While the aesthetics of dark academia appeal to me, I find that much of the stories labelled as such never quite meet my expectation, this novel is part of this rule. Clearly written for a YA audience, I found the character voice did not appeal to my more adult-leaning reading preferences.

I read Victoria Lee’s The Fever King last year and really enjoyed it! Therefore, when I heard that Lee was going to release a contemporary paranormal, A Lesson in Vengeance, and I read the synopsis––promising sapphic, dark academia, witches, private school––it quickly became one of my most-anticipated releases of 2021!

I’m not sure why, but I assumed A Lesson in Vengeance would be adult or new adult, so I was a little surprised when I found that the characters were a little younger than I’d anticipated. I set that aside though, and focused on immersing myself in the setting and characters.

The setting was not quite as dark academia as I had hoped. Yes, there was definitely some of that there, but I think I was expecting it to be more descriptive, and more atmospheric. I also didn’t end up clicking with any of the characters. That part turned out being alright, because it played into the story somewhat (I can’t say exactly how without spoiling anything).

Before starting to read A Lesson in Vengeance, I also assumed that witches would be presented in a positive light and was disappointed when that wasn’t entirely the case. Lastly, I really found I had to push through parts of the book because the plot moved slow and didn’t engage me for the most part. All in all, it was an alright read! I recommend it to those looking for a dark story featuring a private school, thriller-ish plots, and sapphic reps.

This book was so good. I have already been recommending this left and right and I definitely will keep doing so!

There were some parts of this that I really enjoyed and others that I didn't. While this wasn't a personal favorite for me, I can see teens enjoying it.

Generally a good book, kept my attention. The story was great, characters well thought out, and the pacing was good. Overall, I enjoyed the book and would read more by this author!! Thank you so much for the ARC!

This started off really strong for me with a great narrative voice and a strong atmosphere. However, as the plot went on I felt that it dragged and the plot twists left a lot to be desired. I can see a real teen audience for this, who I think will appreciate the aesthetic and the angst.

I started reading this book and found that it was not for me. I didn't want to review a book that I didn't finish.

great book and had me on my seat. I enjoyed the characters and all that happened in the book. I enjoyed being in this world and seeing the growth of the characters. I enjoyed the drama of the story and I can't wait to read others books by this author.

Love a story set in a boarding school. It was haunting, thrilling, dark, eerie, and filled with ghosts, mental illness and history. Dark academia at its finest!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the eGalley. All opinions are my own.

A Lesson in Vengeance was a dark and twisted tale. This story unfolds at a boarding school with a history of five witches being murdered, each in different and brutal ways. Felicity is back at the school where she meets the new girl, Ellis, a talented published author. They instantly form a connection, but then trouble arises when the past starts repeating itself. I was instantly intrigued by the synopsis of this book. It was mysterious and chilling. I was a little disappointed by the end. I knew what was going to happen early on. I could see the twist happening before they came which was what I was looking forward to the most. The main characters were interesting and I did enjoy the slow reveal of their stories. I do wish the side characters got to have a stronger role in the story. Some of the side characters had so much more that could be told about them

A Lesson in Vengeance, Victoria Lee’s new boarding school young adult novel, is an eerie, absorbing thriller about ghosts, history, and mental illness.

The Fever King author dives into the world of dark academia in A Lesson in Vengeance, set at Dalloway School, an isolated girls’ boarding school in the Catskills. Protagonist Felicity Morrow, returning to Dalloway after a year away, is haunted. By what? A few things, but mostly her ex-girlfriend Alex, who died in a tragic accident that Felicity witnessed, causing her to leave for a stint in a psychiatric hospital. Unless it wasn’t an accident. Back at the boarding house where she lived with Alex, Felicity is convinced that her dead ex is haunting her. Still, determined to put the past behind her and graduate, Felicity throws herself into research for her thesis.

Felicity has always had a fascination with the Dalloway Five—a group of five girls who died on the school grounds hundreds of years earlier under mysterious circumstances. At school, she discovers a new student shares her fascination. Ellis Haley, a 17-year-old Pulitzer-prize-winning novelist, has come to Dalloway to write her second book about the Dalloway Five. Other students gravitate to Ellis, but Felicity is suspicious of the prodigy.

Ellis calls herself a “method writer,” and she wants to live the events she writes about. How far will she go in writing a book about murder? Despite herself, Felicity finds herself connecting with Ellis. Ellis understands Felicity more than anyone else at Dalloway School—but she might also draw Felicity back into the darkness she’s been trying to escape.

Lee does an excellent job of capturing the mood of her setting and characters. As in any dark academia book worth its salt, the characters in A Lesson in Vengeance are uber-pretentious. They drink bourbon, talk like they’re forty-five, and dress like they’re eighty. In real life, they would probably be insufferable; in-book, your mileage may vary, but I had a great time spending time with them.

This is a genre that either clicks for you or it doesn’t—you probably shouldn’t read this if you couldn’t stand The Secret History, for instance—but Lee is clearly at home writing this kind of story. Felicity is questionably reliable as a narrator, but she’s always entertaining. A Lesson in Vengeance follows genre conventions, but finds time to poke fun at them as well. It’s worth reading all the way to the ending, somehow chilling and hopeful at once.

I enjoyed the writing style a lot. The boarding school setting was really well done. Love the dark and mysterious aspects. However, I do agree with a lot of the critiques and concerns made by other reviewers about the representation in this book. It really took away from my enjoyment.

I don't like thrillers, they just aren't my thing. I do however, LOVE Victoria Lee's other books (seriously go check them out). This book is phenomenal. It's sapphic dark academia "let's plan reenactments of the murder of these 5 teenage supposed witches that died on the grounds of our school but just for research" while also discussing: heavily stigmatized mental illnesses, the history of horror, women in horror, and depictions of women/femininity/mental health in horror. pick up this book right now.

While I couldn't totally get into this story, I think for the intended audience it would be excellent. I am a big fan of dark academia and I think this would be a great introduction for a YA reader who is wanting to get into these types of stories. Strangely, I think if this had been written as an adult book, I would have enjoyed it more. I wanted the plot to go a lot deeper than it did, so I think the expected length and depth of the subject matter in an adult book would have been more interesting for me.

Lee's writing is so good. Their writing style kept me going in the book far longer than I normally would with a plot that doesn't catch my interest. I am definitely looking forward to more from them in the future and I may pick up their backlist works to check out as well.

After a year away, Felicity Morrow hopes to keep a low profile at Dalloway School while she completes her senior year. Then she'll never have to think about the prestigious boarding school or what transpired there ever again.

Being back at Godwin House feels wrong for so many reasons but especially because her girlfriend Alex is dead and won't ever return.

Still grieving, still haunted, Felicity doesn't know what to expect from her new housemates, especially the enigmatic Ellis Haley. Everyone knows Ellis. Everyone has read her prodigious debut novel while eagerly awaiting her sophomore effort. As much as Felicity is drawn to Ellis--as much as everyone is drawn to Ellis--Felicity balks at the cult of personality the writer has erected around herself.

Ellis is drawn to Dalloway, and particularly to Godwin House, because of its bloody history. Like Felicity herself, she's fascinated by the story of the Dalloway Five--the five students who all died under mysterious circumstances with accusations of witchcraft hanging over them.

Everyone knows magic isn't real. After what happened last year, Felicity needs magic to not be real. But as Ellis draws her back to the school's dangerous not-so-hidden, arcane history Felicity will have to decide if she has the strength to face the darkness festering at Dalloway and in herself in A Lesson in Vengeance (2021) by Victoria Lee.

A Lesson in Vengeance is a standalone novel. Felicity and Ellis are white with secondary characters adding more diversity and brief conversations of the history of segregation and exclusion inherent to elite boarding schools like Dalloway.

This novel is an ode to all things dark academia with vivid descriptions of Dalloway's ivy-covered glory, brittle winters, and its gory past. Lee also carefully subverts the genre using both Felicity and Ellis' queer identities to inform the story. Pitch perfect pacing and careful plot management further help this story pack a punch.

A Lesson in Vengeance is a clever, suspenseful story filled filled. Come for the satisfying mystery and evocative setting, stay for the moral ambiguity and plot twists.

Possible Pairings: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, When All the Girls Are Sleeping by Emily Arsenault, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Night Migrations” by Louise Glück, Roses and Rot by Kat Howard, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, Malleus Maleficarum, Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, "The Shroud" by Edna St. Vincent Millay, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, Dear Life by Alice Munro, All Our Hidden Gifts by Caroline O'Donoghue, What is Yours is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi, Wilder Girls by Rory Power, Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio, Last Seen Leaving by Caleb Roehrig, Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers, I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, These Witches Don't Burn by Isabel Sterling, Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, How We Fall Apart by Katie Zhao

The storyline had me at witches and dark academia. It was not what I was expecting but it was still well written and the dark academia parts were nicely done. Thank you Netgalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

A LESSON IN VENGEANCE certainly is a ride and it took me a minute to decide how I felt about it. First off, I LOVE the dark academia atmosphere that is Dalloway school. It's so lovely and vibrant and is everything I could want in a setting for a book like ALIV. Lee does a wonderful job with making the reader feel like they are actually at Dalloway and the writing has that quality that instantly immerses you in the book. Felicity is a really interesting character who has a lot of great depth to her, and I really enjoyed watching her navigate the regrets in her past as she gets involved with Ellis Haley. While reading, the relationship between them really concerned me because Ellis is super toxic and manipulative, but rest assured that the author turns the tables on the reader and thankfully this dynamic is not something being glorified. For the most part I felt that this was paced well and I was right there with Felicity as the story progresses. I thought the ending itself was really clever and dark and twisty and was a fitting end to the story. It certainly had that thriller feel that YOU does and it was an ending I wasn't 100% expecting, I will say that the reader should be warned about a scene where the characters kill a coyote and it is a bit graphic. I felt like it was unnecessary and would have liked the book better without that scene. BUT overall, I liked A LESSON IN VENGEANCE a lot. If you like smart, dark and twisty dark academia books that keep you guessing about who can be trusted, be sure to check this one out.

everyone says this is a masterpiece for a reason. this is dark academia to a tee and it was haunting and thrilling, pulling you in from the very beginning. Victoria Lee is a master at storytelling and her prose is so beautiful. the atmosphere was so unique and perfectly captured. wow, wow, wow!

This story was something.....it kept me guessing as to what was happening or going to happen. I didn't know if I could trust the two main characters or their stories. The author did a great job at keeping you hooked and wanting more.

Creepy yet so intriguing - I kept finding myself reading one more page just to find out what happens next.