Synopsis:
A dark, atmospheric tale of deadly secrets and forbidden love.
Mortui vivos docent.
The dead teach the living.

After watching my mother succumb to a mysterious illness, I promised myself two things. I’d find the cure for what ravaged her. And leave the godforsaken city where she abandoned me.

Four years later, I receive an acceptance letter from Dracadia University, one of the oldest, most prestigious schools in the country. Nestled on a secluded island off the coast of Maine, it’s rumored to be haunted by the souls of the mental patients exiled there centuries before. Those whose bones are said to make up the island’s white sandy shores.

And restless ghosts aren’t even its most daunting peculiarity.

Devryck Bramwell, known on campus as Doctor Death, is a brilliant pathologist in charge of the midnight lab. He’s also my devastatingly handsome professor, who seems to loathe tenacious first-years, like me. Except, his dark and enigmatic gaze tells me all the ways he’d devour me if given the chance, and his stolen kisses burn my lips with forbidden jealousy.

I crave his authority.
He aches for redemption.
Together, we’re toxic. Delicious fodder for the prying eyes hellbent on exhuming the rotted skeletons of our pasts.

For the dead have much to teach, and it’s only a matter of time before Dracadia’s most depraved secret is resurrected.

Nocticadia is a standalone dark academia gothic romance.

Review:
“What separates monsters from good men is only a matter of perspective.” (page 80)

This book is one of the absolute best dark romances I’ve read. Diving headfirst into Lilia’s life, there’s drama, there’s the unknown, and there’s a girl who had to grow up too fast. I wish all dark academia books were similar to this one; for this is so much greater than the others I have read, they cannot even be compared. This book is long, but not an epic though I certainly wouldn’t let that deter you because there was always something going on that made it nearly impossible for me to set this book down. I was absolutely enthralled and couldn’t wait to read the “freebie” novella Phobia afterwards (which you can get at the end of the novel).

There are certainly some trigger warnings associated with this book, and this type of taboo isn’t going to be for everyone. There is a lot more drama and behind the scenes politics than one might think at the beginning of the novel. One thing that certainly made this book stand apart in the dark academia genre would be that Lilia is old enough to be in college; older than an average freshman. She also has seen things, and while she might not be overtly experienced romantically, she isn’t some brand new to society hermit looking for connections wherever they find her; she has a particularly goal, and she doesn’t want to let anything stand in her way from understanding and continuing to fight against letting what happened to her mother happen to other people.

Every time I thought, okay, this is it, there were A LOT of hidden secrets and such; BAM, another twist is revealed. This book is perfection, and I am not sure I’ll ever find an equivalent dark academia to this ever again. There’s such tension, so many stakes, and undeniable connections. If you like dark romance, or dark academia, I dare you to take a chance on this book.

Star rating: ✯✯✯✯✯
Spice rating: 🌶️🌶️🌶️