A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid

🌟🌟🌟(3.5/5 stars)

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.

~ synopsis shamelessly taken from goodreads

I wrote this review at 3am but it’s relatively readable.

TW for the book:
(I’m honestly kind of disappointed that not a lot of the reviews I read had trigger warnings. They’re honestly so important and should be included in all books.)
— misogyny
— sexual abuse and assault, grooming, anxiety and panic attatcks
— violence

For content warnings there is a bedroom scene if you don’t like reading those.

Characters
I liked the characters and the idea of them but they did feel rather underdeveloped.

• I loved Effy’s soft strength and courage, that she wasn’t a sword-wielding heroine like so many in the YA genre. (not that there’s anything wrong with that kind of female MC, but often female characters who don’t fight in that way are looked down upon).
  One thing I didn’t like about Effy was that she never truly confronted her prejudice towards Preston. In their first few interactions she was rather cruel and made jabs at him for being Argantian. It would have been nice if there was more development for her in that aspect.
• I liked Preston’s character and that he wasn’t over cocky and closed off which can be a trait in a lot of male leads. However, it felt like a lot of his appeal was that he was the only male character in the book who wasn’t terrible.
• All of the other characters were one dimensional. I wish we got more of Angharad. She seemed to be the most dimensional character in the book.

Plot

• The pacing picked up after the first few chapters and I was very invested in the mystery behind Angharad. I did guess who authored the book quite early in though, it wasn’t very subtle. 😅
• The climax and resolution felt rushed. For everything that the fairy king was and the impact he had on Effy’s life it was wrapped up so quickly and easily? It would have been nice if that part was more drawn and had a larger impact.
• There were so many aspects of the world that I wish were explored more such as the sleeper museum, the war, and magic in the world. I was slightly confused on what kind of fantasy world it was. There were telephones and cars but people wrote letters to each other to correspond – so maybe 1900s inspired?…I guess it could be considered soft world building but I would have liked there to be more detail and less unanswered questions.

Writing

• I enjoyed the writing and the atmosphere it created. At the same time though I felt disconnected from it and never fully immersed. Effy was a difficult character to connect with at times which may have impacted this.

Romance

• The book is marketed as rivals to lovers but there wasn’t a lot of rivalry. The rivalry that was there was mainly one-sided due to Effy and her being overly prejudiced.
• There wasn’t a lot of chemistry between the two characters. I didn’t dislike them as a couple, but I wasn’t fully invested either. Their development seemed to go from 0 to 50 to 100 without building more connection.

Themes

• The book tackles sexism against women, particularly in academia. I appreciate books that cover female rage and trauma and think the author did covered it very well and with sensitivity. My only issue was that I didn’t expect certain aspects of the story (the parts that could be triggering) and it caught me off guard which isn’t always good.

Other thoughts

• The excerpts from Angharad (the fairytale that impacted Effy’s life so much) were absolutely beautiful and I wish we had gotten more of them. They were one of the best parts of the book.

Overall there was a lot of potential in the story and characters but the way the plot played out made it feel rushed. It didn’t go into the depth it could have and I felt unsatisfied after finishing it. However, I would definitely recommend it because I did enjoy reading it.

~ Ming