A Study in Drowning Review

I'm going to start by stating that I am a huge mood reader. So, I started this book a couple of months back and couldn't get into it like I wanted to. Fast forward to two days ago; I picked this gem of a book back up. I went on a roller coaster of eerie anticipation, haunting folklore entwined with beautiful yet melancholy prose, and a mystery being slowly unraveled. I adored A Study in Drowning: I related so much to Effy that I am going to annotate, sketch scenes, and pour all my love for this book into it as Effy did with the book Angharad.

The rival-to-lovers trope with Effy and Preston was done so well! Their chemistry together and their bickering were a chef's kiss! Slow burn done right.

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Moving water is healthy; stagnant water is sickly. Tainted.

In the end I learned that the water was in me. It was a ghost that could not be exorcised. But a guest, even uninvited, must be attended to. You make up a bed for them. You pour from your best bottle of wine.

The house was full of ghosts, but they were not the dead kind; they were the kind made of damp wool and cold grease and the smell of old paper.

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PROS:

• Ava Reid's writing to me is like being fully immersed in a haunting gothic mix of reality. Her prose captures the essence of dark atmospheres and complex characters, drawing readers into a world where the line between the real and the supernatural blurs.

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• Effy.Effy.Effy.Effy.

• The rival-to-lovers trope with Effy and Preston was done so well! Their chemistry together and their bickering were a chef's kiss! Slow burn done right.

• Explores misogyny in academia, systemic exploitation, the power of storytelling, and the recovery process from trauma.

CONS:

• Slower pacing.

• Deals with past sexual assault, harassment, and an unbalance of power, which can be intense or distressing. (This is not really a con for me because a lot of books I read have two pages worth of trigger warning)

I would highly recommend this book to dark academia fans and gothic fairy tale lovers. Also A Study in Drowning is a YA novel, so if you like reading young adult do not hesitate Ava's writing style is so freaking beautiful! Let me know if you have read this or have any suggestions on similar books like this!