When I first heard about this book was on Instagram. The words 'dark academia' was floating around a lot. Definitely this novel has thriller/horror moments but like to point out that it also address mental illness and lgbtqia themes. The cover is amazing and fits the vibe of the book. Definitely fear towards high school to young adults.

I loved, loved, loved this book!! I've been seeing some mixed reviews, but this book is dark and gritty and I loved it! I could have used even more darkness, but I think that for the intended audience it made sense to reel it in a little.

This is one of the most atmospheric books I've ever picked up, and it was totally perfect for October. If you like witches and/or dark academia you should definitely pick this one up!

I typically do not gravitate towards horror type books but the synopsis was well-written and I had seen the author crop up on social media feeds so I requested an eARC from Delacorte Press and NetGalley (thank you!) that I had to check this out. This was a very intense book filled with many unreliable narrators. The character of Ellis was deftly written and I resonated with her more than the others - oftentimes I found myself skipping ahead to read more about her. I love the many references to Donna Tartt and her works throughout the book. Thank you again to Delacorte Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

A Lesson in Vengeance is the perfect autumnal read. The dark academia themes are so strong and well done in this. I could sit and read Victoria Lee's descriptions for ages and never get tired of them. I was really surprised but how dark this book really is. The relationship between the two lead characters, Felicity and Ellis was so interesting.

I just really enjoyed this book.

The Secret History meets Plain Bad Heroines meets Bunny.

This is one of the most original works of YA fiction I've read in a long time. I enjoyed every page and did not want it to end.

Victoria Lee has created a truly unforgettable gothic tale with A Lesson in Vengeance. Like Shirley Jackson and Silvia Moreno-Garcia, A Lesson in Vengeance is the dark academia novel we've all been waiting for.

A perfect Halloween read. Pure dark academia literature. A masterclass in how to write an unreliable narrator. I normally hate horror, but this had a true plot outside the horror that kept me interested.

Most of this had me thinking "what is even going on?!" And I couldn't have asked for anything more.

I loved that there were so many layers to the characters and the events that happened. I also really liked the unsettling, just generally dark vibes I got from this.

I will say that I had a way that I thought this book was going, and I was right... And because of that, I was happy that the story unfolded in that way, but also it felt a bit too obvious.

I still really enjoyed it and definitely need to read more of Victoria Lee's works.

A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee is not an easy book for me to review. There were parts that I enjoyed, and yet, in the end I was not satisfied. Spooky, witchy thrillers are not necessarily my genre of choice, but as it’s October, I thought I’d give it a go. Set in a tweedy boarding school in somewhere in “New England”, the story centers on Felicity Morrow, the quintessential rich, bookish, aloof prep whose money and smarts keep her at the top of the food chain. Or at least it did. Before the death of her girlfriend, Alex, in a mysterious accident; an accident that left Felicity in a mental hospital. Felicity returns to repeat her senior year, determined not to get caught up in the legacy and legend of Godwin House. The exclusive dormitory at Dalloway School. And, yes, really- Godwin House and Dalloway School…can you say trying a bit too much? That’s one of the things I did not like about the book, Lee seems to try to hard to impress upon us that this is a preppy, high stakes, upper crust school, full of extremely smart yet detached girls, who are wise beyond their years. Girls who don’t use cell phones or tablets or Instagram. In 2021. What’s really special about Dalloway is that it was founded by ancestors of the original Salem witches. And the legend of the deaths of five of the Godwin girls… mysterious deaths that some say are the result of witchcraft. In fact, ,there are secret covens at the school and Felicity had become obsessed with the Godwin 5. Did she conjure up evil? Was she being haunted and hunted by the dead girls? Or by Alex? Enter the 17-year old bestselling author (yep, 17 years old), Ellis. Ellis is a whiskey-drinking, pot-smoking dandy, who is worshipped by the girls in Godwin House. Quickly the relationship between Felicity and Ellis grows from aloof curiosity to intense passion. But who is Ellis? Why does she want to push Felicity to reenact the deaths of the Godwin 5? What does she want Felicity to remember? Does she have Felicity’s best interests at heart? There are a lot of loose ends, unbelievable twists, and an utter lack of consequences that really ruined it for me. Lee creates a great setting- it is just enough removed from reality to create the spooky, moody, shady vibe needed. But the arc Felicity takes doesn’t fit. And the big twist/ reveal is flat. It’s also worrisome to me that the two lesbian relationships in the novel are portrayed as toxic and obsessive, as if that is the only way they could be. That trope just doesn’t sit well with me; particularly, in the end. A Lesson in Vengeance seemed to have a lot going for it, and I’m sure that many YA readers will enjoy the witchy vibes, but in the end, it was a disappoint to me. Random rating system- 3/5 stars. Thankful as always to @NetGalley for the eARC!

<b>PROMISES PROMISES PROMISES... This book was nothing more than a marketing list!
And, beyond disappointed I feel a little bit scammed! </b>

Unfortunately this was DNF @ 40%

I REALLY wanted to like this book! So promising! I even tried the audiobook but the narration, though really good, makes it even slower. At 40% nothing had really happened other than LOTSA of things I REALLY dislike in books:

- Backstories
- VERY detailed (but boring) descriptions of school life (mostly about "mean girls" not very well fleshed as characters )
- telling
- Fake tension
- a feeling that you have been "marketed"

As I said, this felt so "PROMISING": premise, the blurb, the backstories.. it all promises the absolute BEST read for the spooky fall season:

- A boarding school for girls filled with witchy, ghostly stories
- in New England of all places!
- Founded by witches actually descendants of Salem's witches!
- The MC actually practices witchcraft

Couldn't be more gothic and "dark academy"!

But.. unfortunately that was exactly what it was: a marketing itemized list, just like my two lists above!

So, beyond disappointed I feel a little bit scammed!

The witchcraft part of the story was probably my biggest disappointment!

It seems so fabricated to cater to the Witcraft hype of late: tarot reading, crystals, silly candle spells... the whole Instagram aesthetics. This would have been a DNF sooner, probably at 25% but I tried reading more precisely because I wanted to see how the Witcraft aspects of it were represented. But it ever read anything that felt like authentic Salem's Witcraft practiced by real witches, which is a topic I have researched a lot since I'm writing about witches too and I I live an hour away from Salem and visit several times a year.

The romance was... ugh... another big disappointment. The initial attraction and falling in love of the MC and her love interest Alex feels like is following am overtroped recipe.

So, at the end this book felt like a marketing trend made into a book: LGBTQ Dark Academia witchy romance.

Nothing about it felt authentic!

To put it simply, I didn’t really like this book.

To be fair, I didn’t not like it either. It was just one of those that I was very “meh” about. I kept waiting…and waiting…and waiting for it to finally get interesting. Every time I felt myself on the edge of something dark and thrilling the plot backed off into a slower and duller territory again.

Felicity was a fine main character but I really struggled to relate to her. She seemed to be too much. Just too odd, too faux-sophisticated, too much everything. She never truly felt like a real person to me and because of that I never truly cared about her story. In theory she had a compelling backstory and I really should’ve felt for her but I mostly just grew bored with her perspective and storyline.

Ellis was, in a word, ridiculous. I just can’t see how she was ever meant to be more than a character, you know? I could never picture her existing outside the book, she was just too bizarre.I can’t really explain a lot about her without giving anything away but I just got really tired of her being portrayed as someone so above average.

Overall, the writing felt slow and a little snobby. I just couldn’t wrap my head around this being a story about teenagers. The number of times the author dropped in mini literary theses and tangents kind of had me rolling my eyes. I get it, talking about books is really fun and I really do love writing papers! But I just couldn’t see how going on a pages-long tangent about something unrelated to the main plot would do anything other than further alienate me from Felicity and the plot.

The plot just felt so impossibly dramatic and I couldn’t see how most of it was plausible. I’m not even talking about the magic part, just the part of these girls living with a head of house adult in their building who is almost never present. Or the part where this is a boarding school but little mention of classes and the daily grind of them is mentioned, aside from very surface-level comments. Or the fact that every girl other thanFelicity is portrayed as a follower or a manipulative liar, making all the characters blend together and making them all unlikeable. This felt more like an excuse to write about literature than actually try to craft an interesting story.

The integration of witchcraft into this dark academia story was interesting, and I think I would’ve really been into it had I enjoyed the writing and the characters more. I’m all for witchy stories and the witch story in this book is wonderfully dark. I really did love the history of the Dalloway Five, Godwin House, and the occult history at their school. This plot worked especially well in the Catskill mountains. I loved the descriptions of the settings and they really complemented the atmosphere of the book.

I liked the general direction of the present-day mystery plot but found it to be hindered by, as I’ve said, the characters and writing. I just think this book wasn’t meant for me. All of my favorite books have main characters and plots that I can relate to in some aspects but this book was missing that. I didn’t care about any of the characters and, to be honest, was actively annoyed by most of them. The writing felt forcibly and intentionally academic at times and it took away from my enjoyment of the story by turning a few pages every couple of chapters into a mini-thesis for the author to use to rant. The ending felt very anticlimactic and ultimately made me feel like I wasted my time by reading this book.

As I said, I’m sure this is a case of “it’s me, not you” and I’m sure than many others have loved this book. I’d say this would be a good fit for readers who are super into unreliable characters, a plethora of drama, and slower plots. Those aren’t my favorite to read about so I can understand why this book just didn’t click for me.

You ever read a book and want to go "this is the perfect example of x" but then realize you can't because it's a spoiler? That's this book.

I am so easily entertained by thrillers and mysteries it's hard for me to tell what's actually good and what's just good for me and the people who enjoy the same kind of books and I think this is one of those books that toes the line.

I love the twists in this book, I love dark academia, I love queer girls in love and I LOVED this book. People who are into those things will also love this book.

A Lesson in Vengeance is an eerie, haunting, gorgeously pretentious (in the best way!) book, a smoke-wreathed, blazer-wearing blend of The Secret History and Gaudy Night (but much queerer). Unreliable narrators are difficult to pull off, but Lee writes Felicity and all her instability with aplomb. Careful construction, elegant prose, and just absolute vibes from start to finish. Best read with a mug of tea and a lit candle, curled up in a window seat with fog misting the glass.

Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for the advance review copy!

*Thank you to Penguin Random House, Victoria Lee and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review"

Previously published at https://www.mysteryandsuspense.com/a-lesson-in-vengeance/

“The Girl became a crow, the crow became bones, bones became dust. I wonder now if such curses are bestowed only upon the wicked.” Ellis Haley, Night Bird

Whatever you think A Lesson in Vengeance is about, you are most likely wrong. Victoria Lee has written a fantastic and creepy novel about dark academia and the secrets we keep. This novel takes place at Dalloway, an elite, all-girls boarding school founded by a survivor of the Salem witch trials. There is a very dark and complicated history of the infamous school, including 5 students (suspected witches) who murdered another student and then were each brutally murdered in the 1700s. We meet Felicity Morrow (who is repeating her senior year following the mysterious death of her girlfriend) and prodigy novelist Ellis Haley (who is starting her first year at Dalloway). Together, they are two of the five girls that live in the coveted Goodwin dorm.

All of Felicity’s classmates have graduated, and she has four new housemates, including the mysterious and enigmatic Ellis. Ellis is a legend. A 17yo girl who has already won the Pulitzer Prize for her debut novel. While Felicity’s other three roommates are enamored with Ellis, Felicity takes a while to trust her. The girls at Dalloway are mature, wear suits and dresses daily, drink bourbon and smoke. They are not your typical group of students. They rebuff modern society, eschew cell phones, social media and computers, choosing instead to talk to one another and use typewriters to turn in assignments.

Felicity, our main character, is an unreliable narrator at best. The reader is never really sure if her memories are real or imagined, especially concerning Alex, her girlfriend who fell into a river and drowned. Or did she fall off a cliff while they were mountain climbing? Or was she put under a spell by one of the witches from the 1700s? Maybe since they have not found a body, perhaps she survived the fall into the river. But when Ellis arrives, she becomes obsessed with Felicity. Ellis is writing a book about the Dalloway witches and would like to re-enact the murders. While Felicity has sworn off her own witchcraft, she agrees to help Ellis with her book. From there they create the Night Migrations, and include their roommates in practicing witchcraft, night dances and more. Felicity is convinced that Alex, her former girlfriend, is haunting her, so while Felicity wants to prove this, Ellis is equally determined to disprove this and all witchcraft.

While A Lesson in Vengeance is considered YA, this is not a young adult novel. Victoria Lee has done an amazing job creating a tense and spooky atmosphere at Dalloway school. This entire book feels a dream bordering on a nightmare. The reader becomes immersed in the culture of this school. Because of the unreliability of our narrator, we were never sure of what was real or imaginary. The descriptions of the desolation around the school make it even creepier. This novel is dark and contains certain content that may trigger some, including: animal sacrifice, death, depression, paranoia, hospitalization, child neglect, PTSD, murder, and substance abuse.

Dark and twisty boarding school stories like this one are very much my catnip. If you like those and unreliable narrators, grab this immediately.

Witches and dark academia, yes please! Victoria Lee creates an atmospheric and vivid story, perfect for fall.

This book left me speechless, I don't even know what to say.

It was so well written and handled so perfectly and is a great look into just how deeply grief, trauma and legends and stories, when tied so intricately into a place's history, can affect you down to your core.

I loved the setting, but this book wasn't as interesting or as spooky as I'd hoped. I guess I thought the Dalloway Five and witchcraft would come into play more than it did, although I did enjoy the dark academia vibes.

The unreliable narrator thing didn't quite work for me (I still don't really understand why Felicity completely fabricated what happened to Alex and the revelation that she had done so was strange and jarring) and I thought the ending was fairly predictable and lacked whatever punch it was trying to land, and I think it depended on a lot of things that I just couldn't bring myself to buy into.

But I really loved the atmosphere and the boarding school setting, and so I do have somewhat positive feelings towards the book, even if I didn't love it.

This book was so unsettling, and incredibly written. I was completely enraptured by it while reading. I had absolutely no idea where the story would take me at any point, i audibly gasped at one point, and I think this is one of the best portrayals of an unreliable narrator that I've seen. You absolutely feel like you are there experiencing all of this with these girls. All of them are very Blair Waldorf meets Rory Gilmore and I ate it up. I would read this again just to catch things i didn't catch the first time around because, again, unreliable narrator.

I will say I found the ending a smidge anti-climactic. Which is why it didn't get five stars. I was kind of hoping it would end a different way, though I'm not sure what specifically I would've liked to have seen happen between the girls in the end.