Isn’t this cover design absolutely beautiful?

Inspired in part by Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu, An Education in Malice is set in the same story world as S T Gibson’s previous book. It’s the story of two rival girls in a prestigious poetry program at a Massachusetts college in the 60’s. They hate each other on sight, but soon start to feel drawn to each other. However, their professor had other plans, wanting to keep talented Carmilla to herself and for her own designs.

The book opens with a list of things that may upset or unsettle readers, which is something I haven’t seen often before, but makes sense for the target audience of this book, who may want to know what they’re getting into ahead of time.

The book loosely alternates between narrators, with our two lead girls narrating their sides of the story.

I love dark academia, and I liked the idea of a 60’s set Carmilla, vampire, love story. Why not? This one felt a little over written for me. The characters voices don’t feel different from each other, and the characters describe themselves almost in a list, rather than the author showing us who they are. The poetry the girls write is bad. Some of the dialogue is too. Phrases like “I’ve always been precocious about religion” pepper the book. There’s also a part where the villain of the piece conveniently grows a conscience and changes course, which feels a bit abrupt.

So, it’s a bit flawed.

I do think though that if you like the idea of a lesbian romance, vampires and a old spooky college setting, then you might like this. I think the things that bothered me, might not bother a romance reader or young adult fiction readers. It might be the kind of melodramatic style and tone that feel like heightened drama to you, and just adds to the romantic aspect. So, if that’s you, then try this one out. It’s certainly got a gorgeous cover and atmospheric vibes.

Read It If: you’re into vampires, dark academia and sapphic romances, this book has you covered. It was a bit overwritten for me, but might be the right tone foy young adult fic readers.

Thank you to the publisher for the copy of this book for review.