Synopsis:
Discover a stunning, dark academia horror-romance by Taylor Grothe. Lethal Kiss is perfect for the morally grey sapphic romance readers and fans of Ali Hazelwood’s Bride.
Knowledge isn’t the only thing she’s hungry for . . .
Three centuries on Earth have taught Marcella one thing: when the bodies pile up, it’s time to move. Now a ‘quiet’ professor at Preston University, she’s keeping her profile low and her kills even lower. But when another academic is murdered and it isn’t her doing, she has to rethink her plans . . .
Lacie knows her coworkers aren’t just quitting — they’re vanishing. The only person she trusts to help is Marcella: the beautiful, aloof newcomer with a predatory grace. Together, they uncover a hunger festering beneath the campus marble that rivals Marcella’s own.
As the body count rises, so does an unlikely attraction. Marcella is a monster, but Lacie is becoming something just as dangerous. In a place built on spilled blood, they might be each other’s only hope —provided Marcella doesn’t eat her partner first.
Class is in session. Survival is extra credit . . .
Review:
A blood-soaked dark academia, sapphic horror-romance.
Marcella is a 300-year-old supernatural entity (a draugr / undead Norse creature) who takes a job as a professor at Preston University.
Lacie is an ambitious assistant professor desperate to reap rewards from the high-stress, cutthroat academic tenure track.
When coworkers begin violently dying and vanishing across campus, Marcella realises she isn’t the one doing the killing.
This nailed the man-dominated, academic professor rat race. Contrasted by the relationship between Lacie and Marcella which is empowering, hot, and sensual. Marcella oozes seduction, power, as well as restraint.
Maybe I’m reading into it, but the pacing felt like it echoed the grind of academia with slow burn and sudden violent and feral action.
In terms of this falling into academia, there is little academic or professor activities. Instead, the focus is on institutional microcosms and the constant belittling based on gender expectations.
I wish this leaned harder into the supernatural elements regarding the Norse mythology. This changed from campy and bloody (this is comped to Jennifer’s Body) and trying to lean into a more serious critique.
I appreciated the sapphic romance, especially in a setting where women are usually lacking power. However, deliberately done or not, there is still a toxic imbalance.
I would hesitate to call this is a slow burn though and would say this leans towards physical lust over emotional intimacy.
I wanted this to have a greater emphasis on the mystery and to be more slow burn – in terms of romance and plot.
It was a refreshing, unique dark academia romance that was a little too uneven in pacing and tone for me.
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