Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid

84 reviews

wickan2010's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.25

A bit more world building earlier in the book would have been helpful, but otherwise a great read. I couldn’t put it down.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Misogyny, Sexism, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

renavi_eri's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Mental illness, Rape, Sexism, and Dementia

shamaramill's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Sexism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Medical content, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, and War

amy_reading_23's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

This book is so good!! I really enjoyed it and read it in a few days. It was beautifully written snd I loved the academic background as well as all the fae elements. This is a book that masterfully talks about misogyny, SA and mental health in a sensitive way. I also liked how the protagonist was very aware of herself when the romance bits were cliche. Definitely check trigger warnings, as SA and PTSD is a topic that features throughout the book. As someone who lives in Wales, the use of some of the Welsh words seemed a bit random to me, especially as the book is set in some unnamed world. 

I thought it was kind of onvious that his wife had written Angharad from early on in the novel so it frystrated me a little that it took them so long to come to that conclusion.

But overall a good fantasy dark-academia read! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Car accident, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

p2evavaras's review against another edition

hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I really-really liked this story! It was comforting for my soul and the characters were well constructed, even tho it's quite a short book I felt like there was something to be learned about them at every page-turn.

Effy was quite clearly mentally troubled but I liked the author's representation of her anxieties, as in they felt true to life. I also loved the small romance between Preston and Effy, it worked great as a subplot and gave the story a more lighthearted tone, also their banter was -chefs kiss-!!

The only reason why the book didn't get 5 stars from me is the very-very ending - it wasnt a bad ending by any means but something about it left me feeling like it was a tad bit rushed and somehow didn't feel as well thought-out and put-together as the rest of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism and Alcohol

wooblatoober's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

this review is littered with spoilers so do not read it if you haven’t read the book yet. i’m spoiler tagging the most major spoilers but i am leaving things unspoilered that might or might not be considered spoilers depending on the reader

i really loved some aspects of this book but was really bothered by others—i loved the imagery & the metaphors really made me feel the way i believe the author wanted me to feel. parts were very cozy in ways i haven’t felt since i was probably 14. i LOVED the love interest & i had a huge crush on him because he’s so perfect. whenever there was a scene without him, i wanted him to come back, & i believe reid did a good job of making him incredibly caring while still empowering the female lead. the book covered serious topics regarding misogyny & sexual assault very well,

& the way effy was able to bond with angharad & angharad was able to get some sort of justice was really touching to me, not to mention how the symbolism of angharad (who lived much of her life under an entity that seems to represent, as a whole, misogyny, patriarchy, & predation) being able to help effy break out of that cycle for herself. i also liked that even though angharad is old, it’s not treated like she lost her entire life under the repression of a man twice her age who was also sometimes the fairy king. very empowering that it was treated like, despite what was taken from her, she still had life in front of her to live, & be strong, & be free.

lastly, i could identify with effy’s sexual trauma in poignant ways. i really enjoyed reading this book for most of my time reading it & i liked it enough that i’ll likely reread it, which i don’t often do.
my complaint is this: effy’s fucking racist. & i love a problematic character who grows & learns lessons & changes, BUT SHE FUCKING DOESN’T!!! it’s just not dealt with well & leaves a bad taste in my mouth. she even calls him slurs at one point and i don’t think she ever took accountability for that at all??? like it seems like she got an argantian boyfriend so she’s absolved of all racism against argantians. it really just gives, “i can’t be racist because my boyfriend’s argantian (or insert any race/ethnicity/nationality in place of that).” book is also hypnotically caucasian, which, like, i know it’s set in a fictional place based on wales & england, but it’s a FICTIONAL PLACE so do all these characters really gotta be beans and toast ass motherfuckers?? last complaint, she throws her long blonde hair into a messy bun 👎 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Sexual content, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Confinement, Racial slurs, Rape, Violence, Kidnapping, and War

edilyaaang's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Reading this book felt like a rollercoaster ride. 

Got really confused about everything at first especially because there were lots of gaps in the beginning. There were times that that I rolled my eyes hard at some parts but in the end I felt like those things married the story together in a way that gave it more depth.

 But whew, I did not expect the story to turn that way. Though I have already guessed some parts of the story, the plots twists blew my mind off.

Especially how the Fairy King was real. I did not see that one coming. And that bed scene came out of nowhere LMFAO.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, and Grief

Minor: Animal death, Confinement, and Violence

incefloscen's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

1.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Classism

arimcmi's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Sexual assault

zonnestraal's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Oh, this book was gorgeous. The worldbuilding, the atmosphere, the plot... everything was just perfect (okay, I did notice one tiny inconsistency concerning the language Argantian, but it really was minor and didn't obstruct my reading pleasure) I was on the tip of my seat and figured out the most of the truth at a reasonable time before the reveal (I hate it when I figure it out to early) I just loved the way I was kept wondering: is any of this reql? Are fairy tales real in this world or not?? Is it just Effy's mind making things sort of bareable? Anyway this book combined a lot of things I liked, fairy tales, literature and architecture. And did so in a beautifull way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Sexual harassment

Minor: Bullying, Death of parent, Abandonment, and War