Thank you NetGalley and Redhook for the eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was so outside of any novel I would typically pick up for myself and I absolutely love it. It's a sapphic vampire dark academia/dark romance, and it did not disappoint.

This Carmilla retelling focuses on two college girls, Carmilla and Laura who are competing for their professor, Ms. DeLafontaine's undying attention and praise for their revolutionary poetry. Carmilla - a senior, already being Ms. D's self-proclaimed protege, is deeply unnerved by incoming freshman, Laura, whose prose has also captured Ms. D's notice. Carmilla and Laura become academic rivals who are invited to attend private salons with Ms. D, and as strange events unfold within their school, become lovers.

As the novel says several times "what is poetry, if not a declaration of love," and that is exactly how I feel this novel is portrayed. A love story - sometimes messy due to outside forces and internal struggles, but in the end beautiful. My one dislike for this novel was the pacing - sometimes it felt like I was back in a university classroom learning about poetry and philosophy, instead of in a novel - and those chapters seemed to drag for me (the same way those classes did). But overall this was just incredibly beautiful. I loved the plot, the lines crossed, the ambiguous ending. Just well done.

Gibson’s latest novel is a dark academia and sapphic story dripping with lost lust, power, hunger and longing. Carmilla and Laura are rival students with crushes for one another. The inclusion of vampirism set the tone for the book.

I enjoyed this one a bit more than A Dowry of Blood (partly because I thought that one was too similar to Interview with a Vampire). The female protagonists were fleshed out. I believed their romance.

Overall, while liking it, I did want higher stakes, more lore, and more of the two MCs.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

An Education in Malice was a slow burn for me. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the storyline and morally gray characters but I found the action a little lacking and almost no side story to take a break from the main story. It almost entirely takes place in the same location other than a rather strange party that definitely spiced up the action but I found it didn’t fit with what we had come to know about the teacher character in the book. The dual POV was interesting but there wasn’t much to differentiate the two FMCs storytelling (despite their clear differences in character) so on occasion I had to flick back to see who’s chapter I was on. Towards the end the book begins to pick up and there are a couple of creepy moments but overall I couldn’t wait to “get through it”.

I received this copy from NetGalley in exchange for honest review.

An enchanting gothic academia sapphic romance. A compelling Carmilla retelling.

When future parish priest Laura Sheridan goes to Saint Perpetua’s College, she hopes to further her love for poetry and language while getting her needed degree for her future. There, she's one of the chosen few in the poetry seminar from the esteemed De Lafontaine. What she doesn't expect is to immediately be drawn in to a rivalry with the charming Carmilla Karnstein.

This book straddles the line between love, obsession and possession. There are valid trigger warnings as it is gruesome and explicit along with having unfair power dynamics and inappropriate student-teacher relationships. It of course draws heavily from the classic Carmilla, but it has interesting twists and changes from the original as well.

I greatly enjoyed the language of the book and the poetry, though I did wish that we got to delve more deeply into the characters themselves. A lot of the relationship changes seemed to happen extremely quickly and took me out of the story a bit a few times.

Overall, an enjoyable gothic read.


Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the arc!

An Education in Malice by S. T. Gibson follows two women going to a women's college in Massachusetts in the 1960s. Carmilla and Laura both attend a poetry class taught by the renowned Professor De Lafontaine and become rivals, vying for the attention and approval of their teacher. Being a freshman and away from home for the first time, Laura finds her sense of self being reconstructed as she spends more time with her professor and classmate and is exposed to things she's only ever heard of.

Laura's journey of self discovery was fascinating to read but I feel like there wasn't much of a plot apart from that. Gibson writes so well and I read the story all in one day and yet it seemed like I never got attached to the story or characters. I'm still giving the book 4 stars and will read anything else Gibson writes, though!

Thanks to NetGalley and RedHook Books for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is what my sapphic vampire dreams are made of. Dark Academia setting for a rehash on Carmilla and Laura. Such an enjoyable read! This would have been a 5 star book, but I found the ending let me down a bit. 4/5 stars.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Redhook Books for providing me with a digital review copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

I just DNF’d a book… I don’t normally do that…
I was only able to read about 52% of this book and then I skimmed the rest. So I would classify this as a DNF 😬

This is a dark academia setting. Gothic stone and moss campus. Eerie and seductive in a world filled with vampires. Normally. That’s my bread and butter. I eat that up.

Laura Sheridan is a student attending St. Perpetua’s Women’s College in Massachusetts.

Laura is immediately attracted to another student named Carmilla Karnstein who she saw during a welcome ceremony for the new students. It was infatuation at first sight.

In one of Laura’s first poetry classes, Laura quickly realizes that Carmilla’s beauty is hiding a snake just below the surface. And they immediately become academic rivals.

As Laura is becoming closer with the poetry Professor De Lafontaine, and all that comes with building that relationship, Laura finds Carmilla is secretly having an even more intimate affair with the poetry teacher. She is her companion… which if you’re familiar with vampires. You know what that means…

Carmilla feels like she’s slipping from De Lafontaine’s grasp/obsession. She thinks if she can figure out what De Lafontaine is so obsessed about researching at the school, and help her, she can get back in her good graces. She finds out that De Lefontaine is heavily and deeply researching the history of their school St. Perpetua’s.

I didn’t feel invested in these characters for some reason. They were so passionate with their infatuation and their adoration of De Lefontaine but it didn’t feel like the author gave us a reason to be infatuated first. I just didn’t find myself feeling the passion of these characters circumstances like I would have wanted.

There’s no denying the writing is appealing and intelligent. I definitely don’t have any qualms with the writing style. I just found the story lacking anything of interest. In fact I didn’t find the story even took off until the 50% mark of the book.

This is my first S.T. Gibson book and I haven’t given up yet. I will still read A Dowry Of Blood. I just found this story fizzled for me and didn’t hold my interest as much as I wanted it to.

While I understood the immediate physical attraction between Laura and Carmilla I didn’t really believe that there was attraction beyond that. The rivalry between the two probably propelled that attention forward but they know nothing about each other and so this obsession is not very believable. I know the main focus is wanting De Lafontaine’s acceptance and adoration so I just felt like Laura and Carmilla’s attraction to each other was like a forced sub plot?

Laura and Carmilla are not only locked in an academic rivalry but one of being De Lafontaine’s favored as well. But besides that. There’s just nothing else there. Nothing connects me to this vampire. Nothing connects me to these girls or their struggles. For me it just fell flat and the pacing was painfully too slow.

From skimming the rest of the book… It became a story of teaching a new vampire the ways of the world and it just dragged. Laura and Carmilla’s relationship continued to build but it just fell flat for me.

I do think there’s an audience out there for this book. This story is full of Jealousy. Academic rivalry. Obsession. Possession. Passion. And mystery. And I think anyone with even an inkling of interest should definitely give this book a chance.

First of all, I want to thank NetGalley and Redhook books for the e ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Second of all, I loved this book. The writing was absolutely beautiful and dark and captured the dark romantic atmosphere in this book to the t. I loved it. The yearning, at least on Laura's part, was really well done. However the reason this is get four and half instead of five is I feel like this book should've been at least 100 more pages. Carmilla's yearning was kinda rushed and didn't feel as believable as Laura's. But still the romance was good. The exploration of a toxic relationship was also handled pretty well. Kinda wished the ending went a little differently but still, good job.

Overall this was a fun solid read and if you like vampires, sapphics and dark academia, this is the book for you!

(Thank you again to NetGalley for the ARC)

I'm sad. The cover art is so beautiful and this sounded so good. I really wanted to love this but, while it wasn't bad, it wasn't great.

Let's start with what did work which was the atmosphere. I feel like vampire stories so often are either overly dramatic with the Gothic vibe or super campy. Gibson hit that middle ground so well and the marriage of that with the 1970s vibe was divine. Add to that, there's the whole dark academia/boarding school/small town setting set in fall/winter and it's nothing but gloomy, creepy, and chilly.

What didn't work for me were the characters. Gibson couldn't seem to figure out what she wanted Laura, one of our main characters, to be. She initially came across as prim and proper; unsure of herself that comes from body image issues, lack of engaged parenting, lack of positive reinforcement. This might be the downside to a shorter novel but the changes her personality went through were so abrupt that it left me emotionally detached from her. Her relationship with Carmilla was so antagonistic through the first half that you can't even say Laura grew from that relationship; it just happened.

Carmilla was a bit more interesting as an MC. Oddly enough, Carmilla had an opposite, softer change which did actually feel more natural and I could see how Laura was an outward force effecting that change. Her conflict throughout felt a bit more believable. She was, character-wise, the saving grace of this story and I did find her chapters to be easier reading.

Then we have De Laurentis who was so tiring. For want of a better word, she's icky. The first half, she's predatory and I definitely got a "grooming" feel from her. Then, halfway through, she literally becomes a two hundred year old teenage girl.

All this to say, this book was more about the vibe than it was about the characters. It's not a bad entry into the vampire genre but I've definitely read better. Despite that, thank you so much to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this S.T. Gibson's newest novel.

so beautifully written! it didn’t take long for it to capture my attention. An Education In Malice is a sapphic dark academia romance. it has two students fighting for their professors attention. a lot of build up, jealousy, and obsession.

𝑨𝑹𝑪 𝑹𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘: 𝐴𝑛 𝐸𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑀𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑏𝑦 𝑆. 𝑇. 𝐺𝑖𝑏𝑠𝑜𝑛

4.5 stars ☆

This was my first venture into @stgibsonauthor’s books and I could not be happier. I’m so grateful to have received an ARC for this absolutely lovely story.

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We start with Laura: our mild-mannered, church-going main character. She has come to St. Perpetua’s to study poetry, her biggest passion. Having always had a mind for academics, Laura excels in her classes, especially poetry, and she attracts the interest of her professor. For all her studies and politeness, Laura has a secret. She longs for the touch of another woman, to fulfill the darker aspects of her deepest desires.

Enter Carmilla: the dramatic, sharp-tongued beauty who immediately pits herself against Laura in their shared poetry class. Carmilla also has a secret. She is plagued by obsession with her poetry professor, and mentorship has warped into something she never could have imagined. And yet… She craves more.

Then we have Evelyn De Lafontaine: the astute and incredibly demanding poetry professor of St. Perpetua’s. She is known for her brilliance and her exacting methods of teaching. Like her two pupils, Professor De Lafontaine has a secret of her own. But hers is the most dangerous, and has the power to spell ruin for all three of them.

As Laura and Carmilla are drawn into De Lafontaine’s twisted reality, and toward each other, darkness threatens to consume everything they hold dear.

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𝐴𝑛 𝐸𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑀𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑒 was gorgeous. Both stunningly depraved and heartbreakingly tender. S. T. Gibson weaves together the most beautiful, atmospheric scenes.

I loved the characters and the feeling of uncertainty as we piece together their motivations, as well as the unfolding of their relationships.

I will say, I do wish the actual academic portion was a little more fleshed out (like seeing other classes), and I wish we had seen more of the side characters and had built upon those friendships a little bit more.

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I cannot recommend this book enough! If you like dark academia, intense longing, sapphic representation, and vampires, this is definitely the book for you.

This was such an engrossing piece of dark academia. I am a sucker for the details of classroom life. I soaked up the details of class schedules and teacher lectures.

As a retelling of Camilla, I don't feel qualified to comment on those aspects. I have never read the work and only know the surface level synopsis of this work.

This work really stands on its own. The prose was quite strong. The narrative felt lush and decadent. I would highly recommend to readers who love dark academia.

Disclaimer I received a copy of this novel from the publisher.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me this book early in exchange for review.

I greatly enjoyed "An Education in Malice." The relationship between Laura and Carmilla was really interesting to read, and Gibson developed their bond quite well.

I would've liked to see more development of the atmosphere outside of Laura and Carmilla. This book is quite short and felt rushed in some ways and dragged on in others. I wish I could've seen more of the academic life outside of their relationship, and how vampires fit into this society.

It was interesting to read about the vampiric circle they are let into, and again, I wish this was explored more. Gibson gave us these great characters and storylines. but did not have enough space to fully explore them.

The plot-line with the Professor's lover was very underdeveloped and felt kind of unnecessary? I think Gibson added that in for some semblance of plot, but I almost think the story would have been better without this addition, so she could've focused on building other areas of the story.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and will definitely pick up other Gibson books!

Astutely poetic and emotion invoking! With dark academia, poetry, and sapphic rivalry. There was tension, indignance, angst, love and loss. With that being said, I would have liked to have seen a bit more a backstory with the antagonist. As much as I liked the main characters and the central storyline it needed a little more involvement with their curriculum outside of literature. Overall this was a great read and I would recommend.

I received an advanced copy from the publisher/netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

If I could use any word to describe this book, it would just be "ok." The premise was interesting and had promise, but all the elements that initially drew me towards the story fell flat. I was looking forward to reading this, as this book was marketed as a dark academia sapphic vampire story. I personally thought there wasn't much dark academia, as the college didn't seem to be integral to the story and literally could have taken place anywhere else. Additionally, the vampire plot took a backseat to the romance, which didn't mind as much because I enjoyed the relationship between Carmilla and Laura. I think this book would have been 10 times better if the main conflict surrounding the villain/antagonist (I'm being vague so as to not spoil it) was erased completely from the book, as this character wasn't even relevant until the second to last chapter.

Overall, I thought this to be a rather mediocre read, but I thought the same of a Dowry in Blood, so maybe S.T. Gibson books are not for me.

Actual 3.5
An Education in Malice is a lush, sapphic, vampire romance rooted in a dark academia aesthetic.
Laura is a small-town southern girl who comes to Saint Perpetua's in pursuit of furthering her education and honing her writing with Professor De Lafontaine.
Carmilla is a trust fund baby who has been the star pupil and focus of De Lafontaine's energy during her time at Saint Perpetua's.
Laura's arrival and raw talent upsets Carmilla's neatly ordered world where she is the middle of De Lafontaine's universe eventually leading Laura and Carmilla to confront their mutual antagonistic feelings and how they have blossomed into longing and desire.
While I did enjoy this book and the deep, thoughtful character development in Laura and Carmilla, it felt very low stakes and lacked a sense of urgency for a plot that was rife with murder, a newly turned vampire, and a crazed vampire brought back from the brink of death who is supposedly the love of De Lafontaine's undead life. Even in the final moments of the climatic situation where I should have been feeling distress for Carmilla and the perceived betrayal that we get from her point of view, it didn't really illicit those feelings.
This book is a whole vibe and I am definitely here for it. I really enjoyed the look we got into the life of vampires who were not De Lafontaine and I am glad that Carmilla and Laura ended up with that crowd in the end so they aren't spending all their time in a small apartment reciting poetry and are able to truly be themselves and be authentic to their own desires.

There is a trigger topic warning right at very beginning which I love, especially since it also reads: “If you choose to proceed, please read with self-compassion.”

I don’t like how the author initially states which characters are which race, as it’s just blatantly said, and seems unnecessary to the story. It would’ve been better if it was worked into the conversation somehow rather than abruptly stated that a character was a white woman or a black woman. It’s awkward and unnecessary to write, “A pretty, sturdily built white girl in a varsity sweater jogged over, her brown curls bouncing merrily.” And it only really happens like that in the beginning few chapters, so again it’s unnecessary. Even with the time period that this is set there’s no animosity towards Eleanor for her race and the Black Panther party is only brought up once by her family, but again, it’s not necessary or relevant.

I’m not sure why it said in the content warning that there’s a reference to “racist political policies”, because other than a throwaway comment about Eleanor’s mother being involved with the Black Panthers, which again wasn’t necessary, there wasn’t anything of that nature. It seemed like just another superfluous way to tell readers that the family was black.

The story itself was good, although the POVs between Laura & Camilla are entirely too similar at times. Given their completely different upbringings, plus the fact that Carmilla has traveled and is more worldly, that alone should be a completely different tone to Carmilla’s POV, notwithstanding her different temperament and personality. Especially in the beginning when tensions between the two girls were higher.

There are some minor issues like unlacing shoes that traditionally don’t have laces, then later stepping out of them completely without unlacing or unbuckling anything. Minor things, but they stood out.

The relationship progression with Carmilla and Laura seemed uneven as suddenly Carmilla is madly in love with Laura despite being so completely obsessed with De Lafontaine. It’s understandable if Carmilla’s feelings are simply a byproduct of the feedings, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. I understand Laura falling so hard & quickly as she was already obsessed with Carmilla from the moment she met her, and her lack of actual sexual experience would have created a stronger attachment due to Carmilla being her first. It was Carmilla’s sudden emotional shift that didn’t ring true.

Another thing that was irksome to me was
De Lafontaine continuing the intimate poetry sessions when she wanted to keep Laura from Carmilla. It didn’t make sense, and if there was some reason for her wavering on keeping them apart it’s never really discussed.

Then we have characters pondering what was happening and by whom when they already knew that information, or having a vampire behaving like a broken glass is going to actually do harm to them. Things like that needed to be tightened up and edited but were unfortunately overlooked.

The little nods to the original material as well as to other literary vampire novels like Dracula were a nice touch, and the ending was decent even though it’s nothing like the original source material. 2.75 stars

So, imagine starting college, right? But not just any college – Saint Perpetua's, this ancient and mysterious place where secrets are like the latest gossip, ambition is everyone's jam, and strange ceremonies are, well, part of the charm.

Now, I'm Laura, doing my thing on the first day, when bam! I'm in this intense academic showdown with the super intriguing Carmilla. And here's the kicker – our poetry prof, De Lafontaine, is head over heels obsessed with Carmilla.

As Laura and Carmilla's rivalry heats up, De Lafontaine adds this crazy mysterious vibe. It's like our class turned into a real-life soap opera. The whole student-professor dynamic gets tangled up in secrets, murder, and dark magic.

The characters are dealing with desires and strange hungers that hit a little too close to home. S.T. Gibson's storytelling makes An Education in Malice a rollercoaster of power, desire, and the wild ride you take to uncover the secrets of a seriously sketchy college. I really enjoyed this book because it was unapologetic, embraced its queerness and gave a nice twist to a Carmilla reteing by adding complexity and depth to it. I really recommend reading as the prose is simply impeccable.

Thank you to NetGalley, Redhook Books, and S. T. Gibson for my ARC in exchange for an honest review!

~3.5 Stars

This was my first S. T. Gibson book and I had really high hopes after seeing the amazing reviews for A Dowry of Blood. I've seen other reviews mention that this book is set in the same universe, so I'm not sure if I'm missing anything by having not read DoB yet. I don't think this book lived up to the hype I've heard about the author.

An Education in Malice is a saphhic, dark academia, gothic romance set at an all girls school. Those familiar with Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu will appreciate this retelling. I loved the idea of this book, but the plot just wasn't there for me. The prose was beautiful and so easy to sink into, but it felt a little surface level. Honestly, the vampire part of this book wasn't introduced until later and didn't seem to add much to the story at all. The enemies to lovers trope was resolved very quickly and felt very sudden. The jealousy of De Lafontaine was annoying and immature for her age (over two centuries old), and I would've liked her more as a character if we got more information on her. I kept expecting violence to really propel the jealousy theme further, but there wasn't much in most of the book.

Don't get me wrong--I did enjoy the read, I just didn't love it. I really liked Gibson's writing style (I actually tore through this book because it was so simple and graceful). I appreciated the dual POV structure that was set up for our two main characters to see both sides of the enemies to lovers. I will definitely pick up another book by this author in the future, but this one didn't make my favorites or rereads lists.

Thank you to Redhook Books and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book and rated it 4 stars. This is the second book I’ve read by S.T Gibson and while I didn’t love it as much as I did A Dowry of Blood, the writing is still just as beautiful and poetic. The setting of St. Perpetua’s College gave the book a dark academia feel, which was a gorgeous backdrop to the story. I found the main characters to be compelling and I appreciated the dual POV. All the character relations sucked me in and I enjoyed the rivals to lovers trope. That said, I did want a little more from plot as it felt like the writing was focused more on atmosphere than anything. Overall, I did really enjoy this book and I look forward to reading Evocation later on in the year.