Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid

116 reviews

jessversteeg's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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

4.0

“Haunting and tender” one author said of this book on the back jacket cover. I agree. 

It’s a weird, gothic book that crosses over university life and fairy folklore (or is it folklore?). It could easily be made into a thriller movie released at Halloween. It’s creepy and tender, but also quite sad.

A huge theme in the book is both the treatment of women and the ways women are perceived. There are a few pretty awful quotes about how women are either seductresses or submissive, how they’re unable to produce any real intellectual work etc. It also becomes clear early on in the book that the main character was taken advantage of by her academic advisor, and she basically has severe anxiety/ptsd over it. Her anxiety about her life experiences makes her wonder if she’s crazy or not, many people tell her she’s crazy and making stuff up.  The story juxtaposes folk monsters with real life sketchy men. It’s about fighting back against abusers. 

I doubt I’ll read it again, but I’m sure I’ll think about it a lot in the future. I kinda think it should be high school required reading so teens can learn about power dynamics and consent, believing women, etc. 

Here’s a quote from the end that gutted me: 

“I know I beat him in the end, but for so many years all I could do was run and hide. I just sat there and let the water pour in around me. I didn’t know that I could fight back. I didn’t know how to do anything but wait to drown.” 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Child death, Sexual content, and War

kary2012's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Drug abuse

bookishplantmom's review against another edition

mysterious reflective 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

3.5

I really enjoyed this. At first I felt like the social commentary was a bit on the nose but it grew on me as the story went along. I found the ending a smidge predictable but satisfying nevertheless. Some aspects of the story were a bit confusing towards the end. Generally a solid book. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

Minor: Death of parent

booksmoviesandstories's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Blood, Dementia, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

moonchild_cos's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Sexual content, Grief, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and War

oz2021's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexism

Moderate: Child abuse and Sexual assault

embersbooknook's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and War

Minor: Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, and Classism

The themes mentioned as trigger warnings are mostly minor mentions. Ava doesn’t write out the full

sexual assault that happened to Effy, or the full extent of abuse that Angharad suffered from Myrddin, as the Fairy King took him over especially.

As I always say, I am a sensitive reader and was able to handle this book’s themes.

mrsjoellebell's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Misogyny, and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual assault and Classism

Minor: War

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

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