It’s no surprise I enjoyed this book – a dark academia retelling of the sapphic vampire classic Carmilla? Of course I jumped to read it! And I had such a great time too.

This book was such a page turner. I kept telling myself “just one more chapter” until I finally admitted to myself that I needed to set aside the next few hours to devour it. S. T. Gibson creates the world so vividly that I was instantly drawn into it; I felt like I was there.

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The first half is classic dark academia. We have a vintage New England setting, an after-hours poetry group, and a rivalry between Carmilla and Laura for the attention of their professor, De Lafontaine. While it felt quite removed from the source material, it was very enjoyable in its own right.

The second half of the book takes a strong vampiric turn! Both the reader and the characters are thrown into the vampire underworld, as an ancient vampire is resurrected and begins attacking innocent citizens. While the school setting remains, it becomes pure paranormal adventure, as Laura, Carmilla, and De Lafontaine try to put things right. Gibson really embraces the dark and sensual side of vampire lore, which makes for some very compelling character relationships.

It did feel slightly like a book of two halves, and I would have liked the dark academia themes to be mixed with the vampire themes a little bit more. It ended with a fizzle rather than with a bang, but that aside, this was a thoroughly enjoyable read that I became obsessed with the whole time I was reading it!

I received a free copy for an honest review.