Ava Reid has quickly become one of my favorite authors of all time, and their YA debut just further proves my love for their magical stories. I can’t believe that I actually wanted MORE book throughout the story! They write the best “unlikable” female characters, have fully engrossing worlds, and a command of language that could bring anyone to tears. I fully and entirely urge you to pick this one up in September!!

Reid does it again! I became an auto-fan of her after loving Juniper & Thorn last year and this was a highly anticipated read for me. It truly did not disappoint. While it’s labeled as YA, I feel it definitely leans more towards NA with the mature themes. Especially with the FMC being in college.

A Study in Drowning is a beautifully atmospheric read and Reid excelled at creating an immersive gothic setting. The ‘gothic manor filled with secrets by the sea’ vibe totally reminded me of House of Salt and Sorrow (one of my absolute favorite books). The prose and setting descriptions were well-executed and I could almost taste the salt in the air and feel the breeze on my face as I read. Effy’s anxiety and battle with mental health was well done and felt very authentic. Part of the plot was unraveling a mystery in the name of academia and I really enjoyed that. I spent maybe the first 20% very confused but it is intentional and everything comes together in a powerful way. I loved the academic rivals to lovers romance, Preston was the best. Reid also explores the mistreatment of women in academia and in general, and it’ll have any feminist boiling in rage. I LOVED the ending and the last couple paragraphs literally gave me chills because it was so good. Highly recommend if you love dark academia, gothic fiction, supernatural elements, and eerie mysteries.

Book Name: ****A Study in Drowning****
Author :****Ava Reid****

ARC
Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children's Books, HarperTeen for an ARC of Ava Reid’s A Study in Drowning

Stars: 5
Spice : NA

Standalone UPPER YA debut by Fantasy author Ava Reid
Cliffhanger (omg my heart)
Fast Paced
First Person FMC POV
High Fantasy Gothic
Dark Academia

- Topics
- Trauma
- Slowly Dying (A Life Unlived)
- Taking Back your Voice
- Misogyny
- Institutional Sexism
- The Dichotomy of Women (as either virgins or whores)
- Stereotypes and Stigmas
- Tropes
- One Bed
- Fae/Fair Folk
- Unreliable Narrator
- Toxic Romance.
- Rivals to lovers
- Thoughts.
- So Good (insanely good!)
- Dark and Deep (as the sea)
- Gothic Masterpiece
- FMC is a love letter to anxiety fighting survivalists
- Personal and Powerful
- 2023 Top 5

I absolutely loved this. This is one of my favorite reads so far for 2023; and my favorite Ava Reid book to date. From the lovely cover to the intriguing blurb to the first chapter that reeled me right in, this book is amazing.

The dark & gothic academia vibes, the horror & mystery, the romance, and the fantasy setting were all so well done. Effy is such a well-rounded and relatable main character. This is a thought provoking exploration of how sometimes just surviving is the bravest thing you can do. To keep going is to win sometimes.

TYSM for letting me be an ARC reader for this one!

I really enjoyed this book.
Loved the main character. I would recommend this 10/10
Great story. Great everything. Love this authors writing style.

Thank you to HarperCollins and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid is the YA debut of the bestselling adult fantasy author. Because the plot is so original, it's a bit hard to summarize, but I'll try my best. The story revolves around Effy, who attends an architectural college as the only female student. She enters a competition to redesign the estate of the famous author of Effy's favorite childhood book. When she arrives at Hireath Manor, she discovers that she is competing with fellow student Preston to please the heirs of the author's estate. In addition, Preston has a secret mission to expose the author as a fraud. Can Effy and Preston learn to join forces?

Here is an enchanting excerpt from Chapter 1:

"The poster was as frayed and tattered as a page torn from someone’s favorite book. Surely, Effy thought, that was intentional. It was printed on a thick yellow parchment, not unlike her drafting linens. The edges were curling in on themselves—either shyly or protectively, as if the parchment had a secret to hide.
Effy used both hands to smooth the paper flat, then squinted at the curling script. Handwritten, it was smeared in several places. It was further obscured by a water stain of no discernible shape, like a birthmark or a growth of mold."

Overall, A Study in Drowning is an amazing YA fantasy and rom-com that will appeal to fans of The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy or Divine Rivals. Even though this is categorized as YA, since the characters are in college, it seems more NA (new adult) to me and will definitely appeal to adult readers as well. One highlight of this book is the rivals-to-lovers trope, which is done well. Another highlight of this book is the gothic water imagery, which was beautiful to read. If I had to complain about 1 thing, I would have to say that I was confused to come across the character of Dean Fogg. I'm guessing the author was inspired by the Dean Fogg character in Lev Grossman's The Magicians books and TV show. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of fantasy books in general, I highly recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in September!

This immediately became one of my favorite standalone YA fantasies. I will say I struggled a bit with the sliiiight overuse of water metaphors and phrases, and even more with the world building; we have cars, record players, but in some places oil lamps and candles rather than electricity? And we were set in years around “191 AD,” which felt a bit odd and out of place (because AD stands for Anno Domini or “year of our Lord”) but this is obviously an entirely different world. Just leave off the AD, or create some other year reference specific to the invented world.

I also felt like Effy was a pretty lame female protagonist for a WHILE, but her character development was good, and Preston was such a wonderful character. And I loved Angharad.

Finally, the true authorship bit was SO OBVIOUS. I literally guessed at 10% and spent the whole book wanting to scream at them for being so obtuse haha. But I still loved this really refreshing mashup of like dark academia, YA fantasy, AND faeries. I also think the author did a great job of really wrapping up a very full and rich story in a single book.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an ARC!

This is a beautiful, timeless book that I loved from the very first page. I loved both Effie and the clever way the author weaved in Welsh mythology, Stunning.

A Study in Drowning left me with a lot of questions:
📖Has a particular book ever been your security blanket? What would you do if everything you believed about an author is put into question, including authorship?
📢How do you speak out against institutional sexism & racism? Would you be willing to upset the longstanding order of politics & beliefs/superstitions/religion, & face the resulting fallout in order to reveal the truth?
👁️When your life has been embedded w trauma, how do you discern what is real & what is a coping mechanism?
 
Summary:
✍🏻In Llyr, scholarship & politics are entwined. Llyrians have a superstitious belief that the Sleepers (the 7 deceased storytellers of Llyr) will ward off threats & protect their homeland. Emrys Myrddin is the most recent addition to the Sleepers & was known for his most notable book, Angharad.
👧🏼Effy has always dreamed of the Fairy King, a character in Angharad, & is a Myrddin fangirl. She was denied entry into the Literature College, which is Llyr’s most prestigious field of study, & is the only female student in the Architectural College, which, rumor has it, she secured by engaging in illicit activity with a professor. Effy has difficulty discerning what is real & is dependent on pills for her anxiety & sleep.
🏚️When Effy gets chosen to redesign Myrddin’s home, she goes to Hiraeth Manor & meets Preston Héloury, a literature student who is researching Myrddin’s past. While Effy puts her faith in magic & Myrddin’s perfection, Preston seeks the truth. As she & Preston begin uncovering who Myrddin really was, Effy’s romanticized view of Myrddin begins to come into question…
 
Thoughts:
➕Pros: Ava Reid was great in setting a dreary, wet, moody, & gothic tone. She kept me on my toes, questioning what was real & what was fantasy. It was an easy-to-read, mystery/fantasy, YA novel.
➖Cons: I didn’t like Effy at all. Also, there were minute details & plot points that didn’t make sense, which bothered me until the end. 
〰️Overall: I liked the concept of the book (fairy tales, books, authors, gothic feel, rival-to-lovers, magic, mystery, truth, female empowerment), but maybe not the execution?
 
Thank you @netgalley @harpercollins @harperteens for the eARC. A Study in Drowning will be released on September 19, 2023.

A huge Thank you for the digital ARC goes to Netgalley, Ava Reid, and the Publisher! I was not expecting to get this one. So Again THANK YOU for this ARC. This book was great, I mean, what would you expect from Ava Reid, she's a treasure. This book centers around Effy. She is so incredibly relatable. She' not one to rush into battle with all her swords blazing, she's more likely to be hemming and hawing about the best way's to go about the battle, and I love that about her. If you are into Dark Academia, Rivals-to-lovers romance, Pick up this books as soon as you can! I would give this 4.5 Stars

This is quite possibly the best book I have ever read. Reid is a genius and a master in her craft. After just the first chapter I was hooked, my heart ached for Effy and I already felt so much for her in such a short amount of time. Reid knows exactly what to say, and what to left unsaid to make you really feel for her characters.

Full of gorgeous prose, you can feel the water pressing against your skin, smell the salt and decay, you are full transported to the Bottom One Hundred.

Reid is a master at weaving mystery into her novels. She tells you just enough to be intriguing, form theory's of your own, and pull you through the story.

The themes around drowning, both literal and metaphorical, woven through out the entire story are absolute perfection. Reid truly captures what it feels like to be a women in a world run by men at a visceral level. How it feels to be belittled and ignored when a women's experience is inconvenient for those who have more power than she does. How women are abused, taken advantage of and silenced. But also the importance of being heard, even if just one other person in this world feels understood because of your experience.

I loved Effy's character arc and Reid's male lead, Preston is stunning. He is smart, compassionate, and strong where it counts, in his convictions.

I wouldn't be surprised if this book is studied in literature classes of the future.
If your on the fence, definitely read it!

Social post will be posted closer to publish date.

Perfect for fans of Divine Rivals and classics like Jane Eyre!

Alt historical fantasy is my JAM right now! From the first chapter, I knew that A Study in Drowning was going to be one of my new favorites and I was not disappointed.

The story follows Effy, an architectural student whose true love is literature, specifically the works of recently deceaseds Emrys Myrddin. She wins a competition to design the late author’s estate in the south, and is quickly swept up in strange events. The titular character from Myrddin’s greatest work seems to be more than just a person of fiction. And her academic rival soon proves to be her greatest ally.

I loved the themes in this one, and also the fact that the older, predatory male characters were not romanticized. This was my first Ava Reid book but will not be my last!

Darkly romantic, unsettling and moving all at once, A Study in Drowning is an atmospheric story about readers and their relationships to stories; academia and the institutional sexism that it is built upon; and the frustrating treatment of women's voices both in academia and in life, especially among family. Reid's prose is so heart-achingly beautiful, the book is filled to the brim with lines I want to read over and over again.

The Gothic backdrop of a crumbling estate on a cliff is the perfect setting for this dark academia story. I could practically smell the salt as I read the book. The rivals to lovers romance is so tender and beautiful and really sets this book apart as one of my favorites of all time. The main character, Effy, broke my heart because of how relatable and frustrating her experiences have been. The world building in this story is excellent, giving the reader the sense of a complete world full of its own myths, religion, and history. Reid is a master at writing fantasy romance that is intense, bold, unsettling, and touching, and she has proven herself yet again with this YA debut!

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children's Books/HarperTeen for providing me with an early copy in exchange for an honest review!

Really good, dripping with atmosphere and beautifully written. This can be a book for many audiences, not just young adult readers. I'll be recommending this for sure.

Overwritten and lacking depth in its actual feminist messaging. I also went into this expecting dark academia but this felt more like a thriller maybe? It felt like this book wasn't sure what it was.

This was such an action filled book! I absolutely loved the characters and the journey they went on. The plot was creative, interesting, and exciting. I will be recommending this book to everyone I know.

I really liked Ava Reid’s “Juniper and Thorn” (and I thought “The Wolf and the Woodsman was a-okay), so I was excited to read “A Study in Drowning.” This is the author’s YA debut, and for a YA book, it is much like her others in that there are some dark themes. This is definitely upper YA/NA, and it should hold appeal for adults. Check the trigger warnings if needed; while nothing is explicit, there are frequent troubling recollections. However, the content of “A Study in Drowning” is nowhere near as gory or horrific as that of her adult books. The author handles the difficult subjects in this book as deftly as she did in her other novels.

It is a slow-burning story; I can see how readers might want to put down the book at the beginning, but by the 50% mark, it’s unputdownable. The twists and turns of the story were quite obvious, but that didn’t affect my enjoyment of it.

Effy is an incredibly sympathetic character, and unfortunately, I think many girls and women can relate to her experiences. How Preston treats Effy is just perfection.

Ava Reid, you’ve done it again.

I tried my very best to go into this book blind, considering Ava is an autobuy author for me, so upon reading all I knew was that it was a dark academia / gothic romance featuring a deliciously unhinged FMC and there would maybe be faeries?

And it was everything I could’ve hoped for: spellbinding and slow, with an unreliable narrator and a cliffside manor slowly sinking into the sea.

✨Metaphor✨ is my favorite storytelling device, and this book was as much a study in it as it was in drowning — equally bonechilling and whimsical, the metaphors throughout ASID were masterfully placed and executed, and I ate. it. up.

This is one of those stories that, no matter how hard I try, I can’t adequately express my feelings about it. I didn’t love it, but I don’t think it’s meant to be loved; it’s meant to linger, to hover like a dark cloud, to remind you what it is to be seen.

So grateful to netgalley for an advance review copy, but I can’t wait to hold the real thing in my hands! 🥹

I wanted to love this one so much, but I just couldn’t get into it. I finished it, I just didn’t feel a connection to the MC.

This was my first dark academia book and it certainly won’t be my last!

This vibe was sooo intriguing that I just could not stop reading until I finished it.

I loved the blending of both the academic world and the spiritual/supernatural world.

I loved the themes of women empowerment, mystery, faeries, mental illness.

I would have loved to delve more into Effy’s past!!