A Study in Drowning (2023) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ by Ava Reid
I just finished A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid. I finished this on June 25th, 2025, but I have been too busy to write my mini review.
I got this on a whim for half off at Barnes and Noble. When it was described by the cashier as gothic, I knew it was for me.
Join Effy Sayre, a first year architectural student, as she visits Hiraeth manor, a decaying and
dilapidated mansion that she has been drafted to remodel. It just so happens that Hiraeth was the home of the 6-month deceased Emrys Myrddin, Effy’s favorite author and obsession since she was a little girl. This gothic fantasy will have you at the edge of your seat from the beginning. It has the slow burn that you’d expect for a gothic novel, and I just loved it.
This book is a bestseller, and I soon found out why. Reid has nailed the Gothic genre perfectly without using too many tropes as to saturate it. Really, It’s a Gothic Fantasy which explores elements such as mental illness and blurred reality, and it left me on the edge of my seat. The way Reid paints Effy’s character is so artful that you feel like you really know her by the end, and perhaps can even relate to her. You’re sorry to say goodbye to the characters, and that’s always a sign of a good book.
