**3.5 Stars**

Likes:
The vibe in A Lesson in Vengeance is dark and it’s done so well. Our setting is Dalloway School which is a boarding school for girls but the school comes with a history of murder and witchcraft. The girls who come here are intellectuals, I mean I had to google some big words in this one. They talked like intellectuals, dressed like it, smoked like it too (Ellis did at least) and these are teenagers! How are they so sophisticated?

Felicity has a dark past at Dalloway, her ex-girlfriend, Alex, died there. Ellis Halley is a new student, a novelist at seventeen and the two girls become friends. Felicity is dealing with grief and guilt because of how Alex had died. She has seen a therapist and was on anti-depressants but being back at Dalloway is getting to her. Felicity feels like Alex is haunting her. She thinks that maybe her intense research into the witchcraft the Dalloway Five had practiced years ago lead to an evil presence on campus, that she herself is cursed when she delved too deep. But Ellis wants to prove to Felicity that magic isn’t real and the deaths of the Dalloway Five were straight-up murders instead. It helps that Ellis is a novelist and doing research to write a story about murder anyway – so the girls set out to replica certain events of the past. But these girls are not who we think they are. They play off one another so well – two mysterious, very intellectual girls, one with a hidden agenda, the other just trying to keep up.

There is blood, tarot and tea readings, secrets, history, research, books (so many books) and events that make you question everything.

The setting of Dalloway is so dreary and gloomy with fall turning into winter as shadows creep on this old campus. I really enjoyed it and this would make a wonderful book to read in the fall.

This book is twisty! I found myself surprised at some of the twist and turns and it made me read this book in one sitting. At one point the beginning reminded me of a female cast of Dead Poets Society. Felicity is an unreliable character dealing with her past with Alex, and it made me question a lot of things and even her sanity. Ellis is mysterious and we only know so much about her until the end where a lot of reveals take place.

Random Notes:
Triggers: death, self-harm, killing of animal, drowning

I like how the story progresses, the twists and turns, but the ending was a little anti-climatic for me. It built up nicely but then it resolves quickly, like it was that easy for Felicity to fix everything yet we do learn why…which was another mind blowing moment – but I almost missed it. I caught it and re-read the passage a few times to make sure I wasn’t misreading but it was rushed.

The pacing was okay, the beginning is slow, and the ending is rushed. It’s supposed to be slow and atmospheric I guess because we are being immersed in the setting, we get lost in Felicity’s thoughts because she is lost in grief, guilt, obsessed with the witchcraft history and wondering if she is being haunted. There were times I wanted that part to speed up, I wanted to know was it murder or witchcraft? Both?

Final Thoughts:
This one kept me interested from start to finish and I enjoyed it a lot despite some issues. I can’t say I read a lot of dark academia but this definitely opened me up to this genre and it’s aesthetic. The atmosphere and setting was well written and the twists were shocking and fantastic. Felicity and Ellis are two very smart girls, but in the end we figure out who was the more clever one, I suppose. If you like eerie settings, an unreliable narrator, twists and turns that make you question what you are reading, then you will enjoy this one.

This was just an okay read for me. It had some good moments, but overall I struggled to get through it.

A Lesson in Vengeance definitely had an eerie vibe to it. I was expecting a little more witchy magic, but I’m happy with the parts we got. This book has me really excited for the fall time & spooky season.

The Dalloway prep school setting was probably my favorite part of this book. I loved learning about its history, especially when it came to the Dalloway Five’s mysterious deaths.

Felicity was a very unreliable main character. Her mental health was not the best. Among many other things, she was dealing with guilt and grief. Throughout the entire book, you are constantly questioning what is real or what is magic/ghosts. It was very interesting to read from a character like this.

Unfortunately, I was pretty bored throughout most of this book. I hate to say that because I did really enjoy the first 15%. The beginning caught my attention but it slowly started to fade. I contemplated DNFing quite a few times. I feel like nothing happened for a good portion of the story. It wasn’t until about the 80% mark when things started to pick up.

I’m really bummed that I didn’t love this book as much as I wanted to.

This was definitely out of my comfort zone, so it took me longer to read, because I am a big baby and couldn't read this at night. But the world building and story line entrance you. It is completely magical. This book was thought provoking, eerie, dark, and completely addicting. You can't help but devour it and need more. I loved the way the author doesn't shy away from heavy topics.

What constitutes murder? Felicity has returned to complete her Senior year at the Dalloway School for girls. Dealing with the death of her best friend, she gets close to Alex who is writing her next bestselling novel. Full of ghost stories, paranoia, and murder. Sometimes your best friend can be your worst enemy.

This book had all the makings to be incredible, however it just wasn’t my cup of tea, I really couldn’t get into it in the beginning and closer to the end I was just so bored from the beginning that I couldn’t finish it unfortunately. I’m sure it’ll be better come fall when it’s time to pull out these types of books.

A Lesson in Vengeance had all the ingredients of a book I'd typically like, including a boarding school setting, witchcraft, feminist themes, and an f/f frenemy romance.

Overall dark academia vibe: I loved the atmosphere of the Dalloway School. I think this story might have worked better in a college setting as the characters seemed a lot older to me. They disdained cell phones, preferring to drink old fashioned and discuss feminist literature. There was a secret society of witchcraft that added some additional drama but, as I discuss below, the witchcraft element didn't feel fully integrated into the plot.

Characters: interesting ensemble cast with tons of promise but ultimately the book was all about Felicity and Ellis (and Alex, but I feel that triangle could have been better exploited.)

Plot: I'm all for suspense and keeping the reader guessing, but as a reader I need something to hang onto if I'm going to feel dread and anxiety. For a large part of this book I felt frustrated at the vagueness surrounding what had happened in the past and was happening in the present. (Books that don't let me in on anything are almost always a struggle for me. If you have a higher tolerance for going with the flow, you might be fine. And I can see on my GR feed that other people have liked the more vague parts and were irritated when things were explained at the end. Go figure.)

For almost all of the book, it was unclear to me if Felicity, the book's main character, was mentally ill, dabbling in the dark arts, cursed, suffering from grief and/or PTSD, a murderer, being gaslit, or some or all of the above. So it was hard to decide how to feel. I'm fine with unreliable narrators but for me, this uncertainty about what was actually going on went on too long.

What we do know: Felicity recently went through an extremely traumatic experience: the death of her girlfriend, Alex. I'm not usually an advocate of flashbacks but I think having a few Alex flashbacks earlier would have helped me understand the nature of their relationship, which I never did.

Feminist spins on tropes need to be much more of a thing, and I was happy that the book (and its characters) make interesting points about both witchcraft accusations and mental illness diagnoses being used through history to control and label women. As for the witchcraft, it seemed at first that the two main characters were a kind of a Scully and Mulder, with one of them thinking witchcraft is a societal construct to control women with the other believing that witchcraft is real.

At the 80% point the book abandoned the paranormal, veering sharply into thriller territory.

Overall, I enjoyed the vibe of this one but I wish the book had committed to being either a paranormal romance OR a psychological thriller.

Dark Academia is a genre I’m always fascinated with but don’t read enough of. Out of most LGBT ones I have read recently, this one was authentic in its queer characters and allowed them to exist with their identity without it becoming cliche or just a footnote representation. With a hint of meta self-awareness, A Lesson In Vengeance is a study of an unreliable narrator, that in turn causes the reader to question the realities of fact, manipulation, or teenage pranks.

Mental health is represented here as complex and nuanced, building off the meta self-awareness of Felicity’s own thesis of how women’s “hysteria” and mental health is represented in the horror literature. I enjoyed the atmosphere of the Dalloway School and how feminist literature played a big role in the character's personalities and interests. I enjoyed this one, but the ending left me wanting a little bit more or a better explanation. There were a few questions unanswered and the motivation of some of the character's actions left me unsatisfied.

This is a twisty, thriller for fans of Dark Academia who want to see LGBT representation and touch on the stigma of mental health (though, this could have been explored a little more in-depth).

My final rating for this book is a 3.5 star. I spent the first 50% of this book really struggling to get into it. I wasn’t drawn in by the world or the characters at first.
The characters in this book were all right. The side characters even the ones who lived in the house were kind of forgotten about. We get just tiny insignificant tidbits about them and their lives. The book mainly focuses on Felicity and Ellis who both have tragic backstories that slowly get revealed throughout the book. The thing that really frustrated me was the main characters acting like they know each other better than anyone else. It’s not realistic because they have known each other for not even 1/2 a year.
I really enjoyed the witchy aspect to this book. I liked all of the background on the school and the origin of the Dalloway 5. I went into this book expecting more witchy stuff but I was happy with the amount we got. We weren’t sure what was real what was fake because of Felicity’s mental health struggles. I don’t want to fully touch on the representation of mental health in the book because I haven’t fully experienced it. Please check out other reviews go get more insight on this.
The ending all in all felt sort of rushed. Everything happened super quickly and I found myself having to reread certain parts to make sure I didn’t miss anything. I wasn’t surprised how it ultimately turned out.
Overall if you are looking for a dark read, with ghosts, witches, lgbt+ characters go ahead and give it a try. It just wasn’t my favorite but overall I’m happy I read it.

*I am choosing to leave an honest review after receiving a free copy from NetGalley*

Well this was definitely something. I finished this book feeling like I was tricked or cheated out of a logical turn of events. The first 60-70% of the novel, simply put, bored me to tears. I felt distant from most of the characters (don't get me started on including POC or LGBTQ+ characters just for the token of it), and actually had a hard time telling Felicity and Ellis apart at some points in their dialogue and narratives.

I would love to tell you that the ending of this book was a "make or break" thing for me, but by the time I slugged through the (SUPER) slow build up, I didn't really care what happened to the characters. I'm a sucker for dark academia, and I recognize that many books in the DA genre have slower starts, but man, this book really felt like hard work to get through.

I rated it at a 2.75, but rounded up to a 3 for the sake of dark academia.

The history of the Dalloway School is one filled with witchcraft, murder and privilege. While attending Dalloway, Felicity Marrow becomes obsessed with the deaths of the Dalloway Five and their magical affiliations. When her girlfriend tragically dies, and she has to take a leave of absence, Felicity believes she may have conjured a wicked spirit that's put a curse on her. When she returns to Dalloway the next year, and becomes close to new student and writing prodigy Ellis Haley, Felicity believes history is about to repeat itself and that the wicked spirit and the spirit of her dead ex-girlfriend are out to get her.

Honestly, I struggled to just write that little summary of "A Lesson in Vengeance." Mostly because I am not sure this book decided what it wanted to be. Was it a dark academia look at an all girls school? A history of witches and magical curses? Or a mystery/thriller about several disturbed teenage girls who truly don't understand the consequences of their actions?

Don't get me wrong there are things about this book I did like. I thought author Victoria Lee did a wonderful job of setting the tone. It's gothic and creepy; very reminiscent of all the horror books that are mentioned throughout this novel. I did think that the setting of a prestigious girls school filled with stuck up rich girls who think they are literary geniuses was well executed. The beginning of the book is a slow burn, but Lee's writing keeps you engaged and wanting to know what happens next. It flowed well structurally, and the author's voice is very unique and fresh.

However, there are several things that I didn't care for in this book, mainly having to do with the plot and characters. Like I mentioned, it never felt like Lee knew what this story was to be about. I thought the relationship between Felicity and Ellis was a strong point, and a very interesting character study. However, most of the other characters remained undeveloped and two dimensional and truly felt like they were just there to meet a diversity quota. There is a character who ends up dying towards the end of the book that we barely get to know, so I felt their death made no impact on myself or the story other then trying to create tension between our two leads.

I also struggled with a lot of plot points. Magic and witchcraft are discussed tirelessly throughout the book, but its never truly explored. It seems as though the use of magic happened in Felicity's past, and we are only privy to a few moments of it. For being such a big point of the plot, I just wish it was used more in the present timeline that the majority of the book takes place in. I also thought that the entirety of the Dalloway Five was mishandled. I didn't understand Ellis's need to have to recreate all the murders so she could better understand them for her novel, and I felt that the ultimate twist of her really using that story to scare and manipulate Felicity was seen from a mile away before it was even revealed. Truly, you could've edited out the Dalloway Five storyline and the novel would've still been the exact same, which in my opinion is not a good sign. I also felt that the ending was entirely rushed. Ellis is supposed to be this genius prodigy, and she spent the entire novel being several steps ahead of the rest of the girls, yet she makes such an amateur mistake that leads to her demise. Her demise also takes place in just one very short chapter, and practically in one sentence. I had to actually go back and read it again to see if I understood what happened, because it happened so abruptly and unceremoniously.

Overall, I wish this novel's execution was better. It had some bright spots, but overall it was just alright. I would still recommend it for those who enjoy the YA dark academia genre. But, there are just too many things that didn't add up for me to truly get behind it. I want to thank Random House Children's, Delacorte Press and NetGalley for giving me an advanced copy.

A Lesson in Vengeance should be a study in unreliable narrators and suspense. The setting comes alive from the beginning, like seeing a room with worn cushions and feeling instantly both at home and on edge. For me, it was an almost instantaneous love affair with A Lesson in Vengeance. I am always a fan of a fellow book nerd paired with the fact that I had such a huge brain crush on both Ellis and Felicity. I love me a big brain.

Lee slowly establishes this line of unreliability drawn in mirror fog, swirling sand, and on chalkboards. It's told in those ways where not even the characters can see the obscured footprints, the subtle whispers of breath on the back of their neck. A Lesson in Vengeance almost feels like you're watching one's descent into the darkness, into an eerie wood at twilight. That or seeing the tendrils of water and wind forming the eye of a storm.

At the same time, besides the fantastic (un)raveling of the Felicity, Lee is able to generate this electric vibe. To so thoroughly embody this space which exists between reality and potential fiction. The space of possibility that would never survive in the sunlight, where you aren't sure about the noise at night or the rumors you hear about ruins. A Lesson in Vengeance delivers atmosphere, but also a game of manipulation and toeing that line between the ground beneath our feet and the wind beneath our fingers.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for honest review

The strongest element of this book is the atmosphere. A Lesson in Vengeance has one of the most well-crafted dark academia atmospheres I have ever read. Every second of the book is steeped in it. Dalloway as a setting was so well constructed and I loved how the school’s dark history was woven into the current story. This book grabbed my attention from the very first page and never let me go. In my opinion, A Lesson in Vengeance is primarily a character-driven story. This may scare away readers who prefer a fast-paced, plot-driven book. However, everything about A Lesson in Vengeance sparks curiosity and a little dose of fear, drawing readers into the story immediately.

Ellis and Felicity were fascinating main characters. Just when I thought I had pinned down their history or their motivations some small event would occur to cast doubt on my expectations. Their interactions were a tantalizing exploration of trauma, sexuality, and psychopathology.

One of my favorite parts of the book was how magic and the occult were included. At no point in the book did I know for sure what was going on and whose explanation was the truth. The suspense left me racing through the book as I hunted for answers.

As someone who had been wishing for and expecting the story to go one way, I was extremely caught off guard by the ending. It left me unsure how to feel about the book for a few days. But in the end, I decided that I cannot fault the book for not going the way I was expecting or hoping it would. What made me confident in my five-star rating for this book is the fact that I could not stop thinking about it. I was so caught off guard by the ending and yet it was done so well.

A Lesson in Vengeance said sapphic dark academia and it delivered in the most breathtakingly haunting way.

Rating: Really Enjoyed It

A Lesson in Vengeance was such an enjoyable read! It is a sapphic dark academia tale that follows Felicity as she returns to her all girls boarding school for a second attempt at her senior year after her first attempt was interrupted by the tragic death of her girlfriend. Felicity used to be very drawn to the dark and the occult that permeates Dalloway's essence, in particular the tale of the Dalloway 5, a group of young women who were all found dead on the grounds of the house that Felicity lives in, all of whom were suspected of witchcraft. However, Felicity attempts to leave all that behind and start fresh this year when one of her housemates begins to tempt her back into that world, looking for help in researching the Dalloway 5 for the novel she is working on.

I thought that this book was fascinating. I thought that Lee walked the line masterfully between horror, thriller, and the occult/fantastical. Our narrator is struggling with the trauma of her past, and attempting to separate reality from her perceptions of reality. It got somewhat meta at times as the characters were having discussions about their thesis about how in literature mental illness is often conflated in literature with the idea of magic and witches and specifically mixes madness and magic in the depiction of female characters.

I thought that the setting was delightful and really well done dark academia. The aesthetic was there, and really set the mood for the creepiness of the tale. I didn't know where the story was going at times and could see it going in several different directions as Lee revealed more and more of the characters' backstories. Overall, I think that it was done really well.

Something that I wanted to mention that I really appreciated was the handling of medication and antidepressants. We see our teenage main character stop taking her medication because she doesn't like the way it makes her feel. I was really hesitant of this at first as a mental health professional bc there wasn't any discussion around that, but as the book continues, there is more dialogue around medication and continuing to take medication and that sort of thing, so I appreciated that Lee worked that into the story.

Overall, I thought it was a fun read, and definitely something that I would recommend picking up this Fall as we get closer to spooky season. Some of the twists I didn't see coming, and I liked the way that it all wrapped up. There were a few things that I would have liked a bit more resolution on, but overall a great story that I enjoyed!

The author has a list of content warnings on her website both spoiler free and a list that goes more in-depth to each piece if anyone needs them, and I would suggest checking that out if needed. It is linked in her Goodreads review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press/Random House for the eARC of A Lesson in Vengeance in exchange for an honest review! A Lesson in Vengeance releases on August 3, 2021.

*My full review will be posted to my Goodreads and Instagram accounts within the two weeks prior to publication*

The new Dark Academia triumph we’ve all been waiting for?

Eh...not quite.

I’m a tough customer when it comes to Dark Academia, but it’s my absolute favorite genre when it’s done well, so I had high hopes for this one, which had an outstanding premise.

The book starts off very well and is incredibly compelling for the first half of the story. It’s atmospheric and creepy and has a semi-decent academic bent to it. The backstory is good, the heroine intrigues, the sense of wrongness surrounding the characters and setting feels perfect.

Aaaand then things start to come apart.

The biggest issue with the book is that it evolves out of Dark Academia into something akin to Noir. The academics, the magic, and the semi-gothic feel typical to the genre disappear almost completely in the last quarter of the book. Suddenly we’re dealing with some pretty violent psychosis, which betrays the genre and the earlier spirit of the book.In addition to not fitting with the earlier part of the story, it’s an odd way to approach mental illness for an author with a psych degree.

There are also some fairly serious plot issues in the climax of the story. A character who was always 19 steps ahead of our protagonist suddenly makes an incredibly naive misstep that leads to their end. After all these carefully crafted machinations, it’s tough to believe this person ultimately goes down for being a fool. Seemingly important plot threads are dropped or disappear, others are quickly dismissed as insignificant after loads of prior buildup. It’s disappointing in a book where the writing feels like it’s of such high quality in the early going.

There’s some nasty and unnecessary animal cruelty in here too, which annoyed me, and this isn’t a good enough book for me to look the other way and trust the author for using it. It’s gratuitous and extraneous to the plot and felt like a cheap plot device (ooooh, she’s ruthless!) that didn’t need to be there.

There were parts of this book (especially in the first half) that I really, really enjoyed, hence the moderate star rating despite all the flaws. I’m frustrated that the latter half of the book shifted genres and had so many shortcomings in construction because the story had such great potential.

~ Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC ~ 4/5 stars.

Okay, I'll admit it. The "Sapphic Dark Academia with witches" pulled me in to request this ARC...and then it took a while to get hooked...and then I finished it with WHAT?!?! feelings. Oh yeah, it's a ROLLERCOASTER.

It's beautifully written. The setting and the world building is AMAZING. Don't be fooled though, there aren't real witches or magic...or are there? Or is it the MC's mental illness? Or is she being haunted? Truthfully, I don't have an answer. The portrayal of grief and mental illness is stunning, and it keeps the pages turning of this thriller. Yes, it's a thriller. There's murder and "ghosts" and I really didn't know what I was getting into until I nearly finished it. I'm still curious about HOW much of what I read was the MC's delusions and psychotic episodes.

This is GOOD. I see why is was one of the highly anticipated reads of the year. Ugh. My brain hurts but WOW.

I really enjoyed this book. It is perfect for dark academia lovers. The setting and atmosphere of this book was my favorite part and can be best enjoyed on a rainy day, curled up in an oversized cardigan (elbow patches optional). I thought the pacing of this was mostly good but I feel like we could have had a little more time with the ending. It felt a little rushed to me, but that may just be because I did not want the book to end. I also wish we got a little more about the Dalloway Five in the form of flashbacks or something because I was very interested in their story. Overall, it was such a fun read and will be recommending to my friends this fall!

With 'A Lesson in Vengeance,' author Victoria Lee has has crafted a spooky, suspenseful thriller in which we follow Felicity, an unreliable narrator. Readers are treated to rich, detailed descriptions of the boarding school and it's history of witchcraft and murder.

CW- death, animal death, mental illness, forced institutionalization, murder, blood, toxic relationship, grief, drowning
-
A Lesson in Vengeance was my most anticipated read of 2021, and it did not disappoint! It follows Felicity as she searches into the mysterious murders of five girls years ago while dealing with the loss of her girlfriend.
-
This book was simply amazing. The writing was so atmospheric and captivating, and immediately I was drawn into the school. The setting had the perfect creepy factor while not being too overpowering, and it was just incredible,
-
I also loved how Felicity’s character was written. She had some unlikeable tendencies, but was ultimately a sympathetic main character. Ellis was also such an interesting character, and their dynamic together was just so good.
-
Overall, this is the perfect dark academia read for the autumn months. I would recommend this to fans of The Secret History and Sawkill Girls.
-
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

A Lesson in Vengeance is so incredibly creepy and atmospheric. I loved Felicity’s unreliable narration and Ellis’ shadowy past. The setting was so creepy and I loved that Ellis was a writer. This is my first Victoria Lee book and it did not disappoint!

DNF at 36%

It was evident from the first few pages that this book wasn’t for me, but I stuck it out until 36%. I’ll admit that teenage prep school witches aren’t a favorite subject matter of mine, but I LOVE Victoria Lee’s Feverwake series and was hoping to feel the same about her newest YA book. But unfortunately, there was little I enjoyed about the setting and characters of this book. It all felt, well, pretentious. I had such a hard time trying to care what would happen to rich girls at a prep school. The excessive artistic and literary name dropping felt condescending and gave the book an overarching tone of intellectual elitism. The funny part is that I probably am part of the target audience for this book. I am an upper middle class white woman who’s bookish and intellectual and attended a private liberal arts college. But for me, this book celebrated a culture and type of educational setting that I just don’t consider as charming as its intended to be. My apologies for not finishing this book. I look forward to Victoria Lee’s future YA releases; this one just missed the mark for me.