Pixieltd on Reading The Wheel of Time: Taim Tells Lies and Rand Shares His Plan in Winter’s Heart (Part 3) 2 hours ago You're not just one thing. Survival is something you do, not something you are. You're brave and brilliant. You're the most real, full person I've ever met." A Study in Drowning is a haunting gothic tale of strength and perseverance that blurs the lines between fairytale and reality. I enjoyed many aspects of this book and I respect what it contributes to the genre, but, unfortunately, I was left wanting more from the story. effy is an extremely relatable character. she is struggling with her mental health, she is anxious and hides in her favorite stories to escape her trauma. her growth throughout the story is beautiful and showcases her journey of self-discovery and healing. preston was honestly just a precious little bean and the way he treated effy was so sweet.

Once again an Ava Reid book sounds like it will be a 100% Perfect Fit for me, and once again there are some things about the final product that I really love but a number of others that just don't quite work for me.

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The prose is expertly crafted, giving a murky feeling to the story, and easily showing what I imagine to be the feeling of drowning. My senses were overwhelmed with the descriptions from the start until the end.

It's an incredibly atmospheric book, every moment feels alive, as if the wind will wrench you from this world and place you anew upon the cliffs. Every creak of the dilapidated house, every lash of rain on the characters' cheeks, it was all so vivid. The writing was truly phenomenal. I would like to thanks The Fairy King, Random House UK, Cornerstone, Del Rey and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review. and like Preston, Effy also felt quite distant (it’s probably why i didn’t care about the romance since both of them were boring). she didn’t feel all that distinct to me— the book is written from her perspective entirely but in third person, and while i think single third person POV can be done right, it wasn’t done right for me here. Effy doesn’t really have her own unique, distinct voice through the third person POV. she’s intentionally supposed to be a bit turbid due to the medication she takes and her past trauma, but it just made it difficult to latch onto something tangible about her that i could connect with and root for. i truly couldn’t have cared less about her :/ the story felt layered and intelligent but she doesn’t explain anything all that well. it’s almost like she states fact of her world like we also live in this world too… i just couldn’t get a clean nor clear grasp of the world building, especially the era/time period. I'm incredibly excited to read Ava Reid's other works (I've been wanting to read Juniper and Thorn for so long)! I'm interested to see how much this book differs from their usual writing and storytelling as A Study in Drowning is YA whereas their other works are adult. I can see how a lot of the themes within this book could be taken and explored in darker and more gory ways. I absolutely cannot wait to read more!The edges were curling in on themselves -either shyly or protectively, as if the parchment had a secret to hide."

We ask that the proposed structure—HIRAETH MANOR—be large enough to house the surviving Myrddin family, as well as the extensive collection of books, manuscripts, and letters that Myrddin leaves behind. Effy's tattered copy is all that's keeping her afloat through her stifling first term her prestigious architecture college. So when the late author's family announces a contest to design his house, Effy fells certain this is her destiny.

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But Effy’s descent into Myrddin’s world is nothing like what she expected: Hiraeth is a crumbling house on the edge of the sea, where boundaries between reality and fantasy blur all too easily and dark creatures lurk in the forest that surrounds the house. In this desolate place, it’s easy to embrace old ways — iron protectively strong across doorways, hag stones to help humans see more clearly, ash trees growing along the edges of the grounds—-and seek otherworldly protection from a nameless danger. More importantly, she slowly begins to understand that the man she spent so long mythologizing within her own mind had plenty of all too human flaws. Effy’s tattered, dog-eared copy is all that’s keeping her afloat through her stifling first term at Llyr’s prestigious architecture college. So when Myrddin’s family announces a contest to redesign the late author’s house, Effy feels certain this is her destiny. Her studio professor, Master Parri, was running through his usual introduction, only in Argantian. It was a new policy at the university, instituted only at the start of her first term, six weeks ago. Officially, it was out of respect for the university’s few Argantian students, but unofficially, it was out of a sort of preemptive fear. If Argant won the war, would they impress their language upon all of Llyr? Would children grow up shaping its vowel sounds and verbs instead of memorizing Llyrian poetry? The sea took and took and took, thousands of little deaths, and they endured it all because they knew nothing else. They didn't think to fear the Drowning until the water was lapping at their door. A love letter to stories - and to everyone silenced or forgotten in their retelling.' Allison Saft, author of A Far Wilder Magic.