A more to the point precursor of Dracula, with women in the main roles. You know from the start what’s going on and kind of how it ends, but still a fun gothic book

I was enticed by the blurb, promising a lesbian version of Dracula. While the queer overtones are there, don’t expect anything overly explicit or gorey. Still due to it’s length Carmilla for me was definitely more enjoyable read than its famous “brother”.

This was a fun read. I enjoyed the classic gothic horror, the sapphic-ness, and the narration. I wish the ending wasn’t so quick, which is why it’s a four star and not a five star read.

This book was a short and a nice classic!! I loved the fact that it showed a Sapphic romance :) Thank you for the arc, NetGallery! I liked reading it a lot.

The original vampire book, full of the tension, romanticism, and eroticism of the genre. I always love reading this story, and love this special edition.

This book is an absolute treasure and a delight.

When I first heard that there existed a lesbian vampire novel that was written before Dracula, I was intrigued to say the least. This story is so engaging and you can't help but dive back in again and again. If you love regency / Victorian era romances, this book will positively delight you. The lost conveying between Carmilla and our protag will have you swooning.

This book is absolutely writing in classic gothic culture and sapphic eroticism. It is such a fun little read and something I recommend to everyone getting into reading old English due to the Novella's fast flow and beautiful descriptions. I wish Carmilla was as popular as Dracula.

I already kinda knew Carmilla because of the famous web series, but I loved knowing the actual story, especially because it was the original vampire story. It took me a while to get into the rhythm of the story, but I liked it overall.

It has been years since I first read Carmilla and I really enjoyed revisiting this atmospheric, story about a female vampire. Highly recommended.

Thank you so much to Pushkin Press and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC; it is greatly appreciated.

I am very happy to have finally read the predecessor of Dracula. It was very interesting to see all the vampire traits and lore that we still know and love today. Carmilla is the definition of beauty, and uses that completely to her advantage.

One thing I found interesting is how romantic and sexy this book is described, but I really didn't feel that. The "romance" is quite one-sided as Carmilla uses her charms to cast a sort of spell over her victims, but the MC, Laura, is quite bothered by the words Carmilla says.

As this is gothic horror, don't expect too much action. It is mainly Laura recounting her experience 10 years later, so a majority of the story is conversations. The climax of the story is also only about two paragraphs, so we reach a conclusion very quickly and directly. I feel like the story is less about Carmilla, and more the emotional manipulation that Laura experienced.

If you're looking to get into classics I think this is a good one to start with. The language is a little uncommon, but not difficult, and it is such a quick read. Definitely worth it !

Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla, now released in a deluxe edition, is the story that is said to have inspired Bram Stoker's Dracula
In an isolated Austrian forest, teenager Laura lives with her father, but both of their lives are changed forever with the mysterious appearance of the beautiful and mysterious Carmilla.
What begins as friendship almost falls into a secretive affair as Laura begins to question her mysterious and magnetic visitor.
Given this book was written in the 1800s, it was frighteningly ahead of its time, with its theme of gothic horror and romance. While the vampire motif only really comes into to play during the final third of the book, it is still a hypnotic and riveting read.
For fans of gothic horror and classic vampire tales, Carmilla is a must read.

It was an okay read. Not remarkable by any means but not bad either. Kind of dull at times. Yay for lesbian vampires!

I think I expected a lot from this book, too much probably. It wasn't very well written, full of mistakes but the story was interesting and enjoyable overall, although cliche at times.

This book is absolutely unreadable. Had to google at least 3-5 words every sentence—and I’m used to reading pretty poetic stuff. It seems like the author just really enjoyed that thesaurus—and I certainly do blame them. Because instead of reading a story, I felt like I was reading a dictionary.

Published serially between 1871-72, Carmilla predates the more famous classic vampire novel, Dracula, by about 25 years and deserves all of the hype that the later gets.

This was atmospheric and beautifully written, though there were some needlessly repeated words (*cough* languid). And it's sapphic! I particularly loved that the vampire was not "othered" and forced to live on the fringes of society but rather was welcomed into homes happily.

This story is perfect for spooky season and for anyone interested in the origins of vampire mythology in fiction, and it's novella length.

A deluxe gift edition of the cult classic that predated and greatly influenced Dracula and much vampire literature that followed, including Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles.

In an isolated castle deep in the Austrian forest, teenaged Laura leads a solitary life with only her father, attendant and tutor for company. Until one moonlit night, a horse-drawn carriage crashes into view, carrying an unexpected guest -- the beautiful Carmilla.

So begins a feverish friendship between Laura and her entrancing new companion, one defined by mysterious happenings and infused with an implicit but undeniable eroticism. As Carmilla becomes increasingly strange and volatile, prone to eerie nocturnal wanderings, Laura finds herself tormented by nightmares and growing weaker by the day...
To say that reading this book became addictive is a huge understatement. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Wow, wow and wow again.
This book has it all, Vampire classic, Gothic lit, romance and lgbtqia+ fiction. I knew this book would be great but I didn’t expect so much from it! A classic indeed, written many many years ago but still enjoyed in today’s world!
I really enjoyed this book, it was a quick read even though it includes all of the above. I definitely need to invest in a copy of this for my bookshelf!

Thank you Netgalley for the arc! Carmilla is a classic for a reason! The OG vampire story! It doesn't get any better!

Honestly a rather dull read. Took a long time for anything to really happen and then it all happened at once. I think classic books just aren’t for me even if they are queer. Even though it is a short book, it took me a long time to get through it.

I read this on my Kindle Fire and there are major formatting problems that make this book seem unprofessionally put together. At the beginning of each chapter, the first word is split apart and double spaced down. Throughout the entire book, nothing is spaced correctly, but it is more evident in the earlier chapters. At one point an entire paragraph is split apart and colored in red as if they mistakenly left an editor's corrections in. Le Fanu's original story is very good though, I've always wanted to read it, but this edition's weird spacing issues are distracting.

I should probably be a little ashamed that I haven't read this vampire novella, written by the son of a Church of Ireland clergyman, a lot sooner. Published in 1872, Carmilla predates Dracula by over 20 years. It's a very readable story and, in some senses, it's a very familiar story. A young, attractive woman comes to stay with Laura, our narrator, and her father in a remote castle in Austria and strange things begin to happen. Laura has visions, or nightmares, and begins to feel unwell, while all the while a strange plague seems to be affecting female villagers.

I've read enough vampire novels and watched enough vampire movies and TV shows to know exactly how this novella was going to go. While any twenty-first century reader knows how a story like this will unfold, as well as what Carmilla really is, there's still a delightful sense of foreboding and dread throughout, particularly as we learn more about a tragedy that befell another young woman, in the recent past..

What's also striking about this book, of course, is that it's a romance and, while it may have been written in the late nineteenth century, it's not particularly subtle. Carmilla is mysterious and seductive, and Laura is attracted to her, even as she's completely unnerved by her. I absolutely recommend this book for anyone else who, like me, has missed out on reading it, or for anyone who fancies a little gothic lesbian vampire romp, without resorting to Lesbian Vampire Killers.

Rating: 5 stars (it's the grandmother of vampire novels, after all).
TL;DR: Gothic horror lives up to queer vampire reputation.