A review by hexedmaiden
A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid

dark mysterious medium-paced

3.75

I spent a good chunk of this book not being sure if I even liked that our female main character, Effy. Between her xenophobia against our male main character (which takes a bit to resolve) and that even confronted with the facts that her favorite author is a creep she wont accept it until almost the end.
I get why it takes her a while to come to terms with all that I think some of us have been confronted with something similar be it finding out your fave is racist, transphobic, xenophobic, etc. And maybe it's just easy for me to kick those bitches to the curb than others, but Effy come on!

Now I can't be 100% negative about this book because despite the times I wanted to pick Effy up and shake her like a coconut tree, I did enjoy this story I genuinely couldn't put it down. I enjoyed the gothic, dark academia vibes of this book. I loved our main male character, Preston and his backstory. Despite me initial unlike for Effy I did find her to be complex and interesting.

Ava's writing is chef's kiss and I can't wait for more from them. I read their previous novel, Juniper & Thorn and loved it and while I'm sad I wasn't as in love with this novel as their first work I still enjoyed my time in this world they created. 
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