Reviews tagging 'Schizophrenia/Psychosis '

A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid

42 reviews

reddeddy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Sexism, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Violence, Sexual content, Body shaming, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Classism, Confinement, Child abuse, and Mental illness

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Terminal illness, War, Animal death, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Pedophilia, Alcohol, Blood, Colonisation, Dysphoria, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Religious bigotry, Body horror, Bullying, Car accident, and Deportation

desiderium_incarnate's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I think this story will stay with me for a bit.

For most of the book I was unsure how reliable Effy was as a narrator but I think think that might reflect more on me than it does on the book. It really is beautifully written, I just have one issue: Everyone mentions how smart and brave Effy is and of course, yes, she is, but whyyyy did you not go talk to the secretive and reclusive widow of your favorite author when you had the chance? Like you literally did everything including destruction and theft of property and nearly dying in a drowned basement instead of trying to communicate with people that are there and have not explicitly told you to fuck off yet. I was just waiting for them to get to that for nearly half the book so that was incredibly frustrating. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Mental illness, Child abuse, Murder, Car accident, Child death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Alcohol, Classism, Sexism, Medical content, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, and Panic attacks/disorders

growplantsreadbooks's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

A wonderfully atmospheric gothic novel. The crumbling house of a dead author with an unseen widow, and brooding son still haunting it? Count me in! It was not without its faults though.  
The author put a lot of effort into the worldbuilding, but the world wasn't different from ours in any significant way. It was so clearly inspired by real, specific regional folklore. It felt like the author changed the names so she could have a reason for her protag. to be weirdly very prejudiced against her future love interest without the reader getting uncomfortable by the implications of it being real cultures. 
The romance was sweet, but it took them too long to get together so

them having sex at the end felt rushed and unnecessary. It didn't quite fit their characters or what was happening in the plot, and it didn't center female pleasure.

I think this story actually could have benefited from her being more interested in the author's son at first. His character could have been developed better

but that poor doomed soul just gets the shit end of the stick

Lastly, the plots reliance on "happenstance" to find evidence was... a bit much! It felt a little Scooby Do at times. 
Regardless, I really loved reading it and will recommend it to any teen who likes gothic romance. 
It handled trauma in a very sensitive way and I did really like Preston as a love interest - though reading this did make me want a cig lol.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

emilywemily6's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.25

The writing of this book is absolutely stunning. So many good lines that made me think, especially knowing that this is YA. However, the plot and characters fell short for me. The FMC was very annoying to me, she was overly shy and submissive in some instances and extremely brash and rude on others. She also had no sense. Overall, not a consistent characterization, and I liked almost none of her. The MMC I liked better, but his perspective was definitely lesser in the story. I couldn’t get behind this world and how certain things like literature were exclusive for men and women were seen as temptresses but almost no other misogyny was talked about to set the frame for this type of world. It felt incomplete. The “mystery” of what was happening was not very deep, I predicted the gist of things very early on but the main characters seemed really oblivious and thick-headed. And when a major plot hole regarding the wife was ignored until it was extremely convenient, all the questions the reader had were answered in a straightforward, interview-style reveal, which wasn’t satisfying. The climax did not have the background lore lead up that would have made it a more powerful story. Overall, the story itself was very mediocre and basic, though with lots of unfulfilled potential, and yet the writing style was really beautiful to read. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Sexism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

Minor: War

rachelblair's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense 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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Misogyny, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Panic attacks/disorders, and Bullying

lila_still_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Sexual assault, Sexism, and Misogyny

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death of parent, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, and Grief

dyanimae's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Sexism

Moderate: Sexual harassment and Sexual assault

Minor: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, War, Death, Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Dementia, Classism, and Abandonment

kryzysowa_narzeczona's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Trafficking, and Rape

kmmstutz's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, and Mental illness

becalexa's review against another edition

3.0

this book was like. incredibly okay. i was expecting more based on the recommendations i have seen but i know that not everyone will feel the same about every book. but yeah i enjoyed my time reading it for the most part. preston is my sweetie pie. there were some really good lines but idk the story as a whole doesn’t hit like i thought it would. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

Moderate: Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Death of parent