This book delivered on what it was supposed to deliver on: it is the perfect standalone dark academia book. It gives the reader a fun, fast-paced, intriguing mystery. If you just settle in for the ride, you will enjoy it.

I struggled to settle in enough for 5 stars. I felt like the writing was lacking a little bit. Some phrases were recycled and reused throughout the book, but nothing terrible. The biggest hangup for me was how juvenile the adult characters at the school felt. Many times I had to remind myself that these characters were well into their 20's and not preteen and teen wizards and witches.

However I still think it is worth a read because our options of good and dark magic schools have not been measuring up to our expectations. And even with its flaws, I think this book does give what it needed to give.

Another review written a few weeks after reading:
Alexis always delivers on setting the perfect atmosphere for her settings. She created a fantastic dark academia setting and story, so if that is what you are looking for this will satisfy that craving. 

The book starts out with Lennon running out of her life basically. She receives a call in a very interesting way about her acceptance into this mysterious university, and she realizes this is the escape from her life that she needs. 

The rest of the story follows Lennon through her time at Drayton College where they study telepathic powers called Persuasion. This magic system is pretty basic, so there is not a lot of explanation. Alexis does a great job of getting into the ethics of having powers than the mechanics. I even saw in an interview that Alexis describes her process of questioning magic systems for their ethical implications. I think she did a great job exploring this topic in this book.