"Bestselling author Ava Reid makes her YA debut in this dark academic fantasy perfect for fans of Melissa Albert and Elana K. Arnold.

Effy Sayre has always believed in fairy tales. Haunted by visions of the Fairy King since childhood, she's had no choice. Her tattered copy of Angharad - Emrys Myrddin's epic about a mortal girl who falls in love with the Fairy King, then destroys him - is the only thing keeping her afloat. So when Myrddin's family announces a contest to redesign the late author's estate, Effy feels certain it's her destiny.

But musty, decrepit Hiraeth Manor is an impossible task, and its residents are far from welcoming. Including Preston Héloury, a stodgy young literature scholar determined to expose Myrddin as a fraud. As the two rivals piece together clues about Myrddin's legacy, dark forces, both mortal and magical, conspire against them - and the truth may bring them both to ruin.

Part historical fantasy, part rivals-to-lovers romance, part Gothic mystery, and all haunting, dreamlike atmosphere, Ava Reid's powerful YA debut will lure in readers who loved The Atlas Six, House of Salt and Sorrows, or Girl, Serpent, Thorn."

Doesn't everyone survive because of a tattered copy of some book?

Effy believes in fairy tales and always has done. Especially since she has been haunted by visions of the Fairy King. Finding solace in the pages of Angharad, an epic by Emrys Myrddin, Effy is only kept afloat in her architecture course by her own tattered copy. So when the Myrddin estate announces a contest to design the late author's house, Effy thinks it's fate. There she finds another has made it their temporary home but with much different intentions.
This gothic YA fantasy is not for the faint of heart. There is a lot happening. We’re almost instantly introduced to a world where not only is there rampant sexism in the academic world but also how their stories and voices can be ripped away from them at any moment. It was heavy. And that is brilliantly woven together within a mystery at an almost haunted house. I don’t want to give too many spoilers but I loved this story so much and I loved the characters.
Effy was one of those characters that you can’t help but want to put in your pocket to try and protect them. And watching her throughout the progress of this story was… just heart wrenching but at the same time you are screaming encouragement and threatening fictional characters.

Ava Reid doesn't hold any punches back and the mood here is really something to read. I enjoyed what I read for the most part and I liked it.

Effy Sayre has been plagued by visions of the fearsome Fairy King ever since she was young. When Effy tried to confide in those around her about it, instead of believing her, they gave her pills to quiet her mind. Effy's only solace is in her tattered copy of Angharad by Emrys Myrddin. The story is about a brave mortal girl who falls in love with the Fairy King and destroys him. Angharad has been like a lifeline for Effy, so when the Myrddin estate announces a contest to redesign the family's manor, Effy jumps at the chance.

But when Effy arrives at the remote Hiraeth Manor, it's even more decrepit than expected. Effy's barely passing her architecture courses and knows this project is more than she can handle, but she refuses to give up. To Effy's annoyance, she also has to contend with Preston Héloury, a literature student determined to expose Myrddin as a fraud. The pair decide to work together, but the more they investigate, the more secrets they uncover.

I've only read one other book by Reid that I thought was okay, but I couldn't pass this up. I loved how atmospheric this was. I could picture so clearly in my mind this crumbling estate perilously perched on a cliffside. It was eerie and cold and lived up to the Gothic description. I also enjoyed the characters. There are so many things about Effy that felt otherworldly but also relatable. She's one for the anxiety-ridden girlies; for those who overthink and second-guess everything. She and Preston have a little rivalry at the beginning, but it feels one-sided. I liked seeing their relationship blossom. I also thought Reid did a wonderful job tackling tough subjects such as mental health and sexism within academia. If you're looking for a dark, compelling read for the fall, I recommend checking it out.

A big thanks to YABC, NetGalley, and HarperCollins for providing both a physical, eARC, and advance audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

A dark academia mixed with the fanciful of fairy tales, sign me up.

A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid is a YA gothic about a girl named Effy Sayre, who aspires to create the best home design for her favorite fairy tale author. Effy has always believed in fairy tales, especially when one of them lives inside her head. But as fanciful as her mind is, she is dedicated to her only allowed studies of architecture. Until her favorite author's family decides to renovate the old home, and is only looking for a bright student to make up the design. And Effy is the perfect candidate. But not everything is as it seems, as she must be better than her rival and try not to let herself drown in the rising sea.

What I liked most about this book, is that it combined the eerieness of being a gothic novel, with a mostly desolate house overlooking a raging sea that seems to be haunted by something supernatural. With the more fanciful fairy tales of the youth. Ie. Fey. I also just really liked Preston (just a tad bit more than Roman from Divine Rivals, sorry not sorry). BUT ALSO THAT END LINE. You can't go wrong with that kind of ending.

I've tried and been burned by Ava Reid (I'm looking at you, Juniper and Thorn) and I really wanted to love this one. But just couldn't. The first thing I absolutely detested, was the mere mention of a student/teacher relationship. Even if it was off page in the past. I thought I could get past this, but it kept getting mentioned over and over again. And I know this was a huge trauma point for the main character, but I just couldn't get behind it.

Overall, this was a solid read. Just not my exact cup of tea. But I would highly recommend it to anyone needing something following the devastation that is Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross and just can't wait for Ruthless Vows.

This was an eARC I was granted access to via NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers

I read this on my Kindle, no page counts.

Review:
I WANTED to love this. I WANTED Ava Reid to be redeemed after the no love lost story that was Juniper and Thorn.

Alas, my wants were not granted.

It took me about 40% to get invested and interested in this novel. It held my attention in a vise up until about 48%. Then, it lost me again.

I guessed the "plot twist" as soon as Effy arrived at Hiraeth. I knew her and Preston were going to be...friends.

The insta love was *puke* but I understand it needed to be done in order to piss off the Fairy King.

This could have been half as long as it really was.

Honestly, even with the parts that had me intrigued, as much as I disliked Juniper and Thorn, I think it was the better book.

This was just not it for me. There was too much that didn't need to happen. If the house was really that deteriorated, it wouldn't have stood a chance even before it fell into the sea.

The letters were burned/tossed but yet somehow ended up in a drowned basement and were perfectly legible?

There was an iron horseshoe above the door but yet the Fiary King could still get into the room?

All of the things made to reject the Fiary King actually trapped him instead of warding against him?

No. Just no.

To add:
It's very shallow and lacking proper world building. There is no character development until the last 98% and the trauma that Effy experienced when younger, it was never unpacked.

Also...don't changeling babies happen as....babies!? Not 6 or 7 years old? And because the baby is sick or lame, not misbehaving?

My new favorite book by Ava Reid. This story follows Effy, an architecture student, who actually wants to study literature but the college doesn't allow women. She is given an opportunity to design an estate for her favorite author, and the story goes on from there. I felt like the story was a perfect mix of dark academia, horror, romance, and mystery.

Thanks to Netgalley for the eARC.

If you’re looking for a book about the sexual harassment of young girls, here you go. 😂 Major trigger warning for that!!! Most of the plot lines in this book can be pared down to just that. And the overarching plot was kind of meh, and pretty predictable actually. There was no real “twist” for me here. I predicted the ending almost to a tee. 🤷‍♀️

The characters were overall fine. I didn’t have many complaints with either main character and both of them had a few nice scenes. I liked Preston well enough - and he was cute in his liking of Effy. But neither character will stick in my mind much.

Honestly after a few weeks, I bet the whole book will be reduced to my first line up there. Because that’s all I will remember about it. 🙃

I think others will like this more - maybe people who want a dark and creepy tale of dark academia and the Fairy King. But meh, it wasn’t really that great and just fine for me.

Wow this book was amazing. A dark academia novel with fantasy and mystery. The creepy elements were so great. I couldn’t put the book down.
I loved the writing style of this book. I loved the issues that the book dealt with and how the author addressed them.
I am almost speechless.
This is a favorite for 2023.

I recently finished The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi and was looking for something similar, so this title on NetGalley caught my eye. I was intrigued by the descriptions of it being an atmospheric, gothic mystery.

From the description, "Effy Sayre has always believed in fairy tales. Haunted by visions of the Fairy King since childhood, she’s had no choice. Her tattered copy of Angharad—Emrys Myrddin’s epic about a mortal girl who falls in love with the Fairy King, then destroys him—is the only thing keeping her afloat. So when Myrddin’s family announces a contest to redesign the late author’s estate, Effy feels certain it’s her destiny."

I grew to love our unreliable narrator, Effy. At first, she seems like a typical college girl with typical college girl problems. However, the more we read, the more we realize there is more to Effy's story than what appears on the watery surface. The fantasy part of the book is slowly revealed as we learn the story of another girl, Angharad, the heroine of Effy's favorite novel. Effy shares her thoughts about and "memories" of the Fairy King, the same Fairy King from the novel, the same Fairy King she thinks is pursuing her. Effy seems uncertain if her experiences are real or not, leaving the reader in a perpetual state of cognitive dissonance. What is real in this book? What is imagined?

I enjoyed the the rivals-to-lovers relationship between Effy and Preston as they solve the mystery of who wrote Angharad, all the water (so much water in this book), and the uncertainty of Effy's mental state throughout.

If you like atmospheric gothic fantasy YA romances with possible fairy kings and crumbling watery mansions, this is the book for you!

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children's Books/HarperTeen for the advance digital arc in return for my honest review.

A Study in Drowning is, at its heart, a haunting examination of the mythology behind "great men" and the secrets that are kept and the stories that are buried, often at the expense of women or girls, in order to prop up our heroes.

The main character of A Study in Drowning is Effie, an architecture student who wanted to study literature, but was denied the chance due to being a woman. Effie is a lifelong admirer of Myrddin, the beloved national author of her country, Llyr (which is, essentially, a fantasy version of Wales). Llyrian people are known for being more superstitious and fanciful than their neighbors, the Argantians, and Effie believes in the Faerie King, a figure from Myrddin's epic work of fantasy fiction, Angharad. She has seen him, and believes in his truth, and in Myrddin's work she found a voice that echoed her own. When Effie is given the opportunity to design the renovations on the late Myrddin's estate, she jumps at the chance.

When she arrives, she finds a literature student there, Preston Heloury, who is determined to prove that Myrddin's works are a forgery, not written by Myrddin at all, but perhaps one of his associates. Although Effy is at first highly insulted that Preston, who is only half-Llyrian, dare question her hero, as strange happenings take place, and Myrddin's son, Ianto, shows a more predatory side, Effy herself begins to wonder. It is her connection with Preston, which is more respectful and genuine than what she experiences from her idol's son, that convinces Effy to join in his quest for the truth, even if it means the destruction of Myrddin's legacy. A Study in Drowning plays with the idea of subjective truth and whose stories get to be told, and by whom, in a very clever way. Effy is a girl who has often been written off as frivolous or hysterical. She takes medication to keep hallucinations at bay, and we are never quite sure if Effy's hallucinations are real, or not. Preston is the only person who tells her that regardless of whatever else, what matters is that she believes they are true, This applies equally to the faerie king, as to Effy's sexual assault by her professor, which is the subject of much gossip at their university. Preston never question's Effy's account, or causes her to question herself. A rare thing for Effy!

The ultimate reveal in A Study In Drowning is not surprising, although I do not think it was meant to be. Most readers will figure out the truth behind Angharad well before Preston and Effy do, but that does not make the reveal any less satisfying. The story of the victims of sexual assault and abuse is centered in A Study in Drowning. Effy and Angharad are both victims and the heroines of their own stories. As it turns out, these stories are not the stories of great men, but the stories of the women who survive them.

Ava Reid has an atmospheric and lyrical writing style that really brings the rotting old mansion, drenched in rain and seawater, to the forefront. A Study in Drowning is positively dripping with water imagery that evokes the catastrophic Drowning that sunk large portions of the lower coast of Llyr. It is a real pleasure to read. Although the book is listed as YA, the style and subject matter is quite mature, and certainly more of an upper YA book than lower.

“why was it always girls whose form could not be trusted? everything could be taken from them in an instant.”

a study in drowning is a beautifully eerie and gothic dark academia novel. it examines misogyny within academia, how women’s voices are constantly being diminished by the older, powerful men around them. how many ways can a woman’s voice be taken from her? it contemplates the relationship between author and reader, questioning who a book truly belongs to. it is also a beautifully sweet and tender romance between two academic rivals, effy and preston.

effy means so much to me. reading about her made me feel like i was reading about a younger version of myself. shy and anxious, always jumping between hiding inside myself or otherwise trying to find a way to escape it. though soft, she proves time and time again where there is softness there is also strength. survival is an act of bravery, too. she is a refreshingly vulnerable heroine.

a lyrical love story to those who were afraid to speak up. to those who have had their voices taken away from them time and time again by others as well as themselves. to those who have loved a book so fiercely that it became a part of them. a study in drowning has no doubt become one of my favorite young adult fantasies. it is raw and it is vulnerable. it is a mystery, a love story, and a fairy tale that challenges the confines of it’s genre. within this book is my heart.

a study in drowning comes out on september 19! thank you to netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review

A haunting story full of magic and heart. I was hooked from the very beginning. I loved falling so completely into the world Ava Reid created. I have nothing but good things to say about Ava Reid's newest release, so prepare for a review that's simply singing its praises. A Study in Drowning is a story about monsters, about the inescapable nature of the past, about trauma and healing, about how society looks at those who have been harmed by people in authority, about gender, and, layered among the others, it is a story about love. I adored following Effy and Preston through their journey as they learned about themselves and each other, about their agreements and disagreements, about all the things that kept them coming back together. I sobbed for Effy throughout her story, but nothing made me cry more than the ending and how deeply she deserved the light of it.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It had a good amount of suspense with some romance mixed in. It also had a lot of very unique themes that were interesting to read about. Would definitely recommend!

Ava Reid does NOT miss with atmosphere. Effy was an incredible main character from page 1, and the first few chapters, set at university, gave me five star vibes. I didn't like it quite as much once we got to the spooky manor setting, although it was still really well done.

I really liked the love interest as well here. Aside from the atmosphere, my favourite part was absolutely the way that Effy's past with sexual assault was handled. Everyone kept calling her beautiful and alluring, and she was so viscerally uncomfortable with so many things that happened to her but also saw them as unavoidable and normal, and it was heartbreaking and REAL.

DNFed at 30%.

This book just might not be for me. I loved the setting and the world building involved, but the characters kind of fell flat for me. I'm so happy that books tackle heavier subjects, which this book definitely does. However, one of the problems I had is that, outside of her trauma, Effy just didn't feel like a fleshed out character and then almost every other character in the book is a terrible human. Her roommate and her roommate's partner are the only ones who weren't immediately horrible. The love interest wasn't horrible, but they did have a enemies thing going on when they met. Maybe this gets explained later, but at where I am in the story, it was just too much.

Overall I have pretty mixed feelings on this book. Although I would consider it a good example of a well-done dark academia novel, it sometimes felt like the author was purposely letting the characters not see things for the sake of making the novel last longer than it would have otherwise. The worldbuilding was also a strange combination of exposition and just hoping you figure it out, which made the very beginning both boring and confusing– I wasn’t sure how much of a fantasy the novel was meant to be, which I guess could have also been representative of how the character saw reality, but it just didn’t work for me in particular.
However, the book really improved for me after the first part and I started to understand the world a bit better, and the characters were all well-fleshed out, and the way that the backstory of Effy was revealed, along with her motivations, was done perfectly. Also Ava Reid had the very difficult job of getting me to consider a white boy named Preston (seriously, that’s a horrible name for a literature scholar-type characters, he sounds like he owns boat shoes and goes to frat parties) a good love interest, and it worked, so that’s definitely something in the book’s favor.

So moody! I loved every bit of this. It gave me major Crimson Peak vibes and I was eating it up. Fairly quick read full of Lore, storms, faeries, ghosts, and so much more. This would be a perfect Autumn read. Ava Reid has a really lovely storytelling ability. Her books have a really nice balance of dark and light + fairytale vibes.
I wish some things were a little less predictable but overall it was a great read and a couple of the twists did take me by surprise!

I am all aboard the dark academia subgenre train and A Study in Drowning is one of the latest additions. I found this book a little difficult to rate. There were parts that I loved, the academic worldbuilding and Reid’s gothic atmospheric prose, and then there were parts that I disliked, the characters or found somewhat lacking, the rest of the worldbuilding.

A Study in Drowning, like the best of dark academia, follows our main character Effy’s obsessive study into the the Angharad, a literary epic written by a recently deceased national treasure. As she travels to the author’s ancestral home, ostensibly for architectural design reasons, but really to seek a closeness, a kinship to the Angharad, she finds herself embroiled in a web of secrets surrounding the book’s origins and the author’s history.

It’s clear that Reid has familiarity with scholarship around literature, because the academic world she builds up, in epigraphs and character discussions and in-text references surrounding the Angharad is incredibly comprehensive. We see the full scope of the history of this epic, in the way this text was regarded by both scholars and the average reader alike over time, the various interpretations of the text itself, and scholarly understanding of the demographics reading this book. The discussions around this book and how it relates to gender and culture of its larger world is delightfully nuanced, and perhaps one of my favorite parts of this book.

The rest of the worldbuilding, however, felt somewhat lacking. There was just enough to somewhat flesh out the scope of the story itself, but I felt like much was left untouched. There are vague notions of Effy’s country and its neighboring country at war, but the details aren’t mentioned beyond vague hints. Effy speaks of this war as a fight against this other invading country’s colonialist attempts to wipe out her own culture, but so little is actually described about the situation that it personally read more like two neighboring countries who’ve historically been in petty disputes driving up nationalist rhetoric to encourage the war effort, something Effy’s fully bought into. On an entirely personal level, from the tone of the writing and the overall atmosphere, this world doesn’t feel like it should have cars or telephones and it did, and that just felt off for me,

Reid’s prose, however, is a thing of beauty. Effy spends much of her time in the south, in an old, dilapated house at the cliff of a mountain against the ocean, one slowly falling apart from salt and rot. Reid somehow manages to mirror this oceanic rot and decay into the writing itself, painting beautiful Gothic imagery of Effy’s surroundings. The story itself, and the themes of academic abuse survivorship, intertwine perfectly with the tone that Reid sets.

My two main detractions from this book were the ending and Effy herself. A Study in Drowning has about an 80k wordcount and I really wish there were another 20k. The ending and the ‘final epiphany’ felt rushed and a little too sudden. I wish there had been a little more buildup and foreshadowing. Meanwhile, I found Effy herself a somewhat difficult character to follow. There’s clearly some intentional discomfort of being in Effy’s head as a sexual assault victim and the severe misogyny of this world, but even beyond that, I just found her to be a somewhat unpleasant character. Still the mysteries of the Angharad were excellent and I never lost immersion.

Overall, I rate this book a 4/5. While I had my dislikes, it hit all my favorite aspects of the dark academia genre. The academic worldbuilding, prose, and atmosphere were all top notch, and while I didn’t love the characters, I was sucked into the secrets they were uncovering.

A Study in Drowning is a moody, slow-burn mystical realism book about fairytales and idols, and what happens when reality is oh so different than you were led to believe. Effy believes in fairy tales, she has been seeing the Fairy King her entire life-so it makes sense that her favorite book is an epic about a girl who falls in love with the Fairy King, and what happens afterwards. But when she is invited to compete to design her idols house it seems like an impossible task, especially with Preston Heloury there hellbent on proving the author a fraud. As this unlikely duo works together to piece together clues as to the mysterious author's history, what they will find will change everything.

I really enjoyed the mood that this book inspired in me. It was lightly dark, mysterious and just the right amount of moody. There were a lot of moments that made me so angry and distinctly uncomfortable, without being too graphic. The author superbly wrote about anxiety. There were a lot of hard topics that she didn't shy away from. I really liked the basis of the story, even if I found the ending rather anticlimatic.

This is a slow moving book, so if you like things to be succinct and fast-paced this may not be for you. Check the content warnings if you know you have subjects that trigger you!

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It isn't a new favorite, but I'm happy to have been able to listen to it. The narrator does a wonderful job matching the moodiness of the story. YA fantasy lovers should definitely check this one out!