used and a necessary element of the story.

The pacing was slow and deliberate, which is not what I usually like but it definitely was needed to build the level of tension that Reid achieved. If you like a fast paced book this is definitely not that, but for all the slow burn readers out there this will be right up your alley.

The characters in this were intriguing, and I’m sure that many people will absolutely love them, but it took me until about halfway through the book to fully feel connected to them. The first half of the book felt a bit… maybe disassociated is the right word? A little off, not quite 100% there. For reference, it took me a week to read the first 52% and a day to read the last 48%.

This book is beautiful, and there’s lots of things to love about it, but it wasn’t what I usually look for in a book that I love. I think that lots of people will really enjoy it though. Ava Reid’s YA debut will enthrall its ideal reader, I’m just not quite that person. 3.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.

I will post my review on Instagram 1-2 weeks before publication, and will post my review to Amazon on publication day.

Conceptually okay(ish), but with one of those protagonists who has the self awareness of wet cardboard. Watching her figure out abundantly obvious things went from being mildly amusing to downright painful pretty quickly.

Ava Reid is a gorgeous writer and there is so much that I loved about her YA debut. The atmosphere was watery and gorgeous, the idea of losing your literary heroes is both deeply felt and timely and, as always, she writes trauma so deeply and empathetically. I l0ve her protagonists, always. All of that is enough to make it an easy four stars for me.

Where I struggled was the plot and then elements of the world building that did not seem as fully built. The plot twist was so clear to me that the pacing seemed to drag because I knew so early on that there was only one way it could go. the other place I struggled was the war happening in the background and the way it affected what we learned about Preston and his inner life. There are sentences throughout that suggest the racism Effie and the rest of their country feel toward the other side is bad and that suggest Preston has suffered because of that racism/nationalism and also that his home country is on the losing side of their war. It felt strange, even given the focus on Effie to give one specific type of trauma so much more weight than another. That made me more aware of how little we saw or felt the effects of that war which made it feel like set-dressing. I didn't love that, but as I said, the things she does well she does so well and her writing is so beautiful that I still would recommend this to people shopping on the older end of YA.

This fascinating gothic mansion/haunted house theme has a twisty mystery and powerful feminist vibes! The horror, mystery, enemies-to-lovers romance, paranormal, and psychological thriller genres are perfectly blended at the same portal. The riveting mystery makes you guess until the end as the spine-tingling, eerie, drowning house pushes you to hide under blankets. I devoured it in a few hours! The execution of the story was well-crafted. The myths, folklore, urban legend parts, and shocking, challenging backstory make the book extra captivating and unputdownable!

I want to give A Study in Drowning a thousand stars! This gothic dark academia thriller was just the story I needed. Full of mystery and allure and an intriguing plot, this one kept me glued from the beginning. I especially loved the setting of the Bottom One Hundred. It was dark, creepy and mysterious and kept me on my toes. I haven’t had much luck enjoying dark academia in the past but this one left me craving more. Excellent read.

I enjoyed it! The gothic elements were impecable. I kept wondering if there would be a twisted magical creature waiting around the corner. (Or was it just the house playing tricks on me?)

I loved that the mystery had to do with shady literary figures (I predicted the ending after the halfway point, but it was still interesting to read the outcome).

There's mystery, romance & fantasy. But at its core, theres love for the stories that have been able to change our lives. And it helps that it takes place in an isolated crumbling mansion full of secrets!

Very eerie, fans of dark academia will love the vibes.

A Study In Drowning is one of the most whimsical and nauseating Dark Academia novels I’ve ever read. Its themes of sexism, twisted fairytales, academic enemies to lovers, and distortion of reality are just some of the things that grabbed me. From the moment I started this book, I could not put it down.
Effy is the only girl in the architecture college and she is very obsessed with this author, Emrys Myrddin, who recently passed away. Unexpectedly she wins a contest to create an architectural plan to help fix that author’s house. Once she arrives at the house not everything is what it seems. There’s another student, a literature student, named Preston there and the house appears to be rotting away on the cliff, sinking.
Ava Reid’s writing is smooth and sharp at the same time like the ocean. I love books that talk about books. Reid’s descriptions of the school’s library and of Effy’s love of literature were some of my favorite aspects of the novel. The execution of this story was even more impressive than its concept, at times I had no idea where the story was going and I loved it. The layers and complexity of these pages hold shows Reid’s mastery of writing. I will be geeking about this novel for many years to come.
Effy has a very special place in my heart. She goes after what she wants, even if it means being the only girl, and oftentimes she gets no support or gets hurt when she doesn’t deserve it. Preston and Effy's dynamic as academic rivals is classic and done brilliantly but has an element that is quite original. Preston really comes to understand the struggles Effy has to deal with being a woman in the academic world. Their bond is one of my favorite things but honestly, I have a lot of favorite parts.
The feeling that A Study in Drowning gave me was truly surreal. It felt a bit horrific at times (in the best way possible) but mostly it was powerful. This story will go on to take others many lives the way it has taken over mine. The best thing you can do for yourself is pick it up on September 19th!
Thank you to Netgalley for giving me a chance to read this early in exchange for my honest thoughts.

DNF but I loved the concept… I will definitely be looking back into this read in the future because I do think I would enjoy it. Sometimes I just have to be in a certain mood for certain books (mood reader problems)

Thank you to HarperTeen & NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

I have read all Ava Reid’s works and I can say that this one easily has become one of my favorites.

There are times when I’m writing reviews in which I am more eloquent than others and my literature masters’ self comes out but I can’t seem to fully grasp how to explain how much and what I liked about this book. I’ll probably come back later with a more concise review but for how here are the incoherent thoughts:

Despite the “modern” aspects to this story (cars, phones) it felt historic, folkloric and truly magical. The dark gothic academia setting was truly marvelous. The mirroring of Effy’s (the MC) story and the MC in her favorite novel was a lovely plot device for me — especially when considering the great “mystery” of the story. (No spoilers)

Ava’s descriptions of the magical instances and the settings coupled with the character interactions was hauntingly wondrous. I even appreciated the difference in cadence and pacing this book has compared to their other works (which makes sense considering it’s YA). I LOVE absolutely LOVE a creepy house and things that aren’t quite right. The history in the story behind the house and how that unfolds really pulled my attention. Gothic houses and fairy tales = a happy MK.

For the characters: I could go into heavy detail about how much I adored Preston & Effy’s interactions but I won’t because I do not want to spoil it for anyone who reads it. I could also describe how sorrowful Ianto’s character made me feel too…but I’ll let you discover for yourself.

I wish words weren’t failing me because this story was truly something magical to me.

Ava Reid’s writing is something special.

Thanks to NetGalley and TOR for graciously letting me read an advance copy.

This, quite simply, is a work of genius. Everything is so rich: the characters, the world, the descriptions (oh, the descriptions!!). I believe this book will make a statement in YA literature about women standing up, being heard, and being their truest selves.

This was a mystery piled on another mystery. I felt like the first part of this story was mired in secrets. Secrets about Effy and what happened to her at school and in the past, secrets about the national hero, secrets about a book. There were just so many secrets and the answers started coming very late in the story.

The pacing for me was a little off. I struggled through the first part of the book to understand the world. Once the main characters started finding clues and answers the story really took off. I could not put it down once I hit the 70% mark.

What really worked for me was the gothic atmosphere. I felt damp and waterlogged the entire time I was reading this. The author did a great job of creating an atmosphere of inequality between men and women, and showing how that inequality impacted the young women. I felt quite a bit of anger toward the men which I think was the point.

The ending really took this book from an okay read to a read I was invested in.

No profanity. One closed door scene. Does contain some descriptions of grooming by older men and nude photographs.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children’s Books for this opportunity to read,rate and review this arc which will be available Sept 19,2023!


Oh MY GAWD. This book was gothic, dark academia, sweepingly romantic and girl empowerment all rolled into one damned good story. Effy Sayre, the main character doubted herself so much but she found her voice. It has a fairytale in it too which just made me swoon. Trigger warnings should be heeded and please be a responsible reader on your own TWs.

I am buying every iteration of this book.

"That was the cruelest irony: the more you did to save yourself, the less you became a person worth saving."
A Study in Drowning is a darkly beautiful and thematically rich tale about trauma, autonomy, and survival. It combines elements of gothic horror and dark academia, set in an intriguingly realized secondary fantasy world that appears to be loosely inspired by historical England & Wales. There is a grand geopolitical conflict going on in the background of this book; there may or may not be ancient magic shaping the tides of war. But this book isn't about any of that. It's a smaller-scale sort of story, about a regular young woman, doing everything she can just to get through every day.

Reid's writing absolutely stuns: I highlighted something on nearly every page. I was in tears within the first quarter of the book. This is definitely not the type of book that every single person will love; I actually think the audience will be pretty specific, but that specific audience is going to adore this.

Effy is a soft protagonist, an anxious protagonist. A protagonist who can't trust her own mind or instincts. She's for the traumatized and mentally ill girlies. Her journey isn't about saving the world, defeating her enemies, or becoming really strong and badass. It's about learning to trust and advocate for herself, to let herself be vulnerable, and to dare to reach for the life she truly wants. "You don’t have to take up a sword. Survival is bravery, too."

In A Study in Drowning, the Fairy King is real and he is dangerous - however, he's also a metaphorical representative of the predation of men. Extrapolating from this, you can read the novel as an allegory for CSA, which I believe is definitely intentional as it's a theme the author has tackled in their work before. Read with care for TWs. Reid doesn't flinch from the ugly layers, both institutional and interpersonal, that combine to strip women and girls of their autonomy while simultaneously holding them culpable for the actions of the men around them.

"But stories were devious things, things with agendas. They could cheat and steal and lie to your face. They could crumble away under your feet."
This novel also perfectly marries its threads of institutional misogyny and sexual violence with an authorship debate inspired by the Anti-Stratfordians, a collective term for those questioning the true authorship of works attributed to Shakespeare. This fictionalized authorship mystery ends up being the perfect vehicle for Reid's themes, tying together every layer of the story brilliantly.

My only problem with this book- which I have to knock off half a star for - is that it pinged a very particular pet peeve of mine. I can't stand a mystery where the answer is so obvious it's staring the characters in the face, and the characters are supposed to be very intelligent, but they somehow just totally fail to even consider the clear answer as a possibility for a ridiculously drawn-out length of time. Come on! Just give me a fake reason why they think it couldn't be that person, then double back and subvert it. It makes me want to scream and it breaks my suspension of disbelief.

If this were just a mystery story, that would be a much more significant mark against it. Luckily, A Study in Drowning has SO much going on that I was able to forgive it for what I consider to be slightly lazy mystery writing. This is a book that I actually wish I could read with an English class and spend hours dedicated to dissecting, because there are just so many little things I want to highlight and pick apart that would make a simple book review unwieldy: the motif of smudged ink, the role of prejudice and preconception, the themes of national and personal memory and how both can be rewritten. This is a book you can really sink your teeth into.

Pick up this gorgeous novel for lush prose, a brilliantly cynical look into publishing and academia, dark but poignant themes, sinister gothic magic, and a heart-wrenchingly sweet romance.

This was my first introduction to Ava Reid's writing and I was impressed. I can see why so many people love her writing. A good ya pick for lovers of dark academia. I’ll most likely be checking out her other books now.

I have never related to a main character so much. Effy is extremely understandable and I feel like she had experiences many of us can relate to. And Preston was a breath of fresh air as far as male characters go. I seriously enjoyed every second of this book, it is definitely my favorite read of 2023 so far. I will recommend this to anybody and read any other book Ava Reid comes out with. The writing is incredible