by De Elizabeth
First published 2026
Mallory Webb arrives at her mother's old college in Rhode Island, ready to leave her troubled past behind. The former sanitarium now serves as a liberal arts campus where she lands the lead in Romeo and Juliet. Her fresh start crumbles when the blood-covered specter that killed her mother returns after years of silence. Armed only with mysterious markings from an old college notebook, Mallory searches the campus for answers before she suffers her mother's fate. She finds an unexpected partner in Ezra Pierce, the charismatic senior directing the play. Their attraction grows strong, but Ezra guards dangerous secrets about Saskia Garin, Mallory's understudy whose history matches her own in disturbing ways. An ancient evil emerges to claim a debt from the New England vampire panic. Mallory, Ezra, and Saskia must uncover how their families' tragic pasts connect and confront the deadly price of their forbidden romance.
Genres: horror, supernatural, young-adult, mystery-thriller, paranormal-romance, dark-academia
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, eerie, haunting, romantic-tension, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family, mystery-unfolding, slow-burn-romance
Setting: Rhode Island, New England, college campus, former sanitarium
Period: contemporary
432 pages · Paperback · Dutton
Content warnings: death, murder, violence