About the Book
-
Author:
- Ava Reid
- Genres:
- Boy-Girl Romance
- Fantasy
- Voices:
- Cis Girl
- Straight
- White (Non-Specified)
Cover Story: Rising Tide
BFF Charm: Big Sister
Talky Talk: Gothic Fairytale
Bonus Factor: Lit Love
Anti-Bonus Factors: Dan Scott Award for Awful Parenting, Predatory Older Men
Relationship Status: Entranced
Content Warning: A Study in Drowning features memories of and the trauma from a sexual assault, a bunch of lecherous men being gross, and a mother who treats her daughter like an unwanted burden.
Cover Story: Rising Tide
The gothic elements of this cover tie really nicely with the story within, specifically the architectural pieces, choppy water, and ghostly female figure. There’s a lack of depth to the image that is a bit strange, but overall it’s quite compelling.
The Deal:
Effy Sayre is the only woman in the architectural college, but she’s only there because she wasn’t allowed to join the literature college, thanks to the sorely antiquated (and frustrating) view that her gender’s flighty nature isn’t well suited to writing or the study of such. Effy’s long idolized her country’s most famous writer, the late Emrys Myrrdin, and she wants nothing more than to study his work—and perhaps write something of her own that is as epic as his Angharad, a story of a woman’s relationship with the Faerie King.
When the chance comes to enter a competition to design a new home for Myrrdin’s estate, she jumps at the chance, even though she doesn’t really care about designing buildings. She just wants to visit the place her favorite author called home and perhaps learn more about the reclusive man.
When she wins, she doesn’t spend long thinking about why they chose a first-year who’s barely passing her classes. But upon reaching Hiraeth Manor, she begins to discover that sometimes it’s better to keep your idols on their pedestals.
BFF Charms: Big Sister
Effy’s always been a bit strange and treated like she was a burden. She struggles with mental illness, hallucinations, and overwhelming feelings of inadequacy. Men take advantage of her, telling her that it’s her fault—”she’s too pretty”—and she believes them. She’s intelligent and dreamy in equal measure, but at the start of the book is so fragile that I feared for her safety. By the end, she proves that she’s much stronger than anyone in her life gives her credit for, and I couldn’t help but feel proud of the growth she achieved in such a short time. Effy is a dynamic young woman who goes from being fragile and naive to the hero of her own story. I’d love to be in her life to cheer her on and keep her from letting the dark overwhelm her.
Swoonworthy Scale: 6
As research for the contest, Effy goes to the college library looking to take out some of Myrddin’s books. She finds, unfortunately, that they’ve all been checked out by a P. Héloury, who she immediately views as her new nemesis. When she gets to Hiraeth Manor and finds a Preston Héloury there, studying Myrddin’s works for his literature thesis, she’s annoyed and frustrated by his continued (perhaps unintentional, but that’s not the point) meddling in her life. At first, she hates him, but soon she begins to see him as a partner and perhaps more.
Talky Talk: Gothic Fairytale
In A Study in Drowning, Reid weaves a tale that feels suspenseful throughout, even when the action isn’t the dangerous type. The dialogue is somewhat sparse—the book is more about atmosphere than it is about conversation—but it’s impactful when it appears. Reid’s world-building is superb, too; the setting of the book is a fictional world that believes in magic but feels like something out of real human history and has a fair share of Wuthering Heights vibes.
Bonus Factor: Lit Love
Effy’s passion for the written word, particularly a fantasy book about a young woman who finds her own strength and overcomes great odds, is a very recognizable and familar one. As is her anger when Preston starts knocking Myrddin’s works. Haven’t we all gotten heated when someone takes a dig at our favorite authors or books?
Anti-Bonus Factor: Dan Scott Award for Awful Parenting
Effy’s mother is one of those people who should never have had children. She’s always treated Effy like a burden and even went so far as to leave her on a riverbank as a baby in the hopes that someone (or something?) would take her away. When Effy calls her, upset, and wants to come home, her mom literally tells her no, because she “wants to live her life.” She’s horrendous, and I hope Effy drops her like a hot potato as soon as she’s able.
Anti-Bonus Factor: Predatory Older Men
Effy’s life is, unfortunately, filled with older men who look at her blonde hair, pale skin, and blue eyes like they’re lions looking at gazelles. It’s horrible and 1000% on the men, not Effy. She even once thinks about how she “should have worn something different” than her sweater and skirt combo, and THE FLAMES, I tell you.
Relationship Status: Entranced
Like Angharad with the Faerie King, you’ve got me under your spell, Book. I hope we’re not headed for an end like theirs, but I’m not mad about how quickly and deeply I fell. Is it magic? Perhaps. Either way, I’m in it for the long haul.
Literary Matchmaking
Marissa Meyers’ Gilded series also features a charismatic, yet evil, Faerie King and the woman who outmaneuvers him.
Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses series also features faeries and a young “fragile” woman who becomes her own hero.
And Holly Black’s The Folk of the Air series features all this and more.
FTC Full Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from HarperTeen, but got neither a private dance party with Tom Hiddleston nor money in exchange for this review. A Study for Drowning is available now.
