Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - A Study in Drowning

This was everything!!! Am I Ava Reid’s biggest fan now?!?? Yall were right!! Absolutely the best book to finish while in the dark and with no power for 3 days after a hurricane the vibes could not be more perfect I fear. Literally in the second drowning as we speak!!

As an aside I didn’t really like Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross and I know the plot doesn’t match up at all but this was kind of exactly the vibe I was wanting and missing from that!

This book like it literally has EVERYTHING that I have ever wanted in a book please read this my moody dark academia girls who love the cruel prince and women destroying shithead men in power!! DO IT DO IT

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emmirosereads's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

3.0

I can definitely see and understand why so many people loved this book! There was a lot of potential and a lot that I did like. I loved the vibes. I loved the two main characters and the eventual opposites attract relationship they formed. They had good chemistry and it developed in a really sweet way. I loved the themes of female rage throughout the book, especially at the end. Unfortunately, I just could not connect and love this story as vividly as everyone else seemed to. I'm not sure if it just wasn't the right time for me to read this as I'm a huge mood reader or if it was something with the book itself that I inherently had a problem with that I can't quite identify.

My biggest gripe with the book was its pacing. I attempted to read this on my Kindle but couldn't get into it so I tried the audiobook which was better but it still took me till about 50% of the way through the really be invested and even then I wasn't completely invested. I also had some issues with the worldbuilding. I don't know if lackluster is the right description because the foundation is there and good but I almost wish there were more fantasy elements to it. The book is on the shorter side so it is a bit hard to give a full lush world in that amount of time.

I liked it well enough but didn't love it and was a little bored for most of it I hate to admit but I definitely think this is worth giving a try if you think you might enjoy it!

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katialena'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? It's complicated

5.0

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embersbooknook's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This book was really good.
Not what I expected, in a lot of respects - but thoroughly enjoyable.
While I was able to predict some of what would occur

Angharad being the author, Ianto being the fairy king, Myrddin being not awesome, etc.

, that didn’t make it any less of a good read.

Effy was initially slightly dislikable in a really relatable way - nervous, anxious, unable to trust herself, processing substantial trauma. Thus seeking a tad flaky at first. However after about 50 pages her character growth really started.
I really enjoyed seeing her character grow throughout this book.

Preston was a really good match for her - overly sensible perhaps, which I enjoyed seeing soften a bit throughout.
It was really nice to see Effy’s degrading options about Argantians slide away as she got to know him.
A reminder that when humans get to know people who are different from them, they are less prone to dehumanize an entire group of people. A reminder we need in the world as often and as much as possible. 🥺🫶🏽

This book was a good exploration of how sexism affects a society in every level, personally, professionally, intimate relationships, etc. I also appreciated how small mentions of colonialism and sexist intellectualism, and militarism/war made it into the book. Ava set up a fascinating world and I very much hope more of these themes and its history are explored in book 2! Overall a good read that I’d recommend and will enjoy revisiting.

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