This book ate holes in my brain and I’ll never be the same. S. T. Gibson has such an incredible writing talent it takes my breath away. I have a feeling this will end up as one of my favorite books this year. Thank you so much to NetGalley & the publisher for this ARC!!

Thank you NetGalley, Redhook & Orbit Books for this arc!

If you enjoy retellings, dark academia, rivalry, dual POV, and steamy sapphic romance - this is your next read!

***Please remember to check trigger warnings before reading!***

I flew through this story pretty quickly. I really loved the narrative structure. Both of our main characters Carmilla and Laura were both engaging and interesting. I was always interested to read from each perspective which doesn't usually happen very often. Normally there is one perspective I favor more but in An Education in Malice, both characters are balanced well and written in a way that made me want to keep reading their perspective. I had read and enjoyed A Dowry in Blood by this author but this one hit the spot better and I think the characters were a bit more nuanced. Would definitely pick up more by this author for sure!

I love the way the dark academia was done in This book it was one of the best that I have read in a long time. I would read more from this author I love the writing style and just how the story flows.

Man, do I ever love a sapphic retelling. From Gibson's previous work I already knew that the story itself would be beautifully written, and I wasn't disappointed. A beautiful story about obsession, power, love, and rivalry. While one subplot sort of lost me, the ending was a chef's kiss. I'd read another book about these two for sure.

sapphic, dark academia, vampires, rivals and gothic… this really ATE!

such a fun quick read.

i do feel like the relationship moved to fast in the sense that they literally went from rivals to lovers but there was nothing in between that. i understand because the romance wasn’t the main part of the book but i do wish it were drawn out better. the vampire club scene was my favorite thing ever and is why the book has 4 stars instead of 3.

I was really worried when i started this story that there was going to be an intimate relationship between them and the teacher but that’s what i respect about the book because it focuses on the negatives that can happen with teacher/student relationships and how much they seek validation from someone that holds all the power. not just by being their teacher but also being an older vampire.

I am a sucker for dark academia stories, so when I saw a sapphic gothic version coming out, I just had to read it. Overall, I would say I enjoyed it, but there were some caveats that make me hesitate to fully embrace. No spoilers here, but one of the main aspects of the story did have some "icky" feelings for me. Let's just say the relationship between the professor and the older student was uncomfortable at best.

Potentially trigger-warning here. A staple of sapphic literature is the age-gap/power differential relationship, but most of the ones I read are clear on the bounds of consent. While the relationship as ongoing is clearly consensual (not to mention very co-dependent!), the little glimpses of how it first started may not have been fully consensual. The gist is that Carmilla arrived midway through her junior year and wanted to be in the professor's seminar but there was not room for her. They have a conversation and the professor invites her into her office and closes the door. That is all we are shown. But Carmilla is now part of the program. So, knowing what their relationship has been and currently continues to be, the office scene leaves a lot of unanswered questions. And raises some very uncomfortable thoughts and ethical questions - did the "intimacy" start there as seemed to be implied? Was it a quid pro quo? (In which case a power imbalance resulted in an unethical situation and placed Carmilla committed forever to her fate.)

Perhaps the relationship with the professor was developed this way explicitly to contrast it with the relationship of Carmilla and Laura, which is clearly consensual. Laura knew what she was giving and how it would affect her future and she gave willingly to Carmilla. Likewise, Carmilla struggles with what she demands of Laura and we see this develop into a more heathy relationship over the course of the rest of the book.

This was a beautifully written book filled with sensual descriptions that brought emotions and immersion. The alternating viewpoints of Laura and Carmilla give clear progression of the enemies-to-lovers motif and it was enjoyable to see the changes in Carmilla from a self-absorbed, jealous jerk to a caring person who is just starting to understand a balanced relationship by the end of the book. Not a HEA, but a satisfying HFN ending. The professor even redeems herself at the end, thanks mostly to Laura's selflessness and bravery. The secret society was fascinating and I was glad to see it come back around in the end. Lends some hope that there may be a sequel someday, just to see more of the society and how they have walked in the world for centuries. Plus hopefully continuing to bring balance to the saga of Laura and Carmilla.

3.5 stars

I received a free copy of the this book from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

For what it was, all atmosphere and little plot, I enjoyed it up to a point. It's a soft DNF at 40% for me because I'm just bored. The writing was BEAUTIFUL and I really enjoyed the poetry aspect of this book, but I didn't really care to keep reading. I will however be picking up A Dowry of Blood and Evocation because the author has beautiful prose and I'm really looking forward to their other works. I think the characters in this book just weren't for me.

Thank you so much to Netgalley, S.T. Gibson, and Redhook for the eARC.

S.T Gibson writes beautifully about obsession, possession, and unhealthy relationship dynamics. A delightful mix of sapphic romance, 70s academia, and vampires. This is another hit by S.T Gibson, and I’m eager for their next book!

A huge thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read the ARC for this book! It was absolutely wonderful!

I was already a fan of S.T. Gibson’s work from their previous novel, “A Dowry of Blood”, and their newest work did not disappoint!

This book was alluring and sexy, but also held strong themes of grooming, jealousy, and obsession. The sapphic love triangle definitely held strong inspiration from the book, “Carmilla”, by Sheridan Le Fanu, which I couldn’t help but devour. The writing was beautiful and everything you’d want from a vampire story. I would recommend!

Overall Rating: 4 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books publishing for allowing me to read this ARC for an honest review. I know this book came out this month already, but I had been really looking forward to it. I'm a sucker for anything Dark Academia and vampires.

The story is told in multiple POVs with our main character, Laura, going off to Saint Perpetua College for her freshman year. She quickly becomes rivals with a senior girl in her class who feels that Laura is getting in the way of her unique relationship with their poetry professor. Their professor takes a liking to Laura and begins inviting Laura to her house for private lessons with Carmilla, Laura's classmate. As these private lessons become more frequent, Laura starts to notice odd things and that the relationship between Carmilla and their professor is a little more friendly than she initially thought.

Laura soon finds herself thrown into an entirely new world that is different from the life she knew before coming to Saint Perpetua College. With this experience comes death, life, ravishing parties, secret underground tunnels, and sacrifices.

There was a point in the middle of reading that I thought this book could have probable been a novella because I wasn't sure what direction the rest of the book was going to go in. I think the author did a great job with keeping the story fast paced and interesting because for some reason I couldn't put it down.

Read if you like:
-Dark Academia
-Mild Spice
-Female main characters
-Rivals to lovers
-Vampires

I really wanted to like this. The writing was beautiful and I liked the story at first I just couldn’t connect. I know I will be in the minority and I think most will really like this one though. So I would recommend it.

I went into this book completely blind. I had loved the cover art and wanted to try something new by reading a Sapphic Romance. In the end, the story was okay, but it felt pretty surface level to me. It was a story that had a lot of potential with its concept, but to me was not reached.

The story follows of two young women in competition at their college, vying for the attention of their professor. You have Laura, an innocent southern girl who has not so innocent desires, who is determined to be better than Carmilla, their professor’s favorite. The relationship between the two girls goes from competitive, to frenemies, to an understanding and friendship, to love. I did like seeing their relationship evolve throughout the story to something fulfilling and needed for them both.

I came in thinking it would be solely Laura’s POV and was pleasantly surprised to see that Carmilla had one as well. Through her POV, you get to see another, more personal side of their professor as well as the dark society that Carmilla and Laura join due to their mentor.

The strong positive I will say about this story is S.T. Gibson’s writing style. It was silky and melodic, it made the story enchanting and easy to read. It’s why I was so disappointed when I started to not enjoy the story and started to detach from it. It didn’t hold much substance for me and I found myself not becoming attached to any of the characters. I am interested in other books by this author to see if maybe it was just this story that I wasn’t a fan of.

Much of this book moved too quickly, without allowing characterization to occur, which resulted in the characters feeling flat at times. There were completely unexplored parts of Laura's identity that bothered me; we are told she is a devout Catholic yet her religion does not influence her decisions at all, and we never see her thoughts through this lens. Her connection with Carmilla feels rushed, too, and the build-up of their tension was ruined for me during the first spicy scene, which occurs pretty far into the novel.

I found it very offputting that there was 0 negotiation or discussion of nonmonogamy before the love interest participated in an FFM threesome with two complete strangers, in front of the main character, who looked on jealously. This happened AFTER they declared they wanted to be in a relationship, two pages before they had sex for the first time. Nothing could've prepared me for that, and it really ruined their connection for me and overshadowed their sex scene. As someone who is in a lesbian polyamorous relationship, my critique does not come from a prudish perspective. I just think it's a giant red flag when you don't discuss stuff like this with your partner before you do it. As a lesbian, when I'm promised a sapphic novel with a lesbian protagonist, I don't want to watch her getting cucked while her lover sleeps with a man without any prior conversation. I don't expect male-centric sex scenes, period? Anyway, this just wasn't for me, and that's okay.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

This book is a dark academia/gothic story with sapphic vampires and sapphic rivals-to-lovers with lots of mystery and dark intrigue!

S.T. Gibson writes emotions and personalities so beautifully! The interactions between the characters had my own emotions tugged back and forth as well since I really felt like I knew the characters really well when reading this story.

I felt like I was right in the classroom with Carmilla, Laura, and Ms. D experiencing the tense competitive atmosphere along with the other students. Carmilla and Laura vying for their professor's affection (different affections for both of them) and then them also vying for each other's affection and attention was so beguiling to read unfold. The extra element of a "murder mystery" on the side also added great tensions to everyone's relationship.

To me the whole tone of the story was dark and beautiful with hints of firey candlelight that keeps you curious and intrigued while being allured to the ache of love and concept of forever.

This book definitely took a turn I was not expecting, and it fooled me with the first 1/4 regarding the relationship between Carmilla and De LaFontaine.
I thought it was going to be a trouble situation, but oh no, we got blood, obsession, rivalry, and lust.
I liked the Gothic academia atmosphere, the brilliance of both Laura and Carmilla, and their rivalry.
The writing was beautiful and kept me engaged, but the secondary plotline was a let down for me. It fell flat (I don't want to say what it is as it would be a spoiler). Not to mention the ending, anticlimactic and unoriginal. However, I have to say I enjoyed the first 1/4 - 1/2 of the book and Carmilla n Laura's pining for one another.

An education in malice- 3⭐️3🌶️

Adult Paranormal Romance
Dual POV
Dark
Sapphic
Rivals to lovers
Student/professor relationship
Open door romance

Tw: racism, homofobia, murder, blood, gore, alcohol and drug use, discrimination

Looking at the vampire lore and books that have come before it, a fully sapphic vampire novel was such an interesting idea… and this book while the premise was interesting and I was disappointed that it didn’t feel as if the book was taken far enough. I never felt fully immersed in the academic or the vampire sides of this book. With a little more depth this could have been really great.

Characters were interesting but I found myself very unclear of intentions and motivation. rivals to lovers track was decently done, but I wanted the Academic aspect to stretch further than it did.

Pacing was a little bit of a drag. It started out with the interesting rivals tension only to fizzle out when things started to resolve. Writing was really beautiful, I enjoyed the imagery that fit so well with the poetry focus. I really just wanted a more intense reading experience.

Thank you NetGalley and Orbit for an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

3.5. Dark academia, sapphic Carmilla retelling. Laura starts college and is immediately drawn to Carmilla, who is clearly the teachers pet. This book features power dynamics, vampires, and rivalry. I expected much more to actually happen in the story and on top of everything that did not happen the story just ends….Great writing and characters I was quickly drawn to read about but, very little plot.

Alright, I said this novel delivered. Now, let me tell you how. The vibes hit fast and hard and early and they are spot on, as far as the Carmilla source material and the general sapphic, gothic, dark academia that the blurb promises. It’s definitely there in the setting: rural New England all girls school with enigmatic professors and women budding into adulthood expressing themselves in poetry and cult-ish style ceremonies and parties. And of course it’s in the plot: academic rivalry and sexual exploration/coming of age and the mystery of De Lafontaine’s presence at the school and, of course, all the vampire situation. I’m trying not to spoil anything here, but the dramatic and “ending the cycle” storyline related to these vampiric relationships was so well done.

On that note, the real and true highlight of the vibes was the characters and their relationships with each other. The toxic emotional manipulation, the combative attraction and inexorable pull of antagonism that turns to desire, the casual cruelty, the jealousy and loneliness and suppressed feelings, the mercuriality of all three MCs (Camilla and De Lafontaine and even Laura) was developed so well. It’s all unhealthy AF and yet utterly mesmerizing and somehow I found myself still cheering(?) for all three of them. These relationships were exhausting to read and yet I could not, didn’t want to, look away. Phew. There is a fascinating questioning of whether love almost cannot help but turn capricious, when one lives forever (can boredom be avoided when one has that many years?) OR whether it is just that those who are naturally capricious are the ones yearning for, and thus finding/choosing, that forever life. I got some very real Spike and Drusilla feels from that and, since I cannot help but love Spike and Drusilla, made this reading experience that much better for me.

A few other things really stood out to me that I want to mention as well. I loved the flipping of control, of who does the “debauching” here, as compared to the original Carmilla. While Carmilla herself still has the outer appearance of rebel and “bad” influence (and of course still introduces Laura to the vampiric side of the story), and Laura’s facade is still quiet and demure, we see a real power balance flip in their physical-romantic relationship, with Laura taking charge and Carmilla submitting. And I was absolutely here for that. I got a non-traditional sort of polyamorous complex-and-not-always-healthy relying on each other (and yet in the end that connection prevails for a safe ending) among our three MCs that was reminiscent of A Dowry of Blood, in some ways. I didn’t hate that call back, since I really enjoyed that story. I was also really satisfied with the ending: a breaking of a cycle, but recognizing and keeping the “good” parts of the “darkness” lifestyle. Plus, in a smaller way, I was particularly pleased with the way the story ends for Laura: with a choice, but no clear decision, with a coming into her own and the freedom in owning who she is, no matter which path she takes. It’s the exact right “open-ended, darkly hopeful” vibe that fits with the rest of the story and the fact that, with immortality in the mix, there can never be a real ending anyways.

Overall, this was everything I wanted it to be. There were some new twists and different directions, but it remained, at its core, a spectacular version of exactly what it promised. And I am so, so sated by it.

1968 Women’s College in Massachusetts is the setting for this Sapphic Dark Academia Gothic Romance. It’s a retelling of Carmilla. If you love all things vampire, gothic, or sapphic romance this is a great read for you.

# An Education in Malice
# 2/26/2024 ~ 2/26/2024
# 4.0 / 5.0