S. T. Gibson has really done a wonderful job in modernizing the classic Carmilla story. Merging gothic and dark academia elements to this oft repeated sapphic love story but elevating the characters presence in both maturity and time enhanced the reader's overall journey. Well enjoyed.

Thank you to Redhook Books and NetGalley for providing an eARC for a honest review.

An Education in Malice has been one of my most anticipated reads since it was announced and it was everything I wanted and more. S.T. Gibson has such a talent for capturing the tone of the time period she's writing in. I couldn't put this book down. It was so beautifully written and I was swept away into Laura and Carmilla's world. Carmilla is a favorite of mine and I loved her take on the story and its characters. The dynamic among Laura, Carmilla, and the professor was so fascinating and so well done. I would absolutely recommend An Education in Malice. It's atmospheric, dark, and everything I wanted from S.T. Gibson's newest work.

An Education in malice is a very enticing and captivating read and deserves a 5/5 stars I can't wait to read more books from this author.

What would happen if a we (ladies) could just have dark academia vibes all the time, sans men?

That is the vibe of this book. Antisocial, literary genius MC Laura is wickedly inclined (she dabbles in BDSM) and has a sapphic infatuation with the dark, mysterious Carmilla. Carmilla, is the I-studied-abroad-in-Switzerland cool girl, who, at the ripe age of 21, is jaded with life and ready to sip blood from crystal glasses while lamenting in French over smoked cigs. Rivalry and revelry commences, encouraged by a creepy, older, bloodsucking profesora, who spends most of the book being a miserable bitch and terrible mentor. This book, similar to A Dowry of Blood, is a character study, which I really love about ST Gibson’s writing. However, if you’re looking for a plot forward book, this is not it. Girls die, vampires are made and resurrected, but the relationships and character arcs take the main stage.

Aside: While A Dowry of Blood is a re-telling that stays closer to Dracula’s original story, An Education in Malice, is a modern re-telling of “Carmilla” - which I wasn’t expecting. I LOVED A Dowry of Blood, so I wish An Education in Malice stuck to a similar paradigm with re-telling Carmilla.

<i>Thank you to NetGalley for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.</i>

If I were to describe this book in one sentence, it would be, "The vibes were vibes; the vibes were immaculate." That being said, I know I have to talk more about this dark academia enemies-to-lover sapphic carmilla-inspired story.
We follow Carmilla and Laura as they compete for their poetry professor's attention, discover the world of creatures that walk at night, and find themselves in the middle of secrets, blood secrets, and politics.
I cannot sit down and explain to you adequately why I love this book, but trust me when I say that you will love this book. The writing, the obsession, the angst, and the poisonous bubble that these characters find themselves in are truly addicting. I am a slow reader and was in a reading slump, and I found myself reading this book in two days, which, as a working mom, is quite hard for me to do normally. But I was addicted to every page.

If you loved A Dowry in Blood, you will probably love this book, but you do not have to read it for you to understand it.

S.T. Gibson has stolen my heart for the third time, and I cannot wait to see what else they come out with.

Combining elements of sapphic longing, deep obsession, dark academia, vicious vampirism, S. T. Gibson's retelling of "Camilla" is captivatingly melancholic. The aura of a New England college is perfectly encapsulated in Gibson's tell-tale atmospheric writing, immersing readers into a beautiful flowery prose which blends together in stark contrast to the violent themes of the story. Pushing past my misgivings with the book, the writing is definitely a cut above the rest and I'm looking forward to other books from Gibson in the future.

The criticisms I do have can really be boiled down to my issues with the redundancy and predictability of the plot. Whether from the perspective of Laura or Camilla, the internal character dialogues, though initially quite compelling, eventually dwindle down to paragraphs that parrots themselves again and again. I love stories that feature addictive love and sapphic passion, but once Camilla's arc climaxes, the pieces that fall together feel unoriginal and stale, even down to the emotions and choices made by Laura, Camilla, and De Lafontaine.

This book had a lot of promise, but ultimately the character analysis and development made this book a miss for me. That being said, I definitely think there is a market for more sapphic dark romances because I certainly want to see more of this caliber in the dark romance genre.

An Education in Malice is a fast-paced, gothic, dark academia novel with academic rivals to lovers. It was beautifully written, and I absolutely loved our main characters, Carmilla and Laura.

This gothic tale is atmospheric and I loved the use of classes and school activities as actual plot points. I also appreciated that the side characters benefited the progression of the story.

I was a bit confused by the direction the author was going in with the character development of Laura, specifically. She is noted to have complex feelings and desired, but this idea is basically abandoned about 60% of the way through and isn’t brought up again. I also felt the ending to be a bit rushed considering the build-up.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read and I would definitely recommend it to those who love dark academia and fantasy.

This is a wonderful book, and especially enjoyable for those with a love for language and poetry.

An Education in Malice is beautifully written and expertly portrays raw human emotions, even the little embarrassing ones that we like to pretend we don't experience: the deep burn of jealousy, foolishness and quiet humiliation, with a large focus on obsession.

In a retelling of Carmilla, we experience both POVs of Laura and Carmilla herself. While multiple POVs can sometimes feel choppy and clumsy, it is executed here with ease and allows the story to flow effortlessly. We follow these two as they navigate a rivalry, heavy lust and attraction, obsessive relationships, keeping secrets and trauma bonding.

S.T. Gibson does remarkable work at putting genuine and real sapphic struggles, both historical and present to the story, on page. I strongly identified with quite a lot of what Laura dealt with, myself.

I genuinely wish this book was longer. The writing was incredible and I'm convinced that I will read anything she writes, and will likely be gifting this book to friends when it releases in February.

3.5/5
S. T. Gibson has a way of creating such enchanting and delectable stories. Although I am not too sure how I feel about this book in its entirety, I enjoyed the lyrical prose and atmosphere it had. Laura and Carmilla were enjoyable characters to follow, but the plot at the end felt a little wonky. Nonetheless, this is still a delectable and atmospheric book similar to that of A Dowry of Blood.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest review.

Dark academia? Vampires? Sapphic relationships? A masterful grasp of the written word? The promise of this book had me salivating before it even started.

Primarily, I am envious of S.T. Gibson and her ability to wield words. The way she builds atmosphere, characters, and narrative is just as captivating here as it was in A Dowry of Blood. The school, the vampires, and the tense feelings between the main characters are artfully described. I particularly enjoyed the earlier elements of Laura and Carmilla's relationship, right as they were learning more about their attraction and desires. This book is dual POV with (nearly) alternating chapters, but I could've used more of Carmilla's background to give her chapters a more solid foundation - we know so much of Laura's past by the end, and only snippets of Carmilla's. I could've used more of almost everything here - but maybe that's because I loved what we did have. Add this to your February TBR for a good dose of chilly atmosphere.

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

Another fantastic book by ST. Gibson. Dark academia, academic rivals to lovers, sapphic yearning, and beautiful prose. This is a unique re-imagining of Carmilla that pulls you in from the start.

A rivalry between two students blossoms into something deeper as they complete for their professor’s attention and confront secrets, hunger, and desire.

I didn’t love this as much as A Dowry of Blood, but this was still amazing. Gibson has such an enchanting writing style; it’s mesmerizing and poetic and so unputdownable. The storyline was interesting, although sometimes a little predictable. But! That didn’t stop me from wanting to keep reading. The relationship between Carmilla and Laura was so sensually and beautifully done, that was by far the best part of the book. Some of the pacing was a bit slow at times, while other parts seemed to move very quickly. Particularly the ending felt a bit rushed. A great read, though, overall and I definitely recommend.

Thank you to Redhook Books and NetGalley for the ARC. Opinions are my own and freely given.

S.T. Gibson has once again hit it out of the emotional park with their writing. This time while tackling the story of Carmilla and reimagining it in the 1960’s. I loved this book so much. We get Dual POV of our two leads, which just adds to the emotions I felt while reading this book. I think that this book is paced perfectly to the point where I struggled to put it down. Laura and Carmilla are THOSE girls and I love them.
(Do make sure that you take care of yourself and read the content warnings before jumping in. Take care of yourself)

If you liked their debut A Dowry of Blood, this is a MUST read


Thank you NetGalley for an early copy of this book in exchange of my honest review.

I just recently finished reading A Dowry of Blood, also by S.T. Gibson then immediately started this book and was very quickly sucked into the world at Saint Perpetua’s. Not only was there beautifully detailed descriptions/writing, but the dark academia vampire vibes, rivals to lovers between Laura and Carmilla, and dual povs made the story so enjoyable and hard to put down.

Thank you sooo much NetGalley for this arc :) I already can’t wait for the release date to buy the physical copy and add it to my shelf.

(Also I recommend looking at the beautiful art print for this book on S.T. Gibsons Instagram)

Don’t go into this novel expecting another “A Dowry of Blood” because it is its very own story. Pacing was a bit slow in the first 1/4 but once it picked up it kept a good pace. Wrapping up of plot points felt a bit rushed at the end but still an enjoyable read. Thanks to Netgalley for the copy in exchange for a review.

I loved this book so much. The author does an amazing job creating a world of dark gothic romance and obsession. This dark academia retelling of Carmilla isn’t just another vampire story. The writing is so beautiful and draws you in from the very start. The world of Saint Perpetua College is blood drenched and full of secrets and it honestly felt like a book you could just languish in. The ending was tantalizingly perfect and left you wanting more. I already loved a Dowry of Blood from the same author but this might have been even better.

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

An Education in Malice was easily my most anticipated read for 2024. As a huge S.T. Gibson fan, I decided to go into this book completely blind and was very excited once I started to put the pieces together.

Gibson, as expected, really excels in creating the most atmospheric setting possible which immediately sucked me in. There was something incredibly satisfying about not only being able to picture but also to feel Gibson’s writing. Their writing is truly sublime and very consistent throughout the book, thus keeping me engaged throughout the story. I found the characters to be consistent in both their motivations and their voices. I have never highlighted a book so much; Gibson is truly talented.

I was absolutely enamoured by De Lafontaine, Laura, and Carmilla. I all but salivated at the mouth any time De Lafontaine gave Carmilla a crumb of affection. SPOILERS AHEAD! It was easy enough to figure out she was a vampire but I was particularly impressed by Gibson’s ability—and almost insistence—on maintaining De Lafontaine’s humanity. Despite De Lafontaine’s obsession with Carmilla, she was much less cruel than I anticipated and, in a way, hoped. I kept waiting for their relationship to escalate—romantically as well as in terms of the tension due to said obsession—but found it mostly tame. I think I was a little disappointed by that. While well executed, I wanted to be just a little darker, a little angstier, a little more than it was.

Similarly to my thoughts on how the makeshift throuple’s relationship could have been more, especially more angsty, I found that the book was almost stagnant in terms of emotions. The atmosphere that Gibson introduced and created at the beginning is consistent, yes, but there was no escalation of emotions. One example is the indication that Laura is interested in BSDM elements. While I didn’t expect Gibson to delve into that aspect of Laura’s interests and personality, I anticipated seeing a shift in her relationship with Carmilla once Carmilla was turned. Given Carmilla’s obviously more powerful physique, I anticipated seeing a shift in her submissiveness to Laura in more ways than it was expressed.

When it came to Isis, I was a little unsatisfied with the way that unfolded. I wanted more emotion and intrigue out of her reawakening. I kept expecting other students or staff to notice more than they did, and I think I ended up disappointed when they didn’t. The climax was quite underwhelming and led to a rather rushed ending to the three women involved.</spoiler>

Overall I was very pleased with An Education in Malice and want nothing more than to delve right back into De Lafontaine’s apartment with Laura and Carmilla. It was certainly an enjoyable read, and I will easily purchase the book as soon as it is released, but the last 10% or so lost a lot of steam for me thus making me feel like the ending was okay rather than spectacular. My overall rating is titillating between 3.75 and 4 stars.

Thank you to Redhook Books, S.T. Gibson, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

S.T. Gibson is a genius when it comes to writing dark academia that'll have you thrown directly into the story, I was completely enthralled with the characters and the setting! The dual POVs had me even more invested in this book and seeing the obsession between each MC was such a treat. Sapphic vampires and dark academia all wrapped up beautifully in a carmilla retelling was exactly what I needed at the moment and S.T. Gibson, like always, did not disappoint!

This was a good sequel to A Dowry of Blood. But I guess that is why I am a little disappointed It was only good, not GREAT the way S.T. Gibson normally is to me. I do need to stop and say, I loved the beginning, the animosity/rivalry between Laura and Carmilla was riviting- at first. It’s the “to lovers” part of rivals to lovers that just didn’t quite meet my expectations. I didn’t really believe that their connection ran as deep when they got together. And I felt like the academia vibe was lost around midway through the story...
Anyway, the writing was gorgeous, no doubt about it. I just wish I could love the characters more.

Laura, a talented aspiring writer, is accepted to Saint Perpetua’s College where on day one starts a rivalry with Carmilla. Carmilla, the teacher’s pet, is finally being challenged by someone in terms of skill and the attention of the teacher, De Lafontaine. De Lafontaine, a poetry professor, has way too many secrets of her past and current relationship with select students. When Laura and Carmilla start to get closer they become something more than rivals.

“An Education in Malice” by S. T. Gibson is a fantasy book with F/F relationships. First, the cover is absolutely beautiful. However beautiful the cover is though I didn’t love the characters especially the teacher and Carmilla. There was a lot of boring down time in the beginning and in some other parts. The book was decent though, definitely worth reading at least once. 3 out of 5 stars, I liked it.

4.25 stars rounded down

What an immersive, fascinating, and different read. I found Laura and Carmilla to be such interesting and captivating protagonists. The balance of their draws to their respective girlhoods and the traumas of them were so fascinating to me. I wish there had been more about Laura's balance of religion with her sexuality and her eventual draw to Carmilla and Evelyn. It felt a little rushed that she wanted to join the priesthood but barely questioned the murder and the need to hurt others for vampires to survive. I really enjoyed how Evelyn, and in some ways Carmilla, explored the cycle of love and abuse and how it can be broken. A fantastic read I will definitely be thinking about for a long time.