Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid

255 reviews

scrubsandbooks's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This is my first book written by Ava Reid and I can confidently say that she knows how to write incredibly atmospheric settings, drawing readers right in. It felt like I was right there with Effy in the mysterious house. The love story was not something that interested me though and I felt like it was unnecessary. 
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hspfost's review against another edition

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dark inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book gets a 5 for impossibly perfect water metaphors.
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hal00alex's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Fantasy take on a very interesting time period with dark academia vibes. The characters did very well with the enemies to lovers as it didn’t seem rushed and the dialogue was actually funny. 
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ameliedj's review

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This started off interesting but around the middle point it got messy and not worth my time. 
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bblatnik's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A

3.75

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cosypuck's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

Dropped 0.5 because I found it difficult to understand where and when it was set and it distracted me a bit at the beginning. Otherwise I am fully on board. Do pay attention to the content warnings especially the sexual assault, as it's a heavy theme throughout.
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shellbell_04's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

The plot was fine, but the romance aspect was cuteeee
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5aru's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

The story was beautifully crafted; you could understand what the truth was, not because it was a predictable twist but because it was properly foregrounded. Effy and Preston were likeable protagonists, though the development of the romance felt a little lacking for my taste. In fact, I think the major problem is that the book should've been longer, or else differently paced: as it is, the last quarter is too packed with information and so it feels like too many things happen at once. If some of the reveals
(especially the Fairy King being real)
happened earlier, the final confrontation would've been better set up and thus more satisfying to lead up into the reveal.

I still enjoyed it immensely, though. I liked the worldbuilding and felt very close to Effy's experiences, particularly one which I'm sure is almost universal (esp. as a woman) — that of finding out your favourite author, in fact, sucks.
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haley_mil_reads's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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annakh16's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

A story about stories, focused quite closely on our main characters, with vivid scenic descriptions of a drowning house. Ava Reid is certainly a good writer, and the visuals/vibe and some book quotes were great here. 

I thought the dark themes were handled well, especially for a YA book. I do agree that Effie‘s xenophobia was forgiven really quickly though? Hopefully the next book will explore the political conflict more, including its impact on the characters - we‘ll see. 

I enjoyed the dynamic between Effie and Preston, although the romance only really came through at the end for me and their feelings seemed a bit intense then compared to the rest of the book. I almost preferred them as friends/academic partners. The mystery was unfortunately pretty predictable to me, which was a bit of a bummer. 

Based on some reviews, I had hoped to be more obsessed with this, but it was a solid read. 
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