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Gothikana meets Dexter in this sinfully delicious dark romance about a horror-obsessed film student who's secretly tracking the murders of a serial killer--unaware he's also her brooding professor.
There's a serial killer prowling the city, and no one has noticed...
Except for me.
I see the connections between his kills--
The artistic references,
The careful curation of the scene,
The macabre motifs that turn violence into vivid works of art.
When I recreate one of his murders for my film project at Cresswell University,
I unknowingly present it to the very man who committed the crime.
Professor Maddox Shaw.
A world-renowned artist struggling to recapture his muse.
A serial killer caught deep in the web of a dangerous secret society.
A man who makes me come alive.
Sleeping with your professor is bad enough.
Sleeping with a serial killer is just asking for trouble.
When trouble finds me, it's not Maddox, but the powerful people pulling his strings.
There's no line they won't cross to keep their secrets safe.
And there's no line Maddox won't cross to keep me.
After all, he's good at killing people.
There's a serial killer prowling the city, and no one has noticed...
Except for me.
I see the connections between his kills--
The artistic references,
The careful curation of the scene,
The macabre motifs that turn violence into vivid works of art.
When I recreate one of his murders for my film project at Cresswell University,
I unknowingly present it to the very man who committed the crime.
Professor Maddox Shaw.
A world-renowned artist struggling to recapture his muse.
A serial killer caught deep in the web of a dangerous secret society.
A man who makes me come alive.
Sleeping with your professor is bad enough.
Sleeping with a serial killer is just asking for trouble.
When trouble finds me, it's not Maddox, but the powerful people pulling his strings.
There's no line they won't cross to keep their secrets safe.
And there's no line Maddox won't cross to keep me.
After all, he's good at killing people.
400 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 4, 2026
About the author
Avina St. Graves
8 books5,694 followersFrom an early age, romance author Avina St. Graves spent her days imagining fantasy worlds and dreamy fictional men, which spurred on her introverted tendencies. In all her day dreaming, there seemed to be a reoccurring theme of morally grey female characters, love interests who belonged in prison, and unnecessary trauma and bloodshed.
When she isn't reading, writing, doom scrolling, or figuring out how to make red flags look green, you can find her holed up in bed, combating the three Ps: back pain, neck pain, and knee pain.
When she isn't reading, writing, doom scrolling, or figuring out how to make red flags look green, you can find her holed up in bed, combating the three Ps: back pain, neck pain, and knee pain.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 738 reviews
Want to Read
August 15, 2026Professor x student trope
Serial killer x detective trope
Yes sign me up thank you
Serial killer x detective trope
Yes sign me up thank you
August 5, 2026
i can tell this book fed the family
![Profile Image for Saranya [uni- s.ia.].](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/users/1786610860i/187457635._UX200_CR0,0,200,200_.jpg)
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
She is obsessed with recreating the city’s most gruesome unsolved murders for her senior project. He is the professor grading her work and the hidden hand behind the crimes she’s bringing to life.
ᰔᩚ professor x student
ᰔᩚ age gap
ᰔᩚ secret society
ᰔᩚ found family
ᰔᩚ murder
ᰔᩚ dark academia vibes
This was exactly what I needed for my current mood. Having previously read Skin of a Sinner, I couldn't wait to dive into another one of this author's worlds. I really, really loved Reyna, the fmc of this book. Her character was much interesting and stronger than that of Belle. While Maddox, who is the mmc of this book, was compelling, Roman still is unbeatable.
But here's a thing- I don't really want to read any book in a male's pov. Most of his pov's were filled with lust!
Regardless of that, this was unputdownable. I absolutely devoured it. And oh my, what a spectacle of the plot twist that was!
────୨ৎ────────୨ৎ────────୨ৎ────────୨ৎ────
commentary:
~ He aCtUaLLy committed a murder with a bReAd kNiFe?!!?!!
~ Uhh, there's a mistake in their age gap here. It was mentioned 7 years gap and now it's saying 11 years age gap.
~ Bahaha, the fmc just called him "the human embodiment of viral infection." Love you, girlie<3
~ My head is absolutely steaming right now. The mmc made a horrible first impression, and people with that disposition always irritate me.
────୨ৎ────────୨ৎ────────୨ৎ────────୨ৎ────
Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the arc in exchange for an honest review.
Publication Date: 4 August 2026
ᰔᩚ professor x student
ᰔᩚ age gap
ᰔᩚ secret society
ᰔᩚ found family
ᰔᩚ murder
ᰔᩚ dark academia vibes
This was exactly what I needed for my current mood. Having previously read Skin of a Sinner, I couldn't wait to dive into another one of this author's worlds. I really, really loved Reyna, the fmc of this book. Her character was much interesting and stronger than that of Belle. While Maddox, who is the mmc of this book, was compelling, Roman still is unbeatable.
But here's a thing- I don't really want to read any book in a male's pov. Most of his pov's were filled with lust!
Regardless of that, this was unputdownable. I absolutely devoured it. And oh my, what a spectacle of the plot twist that was!
────୨ৎ────────୨ৎ────────୨ৎ────────୨ৎ────
commentary:
~ He aCtUaLLy committed a murder with a bReAd kNiFe?!!?!!
~ Uhh, there's a mistake in their age gap here. It was mentioned 7 years gap and now it's saying 11 years age gap.
~ Bahaha, the fmc just called him "the human embodiment of viral infection." Love you, girlie<3
~ My head is absolutely steaming right now. The mmc made a horrible first impression, and people with that disposition always irritate me.
────୨ৎ────────୨ৎ────────୨ৎ────────୨ৎ────
Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the arc in exchange for an honest review.
Publication Date: 4 August 2026
Want to Read
August 13, 2026𝖣𝖺𝗋𝗄 𝖺𝖼𝖺𝖽𝖾𝗆𝗂𝖺, 𝗉𝗋𝗈𝖿𝖾𝗌𝗌𝗈𝗋 𝗑 𝗌𝗍𝗎𝖽𝖾𝗇𝗍, 𝖺𝗀𝖾 𝗀𝖺𝗉, 𝗌𝖾𝖼𝗋𝖾𝗍 𝗌𝗈𝖼𝗂𝖾𝗍𝗒?? 𝖲𝗈𝗎𝗇𝖽𝗌 𝗉𝖾𝗋𝖿𝖾𝖼𝗍 𝗍𝗈 𝗆𝖾🙂↕️
Read
April 5, 2026the dark romance girlies will love maddox shaw🙂↕️
full rtc closer to pub day
full rtc closer to pub day
August 18, 2026
"The things I want to do to you, love." His voice comes out hoarse.
Strained.
Possessed."
𓏲 ๋࣭ ࣪ 4.75 🌟
I loved whatever was wrong with this , and please ? Professor Shaw 😩😩😩
And hell yes , reading goal done🤭
Yall know how much i love a good professor x student , and this people was a HIT .
This was so so so unhinged and messy , and I ATE IT UPPP .
Hear me out : She's into crime scenes from that ONE serial killer, her film project is based on his kills and murders and she has to send them to her professor, who spoiler alert, is THE hot as fuck husband material serial killer who's called Professor Shaw *his name only makes me swoon*🤭
Guys I loved this , and that's putting ut low , everything was perfect about this , the plot, how the mystery element unfolded, the witty banter between Reyna and Shaw , the tension between them , the possessiveness, the damn spice too 😩. Everything was mwah, and just how I love it .
I went into this with high expectations, and damn they were met , it's crazy , spicy and fear and I enjoyed every second of it
Reyna is so baddass , she's a film student who gets her inspo from a serial killer by sneaking and studying his murder scenes (totally illegal) , she's witty and hard-headed and never bossed around , I love my girlie so much . She went through some hard familly stuff , and suffered from severe depression , I would have loved to you know see more of it but I guess this book was mostly focused on the crime element which totally made up for it.
Daddy Madox Shaw , my husband , my other half , my soul mate. He's the grumpy serial killer professor , hot as fuck , and is head over heels over Reyna . I LOVE that man people, lemme explain why :
⤿She had a nut allergy , so what does this amazing man do ? He carries an epi pen everywhere with him and kicks a student from his class because he was eating some nuts and establishes a "no nuts" rule just for her 🤭
⤿ he calls her LOVE, and thats a good enough reason 🤭
⤿He learns her favorite snacks , so he can leave them for her on his crime scenes when she sneaks in .
⤿She is out of inspiration , so he murders new people just for her so she can finish her projects (crazy but I love it ) , bonus point she once wondered how effective is dismemberment with a butter knife , so he kills his next victim with a butter knife 😩🥺
⤿He is so obsessed that he can't breath when he isn't around her , so he sneaks in ebery night into her room and watches her sleep
What more does a girl need 🙏
Why not a full 5 stars ? Well, the whole Shepherd drama could have been done a little inny whinny better , and I had seen it coming to be honest but still I enjoyed it nonetheless 🤷♀️
---
Pre-Read:
You dont know how high my expectations are right now , please be like Gothicana 😩
Saw this on ig and added it to my tbr just to find out it wasnt released yet 💔
But good side ? Professor x student romance where she is obsessed with crimes but her professor ends being the criminal she searching for. Yep am in
Strained.
Possessed."
𓏲 ๋࣭ ࣪ 4.75 🌟
I loved whatever was wrong with this , and please ? Professor Shaw 😩😩😩
And hell yes , reading goal done🤭
Yall know how much i love a good professor x student , and this people was a HIT .
This was so so so unhinged and messy , and I ATE IT UPPP .
Hear me out : She's into crime scenes from that ONE serial killer, her film project is based on his kills and murders and she has to send them to her professor, who spoiler alert, is THE hot as fuck husband material serial killer who's called Professor Shaw *his name only makes me swoon*🤭
Guys I loved this , and that's putting ut low , everything was perfect about this , the plot, how the mystery element unfolded, the witty banter between Reyna and Shaw , the tension between them , the possessiveness, the damn spice too 😩. Everything was mwah, and just how I love it .
I went into this with high expectations, and damn they were met , it's crazy , spicy and fear and I enjoyed every second of it
Reyna is so baddass , she's a film student who gets her inspo from a serial killer by sneaking and studying his murder scenes (totally illegal) , she's witty and hard-headed and never bossed around , I love my girlie so much . She went through some hard familly stuff , and suffered from severe depression , I would have loved to you know see more of it but I guess this book was mostly focused on the crime element which totally made up for it.
Daddy Madox Shaw , my husband , my other half , my soul mate. He's the grumpy serial killer professor , hot as fuck , and is head over heels over Reyna . I LOVE that man people, lemme explain why :
⤿She had a nut allergy , so what does this amazing man do ? He carries an epi pen everywhere with him and kicks a student from his class because he was eating some nuts and establishes a "no nuts" rule just for her 🤭
⤿ he calls her LOVE, and thats a good enough reason 🤭
⤿He learns her favorite snacks , so he can leave them for her on his crime scenes when she sneaks in .
⤿She is out of inspiration , so he murders new people just for her so she can finish her projects (crazy but I love it ) , bonus point she once wondered how effective is dismemberment with a butter knife , so he kills his next victim with a butter knife 😩🥺
⤿He is so obsessed that he can't breath when he isn't around her , so he sneaks in ebery night into her room and watches her sleep
What more does a girl need 🙏
Why not a full 5 stars ? Well, the whole Shepherd drama could have been done a little inny whinny better , and I had seen it coming to be honest but still I enjoyed it nonetheless 🤷♀️
---
Pre-Read:
You dont know how high my expectations are right now , please be like Gothicana 😩
Saw this on ig and added it to my tbr just to find out it wasnt released yet 💔
But good side ? Professor x student romance where she is obsessed with crimes but her professor ends being the criminal she searching for. Yep am in
August 15, 2026
❛ 𝑤𝑒'𝑟𝑒 𝑎 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑒. 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑜𝑥 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑡𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟. 𝑖'𝑚 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑒'𝑠 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒. 𝑖'𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑎𝑠𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ. 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑎 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖'𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑎 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑟. ❜
✧˖°. ┆★★★★ ¾ — 𝟰.𝟳𝟱 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘀
₊ 🔪 ⊹ 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑠 ⋆˚࿔
i've learnt three things reading this book: one, i have a fetish for artsy serial killers, two, i have a thing for black and pink covers (one and two relate to butcher and blackbird as well, one of my fav books of all time - noticing a pattern here??), and three, i love the professor x student trope 🤭
i actually had THE best time reading this!! it was so fun and so incredibly vibe-y and i literally couldn't put it down i read it b4 bed, when i woke up, in my car; anytime i could read, i did. i didn't understand any of the art references but everything abt it was so freaking cool and it didn't really matter bcuz i was super engaged anyway!! the mystery aspect didn't reeeaally grip me, i kind of alr guessed what happened w reyna's dad, but it didn't rlly take away from the book so it was chill.
the playlist i made for this book was also FIRE and the perfect length!! if that isn't a sign i don't know what is bcuz i can count on one hand the number of times that's happened. i cackled sooo much reading this - i'm literally giggly just thinking abt it. i absoultely adoreeeed this book and i will def be reading more books by avina st. graves in the future!!
🖤 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 ˙⋆✮
𝑟𝑒𝑦𝑛𝑎 ⋆·˚ ༘ *
I LOVE HERRR!! first of all, her pink ink project was so freaking cool!? i'm not someone that's into art like at all but i was soooo interested throughout the whole book and i reckon it was actually one of my favourite things abt it!! (well i loved everything but still) reyna was sooo super funny and just cool and interesting ugh i actually love her sooo much!! a lot of the things she said and her reactions were what made me laugh while reading, and i also loved how emotional she was and how she was never afraid to speak her mind, her honesty was so nice to read abt. i also adore her name lols it's literally so prettyy
𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑜𝑥 ⛧⋆˚࿔⋆
omfg this MANNNNN 🙂↕️🙇♀️ maddox shaw and his pretty green eyes, messy hair, glasses, muscles, and sexy british accent can literally come bite me 🫦 agh he's sooo fine dare i say my dream man...no but seriously i'm down bad for fictional serial killers in general, but ARTSY serial killers?? stop it i'm easy 🤲⛓️💥 his love for his art and attention to detail and knowledge abt it was sooo interesting to read abt, and smart men r such a turn-on i totally get the professor x student trope now. he was also just hilarious and super sweettt, his love for his brother was adorable <3
🩷 𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𐙚⋆°｡⋆♡
their meet-cute had me dead i can't 😂 and when she showed up to class and HE was her professor?? DONE ✋ insanely good start. every time he called her love it did things to me. a british man calling me love would be my downfall too. i thiiiiink this was my first book w the professor x student trope and BOYYY DID I EAT IT UPPP!! THE TENSIONNNN WAS *MWAH* chefs kiss 👌 had me going insaaaane. the admiration and interest they had for each other from the very start was one of my (many) favourite things abt their love - it wasn't just insta-lust. they way they know and understand each other was just perfecttt!! this was one of those few books i've read where i adore the way love is written that makes it feel like the magical thing it is in movies and media <3 the way they drew inspiration from each other and dedicated their art to each other was TOOO GOOD!! HE LITERALLY DEDICATED HIS WHOLE EXHIBIT TO HER!? AHHHH BRB SCREAMING. and for ur information, the smut was great 🙂↕️ mr. shaw and miss sinaga?? folded ✋ they were HOT 🫦🤭
🎧 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑦𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡 ‧₊ ♪˚⊹
⤿ shh...don't say it - fletcher
⤿ how could u love somebody like me - artemas
⤿ into it - chase atlantic
⤿ muse - isabel larosa
⤿ mustang baby - nessa barrett, artemas
⤿ passenger princess - nessa barrett
⤿ free - madison beer
⤿ scary love - the neighbourhood
⤿ do i wanna know? - dove cameron
⤿ killin' it girl - j-hope, glorilla
⤿ got me obsessed - jade lemac
⤿ pretty baby - ella boh
⤿ dirty little secret - nessa barrett
ılı.lıllılıı.ıllı..
𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 ‧₊ ♪˚⊹
do i wanna know? ❘ dove cameron
0:47 ─•────── -3:05
⇆ㅤ ◁◁ ❚❚ ▷▷ㅤ ↻
⁀➴ ❛ (𝑑𝑜 𝑖 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑎 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤?) 𝑖𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑠 𝑏𝑜𝑡ℎ 𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠?, (𝑠𝑎𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑔𝑜) 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑖𝑛' 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑦 ❜
💌 𝑞𝑢𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑠 ⛧⋆˚࿔⋆
✧ ❛ ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑝𝑖𝑒𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑝𝑖𝑒𝑐𝑒? ❜
✧ ❛ 𝑖 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟, 𝑏𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑐𝑟𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟, 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙, 𝑖 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑒𝑟, 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑎𝑟𝑡. ❜
✧ ❛ 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝑖𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖'𝑚 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑏𝑠𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑠 𝑎 𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑒. ❜
✧ ❛ 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑐𝑦. ❜
✧ ❛ 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑎 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟. 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔. ❜
✧ ❛ 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑙. ❜
✧ ❛ 𝑖’𝑣𝑒 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑎 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑚𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢. ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑎 𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢. 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑠. 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒. 𝑠𝑜 𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝑖𝑡 𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑦: 𝑖 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑜𝑜, 𝑟𝑒𝑦𝑛𝑎. ❜
. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. ⏾⋆.˚ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.
⏾⋆.˚ ┆ 𝘱𝘳𝘦-𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 .ᐟ ₊ 🔪 ⊹ 🩷
you had me at serial killer, you had my soul at professor x student. i'm alr in love w this author bcuz wdym this book has a playlist that is not only perfect and incredible but has some of my fav songs?? ✋ just marry me atp. i also ADORE this cover and title i just know this is gonna eat 😈 xx
✧˖°. ┆★★★★ ¾ — 𝟰.𝟳𝟱 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘀
₊ 🔪 ⊹ 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑠 ⋆˚࿔
i've learnt three things reading this book: one, i have a fetish for artsy serial killers, two, i have a thing for black and pink covers (one and two relate to butcher and blackbird as well, one of my fav books of all time - noticing a pattern here??), and three, i love the professor x student trope 🤭
i actually had THE best time reading this!! it was so fun and so incredibly vibe-y and i literally couldn't put it down i read it b4 bed, when i woke up, in my car; anytime i could read, i did. i didn't understand any of the art references but everything abt it was so freaking cool and it didn't really matter bcuz i was super engaged anyway!! the mystery aspect didn't reeeaally grip me, i kind of alr guessed what happened w reyna's dad, but it didn't rlly take away from the book so it was chill.
the playlist i made for this book was also FIRE and the perfect length!! if that isn't a sign i don't know what is bcuz i can count on one hand the number of times that's happened. i cackled sooo much reading this - i'm literally giggly just thinking abt it. i absoultely adoreeeed this book and i will def be reading more books by avina st. graves in the future!!
🖤 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 ˙⋆✮
𝑟𝑒𝑦𝑛𝑎 ⋆·˚ ༘ *
I LOVE HERRR!! first of all, her pink ink project was so freaking cool!? i'm not someone that's into art like at all but i was soooo interested throughout the whole book and i reckon it was actually one of my favourite things abt it!! (well i loved everything but still) reyna was sooo super funny and just cool and interesting ugh i actually love her sooo much!! a lot of the things she said and her reactions were what made me laugh while reading, and i also loved how emotional she was and how she was never afraid to speak her mind, her honesty was so nice to read abt. i also adore her name lols it's literally so prettyy
𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑜𝑥 ⛧⋆˚࿔⋆
omfg this MANNNNN 🙂↕️🙇♀️ maddox shaw and his pretty green eyes, messy hair, glasses, muscles, and sexy british accent can literally come bite me 🫦 agh he's sooo fine dare i say my dream man...no but seriously i'm down bad for fictional serial killers in general, but ARTSY serial killers?? stop it i'm easy 🤲⛓️💥 his love for his art and attention to detail and knowledge abt it was sooo interesting to read abt, and smart men r such a turn-on i totally get the professor x student trope now. he was also just hilarious and super sweettt, his love for his brother was adorable <3
🩷 𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𐙚⋆°｡⋆♡
their meet-cute had me dead i can't 😂 and when she showed up to class and HE was her professor?? DONE ✋ insanely good start. every time he called her love it did things to me. a british man calling me love would be my downfall too. i thiiiiink this was my first book w the professor x student trope and BOYYY DID I EAT IT UPPP!! THE TENSIONNNN WAS *MWAH* chefs kiss 👌 had me going insaaaane. the admiration and interest they had for each other from the very start was one of my (many) favourite things abt their love - it wasn't just insta-lust. they way they know and understand each other was just perfecttt!! this was one of those few books i've read where i adore the way love is written that makes it feel like the magical thing it is in movies and media <3 the way they drew inspiration from each other and dedicated their art to each other was TOOO GOOD!! HE LITERALLY DEDICATED HIS WHOLE EXHIBIT TO HER!? AHHHH BRB SCREAMING. and for ur information, the smut was great 🙂↕️ mr. shaw and miss sinaga?? folded ✋ they were HOT 🫦🤭
🎧 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑦𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡 ‧₊ ♪˚⊹
⤿ shh...don't say it - fletcher
⤿ how could u love somebody like me - artemas
⤿ into it - chase atlantic
⤿ muse - isabel larosa
⤿ mustang baby - nessa barrett, artemas
⤿ passenger princess - nessa barrett
⤿ free - madison beer
⤿ scary love - the neighbourhood
⤿ do i wanna know? - dove cameron
⤿ killin' it girl - j-hope, glorilla
⤿ got me obsessed - jade lemac
⤿ pretty baby - ella boh
⤿ dirty little secret - nessa barrett
ılı.lıllılıı.ıllı..
𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 ‧₊ ♪˚⊹
do i wanna know? ❘ dove cameron
0:47 ─•────── -3:05
⇆ㅤ ◁◁ ❚❚ ▷▷ㅤ ↻
⁀➴ ❛ (𝑑𝑜 𝑖 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑎 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤?) 𝑖𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑠 𝑏𝑜𝑡ℎ 𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠?, (𝑠𝑎𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑔𝑜) 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑖𝑛' 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑦 ❜
💌 𝑞𝑢𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑠 ⛧⋆˚࿔⋆
✧ ❛ ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑝𝑖𝑒𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑝𝑖𝑒𝑐𝑒? ❜
✧ ❛ 𝑖 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟, 𝑏𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑐𝑟𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟, 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙, 𝑖 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑒𝑟, 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑎𝑟𝑡. ❜
✧ ❛ 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝑖𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖'𝑚 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑏𝑠𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑠 𝑎 𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑒. ❜
✧ ❛ 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑐𝑦. ❜
✧ ❛ 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑎 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟. 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔. ❜
✧ ❛ 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑙. ❜
✧ ❛ 𝑖’𝑣𝑒 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑎 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑚𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢. ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑎 𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢. 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑠. 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒. 𝑠𝑜 𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝑖𝑡 𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑦: 𝑖 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑜𝑜, 𝑟𝑒𝑦𝑛𝑎. ❜
. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. ⏾⋆.˚ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.
⏾⋆.˚ ┆ 𝘱𝘳𝘦-𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 .ᐟ ₊ 🔪 ⊹ 🩷
you had me at serial killer, you had my soul at professor x student. i'm alr in love w this author bcuz wdym this book has a playlist that is not only perfect and incredible but has some of my fav songs?? ✋ just marry me atp. i also ADORE this cover and title i just know this is gonna eat 😈 xx
Want to Read
August 8, 2026okay so i just found out through my fyp that this author is from newzealand? i will always support my fellow kiwi authors 🥹
August 11, 2026
Rating: 4
⭐️
He called her love, drew inspiration from her, customized his murders with things related to her, got on his knees to apologize, and dedicated his whole exhibit to her.
Maddow Shaw, everyone 🫦
Safety :
> Safe. Neither is with anyone else after meeting each other;
> OWD: 🚫
Although Maddox was engaged to another woman, it's entirely arranged by his family. Maddox could barely tolerate her, and wasn’t involved in any way with her. They kissed on the cheek maybe once, just for show.
> OMD: yes, from Reyna's friend. She went out with him once but nothing happened. She wasn't interested.
> Maddox wasn’t a manwhore. We also got no information regarding his past, except this quote: He’s well aware of the fact that I’ve kept to myself. I’m sure he knows that I’ve never been one to bring women to bed. Let alone students.
He called her love, drew inspiration from her, customized his murders with things related to her, got on his knees to apologize, and dedicated his whole exhibit to her.
Maddow Shaw, everyone 🫦
“The things I want to do to you, love.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry.” Maddox’s voice breaks and he tugs me closer. “I didn’t want to, but I thought it was the only way I could keep you safe. Until the day someone puts me in the dirt, the only person I’ll ever be is yours. My only regret in this life is that I made you think that you weren’t everything to me, and I’ll never forgive myself for that. You’re all I’ve ever wanted and everything I shouldn’t have.”
“Is that what you want? To see me on my knees, begging?” Maddox slides onto the floor, dropping to his knees between my parted legs. “Because I’ll crawl across glass if that’s what you want me to do. I’ll get on my knees every morning and every night if it means you’ll look at me again.”
He palms my thighs and rubs his hands over every curve of my body, anguished, like the only thing that can stop his torment is me and he won’t survive if I let him go.
A sob builds in my throat. “I can’t rely on your words, Maddox. They’ve lied to me before.”
“I’ll do anything. Name it, and it’s yours. I’ll gouge my heart right out of my chest if that’s what you want. Kill my own father if it makes you sleep easier. Anything at all, and I’ll do it.”
He drops lower onto his knees, gazing up at me in total despair. “Please, Reyna. Give me one more chance.”
I avert my eyes and wipe away my tears with my sleeve. “I don’t want to be made a fool of again.”
“You won’t. I promise.”
“I’ve killed a great many men for you. Harassed a substantial amount of the teaching body for you. Created and dedicated an entire collection to you because you consume every one of my thoughts. You alone brought me to life. So let me say it simply: I love you too, Reyna.” He pauses, then his smile turns wicked. “Now, if you’d be so kind as to follow me into the back, I need to see what your dress looks like on the floor.”
Safety :
> Safe. Neither is with anyone else after meeting each other;
> OWD: 🚫
Although Maddox was engaged to another woman, it's entirely arranged by his family. Maddox could barely tolerate her, and wasn’t involved in any way with her. They kissed on the cheek maybe once, just for show.
> OMD: yes, from Reyna's friend. She went out with him once but nothing happened. She wasn't interested.
> Maddox wasn’t a manwhore. We also got no information regarding his past, except this quote: He’s well aware of the fact that I’ve kept to myself. I’m sure he knows that I’ve never been one to bring women to bed. Let alone students.
Want to Read
April 3, 2026Only adding this because it's prof x student... praying this fmc isn't as insufferable as Bella🤢
August 14, 2026
I really thought I was going to absolutely love this book, but it ultimately boiled down to nothing...The forbidden romance between student Reyna and professor Maddox was wholly uninteresting and so instalusty. I wanted to love them so bad, but their mutual obsession just felt forced. And normally that can work in a dark romance, but these two built absolutely no connection; they didn't really have any deep conversations or moments to tie them together. It truly felt like their inner dialogue was just them lusting after one another for no real reason. I seem to be in the minority with my thoughts here, but I think this story had so much more potential. Where was the intrigue? Where was all the tension and chemistry? Not to mention how rushed and boring the ending was; everything came to a head in the last 10%, and it was so dissatisfying. The secret society mystery and all the dark academia vibes fell completely flat in this book. The premise was there but the execution was sorely lacking; this felt way too juvenile to be a dark romance that supposedly resembles Dexter and Gothikana. I think it's probably on me for having high hopes, because I can see this story working for so many other people, but I was just so disappointed
~Many thanks to Gallery for an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.
~Many thanks to Gallery for an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.
Want to Read
March 31, 2026im not a big dark romance reader BUT once i saw this was professor x student where he’s a serial killer and she’s recreating his murders for a film project for his class you know i had to request an arc right away 🤭
and yes i got the arc ◝(ᵔᗜᵔ)◜
and yes i got the arc ◝(ᵔᗜᵔ)◜
August 19, 2026
BANGERR!! RTC
August 8, 2026
I ATEEEE!!! this book up. The banter between Reyna and Maddox made me giggle because Rey didn't hold back and Maddox didn't also when they first met and you go wtf this asshole 🤣🤣🤣
And when they both find out he's her new sub professor she's intrested in learning from him. Taking his advice when she recreates murders for her senior project and well he's the subject since he's the serial killer, She's obessed with she just doesn't know it. I loved watching Maddox kill he made sure he set up the scene so his Lil muse would explain it to him. He loved that she saw him. I swear they were two peas in a pod. She was also looking for clues to her father's murder. 👀👀👀
It does take a minute for them to cross that path lots of sexual tension, building trust and losing it when secrets come out later in the story. And mind you Reyna didn’t care he was a serial killer she hated when he lied that he was engaged. Spoiler below on that. 😏 girl said with her whole chest you can kill but i ain't dating a cheater or being a cheater 🤣
Beside that mess the other thing that made me wanna slap Maddox was the "break up" because he didn't want his brother to go through what he went through. Glad he woke up and chose to be selfish and go after his girl.
Saftey- Maddox is engaged only thing they've done is she kissed his cheek and that was for show for the society. Thats all nothing sexual, he never wants to be near her. She is really nice she also doesn't wanna be with him she has a whole ass boyfriend. And Reyna has a cop friend who has a crush on her and goes on 1 date thats all.
Low angst, no ow/tiny om drama, Cheating (not between mains), Drama, sexy times, no virgins
Recommend-yes
Cover-⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Heat level-🌶🌶🌶
Slowburnish
Age gap
32mmc/22FMC
Gore
Secret society
Body mutilation
Arrange marriage (not between the mains)
Use of paintbrush
Praise kink
Torture
Exhibitionism
Seperation few weeks
Off page csa/sa
Assault to the main character
Mentions of self harm & Cancer
Scarring
Impact play
Breath play
Roleplay
Cockwarming
No condom
Hea
Epilogue
And when they both find out he's her new sub professor she's intrested in learning from him. Taking his advice when she recreates murders for her senior project and well he's the subject since he's the serial killer, She's obessed with she just doesn't know it. I loved watching Maddox kill he made sure he set up the scene so his Lil muse would explain it to him. He loved that she saw him. I swear they were two peas in a pod. She was also looking for clues to her father's murder. 👀👀👀
It does take a minute for them to cross that path lots of sexual tension, building trust and losing it when secrets come out later in the story. And mind you Reyna didn’t care he was a serial killer she hated when he lied that he was engaged. Spoiler below on that. 😏 girl said with her whole chest you can kill but i ain't dating a cheater or being a cheater 🤣
Beside that mess the other thing that made me wanna slap Maddox was the "break up" because he didn't want his brother to go through what he went through. Glad he woke up and chose to be selfish and go after his girl.
Saftey- Maddox is engaged only thing they've done is she kissed his cheek and that was for show for the society. Thats all nothing sexual, he never wants to be near her. She is really nice she also doesn't wanna be with him she has a whole ass boyfriend. And Reyna has a cop friend who has a crush on her and goes on 1 date thats all.
Low angst, no ow/tiny om drama, Cheating (not between mains), Drama, sexy times, no virgins
Recommend-yes
Cover-⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Heat level-🌶🌶🌶
Slowburnish
Age gap
32mmc/22FMC
Gore
Secret society
Body mutilation
Arrange marriage (not between the mains)
Use of paintbrush
Praise kink
Torture
Exhibitionism
Seperation few weeks
Off page csa/sa
Assault to the main character
Mentions of self harm & Cancer
Scarring
Impact play
Breath play
Roleplay
Cockwarming
No condom
Hea
Epilogue
March 27, 2026
Gallery Books and Netgalley out here making my day with this arc approval 🫶🏻
“𝑳𝒆𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓, 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆. 𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒍, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒉𝒖𝒏𝒈𝒓𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆.”
There’s just something about a serial killer romance that hits every time, and I loved Pink Ink so much!
𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗧𝗢 𝗘𝗫𝗣𝗘𝗖𝗧:
- professor x student
- age gap
- dark academia
- secret society
- serial unaliver
“𝑳𝒆𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓, 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆. 𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒍, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒉𝒖𝒏𝒈𝒓𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆.”
There’s just something about a serial killer romance that hits every time, and I loved Pink Ink so much!
𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗧𝗢 𝗘𝗫𝗣𝗘𝗖𝗧:
- professor x student
- age gap
- dark academia
- secret society
- serial unaliver
August 13, 2026
*3.5 ARTSY STARS*
"The only person who isn't good enough is me. I'm unworthy of every crumb you have to offer."
This was a nice read.
I adored the banter between Reyna and Maddox and their chemistry (and the spice) were top notch. The dark academia/artsy vibes and the added mystery aspect with the serial killing and secret society were great as well.
The pacing and execution sometimes felt a little off to me, what with the small time jumps each time there was a POV switch. Both Reyna and Maddox made some questionable decisions, but I'm willing to overlook that for the sake of the storyline. I am however a bit disappointed with the way things ended because it was all a little too easy somehow. So that's a little bit of a letdown.
Otherwise, a nice standalone read that had similar vibes to The Saint and Sinner Duet by Harmony West and the Sinners series by Sophie Lark.
"The only person who isn't good enough is me. I'm unworthy of every crumb you have to offer."
This was a nice read.
I adored the banter between Reyna and Maddox and their chemistry (and the spice) were top notch. The dark academia/artsy vibes and the added mystery aspect with the serial killing and secret society were great as well.
The pacing and execution sometimes felt a little off to me, what with the small time jumps each time there was a POV switch. Both Reyna and Maddox made some questionable decisions, but I'm willing to overlook that for the sake of the storyline. I am however a bit disappointed with the way things ended because it was all a little too easy somehow. So that's a little bit of a letdown.
Otherwise, a nice standalone read that had similar vibes to The Saint and Sinner Duet by Harmony West and the Sinners series by Sophie Lark.
August 7, 2026
this was so good. someone erase my memory so ican read it again. i need more of them
August 5, 2026
Did you ever have a crush on a professor in college?
When I was in college I took an online French class that required in-person exams. All my friends and I were so excited for test day because we all had a crush on the attractive young professor. I’m pretty sure the only words I ever spoke to him were “Thank you” and “Have a nice day” haha
Well, let me tell you… Reyna says a LOT more to Professor Maddox Shaw in Pink Ink by Avina St. Graves.
I haven’t read a dark romance (that wasn’t advertised as a dark rom com) in several months and Pink Ink really exceeded my expectations.
I loved the suspenseful spooky vibes of this book. Maddox Shaw is a serial killer that operates as a man who takes care of problems for a secret society. He’s also an artist (his kills are part of his art) and a college professor. Reyna is a film student at the same college who has been obsessed with recreating an unknown serial killer’s kills as part of her assignments for her film class. Suddenly, her film professor gets replaced with Professor Shaw.
Do you enjoy talking about and analyzing all mediums of art? This book is definitely for you. My analytical English major heart loved the art analysis-banter between the two MCs.
If you’re reading for the spice, you won’t be disappointed.
Overall, I really loved this book. Pink Ink was the first story I’ve read by Avina St. Graves and it definitely won’t be my last!
Thank you so much to Avina St. Graves and Gallery Books for the opportunity to read this ARC! Now available!
When I was in college I took an online French class that required in-person exams. All my friends and I were so excited for test day because we all had a crush on the attractive young professor. I’m pretty sure the only words I ever spoke to him were “Thank you” and “Have a nice day” haha
Well, let me tell you… Reyna says a LOT more to Professor Maddox Shaw in Pink Ink by Avina St. Graves.
I haven’t read a dark romance (that wasn’t advertised as a dark rom com) in several months and Pink Ink really exceeded my expectations.
I loved the suspenseful spooky vibes of this book. Maddox Shaw is a serial killer that operates as a man who takes care of problems for a secret society. He’s also an artist (his kills are part of his art) and a college professor. Reyna is a film student at the same college who has been obsessed with recreating an unknown serial killer’s kills as part of her assignments for her film class. Suddenly, her film professor gets replaced with Professor Shaw.
Do you enjoy talking about and analyzing all mediums of art? This book is definitely for you. My analytical English major heart loved the art analysis-banter between the two MCs.
If you’re reading for the spice, you won’t be disappointed.
Overall, I really loved this book. Pink Ink was the first story I’ve read by Avina St. Graves and it definitely won’t be my last!
Thank you so much to Avina St. Graves and Gallery Books for the opportunity to read this ARC! Now available!
August 6, 2026
Boring but the smut? Girl, they were BUSY. 💀
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
NOW LIVE!
Amazon US * Amazon UK
I've taken some steps back from reviewing over the recent years but one thing to know about me if you haven't seen my reviews before - I'm not going to blow smoke up your ass. ARC or not, if a book is a 1 Star read for me, I'm going to say it and I'm going to say why. And on the flip side, if a book is rated 5 Stars for me, just know it blew me out of the water. And this one was luckily the latter.
To be perfectly honest, I have only read one book by Avina St. Graves before and it was a rough read for me that ended as a 2 Star. So I was a little nervous to jump into this one but I mean, Professor/Student, Serial Killer/Crime Junkie? How could I not give that a try?!? And I'm really glad I did because I devoured this story. Let me tell you why...
The slow burn style of the first half of this story was *Chef's Kiss* and that comes from a reader that doesn't usually love too slow of a burn. But here's the thing. It was done beautifully. Full of tension and intrigue and holy hell that yearning between Reyna and Maddox where you could feel how they wanted each other with the looks and the banter was amazing. My god, the banter! I loved it. I was obsessed with it. I was obsessed with the characters and even now I want to go back and re-read it all over again. Especially for the spice that was done so well and had me clutching those invisible pearls.
Now I do have to say that the twist wasn't very twisty for me. I guessed it very early on in the story. But at the same time it still left me guessing with the secret society storyline and I didn't know how that would end for Maddox and Reyna. It did come to an end pretty quickly near the end to kind of wrap things up in a nice neat bow, but for me that didn't lessen my enjoyment of the story at all.
Overall, I highly highly recommend this book and I can already tell that I will be doing a re-read sometime in the near future. Was it absolutely perfect, no and again I won't blow smoke up anyone's ass and say that it was. But the story as an entirety was brilliantly done and I really liked the mix of intrigue and romance and spice. I think this actually might be my first 5 Star read of the year and it truly deserves it in my book.
ARC kindly provided in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon US * Amazon UK
I've taken some steps back from reviewing over the recent years but one thing to know about me if you haven't seen my reviews before - I'm not going to blow smoke up your ass. ARC or not, if a book is a 1 Star read for me, I'm going to say it and I'm going to say why. And on the flip side, if a book is rated 5 Stars for me, just know it blew me out of the water. And this one was luckily the latter.
To be perfectly honest, I have only read one book by Avina St. Graves before and it was a rough read for me that ended as a 2 Star. So I was a little nervous to jump into this one but I mean, Professor/Student, Serial Killer/Crime Junkie? How could I not give that a try?!? And I'm really glad I did because I devoured this story. Let me tell you why...
"To be loved by an artist is to become immortal."
The slow burn style of the first half of this story was *Chef's Kiss* and that comes from a reader that doesn't usually love too slow of a burn. But here's the thing. It was done beautifully. Full of tension and intrigue and holy hell that yearning between Reyna and Maddox where you could feel how they wanted each other with the looks and the banter was amazing. My god, the banter! I loved it. I was obsessed with it. I was obsessed with the characters and even now I want to go back and re-read it all over again. Especially for the spice that was done so well and had me clutching those invisible pearls.
Now I do have to say that the twist wasn't very twisty for me. I guessed it very early on in the story. But at the same time it still left me guessing with the secret society storyline and I didn't know how that would end for Maddox and Reyna. It did come to an end pretty quickly near the end to kind of wrap things up in a nice neat bow, but for me that didn't lessen my enjoyment of the story at all.
Overall, I highly highly recommend this book and I can already tell that I will be doing a re-read sometime in the near future. Was it absolutely perfect, no and again I won't blow smoke up anyone's ass and say that it was. But the story as an entirety was brilliantly done and I really liked the mix of intrigue and romance and spice. I think this actually might be my first 5 Star read of the year and it truly deserves it in my book.
ARC kindly provided in exchange for an honest review.
March 5, 2026
I ate this up!! Loved the structure of the story, the pace was perfect, the slow burn was perfect, the characters and everything! The plot and twist i did not see coming at all!! I was getting worried towards the end because things were not anywhere near being resolved but the twist made sense!
August 7, 2026
I fear I may have hyped this one up a little too much in my head…
The premise sounded SO good: dark academia, professor/student, a serial killer, murder as art, secret societies??? Like hello??? I genuinely thought I was about to be obsessed.
And I did enjoy it! The whole concept was really interesting and I loved the darker, creepy atmosphere around the murders and the art. Reyna being fascinated by this unknown serial killer while unknowingly discussing his murders WITH THE ACTUAL KILLER had so much potential and there were definitely moments where I was completely into it.
But for some reason it just never fully hit for me. I think I went in expecting something darker, more intense and more suspenseful, and instead I found myself waiting for the story to really grab me. There was quite a lot of description and inner monologue, and at times I just wanted things to move.
I also expected to be absolutely feral over Maddox because… broody professor AND serial killer?? The material was right there. But I never became as obsessed with him or the romance as I thought I would. The chemistry had its moments, but I wanted more tension, more obsession, more something.
I think that’s ultimately my problem with this book. Nothing was necessarily bad, I just wanted MORE from basically everything. More suspense, more danger, more chemistry, more unhinged behaviour.
Still a fun read with a really cool concept, and I can definitely see why other people loved it. I just think my expectations were way too high going in, which is probably on me.
The premise sounded SO good: dark academia, professor/student, a serial killer, murder as art, secret societies??? Like hello??? I genuinely thought I was about to be obsessed.
And I did enjoy it! The whole concept was really interesting and I loved the darker, creepy atmosphere around the murders and the art. Reyna being fascinated by this unknown serial killer while unknowingly discussing his murders WITH THE ACTUAL KILLER had so much potential and there were definitely moments where I was completely into it.
But for some reason it just never fully hit for me. I think I went in expecting something darker, more intense and more suspenseful, and instead I found myself waiting for the story to really grab me. There was quite a lot of description and inner monologue, and at times I just wanted things to move.
I also expected to be absolutely feral over Maddox because… broody professor AND serial killer?? The material was right there. But I never became as obsessed with him or the romance as I thought I would. The chemistry had its moments, but I wanted more tension, more obsession, more something.
I think that’s ultimately my problem with this book. Nothing was necessarily bad, I just wanted MORE from basically everything. More suspense, more danger, more chemistry, more unhinged behaviour.
Still a fun read with a really cool concept, and I can definitely see why other people loved it. I just think my expectations were way too high going in, which is probably on me.
August 12, 2026
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Tropes:
🩷 Professor x student
🔪 Serial killer romance
🩷 Age gap
🔪 Dark academia
🩷 Stalker x stalker
🔪 Secret society
🩷 Forbidden romance
🔪 Morally gray characters
🩷 Slow burn
🔪 Found family
Okayyy this was FUN. Dark, twisted, a little weird in the best way, and honestly such a unique concept.
Reyna being completely fascinated by a serial killer’s murders and recreating them for her film projects…only for said serial killer to be the hot professor grading them?! HOT.
I loved Reyna and Maddox together. Their banter, the tension, the obsession, it they really felt like two people whose particular brands of crazy just worked. And I loved that there was actually a plot outside of their relationship. The mystery, secret society, and dark academia vibes were big wins for me.
There were a couple things I figured out before the reveal, but honestly I didn’t even care because I was having such a good time getting there.
Dark, spicy, slightly unhinged and SO entertaining. Definitely one of those books where you finish and immediately think, I need to book a therapy appointment.
Thank you Avina and Gallery Books for the ARC!
Tropes:
🩷 Professor x student
🔪 Serial killer romance
🩷 Age gap
🔪 Dark academia
🩷 Stalker x stalker
🔪 Secret society
🩷 Forbidden romance
🔪 Morally gray characters
🩷 Slow burn
🔪 Found family
Okayyy this was FUN. Dark, twisted, a little weird in the best way, and honestly such a unique concept.
Reyna being completely fascinated by a serial killer’s murders and recreating them for her film projects…only for said serial killer to be the hot professor grading them?! HOT.
I loved Reyna and Maddox together. Their banter, the tension, the obsession, it they really felt like two people whose particular brands of crazy just worked. And I loved that there was actually a plot outside of their relationship. The mystery, secret society, and dark academia vibes were big wins for me.
There were a couple things I figured out before the reveal, but honestly I didn’t even care because I was having such a good time getting there.
Dark, spicy, slightly unhinged and SO entertaining. Definitely one of those books where you finish and immediately think, I need to book a therapy appointment.
Thank you Avina and Gallery Books for the ARC!
Review of advance copy received from Author
“To my muse,
To be loved by an artist is to become immortal. This is for you.”
IM SORRY. I don’t understand how Avina continues to write the most amazing stories with the most amazing men and the BEST FMCs. I had high expectations for this book and my expectations were exceeded.
Reyna moves to New York to attend Cresswell University to get her degree, of course, but to also learn more about her dad who passed away shortly before her mom. She only saw her dad a couple days out of the year, but she knew he attended the same university. She goes to an art gallery and ends up offending one of the painters with her critiques on their painting. Turns out the same artist she offended, is her new professor, Professor Shaw.
One thing I’ve always LOVED about Avina’s writing, is the banter, and this book is no exception. The banter in this book is hilarious. And can we talk about that tension???
I love Maddox and Reyna with my entire being. The way this man talks to her is unmatched. 😭 And I’m sorry but Reyna is my spirit animal. She throat punched him and immediately became my favorite FMC of all time. I love that girl.
So many of my favorite tropes are in this book. We’ve got:
🖤 Professor x student
🩷 Secret society
🖤 Touch her and 💀
🩷 Dark academia
🖤 Age gap
And more.
I love love love this book so much. How am I supposed to wait so long for release day until my physical copy comes??? 😭
To be loved by an artist is to become immortal. This is for you.”
IM SORRY. I don’t understand how Avina continues to write the most amazing stories with the most amazing men and the BEST FMCs. I had high expectations for this book and my expectations were exceeded.
Reyna moves to New York to attend Cresswell University to get her degree, of course, but to also learn more about her dad who passed away shortly before her mom. She only saw her dad a couple days out of the year, but she knew he attended the same university. She goes to an art gallery and ends up offending one of the painters with her critiques on their painting. Turns out the same artist she offended, is her new professor, Professor Shaw.
One thing I’ve always LOVED about Avina’s writing, is the banter, and this book is no exception. The banter in this book is hilarious. And can we talk about that tension???
I love Maddox and Reyna with my entire being. The way this man talks to her is unmatched. 😭 And I’m sorry but Reyna is my spirit animal. She throat punched him and immediately became my favorite FMC of all time. I love that girl.
So many of my favorite tropes are in this book. We’ve got:
🖤 Professor x student
🩷 Secret society
🖤 Touch her and 💀
🩷 Dark academia
🖤 Age gap
And more.
I love love love this book so much. How am I supposed to wait so long for release day until my physical copy comes??? 😭
August 1, 2026
avina bestie drinks on me next time because holy frick this is my new favorite book of yours!!!!! Shaw is everything to meeee. I ate up the forbidden Professor x student tension between these two. the way they egg each other on, intentionally and unintentionally was honestly so hot. this wasn’t just lusting for another person, this was a look into unfettered obsession.
And the overlapping of the macabre crime scenes and classical art forms was masterful, watching unexplained violence be molded into an elegant and secret conversation between a serial killer and the person hunting them.
Thanks to Gallery Books for the eARC!
And the overlapping of the macabre crime scenes and classical art forms was masterful, watching unexplained violence be molded into an elegant and secret conversation between a serial killer and the person hunting them.
Thanks to Gallery Books for the eARC!
August 7, 2026
Tʜᴀɴᴋ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛᴏ NᴇᴛGᴀʟʟᴇʏ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇʀ ғᴏʀ ᴘʀᴏᴠɪᴅɪɴɢ ᴍᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴀɴ ᴀʀᴄ ɪɴ ᴇxᴄʜᴀɴɢᴇ ғᴏʀ ᴀɴ ʜᴏɴᴇsᴛ ʀᴇᴠɪᴇᴡ! ᥫ᭡
♥︎ ⤷ Pink Ink delivers a gripping dark romance centered on a professor who is secretly a serial killer and unexpectedly falls for his student. From the very beginning, the story pulled me in with its unique premise, and the suspense kept me turning the pages.
♥︎ ⤷ The plot was engaging throughout, and the major twist was executed incredibly well—it genuinely caught me off guard!! I would recommend to each reader to play attention to KEY details throughout the book.
♥︎ ⤷ The romance was balanced nicely with the darker elements of the story. The spicy scenes were well placed and never felt overwhelming or excessive, allowing the emotional development between the characters to remain the main focus.
♥︎ ⤷ Spicy Radar: 🌶️🌶️/🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ (2/5)
♥︎ ⤷ My only wish is that the MMC's possessive and obsessive nature had been shown through more of his actions rather than repeatedly being described. Seeing more moments that demonstrated those feelings would have made his character even more compelling.
Overall, I would absolutely recommend this book to readers who enjoy dark romance, unexpected plot twists, and the professor x student trope. It was an entertaining and suspenseful read with memorable characters and a satisfying character arc 🤍
♥︎ ⤷ Pink Ink delivers a gripping dark romance centered on a professor who is secretly a serial killer and unexpectedly falls for his student. From the very beginning, the story pulled me in with its unique premise, and the suspense kept me turning the pages.
♥︎ ⤷ The plot was engaging throughout, and the major twist was executed incredibly well—it genuinely caught me off guard!! I would recommend to each reader to play attention to KEY details throughout the book.
♥︎ ⤷ The romance was balanced nicely with the darker elements of the story. The spicy scenes were well placed and never felt overwhelming or excessive, allowing the emotional development between the characters to remain the main focus.
♥︎ ⤷ Spicy Radar: 🌶️🌶️/🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ (2/5)
♥︎ ⤷ My only wish is that the MMC's possessive and obsessive nature had been shown through more of his actions rather than repeatedly being described. Seeing more moments that demonstrated those feelings would have made his character even more compelling.
Overall, I would absolutely recommend this book to readers who enjoy dark romance, unexpected plot twists, and the professor x student trope. It was an entertaining and suspenseful read with memorable characters and a satisfying character arc 🤍
August 7, 2026
It was pretty boring overall, though it had a few funny moments. Also, the MMC isn't a serial killer. He's kind of an assassin working for a secret society that, for some reason, has him take out a bunch of abusers. How noble of them.
But thanks for having the paintbrush shoved into the FMC's mouth instead of... you know, the usual.
But thanks for having the paintbrush shoved into the FMC's mouth instead of... you know, the usual.
March 10, 2026
Let me just say I devoured this in record time! I’m such a sucker for a good Student x Teacher romance. The angst, challenge and bickering between Reyna and Maddox in the beginning had my brain on a swivel. I never knew what was going to come out of their mouths next.
Reyna moves to New York to attend Cresswell University to learn more about her father’s death after her mother passes away.
Upon attending an art gallery, Reyna begins examining an art piece from none other than Maddox Shaw. When a striking man walks up next to her and asks her opinion on the piece, she gives him her critique. Little does she know, this man will become her teacher and is Shaw himself.
Reyna. Stalks. A. Serial. Killer.
And makes movies for her class using pink blood and recreating the murder scenes because they are set up to represent famous paintings. Avina I absolutely adore your mind.
I can’t even begin to describe how delicious this buildup was between these two. But once that buildup exploded, they were f@$kin on the desk. So I got my happy ending 🤣
Oh and did I mention there is a secret society? Buckle up because the twist and turns will keep you guessing.
Reyna moves to New York to attend Cresswell University to learn more about her father’s death after her mother passes away.
Upon attending an art gallery, Reyna begins examining an art piece from none other than Maddox Shaw. When a striking man walks up next to her and asks her opinion on the piece, she gives him her critique. Little does she know, this man will become her teacher and is Shaw himself.
Reyna. Stalks. A. Serial. Killer.
And makes movies for her class using pink blood and recreating the murder scenes because they are set up to represent famous paintings. Avina I absolutely adore your mind.
I can’t even begin to describe how delicious this buildup was between these two. But once that buildup exploded, they were f@$kin on the desk. So I got my happy ending 🤣
Oh and did I mention there is a secret society? Buckle up because the twist and turns will keep you guessing.
August 10, 2026
رواية فارغة صراحة مقدرتش اكملها مملة و قريت شبهها قبل كدا و بصراحة الواحد خلقه ضيق الفترة دي 😭💔
July 22, 2026
This is my first novel from this author and I just know I need to read their backlog because this story was written so well!
Reyna has transferred to Cresswell to find out more about her father after her mother passed. She's a film student whose videos lead more towards to macabre. Most people find it horrifying but Reyna has found inspiration from a serial killer whose scenes leave an artistic impression.
Shaw is forced to take over Reyna's film class which he's shocked to find her in it after a spat the previous day. He gets under her skin and vise versa. Shaw is shocked to find that Reyna's films are inspired by his kills. He finds himself becoming inspired again and uses his kills to draw Reyna in. He's obsessed with her and she's obsessed with his art.
I found this story written beautifully. It felt dark academic and I just loved reading all the art terms and film knowledge. I would love to see some of the artwork Maddox created because the visual descriptions sounded stunning.
Thank you gallery books and NetGalley for the gifted ebook.
Reyna has transferred to Cresswell to find out more about her father after her mother passed. She's a film student whose videos lead more towards to macabre. Most people find it horrifying but Reyna has found inspiration from a serial killer whose scenes leave an artistic impression.
Shaw is forced to take over Reyna's film class which he's shocked to find her in it after a spat the previous day. He gets under her skin and vise versa. Shaw is shocked to find that Reyna's films are inspired by his kills. He finds himself becoming inspired again and uses his kills to draw Reyna in. He's obsessed with her and she's obsessed with his art.
I found this story written beautifully. It felt dark academic and I just loved reading all the art terms and film knowledge. I would love to see some of the artwork Maddox created because the visual descriptions sounded stunning.
Thank you gallery books and NetGalley for the gifted ebook.
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