This book was everything I was looking for in a sapphic vampire novel. We follow Carmilla and Laura in this book. Laura is just starting at this university and joins an advanced poetry class where she’s competing to be the top with Carmilla. Carmilla is hating on her and jealous cause she doesn’t want Laura to take the teachers attention from her because the teacher is the toxic one in this book. To me it was so crazy to see de laFontaine groom Carmilla and then wanting to do the same with Laura, but then de laFontaine starts acting jealous and controlling. I liked how we saw the girls acknowledge how de laFontaine is acting is not okay but also how they’re scared to do anything because of how manipulative and controlling she is. Side note Eleanore was such a good friend to Laura.
The tension between Laura and Carmilla was *chefs kiss* and then the passion and love between them was everything I want to read about. When the book ended I didn’t want it to. I wanted to keep reading about laura and Carmilla. But, at the end I think Laura got the ending she wanted and I love that. I can not stop thinking about this book. It’s become a favorite for sure! I recommend everyone to read this book but definitely check the trigger warnings!

ST Gibson has some of the best prose in the game. Laura and Carmilla’s rivals to lovers story was so good. De Lafontaine was toxic and intriguing. The cameo from A Dowry of Blood made me scream. The dark academia of it all? Wonderful. And the ending? Perfection.

I’ll pick up whatever she writes next.

Thanks to Netgalley and Redhook Books for the e-arc - the book is out now!

I kind of wish I had just DNF'd this because of how increasingly disappointing this ended up being. It started off intriguing, and I liked the relationship between Laura and Carmilla and getting to see Laura experience her new environment. But Laura's experiences in academia are quickly brushed off for an immense amount of time Gibson instead spends on an incredibly boring relationship between Laura and Carmilla and one of their professors. Along with this, Laura and Carmilla's relationship is never developed. This also isn't helped by the writing style having no differentiation between the narrative voices of either Laura or Carmilla.

[3.75/5] AN EDUCATION IN MALICE is a retelling of the 19th century gothic novel CARMILLA. Set in 1968, a numerical anagram of an important year in CARMILLA, Laura Sheridan arrives at Saint Perpetua's College in Massachusetts to continue her education. With a keen interest in writing, Laura starts her first year of classes in an upper level poetry class with the esteemed Professor De Lafontaine. What she doesn't expect is an academic rivalry with Carmilla, the class star, that bleeds into every aspect of her life. As Laura learns more about De Lafontaine and Carmilla, the stakes rise when the sun sets.

Like S.T. Gibson's A DOWRY OF BLOOD, AN EDUCATION IN MALICE is a novel with vampires. There is also an uneven power dynamic, this time between Professor De Lafontaine and two of her students, Laura and Carmilla. Gibson presents two points of view between Laura and Carmilla. Laura is from Mississippi and seeks to come into her own, whether that's about her writing skills or her sexuality. Carmilla, bold and stubborn, craves approval and praise, which directs her into De Lafontaine's magnetic orbit. Personally, I enjoyed Laura's POV better because of her sensibility.

As Laura and Carmilla end up spending more time together, their rivalry begins to transform into that of lovers. This highlights the questionable dynamic between De Lafontaine and Carmilla. It's one of old, patient power (De Lafontaine) vs. impetuousness and idolatry (Carmilla) that may leave some readers a little unsettled. While this power dynamic evolves into something less disconcerting, I found this change rather abrupt and unexplored. I also felt as if I couldn't quite grasp the deeper meaning of it all, like a word perched on the tip of my tongue, waiting for recognition.

Although this story contains vampires and a religious character, the religious metaphors are few, or perhaps missed by someone (me) with an inexperienced eye. It's perhaps unfair to compare a new story to the author's debut, but I had hoped for something similar with keen analogies and lyrical writing. The writing style in AN EDUCATION IN MALICE is perfectly fine. But I felt that the atmosphere lacked a certain panache, as if this particular book was a bit difficult to write. It didn't feel quite as dark academia as I anticipated. Rather, the story focused more on the comings and goings of Laura and Carmilla instead of the history of the school or its grounds. However, that aside, it's an absorbing and bingeable sapphic read. I'm not sure how I feel about the ending, but it's slightly open to interpretation, so anything goes.

Objective commentary aside, overall, I enjoyed AN EDUCATION IN MALICE. It explores the power dynamics between the instructor and the student and also how that dynamic can be imprinted and nurtured within someone who has a vulnerable mind.

A beautiful and haunting Carmela retelling. I loved the characters and the ambience of the book. The love story between our two main characters was great, while the professor love story fell flat for me. My favorite quote was “Love gone sour is still love”.

If you enjoyed A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson, then I feel you will enjoy this book as well! A Sapphic Carmella retelling. Definitely some triggers and toxic relationships, so be sure to check trigger warnings before you read!

Hot on the heels of her debut “A Dowry of Blood,” S.T. Gibson continues her foray into dark poetry with “An Education in Malice,” a deliciously written erotic Dark Academia that brings us to Saint Perpetua College through the eyes of Laura and Carmilla, two students who at first could not seem more different. Thanks to a relationship with their professor, De Lafontaine, what begins as a rivalry blooms into a lustful romance with a backdrop of dark magic and conspiracy.

The highlight of “Malice” is definitely Gibson’s voice. Having begun as a poet, Gibson understands how to structure a sentence and what words to utilize to invoke exactly the right emotion she intends. Her descriptions are flowery, but not overly verbose, and few writers can conjure the sensation of longing and desire through innermost thoughts.

The book lives and dies upon its characters and Gibson utilizes the canvas that is the original Sheridan LeFanu Carmilla to a fine extent. Laura is given more depth than the consummate innocent of the vampire tale, with hidden desires and strengths explored, while Carmilla’s vulnerabilities and power plays well against Laura’s own. The rivals to lovers exploration is a slow burn, but the attraction and longing helps things sizzle from the page from the very start.

If there is a flaw, it is that the characters occasionally overwhelm the story. The pacing is sometimes languid, at other times breathtakingly quick, and the dark romance and kink takes the front seat. Small complaints with how eloquently Gibson presents the world and the increasingly mysterious De Lafontaine. The book excels in its core relationship and with Gibson’s enjoyment of the boundaries and power held by both Laura and Carmilla, there’s a lot that “Education in Malice” has to teach.

I received an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

Alright, I have a lot of thoughts…

At the very beginning I was quite excited, as I love the original Carmilla and (most of) its retelling, but as I progressed throughout the book, so many things fell completely flat on their face. There were too many instances to count where the plot simply wasn’t making sense anymore, dialogue felt awkward (dead), or a theme introduced was completely dropped and then picked back up again.

I have a slight bone to pick with calling this a Carmilla retelling/reimagining as there wasn’t much calling back to the original Carmilla other than the characters and vampirism. Even with the characters from the original source, it felt like this was just using their names and nothing about the actual characters. Laura’s flip flopping between “innocent southern girl” and “completely domineering powerhouse” both gave me whiplash and confused me, primarily due to the fact that Laura’s character simply isn’t like that. A similar sentiment with De Lafontaine and Carmilla, both felt much out of character for what was trying to be accomplished. And the odd choice to attempt a critique/condemnation on student/teacher relationships? Fell far too flat for what I assume was trying to be attempted.

Carmilla and Laura’s rivalry felt half baked at best and if I stuck a toothpick in it, the toothpick would come up all gooey and make you feel sad inside. Now, I normally love a good “enemies to lovers” but when the buildup is so… lacking and one half of the novel they’re at each others necks, fighting for the attention of their professor, and then the next half they suddenly find comfort and solace in each other, it’s a bit hard for me to get into.

Again, the out of character-ness of it all is my BIGGEST gripe. If you’re going to retell a story, please, for the love of me, make the setting, actions, and behavior of the characters and how they fit into the overall story make sense.

Reading this was like watching a car crash. I wanted to stop but I just couldn’t. If I had to lay my eyes on the words “slick folds” one more time I fear I would have gone insane.

Thank you NetGalley and Redhook Books for the e-arc!
So excited for this book! S.T. Gibson is such a talented author, and I adore their previous books. When I heard a sapphic Carmilla retelling was being released, I knew I would be obsessed with it. This book is an amazing depiction of obsession and passion. The mix and confusion between desire, lust, and compulsion for the characters came through in such an intoxicating way. Many reviews say this book is mainly vibes, but I think the vibes do play an essential part for the story and is a HUGE part of dark academic books. Dark Academic is meant to focus on the aesthetic and general vibe of the story more so than other types of stories. Personally, I think the atmosphere was fantastic, and I went in expecting/hoping the aesthetic was this intense.
This is definitely a dark story with heavy themes within the relationships and throughout the story. Check the triggers!

3.5⭐️
This is a Carmilla retelling, which is the OG vampire written like a decade before Dracula, it follows Laura who just joined a new college where she’s pursuing writing and poetry under the top teached Mrs. De La Fontaine while competing with her already pet student Carmilla.
I LOVED the rivals to lovers plot and I really liked the whole gothic academia vibe that the author created within the book.
She wrote an environment that is believable even when the main topic is vampires because she wrote the girlhood to coming of age pipeline really well.
I do feel the end was kind of rushed like trying to tie loose ends in the last chapter.

Overall this was a really enjoyable book and I’m dying to read A Dowry of Blood.

Thanks to the Redhood and Orbit team for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review! Love y’all.

I really enjoy this authors writing. It’s refreshing anytime I read their works. I recommend this book! 100% deserves the praise it gets

What I enjoyed the most about this book was the atmosphere and lyrical way the author eluded to events and to the characters. It is SO well written, you become immersed into the story right away. It is a lush, dark tale, and the characters are very well developed. There’s lots of longing, desire, and obsession involved in this story. I highly recommend this if you love the gothic genre, and want to read about obsessive relationships. The plot isn’t the centre of the story, it’s more the characters and the eerie atmosphere that drive it, so keep that in mind! If you read Dowry before this one, go into this one expecting nothing like Dowry, for they are two very different books with very different characters.

An Education in Malice by S. T. Gibson was quite intriguing. I enjoyed reading about the characters, their descent into dark relationships and the other wordly landscape that held their secrets together. It was intriguing but more of a slower pace which suited the subject matter and genre.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc. I've not read the original Carmilla, so came into the book without any preconceived ideas. That said, the conflict between Carmilla and Laura seemed to exist more out of boredom than actual conflict. I never believed that they were competing with each other. Once the story moved forward, I still didn't engage with their relationship. Despite the gothic feel to the book, the prose wasn't overly dense and was easy to follow. If I had been able to connect with either of the characters, I would have rated higher.

While S.T. Gibson’s writing was lovely, I struggled to finish this book. I didn’t find the characters relatable or fleshed out enough (I wanted more backstory on Carmilla, Laura, AND De Lafontaine!). The plot was a bit of a bore, despite a few suspenseful moments and plot twists scattered throughout that didn’t have their desired effect. I do think the rivals-to-lovers trope was well-executed, though. Ultimately, this book’s premise was compelling but the execution fell flat for me.

I adored this book. I was hoping it wouldn't let me down after very recently reading A Dowry of Blood. What could live up to that piece of literary perfection? This one hit me just as hard!

What Gibson does best is atmosphere. Her writing puts you in the perfect moody mindset and her prose is stunning. I felt like I was watching a movie almost with how perfectly Gibson lays everything out. Her characters are full of longing and passion, drama and want. Gibson writes these girls on the edge of new adulthood, and she does it perfectly. Their need to be seen and validated, the intense emotions that come with new love and rivalry. The story feels obsessive, sensual, romantic, frightening.

My only critique for this one is that the ending felt rather abrupt. I listened to the audiobook and I didn't realize how close to the end I was when things were wrapping up. I adored the narration though! The accents were to die for.

I also wanted a little more development in the MCs relationship as they moved from rivalry to romance. Though I loved their relationship dynamic and enjoyed seeing them figure things out, I often felt as confused as they did about how things were moving forward.

I also loved seeing characters from Dowry come in and getting to see them decades after their own story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC! I can't wait for the next book from this author!!!

This is my first S.T. Gibson and I loved it.
An Education in Malice is a dark academic fantasy romance with an incredibly lush New England fall setting. I liked both of our POVs and I thought their hate-to-love romance made sense. This book was mysterious, gothic, steamy, and beautifully written.

Although it aired on the melodramatic side at times, I thought the tone was appropriate to the story so I cannot discount it for that. I wished the poetry academics became more and more important to the plot, but they almost became less so. The poetry itself helped create a setting, but it didn't really add to the plot in any way. Again, I'm not mad about it, but I think it was a missed opportunity.
If there will be a sequel of this, I will definitely read it. But I will read whatever S.T. Gibson puts out from now on!

S.T Gibson is an author that I know will deliver on beautiful writing and a story that will have me on the edge of my seat. This retelling of Carmilla was fantastic, the added elements of dark academia and magic were truly the frosting on top of the cake. The atmospheric nature of this book was so perfect, I would read 12 more.

Thank you to Netgally, the publishers, and S. T. Gibson

When I requested this book I was unaware that it was apart of a series, one that requires you to read the previous books for this one to make sense. I am unable to read all the previous books along with this one before the publish date. Therefore, I will rate this a fair 3/5 stars and will adjust the rating and review when I am able to read all the books in the series along with this one.

Let’s start with the good: the writing is very pretty, the academic rival trope is well executed, the relationship dynamic between our trio is titillating and entertainingly just the right amount of toxic, and the general mood/vibe achieved is perfect for this kind of storyline.

I am not familiar with the original Carmilla story so I cannot speak as to how the author did in the retelling aspect of this book.

Now, the thing that I felt was off was the pacing. It would be really slow and broad and then suddenly we’ve hit a big plot point and it was wrapped up in three pages. This is a messy story, so the ribbon wrapped or tucked away and out of sight out of mind conclusions of events was very jarring.

I would’ve also appreciated a bit more fleshing out all 3 FMCs. I felt shocked by some of Laura’s actions, phraseology, and internal dialogue because I don’t feel like I really got to know that side of her. I wanted to see more complexities in Carmilla because she just came off bitchy and mean-spirited. And of course, this book definitely could’ve benefited from providing more insight on De Lafontaine because she’s a main driver of the plot but all we really get to know is that she’s mercurial and into poetry. I needed to understand her more because I felt very disconnected from her.

Overall, I did enjoy my read and would check out future books from this author.