Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

As a fan of the original Carmilla and just vampires in general, this was such a welcome addition to the genre! This book distinctly felt like a love letter to the original, while adding a fun dark academia background and a more explicit sapphic relationship (definitely more explicit, like is anyone else feeling the HEAT in here or is it just me?).

The development of Carmilla and Laura's relationship was also wonderful. The enemies to lovers (or academic rivals to lovers) trope is one that is fairly uncharted territory for me because I do feel like in some circumstances it can lead to glorifying abuse from one party to another. However, this relationship did not give me any of those vibes, and I absolutely loved their chemistry!

I also really enjoyed the ending!

Spoiler

Sometimes more open-ended books absolutely kill me, but leaving Laura with the choice to turn at the very end felt very hopeful and not like an annoying cliffhanger like these endings often do to me.

Publication Date: Feb 13, 2024