I'm torn between giving this 2 or 3 stars.. This was pretty much just ok but i recommend if you're looking for something to kill time and liked the premise..

I can't believe I'm saying this but this book managed to let me down. My expectations were super high and when I started I could swear on my life this would be a new favorite but I couldn't be more wrong. The ending was okay but the plot dragged itself and to be honest i couldn't care less about the characters after a while.

this was one of my most anticipated releases and im happy to say it did not disappoint!! everyone should go read this book

3 stars. My many thanks to the publisher for providing me with an ARC.

I sat on writing this review, because my thoughts on this book were so all over the map that I felt like I needed a few days to let them cook in my brain. On paper, this has everything in a book that I could ever want: it's a dark academia sapphic tale in which an unreliable narrator with secrets struggles against the many charms of a manipulative genius who lives down the hall from her. Secret societies, witches, and dark history abound in this novel, along with tentative friendships and alliances. What's not to love?

Well... there's a lot to love, and some to side eye. Let's start with the good: this tale is immensely readable once you get to about 40% when the plot picks up and the existential dread kicks in. There are some legitimately skin-crawling scenes that frighten, and both Felicity and Ellis are written in tender, detailed ways. Godwin House looms as a character itself throughout these pages, and the conclusion of this twisted little tale is effectively gothic in all the right ways.

The not-so-good: man, this book was slow to start. I really had to get over a hump of mood setting until the book found its groove, and even then, that plot felt more like a Tumblr mood board than things happening. Aesthetic is everything in this book - the 16/17 year olds make old fashioneds, and smoke, and eschew modern comforts like computers and cell phones and medications for their shaky mental health. They frankly don't feel like teenagers, which is an issue with a lot of YA, but particularly so here: they're just so sophisticated that one might think that a simple bump of ages and marketing this as New Adult would solve that particular hurdle. While there is diversity here - sapphic romance, nonbinary characters, women of color - most of the side characters are little more than sketches. I had difficulty telling them apart; Felicity and Ellis sucked up most of the air in the room. And maybe that was intentional - both women are deeply self-involved - but it made for a claustrophobic tale.

All that said - if you enjoy dark academia or thrillers, I do recommend this. It didn't all work for me, but several of the reveals were truly shocking, and I truly enjoyed the last half. It was one of those that I waffled very hard on rating, star-wise, but I think 3 stars is a good summary of my experience.

Book Review for A Lesson in Vengeance

Full feature for this title will be posted at: @cattleboobooks on Instagram!

(2.5/5)
I have been looking forward to this book's release since I first heard about it, but I am sad to say I was disappointed. Upon beginning this book, the aesthetic and vibe was everything that I wanted from it. The eerie boarding school and main group's setup made me immensely excited for the rest of the novel.
Upon getting deeper into the book, it felt like nothing seemed to happen for the majority of the book. I felt like I was waiting for something to happen for almost the entire novel. The pacing felt extremely off, and the book felt extremely corny as it continued. I wish this book could have focused more on the plot and characters, instead of trying to feel "woke" and "edgy".

I think this would've worked so much better if, like one of the comp titles, this had been an adult (or at least new adult) novel. I think so much of what I struggled with, or found hard to believe, could have been easier to swallow if this had been aged up.

That said, I really enjoyed the first half of the story. We open up with our main character returning to this elite/exclusive/preppy highschool, almost like a pre-college collegiate style school, after time away in recovery from her girlfriend's death. She soon finds being back on campus is damaging to her ability to discern reality from the belief that she's being haunted; not by her girlfriend (or not only..) but by the ghosts of girls long dead who are built into the history, the mythology, of the school. Felicity sees things, feels things, and it makes the reader question her reliability as a narrator; is she delusional, is her grief causing her prior obsession with withcraft, with the dead girls, making her see things that aren't there or are these manifestations actually real?

<i>.. grief would tie itself to the small things, that I'd be living my life as normal and then a bit of music or the cut of a girl's smile would remind me of her and it would all flood back in.</i>

Felicity's journey, her obsession, her grief, her hauntings, they were all compelling. Where I started to side-eye things was with.. well, almost everything else. Certain characters, with certain influences and motivations, and how transparent it all seemed. And also, my biggest problem really, was just.. why? Maybe there wasn't supposed to be a why. Maybe I just didn't get it.

There was one big exception to the transparent bit, though. Something I definitely didn't see coming. And I loved it? I don't think many will. Infact, I think the ending in general will be polarizing. You've been warned!

I was definitely a bit hesitant going into this, no matter how pumped I was over the concept, because I had a rough go with Lee's debut series. This? I loved the writing, I loved the dip in and out of spooky paranormal horror, the uncertainty of it all. I started this late at night and I won't say it scared me but oh did it do a good job with the eerie vibes.

This might not have been a solid win but parts of it worked so so well for me. I'm definitely looking forward to more from this author, especially if they write more in this darker vein, but I think Lee would absolutely excel at an adult story. I hope one day it happens.

3.5 stars

Thank you to netgalley for giving me this arc!!!!

THIS BOOK WAS SO FUN ACTUALLY... The beginning dragged on a bit but I ended up really enjoying it. I'm usually not a fan of books with witchcraft, but I loved the way it was wove into the mystery and themes of the story. The setting was really interesting as well: dark academia and big old fancy school in the mountains. What really sold it for me though were the two morally grey main characters— Ellis and Felicity. Their dynamic was fantastic and I loved the twists and turns of their relationship, like the way Felicity started out intrigued and then slowly began to fear her. Another thing I really liked was that Felicity was somewhat of an unreliable narrator and by the end of the book it was hard to even recognize the person she was. I'd say my one main criticism is that this book is heavily advertised as being diverse and full of lgbt+ characters, which is true, but the main focus is definitely on Ellis and Felicity. It disappointed me that the other characters were not shown or developed as much.

Overall, this was a great book and I would definitely recommend it, especially to those who love sapphic rep, dark academia, and thrillers.

‘Dark Academia’ is a cultural trend sweeping Tumblr and Tiktok, characterized by juxtaposing stark, academic aesthetics, such as androgynous, tweed suits, dark libraries, and sepia-toned cigarette smoke, with gothic themes, such as mystical rituals, revenge-fueled peer competition and a frighteningly-powerful thirst for knowledge. However, the trend has little place for female characters or sapphic relationships, as it primarily focuses on classical homoeroticism, and it has been difficult to find fiction that holds a candle to dark academia classics, such as Donna Tartt’s eponymous novel The Secret History, and the film Dead Poets Society. A Lesson in Vengeance eschews the male-gaze, and is a wildfire of sweeping speculative historical fiction embedded in a thrilling, sapphic magic mystery, becoming my go-to dark academia recommendation.
One year ago, Felicity Morrow’s girlfriend, Alex, died under mysterious circumstances at the hallowed Dalloway School, a boarding school for gifted girls built upon the bones of the Dalloway witches, five girls part of an occult 17th century coven whose strange deaths haunt the campus. Now, Felicity is back at Dalloway, torn between putting the past behind, or discovering the truth behind Alex’s death. The choice is made for her by the enigmatic Ellis Haley, the newest pupil at Dalloway, who draws inspiration for her best-selling novels by an extremist take on method-writing. When Ellis decides to write about the Dalloway witches, she and Felicity become intertwined with the past when they decide to replicate each of the witch’s deaths to uncover the truth of what happened all those years ago, and reveal the darkness that lies in their hearts.

The vintage, macabre aesthetic of the novel is incredible, full of immaculate detail and atmospheric writing. Lee was also sure to include nods and winks to the literary canon of female horror through references to Shirley Jackson, Helen Oyeyemi and others, providing built-in book recs for those interested in female-led horror.

A Lesson in Vengeance is a twisted feminist thriller about the lengths one would go through to survive. Also, do yourself a favor and follow Victoria Lee on Tiktok, they’re a delight.

I had never heard of this author, but kept hearing about this book at work and online, so I was really excited for it! This book had everything I wanted. Boarding school secrets. Murder. Witches. Ghosts. LGBT romance. It was full of twists and was wonderfully written.

I’m so glad that I received an arc of this book. It was lovely. I loved the mystery and the thriller and I loved the queerness. I was so into the story that it didn’t feel like I was actually reading but right there with the characters

I was given an e-arc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I should start by saying that I read this book based solely from the gorgeous cover. Typically psychological thrillers are not my jam, but I actually enjoyed this book. It was full of plot twists and turns and makes you question your own sanity during the entire book. I had an issue with some of the vocabulary used as I didn’t see the need for a word that most people would need to look up used when a most common and basic word could have been used instead. It was almost like the author wanted to be different or use bigger words and just randomly replaced some using a thesaurus. Aside from that, I would recommend this to anyone to likes psychological thrillers. I would give this book 3/5 stars.

Dripping with atmosphere, A Lesson in Vengeance is set at the infamous Dalloway School, a prepster's paradise with a dark history of death and violence. Founded by a woman who was once accused as a Salem witch, Dalloway has its own secrets to keep, including what really happened to The Dalloway Five, a quartet of young girls who were rumored to be witches, who all died in mysterious and inexplicable circumstances.

The story is part thriller, part ghost story, and part meditation on trauma, as Felicity struggles to let go of Alex and the dark thoughts that have consumed her ever since she started digging into the world of the Dalloway Five for her thesis project.  Convinced that magic is not only real but that the ghost of Dalloway Five ring leader Margery Lamont has somehow cursed her from beyond the grave, Felicity walks a fine line between madness and obsession, even as she attempts to leave her love of the dark behind for good.

All of the characters in Lee's story are varying shades of unlikeable - perhaps that's par for the course in any story about rich boarding school girls, but there are no real heroes in A Lesson in Vengeance. Everyone behaves badly and no one is strictly "good", which may prove an issue for readers who like clear lines about who the hero in any particular story might be. (It's very possible this novel doesn't have one, in the strictest sense.)

But, because Lee is willing to let her characters be dark, cruel, and selfish, even potentially sociopathic at points, there are plenty of creepy, even violent twists to be had. This is a story that will keep you on your toes - both in terms of twists and character development. Does every shocking narrative swerve work? Not always. But it's a fascinating ride all the same.

(2.5, rounded down because I'm typing on my keyboard very aggressively)

This book was... most certainly a book? I found myself bored out of mind until the 75% mark, and even then the strongest emotion I felt was annoyance. The author was trying too hard to be edgy and it just came off as wildly pretentious in the absolute worst way possible.

My other major grievance with this book was the way mental health was handled, which is to say it wasn't handled well in the slightest. I let it slide when it came to the inaccurate portrayal of mental hospitals (and trust me, I know what mental hospitals are like) but then when it came to how antidepressants were talked about I almost stopped reading all together. The main character had this whole mentality that antidepressants were ruining her and that she could simply stop taking them altogether because she 'felt better'. If you're feeling better, that means your medicine is working. Not that you no longer need them...

Also can we talk about how tokenized the transgender and black side characters were? Their only purpose was to make the main character feel 'woke'. And to make sure the readers know that she's an ally, because she uses the correct pronouns and recognizes systemic racism is bad.

This book was the definition of corny and had the same energy as a rollercoaster that only goes like 5 feet off the ground (like the ones toddlers ride while their parents take picture of them crying).

I picked A Lesson in Vengeance up on a whim, and because I need to catch up on my ARC reading, and I am so glad I did. This was just the book I needed to fully pull me out of the downward spiral of the book slump. Lee’s writing is darkly poetic, thought provoking & razor sharp. She isn’t afraid to write about topics most authors tend to shy away from and she handles it with extreme love and care. This book opens us up to the idea and allure of just how far someone will go to succeed. The girls flirt with violence and it makes us want to bear witness to more. From the first page all the way to the chilling conclusion a spell had been cast on me and I don’t think I could have stopped reading even if I wanted to.

What did I like (Please be aware this may be spoilery):
– Let’s talk about the entire atmosphere of this book. The dark, gloomy & somewhat depressing nature of this book sucked me in from chapter one.
– SAPPHIC. DARK. ACADEMIA. It’s a genre i didn’t even know i loved until this book. I need more of it.
– The LGBTQ+ rep was wonderfully written. One of the characters written is non-binary and Lee really took the time and care to accurately represent their character. I wish we could have gotten more from that character though!
– This book never got boring for me. It never dragged. I never once struggled in any spot in this book and that’s honestly a first in a long time for me!
– The one thing I really loved is how Lee turned this book into a ghost story minus the ghosts. Felicity is being haunted but in her own mind. Lee did such a wonderful job of painting a picture of a mentally-ill girl caught in her own frantic web of trauma, just looking for a way for everything to make sense. There’s something beautiful in that takeaway.
– The way I was able to connect with almost every character Lee wrote. Especially Felicity.
– There wasn’t a lack of twists and turns!


What didn’t I like (may contain spoilers):
Honestly there wasn’t much about ALIV that I didn’t enjoy. Felicity’s mom really bothered me because of how absent and careless she is about her daughters rapidly declining mental state. Coming from a household of people who never offered me the emotional support I needed, I truly felt so much sadness and sympathy for Felicity. I honestly just wanted to hug her.
So, as it stands, I cannot think of anything I didn’t like from ALIV, because it was all sublimely incredible!

Once again, I absolutely adored A Lesson in Vengeance. This decadent, darkly layered sapphic dark academia currently holds the number one spot on my favourite books of the year and I cannot wait to get my hands on a finished copy!

Thanks again to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC copy A Lesson in Vengeance. This decadently dark academia novel hits shelves August 3, 2021. If you liked this review, make sure to add A Lesson in Vengeance to your Goodreads TBR Shelves!

5/5 stars.
If you love The Secret History, boarding schools, murders, witchcraft, dark academia, and an unreliable narrator, A Lesson in Vengeance is the book for you.
I genuinely cannot even put into words how much I love this book. As a subscriber to the dark academia aesthetic and life, I was so pleased by this book. The aesthetics of the story and the writing itself are stunning and the characters are so interesting. The plot itself is somewhat spelled out for its readers–though indirectly and kind of ingeniously–and while it may be easy to guess where it's going, watching the characters unravel and figuring out how they lean into their darker impulses is thrilling nonetheless and I found myself unable to put it down. The dynamic between the lead, Felicity Morrow, and the elusive Ellis Haley was so fun to watch develop. This story made my soul feel seen! And the best part... it's sapphic!
There is an abundance of representation in the story that dark academia often lacks. Queer representation takes its form in lesbian and nonbinary characters and mental health issues are explored and play a part in the unreliability and mystery of the story. Elitism and racisim in academia are also touched on–which is very uncommon in dark academia media–and adds to the growing inclusivity in a historically exclusive genre. Lee also handles touchy subjects, such as death, rather nicely. There are several aspects of the book that may be triggering to some people, but Lee has written a list of possible triggers that can be found on their website (something I think all authors should be doing).
Overall, this book is a must read. Laden with references to literature, Greek mythology, beautiful quotes, and a healthy dose of academic pretension, A Lesson in Vengeance is every young dark academic's dream.

Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was ultimately conflicted with how this book left me feeling. I haven’t stop thinking about it, but I was expecting more. It was very obviously influenced by other psychological gothic stories, going as far as to shout out to their titles and authors in the book. And because of this I had this “ah-ha” moment about the way gothic stories with little concrete paranormal plots play up their female characters struggles with metal health. But there was no subtly here, the lead character basically spells this out in a thesis she proposes for her school assignment. It was never a matter of whether she was unwell, but rather how unwell she was and who else might also be battling mental demons. With that in mind, it was an interesting story- just a little bit predictable. I think the story could have utilize the school’s and town’s witch lore more, but it ended up feeling like a means to an end. I also would have like for the plot to explore more of the Ellis background story. In the end I just kept feeling like something was off- or that it was not enough.

Words cannot express how lucky I felt to receive an early copy of this book! Anybody who knows me knows I’m a huge fan of Victoria Lee’s FEVERWAKE duology, and so I was beyond excited to see what more they had to offer and this novel certainly didn’t disappoint.

There are many aspects of Lee’s writing that I have always admired. What stands out most to me is their immense skill for writing complex and unforgivingly real characters as well as their ability to masterfully explore, often very difficult, topics in such a raw and truthful way. When reading this book, I was overjoyed to recognise all of the qualities of the author’s work that I’ve previously admired as well as getting to experience even more facets of their skill set.

The most important thing in a book for me is always the characters and this is an area that Victoria Lee truly shines in, both within their previous duology and in this new novel. Despite the very different genres and stories, what remains constant throughout Lee's work is their skill at crafting both characters and narratives that are so human and full of truth. Felicity and Ellis were both extremely interesting characters to read about and they were both very well-written.

I think that the author's writing has certainly improved since their debut but also this book was just a lot more atmospheric than the FEVERWAKE duology and so lent itself to a far more poetic style of writing, full of literary allusions and powerful descriptions, which I enjoyed thoroughly. I’m definitely no genius when it comes to writing but, in my opinion, the prose in this book was simply stunning. The author builds such a strong atmosphere in this book that captures you immediately and, honestly? It’s quite chilling at times! Furthermore, the book is full of so many shocking twists and turns that had me audibly gasping, which is equally as rare as books making me laugh out loud. Overall, it was an amazing experience to read and I cannot wait to scream about my enormous number of highlighted quotes.

Victoria Lee has a unique power to craft stories that I never want to reach the end of. I’m usually desperate to reach the final page of a book so I can tick yet another off the list and move on to a new world but, just like with FEVERWAKE, I was so absorbed in this story that I was dreading it ending and being torn away from these characters, however I know that they will certainly live on in my mind for ages to come.
I simply cannot wait for everybody to read, and love, this book. And, god, I can’t wait to reread it!

Spooky! And atmospheric! And queer as hell! I was here for every single part of this sapphic, dark academia, light fantasy story.
A Lesson in Vengeance just so perfectly nailed that “is it real or am I crazy” feeling! The plot twists had me glued to the page and the dark, seductive world building and fantasy aspects felt addictive in a way! But where this book truly excelled, where it really blew me away, was the characters. They’re realistic and flawed and each of them comes with their own backstory and motivations and desires! This feels like a book that I could reread over and over again, and pick up on new details each time.
Perfect for fans of Gideon the Ninth, First Become Ashes, and The Monster of Elendhaven, I loved my time reading and can’t wait to see everyone talking about this haunting and beautiful contemporary YA thriller.

*CW: manipulation/gaslighting, underage drinking, violence, death,

*Spoiler free*

I've been looking forward to this one since the deal announcement. I mean, a sapphic dark academia with magic around the edges was basically all I needed to know to be incredibly intrigued. Plus, the hype around this book has only continued to build online, so I couldn't wait to see what I would think of it. Trigger warnings

This book deserves every single drop of praise it has been given and more. It is sharply dark, and something with claws, ones that dig deep enough to draw blood.

I want to start off with the writing, because I am still sitting here in awe. Lee knows how to write. She SERIOUSLY knows how to write. The opening passage is still leaving lingering chills in me. The emotion she is able to evoke through her words is so incredibly strong, and the way she is able to weave words together is downright genius. Just, dang, this book is so incredibly well written and I want to scream that over and over because it truly is that good.

This book is also incredibly smart. It knows what it's doing, but what it is doing is only revealed in drips and drops, hitting the reader in key points to make the maximum impact. It's a mystery, it's a thriller, it's a ghost story, it's a story about the effects of mental health, it's the story of girls obsessed with witches and the occult and the dark path that leads them. It is many, many things, and it is able to weave it's message throughout the entire book until it hits you smack in the chest as the last line comes about (Oh my gosh, that last line. That last line had me sitting up and my jaw dropping open and just awe rushing over me.).

I feel a bit weird about the characters. It's not that I didn't like them, I did, but I didn't fall in love with them. And I think that's alright. It doesn't make my love for the book any less, and I think because I didn't love them, I loved the book even more. They're finicky, and hurting, and simply human. And I think that is what makes them even better characters.

I will admit, I was expecting this book to take on more of a magical side than it did. Oh, it is certainly seeped in magic and the occult and witches make their appearance. But it is also firmly rooted in the real world. I can't say much because of spoilers, I'll just say I was expecting this book to take a very different route at the ending than it did. The ending that it did do was amazing, and it's terrifyingly horrifying, I was just expecting something different.

All in all, this book is GOOD. It is everything it promises it will be and more. The writing is beyond spectacular; it's going to leave you thinking about long after you finish. This book a thorn that pulls blood from the pad of a thumb, and the singe of burning water spilled over flesh. It's got a magic edge, and it's got a sharp edge. And I really, really liked it.