This. Was. So. Good. I could be biased because I have (to nobody's surprise) an obsession with Savannah. I'm lucky in that I live pretty close, but oh my god the vibes are unmatched. This was so well-plotted, and I love the characters and world-building. I was drawn in from the first page, and I flew through it. I'm pretty sure I barked at my husband at one point who told me I needed to go outside. I have to say, too, one of the biggest successes of this story is making this feel firmly like an adult story--I have read a handful of dark-academia-esque books in the last while where it was supposed to be adult but there was just petty drama, which made it feel like a bunch of high-schoolers running around.
This was fabulous, and I cannot wait for more from this author!

Just when or FMC Lennon feels as though life couldn’t get any worse, things take a turn and she’s accepted into Drayton College. Once she gets there things seemed a bit peculiar, at least from my view point. Drayton is a school of magic where the gift of persuasion seemed to be the gift to have. Everyone seems to either be enamored by Lennon or not which made for and interesting journey!

From the beginning of Lennon’s journey to Drayton I was so intrigued by the question, what is the big secret at this school and why is she the only one everyone seems to be focusing on. There was always this big hidden agenda it seemed and I’m reading to find out what it is! While it did take a majority of the book to get there, I did enjoy the ride. There were moments that slowed so you can say it is a slow burn; however, there are moments of excitement along they way with the magic of persuasion, compulsion, creation of elevators to travel to other time periods of the story, and many dark elements to figure out the secrets. I think if you’ve enjoyed AH’s previous books you will also enjoy this one with the dark atmosphere element.

The audiobook narration was great and I did also enjoy having that to pair along with my e-book! With either form chosen to read, I think it’s perfect for the season whether you’re jump starting your spooky season reading or slam in the middle of it!

An Academy for Liars by Alexa Henderson is a standalone Dark Academia novel. We meet Lennon Carter, our heroine, who recently withdrew from school, and to her shock she catches her fiancée having sex with her bff. She quickly leaves, driving his car, as she stops at a mall, completely devastated. She hears a phone ringing, and answers the call, which turns out to be for Lennon. She is summoned to participate in an entrance exam at Drayton College, which is a magical school that is hidden in Savannah. After driving for eight hours, she enters an elevator to the administration, where she meets Dante, who will become her advisor.

Lennon was thrilled with Drayton’s campus and meeting all the brilliant classmates; many who became her friends. After passing the test, Lennon begins to learn how to master her power, which takes a toll over her body and mind; she is captivated by her studies, as well as learning the ability of persuasion. Lennon slowly begins to be captivated and enthralled by her advisor, Dante, despite him determined to not become involved.

Lennon continues her studies, as her control to her magic escalates, and she learns more about the history of Drayton, and the disturbing things she discovers; such as her becoming a new gatekeeper. Lennon will need to uncover the dark and haunting abilities that continue to grow, and the disturbing corruption from the school counselors; who push her to increase her dark powers. Can she survive?
Lennon must use her powers to protect the school, but can she risk those who might destroy her. As things escalate, she must learn to wield her powers to defeat the enemies, who are determined to take control of her powers.

What follows is an exciting and dark story line, with tension, horror, and paranormal elements; there is a slight forbidden love story. An Academy of Liars was a terrific read, so very well written by Alexa Henderson. If you enjoy dark academia, you need to read An Academy of Liars, which is filled with politics, secrets, lies, betrayal; keeping me glued to the finale.

In AN ACADEMY FOR LIARS, Alexis Henderson builds a highly competitive dark-academic world with quite a lot of exposition. Descriptions of the magnolia- and live oak-studded academy campus and the various ways that academy students found their way to the campus, as well as compelling classes in ethically dubious persuasion, are interrupted by long character monologues about the system of magic (or science) that powers the world of the academy. While the Savannah setting and the protagonist's character arc are compelling, the worldbuilding felt disjointed.

Lennon's life has been acceptable for years - her passive acceptance leads to her engagement party when reality can no longer be denied.
After a phone call from herself in some other dimension, Lennon accepts the test to enter a prestigious academy.
Students from specific bloodlines are tracked for admittance - taught how to use their "other" skills, those essentially creating them outcasts in society.
Some good twists and a good read.

My bookstore had two copies of this book that we received, and I immediately told our book buyer we were going to need more. This book is SO much fun, the pacing was great, the plot was fun and the romance delivered exactly what was needed. Excited to read more from Henderson!

To say this book is unique would be an understatement. To say it's totally mesmerizing and engrossing doesn't do it enough justice. To say I couldn't put it down once I started reading it isn't just hyperbole. This book really is all of that and more. I just love that tingling feeling you get when you start reading the first couple of pages of a book and you just know you found something that's going to totally take you over and capture you in its spell. This is not your average, everyday run-of-the-mill book. You're going to love this one. You won't know what to expect. You won't know what's going to happen. And you definitely won't want it to end. I can't even describe it, nor would I want to, because you have to experience it for yourself. You wouldn't want to have any part of this book spoiled for you. Just get it, dive in and prepare to be magicked.

An Academy for Liars by Alexis Henderson
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This is a slow burn, dark academia about a young woman named Lennon who gets accepted to a mysterious college she has never heard of before.
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I hesitate to compare books to other books but this book gave me The Magicians vibes in such a good way. This was a school full of secrets and people with dark power.

I loved learning about the school’s history, the way it worked, and definitely about what was studied there. All of it was well thought out, the world was fascinating and made it an addicting read.

I sometimes struggle with books that have flawed characters and Lennon was for sure a flawed character….and yet I loved her. I loved this world and the mystery and intrigue. There was a simmering tension to the whole book that built and built until that last 70 pages really stressed me out!
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4.5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 Alexis really hit it out of the park with this book. I enjoyed it more than The Year of the Witching (although that was really good as well!).

Dark, atmospheric, mysterious, and wonderfully written, An Academy for Liars looks at Dark Academia. Lennon receives a bizarre and mysterious phone call inviting her to Drayton College to take her entrance exam. She has never heard of the school before, but she is looking for a fresh start, so she heads off to Drayton College for magic, where she and others will learn to hone their abilities. Things will not be easy at Drayton College, but Lennon is up to the challenge and enjoys her studies. There she has an advisor, Dante, who is equally intriguing and exciting.

This book was a slow burn, and I struggle with slow burns. I found myself wanting to move this book along to learn more about Lennon, Dante, and Drayton College. The college has a dark and secret history, and I was intrigued to learn more.

One thing that Alexis Henderson excels at is atmosphere, building unique worlds, and tension. She came on my radar when I read the gripping and beautifully written, The Year of the Witching. She continued to dazzle me with House of Hunger. She is a gifted writer, and I look forward to reading more of her work.

There were parts of this book that I thoroughly enjoyed, and I was fully engaged, then there were parts that I wanted to move along. Overall, this was an enjoyable read but one I did not enjoy as much as I did the other books that I read by her.

I received an eARC of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

I was a bit unsure of this book at first. The first ten pages were not what I was expecting and had me second guessing if I wanted to read this. Not because they weren't well written but because it didn't seem like what I was wanting/expecting to read. However, the book shifted gears quickly after that and we began our descent into the madness and peculiarity of Drayton Academy. I loved the characters in this book and was genuinely surprised by some of the twists. This book is completely told from our main character Lennon's perspective and we, therefore, only know what she knows and perceive things via her biases. It's not quite unreliable character but more flawed character viewing the world by the lens of her trauma. I found myself as suspicious as Lennon is throughout this book (and not without good reason) which made it all the more intriguing. It was definitely giving me similar vibes as Ninth House, which I enjoyed as well. I will give my life for Gregory!!! I fell in love with this rat right along with Lennon and I just love that he seems to have bonded with her as well. I caught some of the clues/foreshadowing of this story but now I want to go back and see what I may have missed. I also have a TON of questions that weren't quite answered but if this is a standalone book I wouldn't mind too much. I kind of like that I am allowed to continue to theorize about who was doing what and why with only the hints from this book to go by. I will be thinking about this book for awhile.

It wasn’t the book for me but it was well written! It was just too dark and too far towards horror for me. I think it would be a good title for those who liked The Magicians by Lev Grossman though. This tone and style of the writing felt similar enough to me that I feel like those who liked the one would also enjoy the other.

I did have some issues with this story. The pacing was off at times and Lennon's decision making at times just made me cringe. The ending of the book was good and I was surprised by the villain, I truly didn't see that coming at all.

Thank you netgalley for letting me read this book. It's listed as a dark fantasy horror, but I found it to not have much in the way of horror, but maybe that is just me. I did enjoy the concept of the of this school. There was a nice blend of the magic (persuasion) story, with the mystery of the schools past and present. As well the added romance between Lennon and Dante. This was the first book I have read by Alexis Henderson, and I will be looking of her other books to read.

I've been going back and forth on how to rate this one. This is my first book by this author and I was excited to dive right in because the premise sounded very interesting. The story kept me engaged, but I was soon disappointed with the story overall. The characters fell flat and the romance between the main character and her potential love interest left much to be desired. The murder mystery also left me wanting more. Although I didn't enjoy the story as much as I would have liked, it did keep me engaged and wanting to know what was going to happen next. Thanks to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for this ARC.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing for an e-ARC of this novel; all opinions are my own.

I would tell you nothing of this book so you go in blind and get the same heart thumping, breath stealing, mind blowing experience I just had. I want that for you. So I will say nothing except yes you should read this.

The vibes: dark academia, magical realism, anti-hero, no one is a good person, superior strategists, there’s never a lull or boring moment, suspenseful, spooky, wild ending

5 Stars and I can’t stop thinking about it. Get in the damn elevator.

Thank you to @BerkelyPub and @netgalley for a free copy of this book. I am leaving this review voluntarily. 

An Academy of Liars by Alexis Henderson - I had mixed feelings about this book. I loved that the main characters were both smart, powerful and black. However, I was disappointed that the white head of the school had nefarious plans for Lennon. This book is about power, control and the means people will go to to keep it or gain it. 

This is a fairly brutal world where manipulation and persuasion is power, the characters are mostly morally gray and the more the story went on the more I wasn't sure if I wanted it to survive. I did like that Lennon didn't come in immediately knowing how to do what she does - she has to work at it.

Dante is a hard to pin down. I didn't know whether I liked him, trusted him or whether I felt that Lennon should  dump him. There was a weird dynamic between him and the dean of the school that I didn't quite understand why it continued. There were several big things that I felt were holes that were never filled.  For example there seemed to be some significance to Dante's moth tattoos and the pinned moth that he receives as a birthday gift but I just couldn't figure it out.

I was thrilled with the rat uprising toward the end of the book and I was a big fan of the main rat who helps Lennon in the end. 

Overall this was a compelling read, I was definitely invested but I didn't love it and I was left feeling empty. If you are a big fan of Dark Academia novels this may be for you.

I don’t quite know if I liked this book or not. Lennon is a strong character. Her process of trying to figure out who she is and where she fits into the world is an interesting one. Drayton itself is also a twist to the story. A school where people go to learn how to manipulate those around them. This story has its high moments. The ending is especially good, but getting there at times was difficult for me. So personally, this might not have been the best fit. That being said, I do think that readers are going to get swept away in the beautiful world built within these pages.
Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this title.

This one was SO good! I enjoyed the dark academia and the fantasy vibes with one. It was a great read. I highly recommend. Perfect fall vibes,

An Academy for Liars is a delightfully twisted dark acedemia featuring PoC main characters, a diverse cast, and a unique premise. Messy, complicated characters? Mind magic that can influence people? A school hidden inside a pocket dimension? This book was full of secrets and twists and I spent most of it having no idea whose side anyone was on. All of the characters were at least a little bit monsterous, which led me to question everything! Every fan of dak acedemia is going to NEED this book on their shelves.

An Academy for Liars, by Alexis Henderson (Sept. 17, 2024) - Many thanks to Net Galley Berkley, and prhaudio for the free digital and audiobook copies of this gripping, atmospheric read that blends fantasy and reality in unsettling ways. Below is my honest review.

When Lennon Carter answered a phone call in an old phone booth in an empty parking lot, she thought her life was about to end. Little did she know, it was about to begin. The call, congratulating her on her admission to a college she didn't apply to and has never heard of, leads her to a hidden campus in Savannah, Georgia, where she, along with her classmates, has been selected to hone their skills in the power of persuasion. Pushing their minds and bodies to their limits in the pursuit, allies and enemies are revealed, faculty test skills and morals, and the campus is at risk. As Lennon's skills evolve under the guidance of her mentor, she begins to uncover dark secrets about the campus and the sinister motivations of people she thought she could trust.

I was all in for this one from the very first chapter! Lennon was such a compelling character who evolved so much from where we meet her to the book's conclusion. This is a fantasy book but rooted in the real world, which makes the entire story unsettling in an excellent way. She grounds the story of harnessing power not in magic but in training and skill while also making the mundane powerful (elevators and phone booths take on a magical element). While Lennon and her advisor, Dante, are the central characters, Henderson creates a chilling world with magical undertones that make this book feel like an adult, violent take on a Hogwarts-like institution. I really, really enjoyed it!

Tracie Frank narrates the audiobook and does an excellent job with many characters of varying ages and backgrounds.