3/3 stars. Thanks to NetGalley and Redhook for providing an eARC of An Education in Malice! See below for my honest review.

I was SO excited for lesbian vampires and dark academia, but this was underwhelming. De Lafontaine comes across as a very boring character, and she does not deserve a redemption arc. The end is so lackluster... honestly almost all of it is lackluster except for when Laura and Carmilla have some kinky fun times.

I enjoyed the writing itself! It was well thought, but the story itself just didn't do it for me.

I wanted to love this book as I was reading it but I just couldn’t. I’m honestly surprised I even finished it. The writing was great and I enjoyed the prose immensely, however, I just couldn’t get swept up by the story itself. I didn’t like any of the characters and the whole vampire plot just felt a bit weak to me.

Another hit from S.T. Gibson!

I really enjoyed An Education in Malice. The characters were easy to connect with, and it was easy to get immersed into the dark academia setting.

I think a slightly more progressive plot would’ve made this 5 stars; however, as it is, I did sometimes get bored.

I still prefer A Dowry of Blood, but An Education in Malice was still great!

Thank you for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC!

I love the prose of this book. It's written so beautifully and the world-building is perfect. Gibson's writing is poetic and gothic, and she doesn't shy away from the more disgusting and less moral aspects of being a vampire.
The dark backdrop of the book was also contrasted by the light, cute romance of carmilla and laura. That lighter romance added a nice element of happiness to a book that has a lot of tension and blood.

There were a few things that I didn't love about this book. I think that because the book is very character driven I found it hard to get into the plot sometimes. I feel like some things were a bit rushed in comparison to others. For example, the vampire house thing was described in a lot of detail, but then the whole murder thing was sort of brushed over and not very suspenseful (also because we knew who the murderer was from the beginning) . Even Carmilla and Laura's relationship went from zero to fifty to two hundred. The hate/love transition was very sudden.

Overall, I LOVED this book and it met all my expectations.

I loved A Dowry of Blood, but An Education in Malice was even more eerie with religious theming and an academic setting. Can't wait for (hopefully!) another book in this world.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the opportunity to review this book. These are my honest opinions.
First, a breakdown of my rating system:
5 stars - phenomenal book; I’ll recommend this one to everyone, I want to live in this world, and I will read this one over and over!
4 stars - great book. I enjoyed the story and the characters, but I probably won’t reread it.
3 stars - good story and characters. I can’t see myself coming back to this one, but it was an entertaining read
2 stars - hard to finish. The story was not for me, and I had to make myself keep reading.
1 star - DNF. Absolutely could not finish.
I am so torn as to how to rate this book. On one hand, it is absolutely beautifully written, the prose is phenomenal. I was totally immersed in the world and all that entailed. S.T. Gibson is a master at descriptive language that doesn’t feel pretentious or overdone. She draws you in and spins you around, holding your hand while she leads you from scene to scene, not letting you go until the end. I devoured this book in 24 hours. Sounds spectacular, doesn’t it? Why would I not give this book 5 stars? The problem for me was that the ending fell a bit flat. I feel like there could have been more. Honestly, I don’t know why I feel that way - the ending was good, don’t get me wrong. I just feel that I was left wanting. We had the darkness, the angst, the villain (even if the villain was given away pretty quick), the romance (a little rushed), and the beautifully created world. I think readers will get where I’m coming from once they read it. I just feel like there was potential for more. Regardless, I do feel that all of the positives outweigh the feeling of lack, so I’ll bump this book from 3.5 to 4 stars.

3.75 ⭐️
Sapphic. Vampires. Dark Academia. Inappropriate teacher/student relationships. SIGN ME THE FUCK UP. I ate this book up like a newly awaken undead searching for substance.

S.T. Gibson sucks you in with beautiful writing that flows like poetry, gothic academia style, manipulative characters, and the darker side of love and obsession.

This book reminded me a lot of Dowry of Blood - it's no surprise there was a familiar feeling with these characters.

I’m having mixed feelings about this one. I was expecting to read an amazing dark academia sapphic vampire tale but it was just… okay. Thinking this is mostly due to me not connecting with the story. I found myself getting bored and I began skimming through the book and only stopping to read actual dialogue between the characters.

Lot going on here. For a book pitched as a modern (kind of, it's the 1960s but that actually doesn't really matter to the plot) dark academia Carmilla AU, it was weirdly short on the academia of it all. The setup suggests a rivals-to-lovers type of vibe with Carmilla and Laura vying to be their poetry professor's favorite, but this aspect disappears rather quickly in favor of the characters spending far more time lounging around their professor's apartment than in the classroom. This is one of those stories where I can see the outline of the plot so clearly that it's distracting, because not that much actually happens - it feels like a lot of this story ends up being fluff/padding. Like they just spend SO much time hanging out on the couch at Prof. Delafontaine's.

The horniness seemed promising - oh boy, the shy one is a secret domme!!! - but although Laura and Carmilla kept alluding to their D/s interests, that never really played out in a substantive way. If you're going to tease less common sexual proclivities, go off, but the even stranger choice was that their eventual coming together was (slight spoiler) in an exhibitionist/public sex situation. Which, fine, it worked for me well enough, but why wasn't THAT teased as their shared sexual interest? It would have been so so easy to lay the groundwork for that - Carmilla wanting to be put on display (rather than hidden as Prof. Delafontaine's secret!!)! Laura wanting to show public ownership/possession/power! But instead they just shrug and "when in Rome" it when they end up at an orgy so it doesn't really feel like a culmination of anything.

This had a lot of atmosphere going for it, but the vision didn't coalesce into something completely satisfying. Fun for me to give a different genre a try though!

My thanks to Redhook Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book.

This story is about two girls who are rivals in their poetry class. It's billed as an enemies to lovers. While I enjoyed it, I didn't feel it was as engaging as possible. It was a little repetitive, and it fell a little flat for a dark romance/dark academia book.

Beautiful, haunting and beautiful, AN EDUCATION IN MALICE was everything I hoped it would be and more. I’d heard good things about S.T. Gibson’s writing, but this was the first book I’d read of hers. I have a feeling, after EDUCATION, they’re going to be an auto buy author for me.

I love the dual POV of Carmilla and Laura, two exceptionally talented writers attending an all-girls college under the tutelage of their professor, Miss De Lafontaine. But all is not as it seems at St. Perpetua's and Miss D has some dark secrets. An enemies to lovers story, with deadly creatures hiding in plain sight. I thought the tensions between our two lovers was well done. This novel would fall under the NewAdult category a bit more than YA, I think and there are trigger warnings that came with this novel.

I loved the cover and the title was an immediate "add to tbr". The narration was really good, I think the narrator did a great job distinguishing between Carmilla and Laura's voices. The story had me on the edge of my seat, for about half the story. I wanted a smidge more horror, but overall I found the story to suck me in and hold me emotionally hostage until the very end.

I wish I enjoyed this one more than I did. Ultimately it was just fine, I found the overarching story boring and wish we got more dark academia. I didn’t connect much with the characters either, they annoyed me at times and I wasn’t rooting for them.

Another solid entry from Ms Gibson. While I did enjoy A Dowry of Blood a bit more, this was wildly entertaining in a gothic lesbian noir way.

It reminded me of what Plain Bad Heroines could have been, especially in the relationship dynamics between our main ladies. The only reason this didnt get a full 5 stars is purely subjective in that I wished there was a bit more crossover from Dowry, other than that will recommend to everyone I know!

“One of us was always going to bleed for the other.”

Just as with A Dowry of Blood, S.T. Gibson’s writing in An Education in Malice is very elegant and atmospheric. There are dark academia elements that add to the mood of the storytelling but it wasn’t so heavy handed that I felt like I was reading a dry textbook (a feeling I get often when reading popular dark academia books). I would classify this more as a gothic romance in an academic setting.

This book deals with topics of jealousy, obsession, infatuation, toxic relationships, and relationships with uneven power dynamics. The characters are flawed (some a lot more than others) and can be frustrating at times. If I rate it off vibes, it’s a 5. But unfortunately this had too many underdeveloped parts for me and the romance lacked that drawn out angst that I expect when getting into an enemies(rivals) to lovers story.

Thank you netgalley and orbit books for the arc

After absolutely loving the Dowry of Blood, I was so excited to read another S.T. Gibson book. Let me tell you, this book did not disappoint. It was everything I wanted from a sapphic, dark academia book. Everything.

S.T. Gibson does it again!

I really really loved this book! The dark academia vibes and vampy vibes were immaculate. The academic rivals to lovers trope absolutely slayed. Their romance was EVERYTHING! The way they fully embraced one another and were so enamored with each other (once we got past the whole “you’re enemy #1” part) made my heart MELT.

There was truly never a dull moment. 10/10 would recommend!

3.5⭐️

I found this book to be quite enjoyable. It was easy to digest and I confess I didn’t know much about this book and found the direction it went in to be fitting. My only critique of this book would be that some parts could have been developed more. I feel like Laura and Carmella’s relationship went from enemies to lovers very quickly. I also thought the ending was rushed in terms of planning and execution.
Thank you to Orbit for giving me an advanced copy, I can’t wait to read more ST Gibson in the future!

This book was absolutely fantastic! Just like A Dowry of Blood this book was all about obsession, desire and a need for control. I enjoyed how this book started as rivalry between Laura and Camilla that turned into an obsessive and possessive relationship dynamic. Then we have Professor De Lafontaine as this manipulative, overly possessive character that drives these two together yet is surprised when a relationship blooms. At first I disliked De Lafontaine but as the book went on I began to understand her more and it brought this book full circle for me.

<i>"She kissed me with a martyr's agonized desperation, like I was the only sword she ever wanted to fall on."</i>

Stars: 5+/5
spice 2/5

Tropes and what to expect:
- queer main characters
- enemies to lovers
- academic rivals
- dark academia
- poetry
- drugs and alcohol
- vampires
- period piece (1968)


This was my first S.T Gibson book but will absolutely not be my last, I was hooked from the first page and it just got better and better as the story went on. This book is poetically smutty, it is luxurious and dark.

Our lovely main characters Laura and Carmilla pull you right into the story. They are convincing, realistic and beautifully flawed people. Their personalities are so different while also allowing them to fit together as love interests quite well. This is definitely an opposites attract situation in the best kind of way.

The dark academia setting of this book was described so beautifully that I could really envision the world that S.T. Gibson created for this story. Lots of dark gothic buildings and pretty college dorms, an interesting juxtaposition where everything felt so old and yet not at the same time. S. T. Gibson also took a lot of care in describing what all of the characters were wearing, and their wardrobes were so nice, I might have to take some inspo from a few of them.

The most unique aspect of this book and my favorite part was just how poetic S. T. Gibson was. Both Laura and Carmilla are poets and it really shines through with the way the describe themselves, as well as people and things around them. This is most prominent in their love story, the way they describe each other is absolutely captivating. I could not stop highlighting lines in this book because they were just so pretty.

If you like vampires, sapphic love and dark academia then this is absolutely a book to pick up in 2024.

<i>Thank you Netgalley for my ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.</i>