This is an enchanting gothic romance that won't be new to some. I believe we are celebrating the 10th anniversary of its initial release, but it hasn't dated and is still a thoroughly enjoyable read.

I loved Gwen and her spirit - she seemed to be a lovely mixture of forthright and guileless. And Edwin the Headmaster is just what one once from a gothic hero - a little mysterious, a bit starchy and very sexy.

The children in the book provide some lovely comic relief and everything comes together in the end in a delightfully spooky way.

A great, quick read perfect for Autumn.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

“The Headmaster” by Tiffany Reisz is a wonderfully charming old-fashioned romantic gothic—and it is set in a mysterious and remote boarding school. And, who, really, does not love a boarding school gothic? It has the smoldering passion of the classic romantic gothic as well as mystery, and it also has supernatural elements. It is deliciously entertaining and genuinely well written.

The plot involves an attractive young woman, Gwen Ashby, who is 25, alone in the world, and looking for a job—she’s educated and a former college English teaching assistant at a Georgia university. But a series of unfortunate events, including being dumped by her boyfriend, have left her broke and heading toward a friend’s house hundreds of miles away to couch-surf. Everything she owns is in her car. She has no family and even the friend who offered the couch is not that close to Gwen. In other words, she’s on her own.

When she overhears a chance conversation at a diner about a boarding school that might be hiring teachers, she gets directions from a waitress. Soon she follows a nearly impassable, all but hidden road until she finally lands at William Marshall Academy, at the edge of the Appalachian Mountains. The school is lovely, though a bit overgrown, and with a kind of gothic cathedral look to the buildings. Gwen is surprised, enchanted—and more than a little nervous.

Before she stops her car, a deer jumps in front of her, and she crashes her car, hitting her head. Not long after, she wakes up in a lavish bedroom which turns out to belong to the headmaster, Edwin Yorke. Edwin is aloof toward her, but also caring. She feels a definite attraction to the man and why not—he is handsome, educated, refined, and so very well mannered. Rather than transport her to a hospital, Edwin cares for and soon she meets and is utterly charmed by the boy students at the remote school.

Soon enough, she convinces an initially reluctant Edwin to give her a trial as an English teacher at the school. This, of course, leads to her being hired and she is the only female on the campus. Well, almost. There’s a strange, ethereal white-clad female that roams the school silently at night.
From that beginning, nature takes it course so to speak with the smoldering passion between Gwen and Edwin. But so many things just don’t add up—and there’s that white-draped figure of a woman wandering the campus too.

That there is a supernatural element in the story is suggested once the spectral vision of the mysterious other woman shows up. But hold on—the climax and ending will settle the matter rather intriguingly.

This is a fun read, escapist sure, but why not transport yourself into this ivy-covered gothic school with charming students, a winsome can-do heroine, a haunted, handsome man, and plenty of smoldering passion? It is also a 10th Anniversary updated, expanded print edition of Tiffany Reisz’s gothic romance, and contains black-and-white illustrations that add to the considerable charm of the book. A Romance Writers of America RITA Award Finalist, this is one to indulge in and enjoy. The anniversary copy will only be available in hardback and trade paperback.

I received a Netgally advanced readers copy but this is my honest opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley and 8th Circle for the ARC.

Count me as turned on and spooked, in the BEST way. I loved this book and will be reading more from this author. It was a fast read, too. A great book for those who might be in a slump. This will definitely pull you out.

The copy I received is a special 10th anniversary edition with illustrations by Andrew Shaffer. Those illustrations really helped me get into the story and made the book scarier!

Gwen Ashby is looking for a teaching position and on her way to check out on she had a lead on, she got into a car accident. She woke up shortly with a headache in a beautiful room. It turns out to be the Headmaster's room. The boys at the all-boys (including the staff) school welcome her and immediately start setting her up with the headmaster, which she's secretly okay with because he is HOT. She lands herself a trial period at the academy and that's when things start to get weird... Another lady is appearing on campus and Gwen is certain it's the ghost of the previous literature teacher. The Headmaster is a gothic dark academia novel that will keep you guessing and distract you with spicy scenes. The illustrations will pull you in and make you feel like you're at William Marshal Academy.

Gwen finds herself at the William Marshall Academy, a boarding school, where there are twists and turns every corner. The book follows Gwen on her journey to becoming a teacher while many things are happening in her background, including love and academia.
I think this book did a lot with the limited amount of pages, and the storyline was well fleshed out for such a quick read. I did enjoy it, but there is not much to add to it, it did no impact me or made me think past finishing this book. While the end was intriguing, I just don't think we had the time to connect with the characters for me to rate it higher.
The animations were my favorite part; they added so much to the book and made it more fast-paced, as well as helped with imagination.

The cover of this one drew me in—I'm a sucker for a campy, gothic story, and that's what this looked like. That's also kind of what it is, but I found it to be shallow and uninteresting. I wanted the gothic stuff to be turned up and would've been happier with a longer book that could have given more development.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of The Headmaster by Tiffany Reisz.

Oh how fun. If you need a quick, silly, gothic romance, this is exactly it. I love books like this because they know exactly what they are, and lean right into it.

Gwen is down on her luck and planning to sleep in her car, until a strangely fortunate accident lands her right into her dream job. Teaching at an all boys school. She is thrilled, as are they, but even more intriguing is the brooding, yet impossibly handsome headmaster Edwin. But Edwin has experienced his own tragedies and is hesitant to start a new relationship. Add to that, a white and wispy figure keeps making an appearance at the school, and Gwen has to wonder, is this school haunted?

This is so steamy, you've got some toe curling scenes in there that will make you blush in the best way. A minimal, yet interesting plot, and some squeal worthy, unexpected twists along the way. I enjoyed the heck out of this.

I can't believe this book is so short but still has the perfect pacing, character development, romance and mystery. This was a really well written, atmospheric and gothic mystery. I especially loved the characters! I'll definitely be rereading

4.5 ⭐
I went into the book with zero expectation and it blew me away. I have no words. All I could say is that she got me, I didn’t see that plot twist coming. Left me bamboozled. From contemporary romance (which was a wrong assumption as it’s not) it jumped into the genre horror and paranormal real quick. The characters didn’t have much to stand on, but the plot and writing kept me captivated enough. Can’t wait to read more from the author.

3.5 stars

This was the first book I've read from Tiffany Reisz and it was an interesting concept. I don't normally pick up gothic or paranormal stories, but this one definitely caught my interest from the blurb.

I liked the writing style and it was quite atmospheric. It is a full length book, but on the shorter side. I was hooked from the first chapter, but the story, character, and relationship development felt rushed with the shorter page count.

I really enjoy Tiffany Reisz and was excited to read this rerelease; however, this was not at all what I expected. I am not well versed in the gothic romance genre but characterizing this as erotica feels like a miss as the sex scenes weren’t anything close to previous erotica I’ve read from Reisz. I love the cover of this novel and the illustrations were a neat touch. I am disappointed to say that the story did not capture my attention. The instant lust that Gwen felt toward the Headmaster felt forced and I didn’t like the way she basically forced herself onto him. The boys at the school were charming and they added to the story in a fun way. I was shocked by the ending and feel like the mystery was done well. Overall I rate it 3.75 rounded up for the creativeness and unique storyline. Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the ARC.

Fun quick read ! I breezed through this in one day and has great mystery and intrigue and some romance too!

I love the new anniversary edition too with serious Nancy Drew vibes.

♡ Gothic boarding school
♡ Headmaster + teacher
♡ Spooky vibes
♡ Suspense / mystery
📍 North Carolina
💕 Gwen + Edwin

Even though we're in summer, I've been craving autumnal reads 😅 and this delivered with it's spooky and mysterious Gothic setting.

I really enjoyed the main characters and their dynamic. Edwin is quite the uptight and honorable Englishman and I loved how Gwen broke down his walls. The students at the school were heartwarming and added a great dynamic to the story.

I can't say anymore without spoiling anything, but this was a really enjoyable read! And let's just say the mystery had me shooketh! 😅

My favourite quote from this book.. 🥺
"....my grandparents accused me of hiding in my books. But I wasn't hiding, I was healing. Those stories made me believe bad things happened for a reason and good things happened if you kept going all the way to the end. Hope and perseverance - that's what I learned from books."

Important to note this is erotica!! And that is distinctly different from your straight-up romance and requires a lot of suspension of reality.

I loved the dark academia setting of this and how our heroine, Gwen, knows exactly what she wants and is unashamed of it. The actual smut scenes didn't actually do much for me, which is not very fun when reading erotica... I still think is a super fun romp that scratches a number of itches.

There’s something so satisfying in a novella. Dark academia is one of my favourite genres so reading this only felt right. I really enjoyed all the different literary references throughout the book (duh she’s an English teacher). The tone is very ominous but yet still romantic- love at first sight and all. The mystery hung throughout the novella like an axe just waiting to fall down on you. Overall very enjoyable and engaging.

I saw Tiffany Reid’s and gothic and thought, let’s give that a whirl. However, this book was solidly not for me. The whole academy set up is not one that I explore anymore. I’m sure that some people will love it. Be aware that it’s an anniversary edition so not a new book.

Entertaining gothic romance. I was sucked in by the retro, pulpy cover of this new edition and I didn't realize this was going to be a romance going into it but I enjoyed the spicy parts most of all! As as a gothic horror it has all the trappings: gorgeous building in the middle of nowhere, a strange school isolated from everyone else, a teacher that left under unclear circumstances, and sightings of a mysterious "bride." But it was NOT a horror in the sense that there wasn't anything really scary in this book. As a romance, who WOULDN"T fall in love with the good-looking and overly honorable but take-charge headmaster? I'd want him to rip my clothes off too. That's really where this book shines imo, though the relationship Gwen has with the boys in the school is also very sweet.

Fans of romance with a predilection towards classic gothic books like Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights will love this book and I suspect someone purely looking for a thrill or a more literary story will be disappointed. It had a nice, though not really surprising, twist at the end. I saw it coming almost as soon as Gwen starts interacting with the boys, but it didn't take anything away from how much I enjoyed the book.

From the first chapter I felt an unknown uneasiness with a splash of dark academia. This created an atmospheric story from the beginning. Also, never having read this author, I found that I liked their writing style. It was easy to follow yet still dappled with some pretty prose. With that, I also thought that it was impressive that the writing had impressed that sense of uneasiness so early on, though perhaps the setting lends itself to it too. As far as characters go, Gwen was an easy character to like and follow. The plot surprised me (though part of that might be because I thought this was purely gothic/horror). Overall I enjoyed this read. It was different for me, so I thought the length was perfect! I also enjoyed the illustrations!

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC.

This was a DNF for me and that's fully and solely my fault. I expected this to be a historical romance book based off of the cover, hence the age old saying "Dont judge a book by its cover". From the few pages I read, the writing seems solid, and if anyone is interested in a modern gothic romance, this might be worth a read.

ABSOLUTELY LOVED Andrew Shaffer's graphics. Even with just the e-book proof, the illustrations were fabulous. Often in a novel, particularly the e-version, I find illustrations an "add-on" rather than part of the reading experience. Not so with this edition of Tiffany Reisz The Headmaster. I wasn't familiar with previous publications of this gothic "dark academia' novel, so the story was completely new to me.

In search of a new start in life, Gwen Ashby sets out across the country headed for Chicago. En-route she finds herself accepting a trial teaching position at William Marshall Academy, a gothic boarding school for young men. Gwen is quickly ensconced in a charming cottage on the edge of the grounds, charmed by eager young students, and seduced by the headmaster. Despite the magic of her new surroundings, there is something is not quite right at William Marshall Academy. A mystery that nobody is willing to explain. Gwen must get to the bottom of it before it is too late for her to leave.

The hook for this novel is a little trite but nicely conceived. I don't think I've read a racy gothic mystery before (possibly) so an intriguing change of pace. Nice and twisty. with very well structured chapters and entertaining dialogue throughout. Era appropriate names and dialogue helped to ground the plot. It wasn't quite clever enough to keep me guessing all the way to the end, although I I hadn't worked out every element of the story correctly before the details were laid out for all to see. Very satisfying.

The cover 100% got me and is why I wanted to read this. I have mixed feelings for this book. The only real positive is that the writing is alright. Now to what I didn’t love about the book. I didn’t get any chemistry from the main characters and they both felt very 2 dimensional. For the book being marketed as erotica, the sex scenes weren’t good and felt very bland and boring. I had a really big problem with the singular Black character being just that. The Black character, every time Samuel was mentioned it was pointed out that he was Black. You learn 2 things about him: he’s Black and he’s smart. I know it’s a novella but give me more than that please. I called the twist in chapter 1 but I did like ending. Overall not for me.