The Awakening (Zodiac Academy, #1) (2024)

Before I say anything and get into spoilers, I want to put a big *trigger warning* out there for this book: NON-CON (non-consensual acts) GALORE! No one mentioned this anywhere (not in the reviews, or in the summary, anything). Beware!

I picked this book up because I saw the author post a tiktok comparing it to a steamy, adult Harry Potter. Well, I really like all those words. I also really like astrology, and the reviews here on GoodReads are generally good. Y’all led me astray.

This book is literally the two main characters being violated emotionally, physically and sexually over and over for the entire run time of book. There are basically no other plot elements other than the next abuse that the Vega Twins have to suffer through at the hands of these evil men. Without knowing this going in, this book was shocking to me from beginning to end in the vile content that it was constantly spewing at me. The actions that the “”romantic interests”” take in this book are not just dubious consent, but nonconsensual in the text. The main characters will literally tell them: “No please don’t do that” / “No please stop” / “No please, leave me alone” and they never do! Y’all are in the reviews here saying “bully romance” this “bully romance” that, I’m not here to yuck anyone’s yum, but the actions of these characters without knowledge of the tropes of the genre are abusive and disgusting. I feel like they’re trying to establish a low point so that once the girls are strong enough to fight back (point to note: the girls literally become resigned to the abuse about 3/4 of the way into the book, just accepting that this how they should be treated until they’re strong enough to stop it. No one deserves to be treated like this.), it’s a glorious moment or whatever. But Jesus Christ is it painful to read. I’m also not going to be read, what, two or three full length books full of abuse for one girl boss moment? (Also spoilers here but I really don’t care: the climax of this book brought tears to my eyes for how horrible it is to these girls. Seth cutting her hair, and then them just almost fully drowning the other one? This isn’t sexy and fun? I’m down for some bad boy stuff or like banter but like ? Attempted murder? If I were going to continue this series, I would literally never forgive these f*cking assholes? I would want them dead? Comment below if you’re a mega fan and let me know if Tory and Darcy kill these evil men.)

Harry Potter is obviously a huge inspiration here. One of the things that made and makes HP so inviting to readers is the world building and sense of escapism that the books foster. 1) The world building in this book is....shallow at best, laughable at worst. 2) These character’s lives are a living nightmare so the escapism factor is a big fat zero. They literally have almost no fun or ever feel any happiness. No one is at this place to help them. Why would I want to be there?

Here’s some nitpicky stuff (spoilers ahead):
-The author(s) are obviously not American, but our main characters are supposed to be from Chicago. They could not be bothered to use the American spellings of words and even use a bunch of British slang which is like ? Very silly ?
-Kind of along with this, why does Diego have to use one random Spanish word a sentence? It feels like a cheap caricature to me (Oh, also if you’re a mega fan and reading this is Diego a nymph or is that just extremely heavy handed misdirection?)
-The amount of times the characters “snarl” is comical. How do you even “snarl”?
-The world building of the fae and the different orders feels like a way to justify non-con stuff. It feels like the authors wanted the non-con stuff in there and then wrote the orders to justify the actions.
-The names of the professors are so stupid, lmao. Like people have names. They aren’t always hyper-specific to the role you want them to play in your book. It seems ridiculous that they all have names directly relating to the element they teach when we know that every other character just has a normal ass name.
-One thing I do want to say, is that I actually really liked Tory and Darcy. But there is not one other likable character in this. Everyone else is either the literal scum of the earth, or just annoying (Tory and Darcy have two (2) friends, one of which is revealed halfway through the book to be lying to them (still don’t know which one yet, but I’m sure there’s a reveal coming up in another book) which is so silly.)
-Literally who is who? Having two main characters that are twins and then five “romantic interests”, I couldn’t keep anyone straight until like 1/2 way through. Also the fact that each main character has two love interests? Why? What was the reason?
-Orion (the professor) feeding on Darcy non-consensually feels like especially icky to me. Literally by the book abuse. Are there no rules at this school?
-If there are no rules at this school, can the girls just kill these MF’s?

I think that’s it.

My big takeaway is that this book is presenting a very, very niche thing that, if you’re into it, can be great (I guess). But it should be more up front about that fact, because if you’re not into it, it is f*cking horrible. From start to finish.

I had to abandon this book after about 25%. I’m not into rape culture. Consent is sexy.

– 3.5 stars

Zodiac Academy Guide – Read or Not to Read?

PRO:

Because there are two main couples in this series, you’ll find at least ONE couple you want to root for. One couple is soft and forbidden while the other is toxic and angsty. There is definitely something for everyone. Best case scenario you’ll love them both.

CON:

Because there are two main couples in this series, the chances can also be high that you’ll find ONE couple extremely frustrating/annoying/boring. From what I’ve observe, everyone got that one couple they are reading this series for, while they feel kinda meh or alright about the other one.

What to expect when reading ZA:

➷ one of the most supportive & wholesome sibling bonds, sisters who would do anything for each other! Darcy & Tory are the opposite but there is no rivalry and they complement each other so well

➷ bromances that make you wish you had a dick to be included in the club

➷ characters you’ll loathe at first, but learn to love

➷ character development, this point is pretty much connected to the previous one, but needed to be said

�� enemies that become family!! you can't see the vision in the first book yet and even if book 1 isn't for you bc of the bullying aspect, I'd tell you to keep going until at least book 2 and 3.

➷ rollercoaster of emotions that make you want to flush your e-reader down the toilet or smash your phone against a wall, your pick

➷ THE MOST AMAZING ROMANCES

➷ do you like drugs? yes? cause this series has CRACK in it

What not to expect when reading ZA:

➷ beautiful and eloquent writing, the writing is rather immature and wattpadish

➷ humor that is for everyone .. i’m only saying Faes using Faebook and driving Faerarris #faentastic

➷ fast paced plot, this series is 100% character and relationship driven

Recommended reading order when reading ZA

#0.5 Zodiac Academy: Origins of an Academy Bully (novella takes places a couple of years before the main story and gives a small outlook into Orion & Darius' past)
#1 The Awakening
#2 Ruthless Fae
#3 The Reckoning
#4 Shadow Princess
#5 Cursed Fates
#6 Fated Throne
#7 Heartless Sky
#8 Sorrow and Starlight
#9 -

additional ZA content:

↳ Foxy Tales (highly recommend to read this to see Orion's POV chapter from the pool scene + sex ed class and Darius POV chapter from the power sharing scene + first time sex with Tory)
↳ #5.5 The Big A.S.S. Party (Max & Geraldine's POV)
↳ #5.6 Seth on the Moon
↳ #1.5 The Awakening as Told by the Boys (retelling of book 1 of ZA from Orion + the heirs POV, best read after reading the main series and earliest after Fated Throne)

[review for book 1 The Awakening]

SONG:
Chung Ha - Gotta Go

I missed my chance of going to a magical school, because I'm not an orphan & the chosen one. So I'm just here trying to live vicariously through these characters living their best life by learning mind coercion, water-bending etc. 😭🤚

So far my impression is that Zodiac Academy is a mix between Harry Potter, Winx Club and Avatar the last Airbender, but on steroids. 😂

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➵ PLOT
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Zodiac Academy is written in dual POV of Tory and Darcy Vega. The twins are living in the mortal world on their own, after their last guardian threw them out when they turned 18. One day Professor Orion turns up–while the girls struggle to come up with money to pay their rent–and tells them that they are Fae born and have magic in their veins. It turns out that Tory and Darcy's parents were the last King and Queen of Solaria and the Vega twins have to return to Solaria to graduate from Zodiac Academy to reclaim their throne.

Through the Awakening, Darcy and Tory find out that they both hold every element (Fire, Water, Air & Earth), when it's only common to have two or three elements. The plot of Zodiac Academy: The Awakening is pretty basic. Darcy and Tory are going to the Academy, going from one class to the next trying to survive and learn as much about the new world they have been thrust into. There are the mean girls, the bullies, the royalty fan-club, the weird/creepy as hell professors, magical creatues... they have to deal with all kind of characters and it's not easy. Not having any prior knowledge of the world and magic around them, makes the twins easy prey for everyone. Darcy and Tory get bullied and humiliated a lot in the first few days at school and I wanted to reach into the book and sucker punch a lot of characters. But their worst enemies are the four Heirs (Caleb, Darius, Max & Seth) who want them gone. I'll get to the Heirs more later on.

The main plot is the Vega twins navigating their day to day life at Zodiac Academy, but there a strnage things that keeps happening and they learn that they live in darker times than they thought, so it's going to be interesting to see what will happen in the next six books.

I feel the need to say that the romance only plays a secondary role in this book. We get a teaser of potential pairings, but nothing is really established. But I already love & see the potential of both the sisters love interest and the slowburn enemies-to-lovers they have going for them. 💫

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➵ WORLD BUILDING
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After the demise of the King and Queen of Solaria, the power was split between four families, the Celestial Heirs who share the power of the throne equally.

Zodiac Academy is divided into four Houses where the four Heirs are the House Captains

House Aqua 🌊 ➵ Max Rigel
House Terra 🌱 ➵ Caleb Altair
House Ignis 🔥 ➵ Darius Acrux
House Aer 🌪️ ➵ Seth Capella

Every fae belongs to an Order

➵ Vampire (Orion, Caleb)
➵ Siren (Max)

➵ Dragon (Darius)
➵ Werwolf (Seth)
➵ Manticore
➵ Griffin
➵ Cerberus
➵ Pegasus
➵ Nemean Lion
➵ Hydra
➵ Caucasian Eagle
➵ Chimera

➵ Minotaur
➵ Medusa
➵ Centaur
➵ Cyclops
➵ Spinx
➵ Harpy

Everything is pretty straighforward. It's a lot of names for the different Orders, but not all of them appear in this book, there is no info-dump or at least, IMO it's pretty easy to follow. After reading the Blood and Ash series, every fantasy series that follows is mindblowingly easy to understand tbh. 😂

"Everything in Solaria is about power, Miss Vega. Don't forget that. Everyone takes what they want. It's our way. And if you don't start taking it yourself, you're going to fail at this Academy before you've even attempted to pass The Reckoning."

↠ THE VEGA TWINS.

(left: Darcy; right: Tory)
credits to @jessdraw.s

Just from this book alone, Tory is the twin that I like more, because she's the kind of heroine I usually go for. Bold. Fearless. Doesn't back down. Not afraid to open her mouth. Whereas, Darcy is the softer sister who is more kind-hearted, more naive and less in-your-face. I really have a soft spot for characters like Tory, because she's always the one to throw herself in front of danger to protect her sister. What makes me super happy about this happy is that there is NO sibling rivalry between Darcy and Tory. They have a great relationship and very protective of each other.

While I prefer Tory at this moment, I have a feeling this is going to change soon when the romance part comes into play more. I already ship Darcy + Professor Orion so hard in this book, even though they have not that many scenes together and haven't even kissed yet. But the enemies-to-lovers, forbidden romance they have going on for them? YES, I'M SOLD.

I lifted my chin and the air became thick between us. "One day, Professor, I'm going to be strong enough to fight you off."
He took a measured breath and I felt like he was sucking something vital out of my body that I wasn't sure I'd ever get back.
"I know," his eyes glittering. "But until that day, you're mine, Blue."

credits to @jessdraw.s

I SWEAR TO EVERYTHING HOLY HOW I CAN'T STAND THIS GUY. He keeps laughing at his own jokes/puns, even though they are so bad and I can't. I hate him so much. 😂 And his dimple doesn't do ANYTHING for me AT ALL. Yup, I sound very convincing.

Orion gives me so many "I hate everyone, but you vibes" and I love it. He is so moody. Every time I read a scene about Orion teaching, I'm laughing my ass off, cause he's always doing something like banging students head on the desk to make me laugh (there is something wrong with me ik 🤷🏽‍♀️). He's an asshole to Darcy and Tory too, but it's so entertaining. So far he's my favorite character.

"Miss Vega if you're not standing up in the next three seconds, you're going to regret it," Orion barked.
"Which Vega?" Tory asked, barely concealing her jibing tone.
Orion's eyes snapped to her. "The one who has tried to individualise herself by dying the ends of her hair blue. It has failed by the way."

↠ THE HEIRS.

(from left to right: Seth, Caleb, Darius & Max
credits to @witchlingsart

All four Heirs are grade A assholes. They try everything in their power to make Tory and Darcy's stay at Zodiac Academy hell and want to expel them. The Heirs bring the bullying to a new level, it's not only extremely humaliating for the twins, but dangerous too. The four guys have been trained their whole life to rule over Solaria and then here come two girls from the mortal world trying to take their throne. Having read Darius backstory in #0.5, I'm biased towards him out of all the Heirs, cause he has sh*tty parents and is under alot of pressure and out of the group he's the tall, dark and handsome one, what is there not to love. But after what they did to Tory I'M FUMING and they are on the top of my sh*t-list. Idk what's going to happen in the next several books, but it will take me a while to not hate them anymore, if that's even possible.

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➵ I ENJOYED IT A LOT, BUT WHY I'M STILL GIVING IT 3.5 STARS
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I've read the #0.5 prequel book before where we see a little of Darius and Orion's backstory. That novella was fast-paced plotwise that I expected every book in this seres to be that way. Instead this book was very slow and felt like a very long prologue to the story, cause not much is happening besides Darcy and Tory going to classes. I didn't it, because I enjoy that kind of content with academia books where the protagonists takes time to get to know their surrounding & the authors took the time for the twins to settle in. It's more a hint for people who still want to read the series to keep their expectations low, because this book is not action packed. The lenght of this series is probably holding a lot of people off too, does this book had to be almost 500+ pages? Probably not, but it didn't feel that long to me and enjoyed most of it. 🤷🏽‍♀️

This is just the first book. There are still six more books to come, so I see a lot of potential for improvement. And I don't mean that the book is so bad that it needs so many changes, but more the fact that Tory and Darcy are still newbies in Solaria. They still have a lot of room for character development, to controll their power + make alliances with other people. Now it feels like the it's the twins against the WHOLE world and Darcy and Tory had to take hits after hits and it's depressing. The only solid relationship I see is the bond the twins have with each other and I can't wait to see all the romantic relationships established, maybe form friendships with some of the other people in the Academy, the twins kicking ass and take what is rightfully theirs.

I'm excited to read the rest of the series, because I feel it's going to get so much better and I just need more of Darcy & Orion. <3

┍━━━━━━━━━━━━━┑
ZODIAC ACADEMY SERIES

#0.5 Zodic Academy: Origin of an Academy Bully – 3.75 stars
#1 Zodiac Academy: The Awakening – 3.5 stars
#2 Zodiac Academy: Ruthless Fae – 3.75 stars
#3 Zodiac Academy: The Reckoning – 4.5 stars
#4 Zodiac Academy: Shadow Princess –4.5 stars
#5 Zodiac Academy: Cursed Fates – 4 stars
#5.5 Zodiac Academy: The Big A.S.S. Party – 3.5 stars
#6 Zodiac Academy: Fated Throne – 4.25 stars
#7 Zodiac Academy: Heartless Sky – 4.25 stars
#8 Zodiac Academy: Sorrow & Starlight – 2.5 stars
┕━━━━━━━━━━━━━┙

a super mixed bag but i'm pretty invested! thoughts to come in a fantasy romance reading vlog

“Why do I have such terrible taste in men?” Iv never related to anything this bad 😭💀

I LOVED THIS BOOK HELLOO TAKE ALL OF MY MONEY IT MADE ME FEEL EMOTIONS THAT I NEVER KNEW EXISTED. TO ALL OF MY GIRLIES THAT RECOMMENED ME THIS I LOVE YOUUU BUT GOD WAS THAT PAINFUL I DON’T LIKE BULLY ROMANCES BUT I FEEL LIKE IT WOULD BE SOO UNFAIR TO GIVE THIS A LOWER RATING BECAUSE OF THE BULYYING BECAUSE ITS LITERALLY A BULLY ROMANCE FANTASY BOOK.LIKE IMAGINE GOING TO A BAR AND SAYING WHYS THERE SOO MUCH ALCOHOL 💀😭

The Orphaned vega twins had their lives turned upside down in one night. It all started when Tory vega was stopped by a stranger at the bar who followed her back to her apartment. Now this was no stranger it was Lance Orion a professor at the zodiac academy. Where he broke the news to girls that’s they’re not human but fae and that their real parents were the king and Queen of Solaria who were murdered but before the supposed attack their mother had swapped the twins with some human twins. Now as the only living heirs to the throne they must return to solaria attend zodiac academy to inherit the fortunes left behind. The girls reluctantly agree to go with Orion as they pretty much have no choice because they’r just broke teenage girls fending for them selves and if attending some magic school was going to sort that then why not

“Last chance, Roxy. Take your sister and leave this Academy. Go back to your little mortal lives and leave Solaria in the hands of people who are worthy of the throne,” he said darkly.”

That’s where they thought wrong. As they arrive at zodiac academy they realise they aren’t welcome due to their run in with the 4 celestial heirs who were set to rule solaria together Max Rigil , Caleb Altair, Darius Acrux and Seth Capella. The twins return makes them feel threatened as not only do the twins contain the power of the 4 elements they are the true heirs to the throne the throne that they were all promised. Now having the 4 horsem*n as your enemies wasn’t really on the agenda but HEYY WE WOULDN’T HAVE A PLOT IF THEY GOT ALONG😭

Tory Vega

“Tears prickled the backs of my eyes but I bitch-slapped them down hard. I would not cry in front of this goddamn bastard.”

Tory has my heart she is definitely my favourite twin not that I don’t love Darcy. Tory was a badass and made it bearable for me to read the bullying because hey that girl never backed down from a fight and totally gave me me vibes with her choice of men and the fact that she doesn’t cry infront of people that’s totally meee.EVEN AT THE END MY LOVE DIDN’T LET THEM GET THE BEST OF HER😭

Darcy Vega

“I'd always had a thing for older guys and that coupled with the fact that Orion had the sort of face that made me forget to blink” She was so real for that

Darcy wasn’t a pushover either she was Strong and stood her ground but she was just softer than Tory and wouldn’t put her self in stupid situations on purpose unlike her twin let’s just say she was the PRACTICAL TWIN.MY BABY WENT THROUGH SOO MUCH AND HER BLUEE HAIR IM IN LITERAL TEARS

Lance Orion

“Careful Miss Vega expressions like that are punishable in my classroom.”

“Evening,” a deep voice murmured in my ear and I didn't have to look up to know who it was.”

LANCE FRICKING ORION STOLE MY HEART FROM THE START. He was just perfect with the rude and blunt exterior and helloooo his humour had me rolling. The fact that he was a vampire totally bumped him up the ranks for me. HE IS A LIBRA THE CHERRY ON TOP WE SHARE THE SAME STAR SIGN IM TELLING YOU GUYS ITS MEANT TO BE😭😫I DONT EVEN BELIEVE IN STAR SIGNS BUT A WIN IS A WIN

Darius Arcux

“He was power and heat and war wrapped up in a single being. He’d fight to the death to maintain what was his”

Darius is the guy that everyone wants he’s handsome toxic and powerful. I Don’t blame Tory for wanting him because heyy we’re all DELULU HERE. His friendship with the boys was cute the way he let Max feed on his energy willingly and would have let Caleb too if he wanted showed that he does have a soft spot. I hated him for the initiation test he put Tory through it was humiliating and degrading BUT I HATED HIM MORE AT THE END WHAT HE DID WAS NOT OKKKK IM STILL CRYING

Caleb Altair

“She's my Source. Touch her again and you're dead. Professor or not.”

If I had a soft spot for anyone it was Caleb at the start when he pinned Tory and drained her blood I can’t lie I FULLY FREAKED OUT but he’s a vampire which totally makes sense my guy treated her as his favourite CapriSun the way he went bat sh*t crazy at Lance for feeding from her has me wondering what happened in the past that they hate each other. I thought him and Tory could have been a thing because no one can tell me he didn’t have little soft spot for her even at the end there was a small spot of humanity I felt it the way he looked at her it’s almost as if he felt guilty #FORVERADELULU 🥲

Seth Capella

“You didn't just ignore me did you, babe?” Seth dropped into the seat beside mine, wrapping his arm around my waist and sending a bolt of electricity through my heart.”

My little wolfy he was sooo funny he had me howling PUN INTENDED. He had his cute moments every time he called Darcy babe made my heart flutter. At First like the twins I thought he was the sweetest I THOUGHT WRONG I WILL NOT FORGIVE YOU A PART OF ME LOVED YOU SETH.

Max Rigil

“And besides, you spend enough of your time terrorising the other students at Zodiac to get your fix, Mr Rigel. You don't need to get it here every week too.”
“For f*ck's sake,” Max growled.”

I cant lie we didn’t see Max much and when we did he was being an absolute prick. All I have for you is that he is that he is a siren who feeds off people’s emotions and he captains the house Aqua .ITS ALL HIS FAULT I HOPE SOMEONE GETS HIM IF IT WASN’T FOR HIM I WOULDN’T BE HEART BROKEN WE KNOW WHAT YOU DID

My most memorable moment :

“What if we call a truce on our issues? For one night only,” he offered.”

“I’ll even promise not to bite you tonight if you want?”

My favourite part from the whole book has to be the when the girls went dancing. I feel like it was the most wholesome scene the way everyone let their guard down and it was like group of teenage friends enjoying one another’s company NO TRICKS, BULLYING OR MIXED SIGNALS. Even though I ship Lance and Darcy I was loving Seth and Darcy too the way he was breaking down her walls was adorable PLEASEE I KNOW WHAT HE DOES LETS NOT TALK ABOUT IT STILL IN A PUDDLE OF TEARS. Love how Darius willingly went up to dance with Torry hands around her waist and all not willing to let go a part of me ALL OF ME was blushing and he was soo pissed when lance called him out only for Tory to carry on dancing with Calebb we love herrr 😍😍

Lance and Darcy are sooo cute theway he calls her “Blue” that nickname is to diee for. GUYS I KNOW HE IS HER TEACHER BUT HE’S 25 and SHE'S 18 AND ISN’T A MINOR Some of my favourite moments:

“And screwing him didn't bring out the wolf in you either?” SOMEONES JEALOUS

1. At the start when he claimed her to be his personal juice box only so no other vampire including Caleb could feed from her or touch her because lets be honest he didn’t want to actually harm her
2. When she was with Seth he fully saw red and tried his best to control himself WE LOVE A JEALOUS POSSESIVE MEN
4. Lastly I will never forget how Darcy SLAPPED Lance and lived to tell the tale if that was anyone else then god help them 💀😭

The one thing I didn’t like was the long chapters I don’t care if a book is long but short chapters are the way to go I feel like if the chapters are shorter its faster to read the book THE SCIENCE ISN’T SCIENCING 😭


SPOILERS AHEAD⚠️⚠️

Who killed Falling Star AKA professor Astrum just when I was thinking the girls had someone he gets murdered what more did he have to tell them this whole who murdered the twins parents mystery has me hooked

“Caleb, take off your shirt and give it to Miss Vega,” Orion snapped.”

“Orion shrugged out of his own jacket and handed it to me instead”

Lance I Owe you an apology he was always trying to protect the twins its adorable when he told Darcy to go back in and not go with Seth it wasn’t just jealousy its because he knew something was wrong and after the whole attack the way he cracked a joke to make her laugh will ALWAYS have my heart . No I’m not forgetting how he saved Tory and gave everyone a run for their money WE LOVE LANCE.

WTF WAS THAT ENDING IM SOO SORRY IT HAD ME IN TEARS

“Told you I'd get your hair,” he said, his voice flat and cold and making my heart crawl into a shell to try and hide.
“And since Max told me the little sob story behind it, I was even more determined to get my hands on it.”” 😭😭😭

THE WAY THEY USED DARCY’S TRAUMA ABOUT NOT BEING LOVED BECAUSE HER BOYFRIEND LEFT HER AFTER HE HOOKED UP WITH HER SO SHE DYED HER HAIR BLUE TO PORTRAY A BRUISE FOR HOW SHE FELT ONLY FOR SETH TO BREAK DOWN HER WALLS AND THEN THE PRICK CUT OFF HER BLUE LOCKS WHYYYYY HOW CAN YOU BE THAT EVIL

“I was there again. Sinking, down, down, down and this time no helpful passerby was going to save me.”

MY POOR TORY 😫 DARIUS I WILL COME AND KILL YOU MY SELF FULLY KNOWING SHE CAN NOT SWIM AND HOW SHE WAS LEFT TO DROWN BY HER EX NOT ONLY DID YOU GUYS PUSH HER IN A POOL YOU FULLY DROWNED HER IF IT WASN’T FOR LANCE SHE WOULD HAVE BEEN DEAD IS THE KINGDOM THAT IMPORTANT

SPOILERS END HERE ⚠️⚠️⚠️

To end on a lighter note here are some of my favourite funny quotes :

“You were a unicorn!” Darcy yelled in confusion as my brain struggled to comprehend what had just happened. “Pegasus,” Tyler corrected. “And you two were all over me.”
“That’s because we thought we were stroking a wild animal not getting molested by some horse-faced weirdo,”

“Perfect. I always wanted to be a walking packed lunch,” I said dryly

“No she's in Uranus,” he said around a mouthful of food.
“Excuse me?” Tory blurted. “Our friend has been hurt and you think it's an appropriate time to start throwing jokes around?” “No,” he said innocently. “She's in Uranus Infirmary, next to Neptune Tower?”

“Why is everyone after those emotions?! And why am I even turned on by Lord Voldemort’s hotter, younger cousin?”

“Sorry, babe, did I forget to ask your permission? You know I'm totally polyamorous right?”
“No Seth, you have never told me that.”
“Well you can't go poly-shaming me now can you?”

THIS BOOK HAS LITTLE TO NO SMUT WHICH I LOVED SO THERE WAS NO SKIPPING 😍. I WANT TO KILL ALL THE HEIRS BUT I DEFINITELY HAVE A PLACE IN MY HEART FOR CALEB ITS ALMOST AS IF HE DIDN’T WANT TO DO IT NOT THAT IT MAKES IT OKAY SO AS MUCH AS I WAS SHIPPING TORY AND DARIUS THE PRICK DOESN’T DESERVE HER 😭

#2 Reread - March 2024 ೃ⁀➷ 5 stars *ੈ✩‧₊˚

I regret starting a rr of this series bc now I’m invested all over again 😭 I’m pissed off and frustrated and I simply wanna throw up. The ending didn’t have to be such a violation on my feelings argh 😭🙏

Bluelance carriedddd this book unsurprisingly 💅💅 their interactions were chefs f*cking kiss gahhh 🤭💘💞💕🦋💗🎀🩷💋

Also this iconic quote??!?

“One day, Professor, I'm going to be strong enough to fight you off.”
He took a measured breath and I felt like he was sucking something vital out of my body that I wasn’t sure I’d ever get back.
“I know,” he said, his eyes glittering. “But until that day, you're mine, Blue.”

Torydarius were so hotttt in this book omfds I missed their golden era 🤧❤️‍🩹 I almost forgot how good their scenes used to be. Hopefully this feeling lasts the whole series during my rr 🤞

I’m falling back into hate with Seth and max omfds 😭🙏 they were despicable! It was so hard to remember their growth and be understanding. I’m def diving into the boys povs after this (also thanks to everyone who voted on the poll ily ) I need to humanise them before I carry on bc ik they’re only my precious pookies 🤕🤕 I gotta remind myself how loyal they can be when ur on their good side.

Also my rating has gone up bc I realised this was a solid introduction to the series and there were literally no skips the entire time.

Fast paced, rife with angst and tension oof this is a slow burn delicacy. Each page had something happening and I loved every second of it!

I could also be biased bc this was the first lengthy fantasy series to burrow its way into the depths of my heart — but let’s not talk about that. It was, objectively, far from perfect but it was perfect to me 🗣️

***
Rereading to be ready in time for closure in the form of ZA9 🎀

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

#𝟭 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 - 𝗦𝗲𝗽 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟮 — ೃ⁀➷ 4.5 stars *ੈ✩‧₊˚

It’s so hard to make this review and this feeling hasn’t happened to me before. Buckle up bc I just won’t be able to articulate everything as coherently as I thought so ur getting chaos in words <33

My anger has only slightly dialled down, simmering under my skin after finishing the book. There’s just so much. 𝘚𝘖 𝘔𝘜𝘊𝘏 I want to do to these guys *drops head back and let’s out a strangled scream*

First of all, I’m in love with the way these authors have gripped my heart in a fist and shaken me to the core. I just can’t wrap my head around all the sh*t the girls went through and just… wow. 𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐔𝐏 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐒𝐄 𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐀𝐍𝐄𝐋𝐘 𝐌𝐀𝐃𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒?!

I didn’t expect to feel all this rage. Honestly, I didn’t expect much but I DID expect lots of tension and angst. AND BOI DID I GET JUST THAT AND THEN SOME…

Surprisingly the plot had me hooked! I love all of that catty drama, the powers, the world-building and most of all the 𝗗𝗥𝗔𝗠𝗔.

𝗗𝗔𝗥𝗖𝗬 𝗩𝗘𝗚𝗔 is my favourite twin so far. I love her so much! I love that she’s strong when she least expects it. I love that she might not be confrontational but she has standards and won’t take sh*t from any of the guys. 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐮𝐬𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐟𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐨𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭. She’s so easy to relate to and I find her personality so endearing.

I can’t help but love her more bc of *𝒂𝒉𝒆𝒎* a 𝘾𝙀𝙍𝙏𝘼𝙄𝙉 𝙎𝙊𝙈𝙀𝙊𝙉𝙀 idc Idc.

[𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐇, 𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐈𝐌 𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐓 𝐘𝐎𝐔! ] 💘💕💗

I still love 𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗬 𝗩𝗘𝗚𝗔 though! She’s such a feisty and full-of-life personality and her banter makes me start chuckling at the most inopportune moments. I love the way she’s not scared of conflict and the fact that she doesn’t bow before any of them. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐭, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐠𝐚𝐟. It’s elite entertainment for me though 😂

𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘 ‘𝙄 𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨’ 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙚’ 𝗢𝗥𝗜𝗢𝗡. THE MANN THAT HE IS-
Gahhh he is so HOTT I can’t keep up. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐲, 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤, 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐚 𝐡𝐞’𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦. I’m always left panting for more. Just more… ANYTHING from him.
His lessons are 𝑺𝑶 𝑭𝑼𝑪𝑲𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑨𝑴𝑼𝑺𝑰𝑵𝑮 I crack up Every Single Time.
Something so deranged and dramatic happens in each lesson. You’ll always find me longing for his motivational sentences. They’re priceless.
and those stare-offs??! *frantically fans myself*

I’ve been kinda spoiled on who ends up together with the twins but I wouldn’t say it spoiled anything for me because it just made every interaction they had, that much more exciting. It came to the point where I highlighted entire pages because I was so giddy about every exchange.

Talking about every interaction, 𝙒𝙃𝙔 𝙒𝘼𝙎 𝙏𝙃𝙀𝙍𝙀 𝙃𝘼𝙍𝘿𝙇𝙔 𝘼𝙉𝙔 𝙍𝙊𝙈𝘼𝙉𝘾𝙀!?
I was impatiently 𝒔𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 and 𝒐𝒃𝒔𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 over every morsel of verbal sparring they had. 𝗜 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱’𝘃𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗱, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄?!
And that one scene was hot ngl. But it wasn’t what I wanted!! — did I still go insane for it tho? Ofc I did 😮‍💨😮‍💨

And then 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 20% 𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅, 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒐 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅. My heart took a toll of brutal beatings every time the twins went through sh*t and I want to lash out at The Heirs for it.

I want to stand them in a line and punch their ugly — 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐡 𝐬𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐭 — faces one after the other, in quick succession.
Then kick them behind the knees and listen to the crack of their bones as they hit the ground.
And then beat them even more while they’re down there.
Like I want to see them 𝐁 𝐄 𝐆 for forgiveness.
I want them to 𝙂𝙍𝙊𝙑𝙀𝙇 at Tory and Darcy’s feet.

Seth... 𝐒𝐄𝐓𝐇 𝐈𝐒 𝐆𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐎 𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐌𝐘 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄 *𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬*

The urge to aggressively shout and break things is at an all-time high rn.
Ugh, I need help. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒑𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒂𝒈.

Me, skipping off to the next book, knowing full well the havoc it’ll unleash on my emotions.

𝗦𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲:
Why was it so hard to picture twins in my head?! I found it so difficult but it’s all okay now though. It took some time and now I’m happy with the Darcy and Tory I have in my head. (𝘐𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘮𝘢𝘰 <3 ）

𝗦𝗼𝗻𝗴𝘀: 🎧

They’re going to be in the comments section!
The character limit for the review won’t let me add them here 😭😭

𝗙𝗮𝘃 𝗤𝘂𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀:
They’re also going to be in the comments section!

𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝘃𝗶𝗯𝗲𝘀:
The vampire diaries - L.J. Smith
Harry Potter - j.k. Rowling (lol)
Divergent - Veronica Roth
Corrupt - Penelope Douglas

THIS REMINDED ME SO MUCH OF THE TV SHOW: Legacies. But imagine that on steroids!

———————————————————————
Me, stomping around my house, fumes coming out my nostrils, cursing The Heirs to hell and everything painful.

I’ll be back after a salty minute bc I need to process. No one talk to me.

3.5 stars

Everyone in this series is a f*cking asshole - and when I say asshole I mean it in every sense of the word:

➽ Sexual assault? Okay
➽ Drinking everyone's blood? Great
➽

Let's also not forget some cringy teenage talk from the early 2010s. Words like bae should not be used in any form of literature, even this semi-trash.

But you know what? I still really enjoyed this book.

And as the laws of physics like to say The things Anna enjoys most are the things Anna can't properly f*cking review.

But here are some random thoughts:

♊ If Harry Potter + Winx Club had explicit (maybe kinda awkward) sex = this would be their love child

♊ PLZZZ why does Seth's order remind me of this:

♊ Orion is the worst teacher ever. He deadass comes late to everything, assaults, insults, and bites his students while just overall hating everyone😭😭😭 I love this guy.

♊ This book is so addictive but the writing sometimes gives me a headache.

♊ The heirs are literally the worst but also.......😗they kinda cute though (except Max. Hate the mf)

♊ I know many people love Darcy and Orion more as a couple and my question is ¿porque?

I mean they're great but Tory and Darius take superiority on my chemistry scale.

♊ These love triangles are giving me life. I love the drama.

♊ Imagine how much time would've been saved if they all acknowledged the fact that the twins ARE NOT interested in the throne. They could band together because they literally have the same goals, like are they slow or what💀?

♊ Boy will I sound like a total dickhe*d but....Darcy's reason for dyeing her hair? LMAO.

I expected something way more poetic than some crap about emotional pain being less visible than bruised knees.

Especially after hearing Tory's story. The poor girl almost died and here Darcy is talking about her blue & black knees like her hair😭. Her emotional pain is very valid btw, but I don't know why she had to bring her knees into this.

♊ The drowning was not dramatic enough. SHE NEEDED TO DIE FOR AT LEAST 10 MINUTES SO DARIUS FEELS LIKE sh*t AND REGRETS HIS ENTIRE LIFE. But this bitch didn't even make him sweat😒

♊

Orion shook his head, his face painted with disappointment. “I thought you of all the Heirs were better than your parents.”

I'm so glad I read the prequel before this because then I wouldn't be able to understand-
NO FEEL how f*cking savage that was. I felt that sh*t in my toes.

♊ Anyways, I hope Darius suffers an eternity after that ending. And Orion just plays all these dumbasses and becomes the king himself🤡

— 4.5 stars ✰

"he was dangerous in all the right ways"

what is in this book and why was it so addicting 😭 i enjoyed it MUCH more than i thought i would so here i am, trying to write this review so i can make y'all will read this asap

so let's first talk about the things i liked in this book.. it’s giving romance with harry potter vibes but in college and mixed with winx & twilight lol. it's a new school, new world and let's be real, this is so wattpad with all that "lost twins" but it was still pretty amazing ngl 😭

there is this amazing sibling bond between tory and darcy, i love them with my entire heart and it was hilarious to see tory being a bad b. i usually loathe love triangles but this one gave what it's supposed to give and the drama was batsh*t good. it was so addictive, i couldn't put it down, so i pulled an all-nighter 😀

orion carried this book. he is an awful teacher and i love him so much. insulting his student? yes. putting them in their place? also yes. he never fails to amaze me with his sarcasm

he is just 💗💘💕💞 also his nickname for darcy >>>

you can either see this as a pro or con.. but A LOT of drama and emotions and frustrations..

there are like two main couples. i mean, not yet really but there will be. one is [kinda] forbidden and definitely not as toxic as the other one.. and well that one is also pretty frustrating and will probably make me rip my hair out but here goes nothing

was the writing good? absolutely not. sometimes it even felt cringey and cheesy but you know when you have those days when you just need books like that? yep, exactly

after finishing the book i have no clue how the guys will redeem themselves because the ending was brutal.. so if they don’t grovel, i will sue 🔪🔪

giving this book four stars because overall i still enjoyed the book pretty much. yes, i do dislike the guys but it’s an eight book long series so i think we'll get a lot of character development and redemptions 😌

i hope to see a much much much stronger side of tory and darcy in the following books, i can't wait for them to beat these guys up 🤭

PLEASE CHECK TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR THE SERIES

— i also read that book in one sitting, so if i tell you it's addictive, then f*cking believe me 🧌

4.38!

"But until that day, you're mine, Blue."

I am so mad at myself for not reading this sooner but also glad that I'm reading it very close to the last ones release because the cliffhangers that this one had?? I'm sure it'll get worse with each book and I can't wait to read them 🤭 (there's something wrong with me 😔) the writing tbh was not the best writing that I have ever read, it came off as cringe sometimes but nit enough to ruin my experience anf i mean.....it will get better with each book. I love how the twins managed to keep invested in their story. I was so hooked! I can't remember the last time I read a book i a day and a half because of my lord was it so easy to get into and through!

Moving on to the characters:

•Tory Vega🔥 y'all I know you guys love Darcy more but I can't help it. Tory was easily my favourite character she was so badass and hotheaded plus the way she stood up for herself and Darcy and the way she had these sassy comebacks on the tip of her tongue was the reason why reading this book was a joy also a plus point for Tory is that she's a biker 🤭🤭 I loved her whole arc and I cannot wait to read more of her she will easily be my favourite character (please don't mess up her character arc....otherwise I'll give that book a 1)

•Darius Acrux 🥵 okay I know many of you hate him in this book and will hate me for liking him....but I KNOW THERES A REASON WHY HE DID WHAT HE DID! There has to be one and I also read the prequel so I know that the Darius we saw in that was still the Darius here. He has his reasons and just trust the process and don't call me out on this because I'm incapable of giving two sh*ts.

•Darcy Vega 💙 she was more calm, not as fiery as Rory but still had a backbone to stand up for herself, I actually want to know more about her. I didn't mind her chapters at all infact I loved them equally because she had this vibe in her rpoint of view and the way she made me laugh 😭 also man in those last chapters I WAS SCREAMING AT HER TO TRUST ORION UFFF 😭 but okay it's fine let's see what happens next with her.

•Lance Orion 🥃 how can a man be a bitch while also being charming, sophisticated, hot and a gentlemanish??? Because I saw all of that in him.....I saw people.callikg him a dilf and I cant even argue in that point. He was more sensible where Darius was impulsive he was more intuitive and the end chapters had me rooting for him so much because HE FINALLY DID SOMETHING!! The whole book i was waiting for something to happen to see why everyone likes him so much, until I did but tbh I need more of him and his arc because what we got was not enough 😩 when are gonna get their povs!! (I started book 2 so ik we get Caleb's first 🙄)

•The three heirs 👹👹👹 max, imagine having a mohawk and being a bitch?? Like pick a struggle. Seth I'm sorry but you're not funny and for Caleb, the only thing your good at is biting and f*cking and that is not a compliment (I might regret saying these things later but as of not i hate them and yes you can see my double standards)

The romance 😩 listen I know BlueLance is >>>> but don't come at me because for me it was ToryDarius>BlueLance and listen!!! We barely get scenes for both those couples but from what we got ToryDarius had more angst and tension than BlueLance they were literally so hot together and I WANT THEM TO BE TOGETHER but I know it's a slow burn and I don't mind because I love those but this series is like 9 books I'm either going to be bored of them being together or I'll loose interest if they don't get together! Let's see how the author tackles that as for BlueLance they have massive potential, I just did not think they had enough scenes together to make me enjoy their crumbs that much, I mean they had scenes, more than ToryDarius but they weren't angsty like that ykwim?? But I really want to see why it's.loved so much and it is gonna be explored more so 🤭

The plot, the world building and the magic system. The plot didn't really start until we were past the 50% point and I did not mind it because I was actually liking the way the story was developing plus the characters and the or interactions and the way it was written was really but also the stakes were high at times and I was speeding through page after page to get to the end and my jaw would occasionally drop on the floor so kudos to the sisters for that! As for the world building I'd say it was done a decent amount and for a very basic magic system I found myself being very intrigued by it so it was done good as well!

I actually really enjoyed and would've given it more stars of it had a more prominent plot!
____
IQRA IF I FAIL MY EXAMS IM GIVING MY MOTHER YOUR NUMBER
____
I was gonna start this next week but I can't help myself! I NEED TO READ THIS NOW!!

Can't wait to meet the twins and Darius and Lance 👀 I'm coming for you *pushes people away*

So I read this book....

and it wasn't that bad.

I am totally kidding. It was AWFUL. Jesus Christ, possibly one of the worst books I have ever read. But not THE worst book... (cries in flock and exodus)

Tory and Darcy are torn out of the human world and thrown into this gossip girl school for paranormal bully creatures because BAM, they have powers and are the real heirs to the throne of SOLARIA. Also they're twins.

No, this is not a Winx Club episode, and for the first 10 chapters I was fuming thinking this was a copy of one of my favorite cartoons of all times but they actually didn't go that far.

Let's start with the fact that this book was sold to me as a: TEACHER-STUDENT BULLY ROMANCE.

There was bullying allright.

You guys know me, I am a sucker for bully romance and teacher-student tropes. I thought this was going to be super hot, I also adore urban fantasies and this had the perfect recipe. Until the main characters were coerced by their classmates to do the chicken dance in front of that said teacher.

The actual chicken dance. I wish I was joking.

HOW IN THE WORLD AM I SUPPOSED TO BE ATTRACTED TO THIS?

Bully Romances are supposed to be intelligent and demeaning in a hot way, not in a: "I wish I could jump off a building from second hand embarrassment way." I thought the teacher was going to insult her intelligence, not laugh about her flapping her arms like wings.

I am not going to lie, if people weren't waiting for me to write this review I probably would have DNFED right there, but I kept going.

They throw EVERYTHING your way. We have unicorns, dragons, vampires, sirens, werewolves, hydras, harry potter house points (which I learned to ignore)

you are going to have to learn to ignore a lot of things if you want to read this series.

For the first 60% of the book I was so bored and confused, that I decided to play a game. "Take a shot every time someone gets bit in the neck FOR NO DAMN REASON."

My family is officially concerned. I have an AA meeting next week.

The entire plot of this book feels like someone took all the stories you started coming up with after you got your first Ken Doll in third grade.

I HATE YOU BARBIE

NO I HATE YOU

I AM GOING TO BURN DOWN YOUR HOUSE

*throws both barbie and ken across the room*

There is ZERO sex, no spice, public humiliation without any emotional return and at certain point you start feeling STUPID for reading this.

Then you get to 65%. If you got this far, you are a war hero.

That's when they inject you with the same drug they inject Grey's Anatomy fans to make sure they watch all seasons.

The train wreck you cant stop watching. Zodiac academy actually gives you compelling characters, and I CAN'T BELIEVE I AM SAYING THIS: a world building that makes you feel like you're on crack but it makes sense because it is atmospheric. OH and hot bully dudes who will break your heart.

You spend enough time in the madhouse, you start talking to the walls too.

It's Alice in Wonderland all over again. Yes, I am Alice. I don't wanna go among mad people but I feel like I've been dosed heavily with LSD and there's not much I can do at this point.

SO I f*ckING GET IT.

I will be reading the second book and I hate all of you for it.

3 stars for entertainment.

PS: Please read this like a comedy, and think of every possible trigger warning in the book before you jump in.

approximately 60% of the plot was unserious so to an unserious review we go!

i love to surprise myself even if i hate surprises. i started the book convinced it would be a chore to go through it. honestly, it was challenging to get fully invested in the story at first; there wasn’t enough depth to tory and darcy’s thoughts to get really attached to them but, i closed the book without completely hating it.

thoughts:

➺ Orion didn’t smell only bourbon, he had major hot-daddy vibes with a chef’s kiss sarcasm going on. he was the only decent man

"Orion is so hot,” Kylie whispered, her voice carrying to my ears.
"Yeah and he knows it." The girl beside her smothered a laugh.
"He does know it, because he has Vampire hearing." Orion looked up from his desk, pinning them in his sharp gaze.

➺ Darcy: i just wanted to hug her for half of the book and scream at her, for the second half, to bang her teacher already. i don’t understand why they aren’t called

"But until that day, you're mine, Blue.”

➺ The Heirs are the male version of Mean Girls but make it ✨surnaturel✨. i hated them at first and loathed their existence at the end.🙂

➺ Tory. what a baddie with fire repartee she was.

➺ for the ToryDarius groupies (

➺ Faebook, FIB : the way the authors haven’t put any efforts in the parallel world appellations is gold.

➺ Geraldine should be protected at all costs, her character is so precious!

➺ why no adult was acutely adulting in this book ?😭 i get that they don’t have the same morals as the mortals but c’mon!!

and now jumping to the second book hoping there’s more world building and characters depth. wish me luck!

~•~•~•~
joining the gang😗

This book summed up in two words: Torture p*rn. Essentially this is about two teens getting abused and violated in every possible way.

This is marketed as “sexy Harry Potter.” I would amend that to “problematic Harry Potter” except that Harry Potter itself is already kinda problematic so…

Yes, I was warned going in that this was going to be a “bully romance”, as the kids call it these days when you romanticize entitled brat dickhe*ds. (This is not me throwing shade at people who like to read bully romance—I get it. Read whatever you want. Not my business to judge.)

So basically, I was reading with my hands over my eyes the whole time, peeking through my fingers.

But the hype was too alluring. And sometimes, rarely, these types of books turn out to have an unrivaled guilty pleasure appeal that leaves me tearing through a series in just a few days.

However Zodiac Academy is just bad…in every way…seriously…

🙃 The writing is cringey and in serious need of better editing.
🙃 The love interests are evil trash heaps.
🙃 All the characters, especially the side characters, are flat empty caricatures, right down to the Latino best friend who manages to insert a Spanish word in every sentence.
🙃 The entire premise is so blatantly ripped off from Harry Potter, including the houses, the points system, and the stupidly obvious character names. The werewolf teacher is named Professor Canis, the fire teacher is called Professor Pyro, and the earth teacher—I sh*t you not—is named Professor Rockford.

Apparently the entire faculty of this school is no better than the dwarves in Snow White.

So amid this setup we have Darcy and Tory, twins who, like I mentioned earlier, spend the entire time being bullied and abused in every possible way. Apparently survival of the fittest is the rule in this academy.

For instance, there are vampires who will prey on the other students whenever they feel like it, and everybody is fine with this because apparently if you’re not strong enough to defend yourself against bloodsuckers then you deserve to be bitten. (I mean, if it talks like rape culture and walks like rape culture, don’t be shocked when it turns out to be rape culture.) And as the twins were never taught any magic whatsoever and the professors at the school are good for nothing, they can’t defend themselves and get bitten every few days. I don’t know how they haven’t keeled over from blood loss.

I also don’t know why they haven’t resorted to bringing a gun to class. If you have to get by with survival of the fittest, a Glock is a great way to instantly become a whole lot fitter.

Just sayin…

Here’s the very insidious thing about this series. I have no plans to continue, but I can’t guarantee that I won’t. The main characters are treated so horribly that some part of me demands I keep going just to see them get some justice. I want to see those vile Heirs dead. Orion needs to die too. (I know this story is more likely to end with the men getting head than getting dead, but a girl can hope.)

So if you do see me starting book 2 at some point in the future…just look the other way, please and thank you 🙏

1 star. DNF. Complete trash. Cringey forcibly immature MC who talks like this: ”I’m smiling like a hyena on crack”.
I’ll stick with HP fanfiction on Wattpad, I’ve read incredible works there by very talented people, even in their teens, who can write better than this.
7/19/2021

$.99 on Kindle US today 4/20/2021!

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This has been on my radar for a while but I've avoided reading it because I thought it was set in a high school (and I don't really like reading romances set in high school) and because the people who were shipping it generally shipped other fantasy authors whose works I didn't like, and contrary to some people's beliefs, I am not a hate-reader. When I pick up a book, it's because I genuinely want to like it. The one-star review is a reflection of my disappointment.

But I kept seeing people picking up this series and loving it and then I found out that it's set in university and not high school, so it felt like the literal stars were conspiring against me, taking away my reasons for not reading this book one by one, and I was like FINE UNIVERSE. I'LL READ YOUR STUPID SMUT GOD. And guess what... I. LOVED. IT. I really f*cking loved it. I read book one in one day, in just a few hours. Even though it was almost 500 hundo pages. W H A T.

Here's the thing. When I was a teen-- YES I AM OLD-- there was this magical site called Quizilla. And one of my favorite things to read on that website were harem paranormals where the girl could end up with any one of an entire Pokemon booster pack of men with different supernatural powers. I would stay up until 5am reading those trashy stories and every once in a blue moon, I'll come across something self-published that has that same addictive, cracky qualia of just being impossible to put down, gratuitously self-indulgent, and resplendently fun to read. And for me, THE AWAKENING, was that book.

I almost didn't make it through the beginning because the desperate edginess of their normie setting almost put me off. TWO police chases before the 10% mark??? That seems excessive, MA'AMS. But then Professor Orion barged into the scene and things got really good. I loved the descriptions of Zodiac Academy and the world-building was genuinely amazing. The opulent dorms and dining hall, the enchanted "pegasus" meadow, the classrooms named after planets-- IT WAS SO MUCH FUN. But even though it looks and quacks like a fairytale... it's not. Darcy and Tory Vega find out that they're the heirs to the fae kingdom and even though they have ALL THE POWERS, they don't know how to use them. And people resent them for having the power and for upsetting the status quo, and so basically everyone bullies and f*cks with them (except for a small contingent of royalists who stan their family the way people used to stan the Queen of England). Which actually made a lot of sense.

f*ck those interlopers.

The new rulers who have stepped into the void of their fae parents' deaths are called the heirs. There's Darius, the dragon. Seth, the werewolf. Caleb, the vampire. And Max, the siren. Like everyone else in the school, they've each specialized in a single element-- fire, air, earth, and water-- and like everyone else in the school, they have a bone to pick with the interlopers. A lot of the bullying takes the form of sexual harassment, which is typical in bullymances. I personally am not bothered by this-- honestly, if you've read Hana Yori Dango, some of the stuff that happens in that book is way worse-- but it's something to think about if you have triggers. Personally, I liked the distinction about it being all about power; it made sense that the fae would brutalize each other like that to show animal dominance.

As big a part as the romance is when it comes to setting the stage, a lot of the book is also about the sisters struggling to develop and control their powers, while also trying to take in this whole other world they didn't even know about. At first it's disorienting trying to take in all of these names and descriptions, but that translates to the characters' bewilderment as well, and it's really well done. We learn about the world as the characters do and whether that's brilliant writing or a happy accident, I don't even care because I loved it and didn't want it to be over. These classrooms are way more dangerous than the ones in Harry Potter and the teachers are just as cruel as the students. There's also a sort of romance with one of the sisters and their hot vampire professor, Lance Orion. He's actually the love interest I liked the most, because even though he was an asshole, he was an asshole to everyone. This is a man who will crack someone's head against a desk for backtalking him. Although if I'm pressed, I'd say that my favorite of the boys was probably Caleb just because I'm a sucker for vamps.

I ended up really liking Darcy and Tory. I do agree with the criticisms that their POVs are pretty similar and it was easy to confuse them but they ARE twins so I guess it makes sense that they'd be alike?? I also liked how they simped for each other and always had each other's backs. The girl on girl hate was also pretty minimal for a bullymance. I liked how the girls were kind of disgusted when the guys slu*t-shamed other women and how some of the girls weren't treated as rivals but as friends. Nothing was perfect, but it felt more realistic and less a reliance on gross gender stereotypes, even though the word "alpha" was used in here about twenty times too many, and I began eye-rolling at the mention of a muscled chest (because of course, it happened every time something with a dick walked on stage).

I've developed a bit of a reputation on this site for being a picky snob and that's probably true, but my standards are actually pretty low. All I ask is to be entertained. This book more than served me up in that regard and I've already got book two on standby. I'm wildly jealous of the authors for thinking up this delicious, slu*tty hodgepodge of Vampire Academy, Harry Potter, and Cruel Prince, and now I guess I have to read thousands and thousands of pages of this self-indulgent fanfiction to find out how it ends.

#BYE

4 to 4.5 stars

3.5 Stars🔮🌟

I can see why this series is so addictive, mostly in a junk food wattpad way. I hadn't planned on reading the next book immediately after the prequel but I couldn't focus on any of the other books I was reading. I straight up inhaled a 500 pg book and it felt like half that cause it was delicious fluff 🧁

This series would make a great tv show, the setting is basically a NA new-age Hogwarts and the Vega twins are just... dope. Gen z and cool and so relatable. Honestly CW channel where you at this is so your vibe ⤴⤵͖ ⤴⤵͖ The magic system was a lot of fun and in terms of being clear, concise, and easy to understand, JLA pls take some notes.

The things that I didn't like come down to personal preference. While I liked the idea of the four elements (air, earth, water, and fire) and having an heir represent each element, the concept brought us rather close to reverse harem vibes, which admittedly I try to avoid. They never crossed that line, but it was still there. I didn't like that Darius would let his friends manhandle Tory and that both twins were dealing w multiple love interests. On the other end of that spectrum, if I was into RH, I'd feel blue balled by the setup for it that the book doesn't follow through on, so either way you look at the romantic concept of the four heirs, I don't really think it's winning. The only heir that is relevant and compelling as of now is Darius, so I can definitely do without the other three sh*tstains.

However, ⚡️the shining light⚡️

"Your real parents swapped you with the twins born to that couple."
"That's not true. You're insane. Why would they do that?"
"My guess? You were in danger," he said with a shrug. "Or maybe you just annoyed them as much as you're annoying me right now and they decided to swap you for less irritating twins."

Orion turned to the board, writing on it with his digital pen.YOU ARE NOT UNIQUE.

"Miss Vega if you're not standing up in the next three seconds, you're going to regret it," Orion barked.
"Which Vega?" Tory asked, barely concealing her jibing tone.
Orion's eyes snapped to her. "The one who has tried to individualise herself by dying the ends of her hair blue. It has failed by the way."

Safe to say that Orion can dunk on me any day of the week. I'm excited for more magic, more Darcy & Orion, more Tory & Darius, but I see a lot of frustration in my future @ pointless love triangles cough cough Caleb 😒 Let's hope at least Seth is out of picture in the Darcy/Orion ship.

PS. this is the third book i've read where the hero tries to drown the heroine and at this point i might create a bookshelf to start collecting all these precious gems

2.5 stars

This is honestly a book I'm shocked has so many high ratings...yikes. The writing wasn't that great and there was just too much going on and not enough romance. Like, what is this world?? I'm so confused. I know it's a series, but there are different paranormal creatures but there are also elemental powers and royalty and evil animals and coercion and tarot cards and astrology and Schoo "houses" and...what?? I felt like too much was thrown in and not explored enough. The bully aspect also really didn't work with me. It was very tropey and cheesy and not exactly well written. Then, the girls are very naive when it comes to blindly believing and following the people who bully them...THEY LITERALLY HATE YOU SO WHY ARE YOU FOLLOWING AND TRUSTING THEM? It was annoying. They also blindly trusted someone anonymously messaging them and I was just so frustrated with their decision. Literally everyone hates you and is bullying you and you're going to trust a random anonymous person who is messaging you? SURE. Also, are they supposed to be sophom*ores in high school or college? I thought they were in college, but the way they acted had me questioning if they were really supposed to be 16...

This follows twins Darcy and Tory, and the story is told in their dual POV. It was SO HARD for me to differentiate the chapters between who was who. They were not written differently at all and I really struggled remembering whose chapter I was in. Then, neither one of them even have an inkling of a real romance until probably 80% in. For a romance series, I really need the romance to develop early on for me to have an investment into the series. I just didn't care by the time anything developed. And the ending wasn't that much of a cliffhanger like so many people were saying and I was just left not impressed. I don't see myself ever picking this series back up...

what illegal substances were in those digital pages? because i am frothing at the mouth for my next hit.
surprised? yeah, me too.

2.5/5 stars.

i understand that this is the literary equivalent of when i magically lose three days because i fell into 4 seasons of love island, so please know i'm not pretending this is shakespeare's career defining play, but there were still some things that i had problems with, so hear me out.

i spent this entire book feeling like something about this was so harry potter meets divergent

honestly, it's just so much fun.

the magic system here is actually very interesting, even if it felt a bit messy in the beginning.

(sidebar to talk about how unrealistic the beginning was. no one in chicago's rent is 2000 for a few months. and also why couldn't they just get jobs??)

and anyways you know that? i actually didn't hate the main characters!!
that being said, i did hate just about everyone else though.

geraldine is hands down my favorite character, because the comic relief through her character was perfect.

but going a little bit darker, i am not a bully romance person.
this book is a lot, and while i'm not usually one to be triggered by something in a book (other than dramatically flying off the handle because i feel like it), it's pretty dark.
the fmcs seem to be able to handle it, but that honestly doesn't much soothe my concerns about it. it also rubs me the wrong way that these people are going to be love interests because ew.
the whole thing makes me very uncomfortable, but i've been told it gets better so i'm hoping! but that was the primary reason this wasn't a 3 star or higher.

also, i don't like orion. he's a bully and he's very pushy and rude and so it doesn't feel endearing to me, just icky.

another thing- I COULDN'T CARE LESS ABOUT HOW MUCH TESTOSTERONE THEY HAVE.
i am so sick of reading the word alpha unironically.
it's bringing up long buried buried omegaverse fan fiction trauma i thought i was well and done with.

overall, i had some complaints, but it was fun! don't mind me launching my ass on over to book two-

Wow that was an enjoyable ride. Y'all were not lying when you said it's amazing.

It's fast paced, interesting..so damn interesting and full of DRAMA. It never got boring. The plot is intriguing and kept me hooked. I could not keep this down. The whole concept of Zodiac Academy is super interesting to me. (Though, I would like to be defensive and say am not into Zodiac and horoscope in reality😂). The writing could've been slightly better in my opinion.

Darcy and Tory are such great leads. I can't wait to see how their story unfolds later in the series. They clearly hold a lot of power and potential and I definitely want to see them unleash their full powers.

Don't get me started on the narcissistic Heirs. I really didn't like them at all..at least not in this book. Bully romance? No..It was just bullying. They're manipulative thugs. Though I sense redemption in Caleb? Or maybe not; will just have to wait and see.

I definitely liked Orion from the beginning 🥵 (I have issues).

Overall, pretty enjoyable. Can't wait to start with the next one😀

3.75 ‘Why did I always have to want the bad guys?’ Stars (I did round up because of enjoyment!)

Thoughts:

Vampires, werewolves and dragons, oh my!

I have nothing to say and everything to say. I’ll keep it brief because everyone should go into this story spoiler free and with little expectations just for the pure shock of it.

This book was a flaming trash bin, and I am the bedazzled garbage who was thrown in and consumed, and I don’t mind it for a minute! For everyone saying this is addictive and like crack, you are correct. I don’t even know if it would be my first drug of choice, but here I am high off of it.

The Awakening reads like a higher quality wattpad fic, and this is said in the nicest way. And if you disagree just know this is a line from it: “I released a breath I hadn't realised I'd been holding.” Enough said, but I will add that the other reasoning for me to believe this is because of the outfit descriptions. I died cackling.

The writing is sometimes atrocious. I even found spelling and grammatical errors, but those issues never took me out of the story somehow. The world building could use some more growth and the magic system could use some explanation, but I’m hoping we will get more as the series goes on. It’s almost like we are in the mystery of it all like Darcy and Tory. The pace of this book and story telling is fantastic though!

Darcy: Protect at all costs! This is my girl (even though at the moment I love both sisters equally)! Darcy is the most relatable, and I truly feel for her the most in this book.

Tory: Fiery and passionate! I love her. Her not being able to resist the red flags in her life because of a pretty face is also high-key relatable too. She’s our little sleuth! Her one liners and drop the mic comments are everything!

Orion: Looks like I’ve joined a new supremacy. Professor Sexy took me through a whirlwind of emotions. “But until that day, you're mine, Blue.” With nicknames like blue and little bunny, I am about to change my own name legally! However, I still would like to fight him as well because he deserves it (also as an excuse to put my hands on him!). That being said: Orion>>>

Heirs: Bite me (but some of you low-key please do)! They do not deserve any of my words or attention at this time though, so no comment.

I knew this was a bully romance series and thought I was prepared for it. I was in no way prepared for everyone to be a bully! I want to see the Vegas reign and rain hellfire!

P.s. One major qualm is why there isn’t a female heir? Second the non-con and questionability is strong with this one so tread carefully. Also besides the daily horoscopes for the sisters, I would also love to start seeing some more horoscope tie-ins with other characters too.

P.p.s. The Harry Potter and Percy Jackson vibes are everything!

P.p.p.s. I am still suspicious of everyone and cannot wait to see where we go next!

Halo, babe, this was such an amazing “experience” to share together! I cannot wait for us to continue these while sending each other a million thoughts!

Would I recommend this and to who:
Yes - To those who would enjoy red flag book crack!
Paperback/Hardcover/Audiobook/E-book:
E-Book - KU always comes in clutch
How did I discover this:
GR besties
Pace:
Fast/Medium
POV:
Tory and Darcy

Quotes:
“The most important thing I’d learned in life? You can’t trust people. And you especially can’t trust boys with wicked smiles and equally wicked intentions.”

“Where I’m from I found out the hard way that this life will throw all kinds of crap at you, but the one thing you don’t have to accept is other people’s bullsh*t.”

“Why are the hot ones always jerks?”

“And why am I even turned on by Lord Voldemort’s hotter, younger cousin?”

“Tears prickled the backs of my eyes but I bitch-slapped them down hard.” (THIS LINE I’M CRYING!)

“So why don’t you take a long, hard look while you can. Because I can promise you, you won’t be seeing this again.”

“can’t lie to your face when I’m facing a wall, can I sir?”

“So what do you think me and Tory are, sir?” “Trouble,”

Triggers:
Bullying, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Death, Violence, Sexual content,Toxic relationships, Murder, Fire, Swearing, Torture, Gaslighting, Blood, Abandonment, Alcohol, Car accident, Misogyny, Sexism, Stalking, Injury, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Classism, Body shaming, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Confinement, etc.

_____________________________________

HOW CAN I BE SO PISSED AND INTRIGUED AND ENTERTAINED ALL AT ONCE!?!
RTC CAUSE I NEED A SECOND TO DIGEST! WTF!

🔥🌊🍃☁🔥🌊🍃☁🔥🌊🍃☁🔥🌊🍃☁🔥🌊🍃☁🔥🌊🍃☁
____________________________________

BR with my girl, Halo! 💕

Excited and nervous about this series, but I'm capricorn and that is book 8, so I'm invested enough to get there at least! 🤭

"The most important thing I’d learned in life? You can’t trust people. And you especially can’t trust boys with wicked smiles and equally wicked intentions."

There is definitely a crack in this book because THIS. IS. FREAKING. ADDICTING. Like I hated so much in this all the bullying and the celestial heirs but still couldn't stop reading it. I already knew that I'm going to be very addicted to this series but this is something else. I loved the world building. It was perfect and one of the main reasons I got so invested in this and yess I AM FINALLY A ZODIAC ACADEMY ADDICT.

The plot is full of drama and there is always something happening mostly bad things. Bad things to Vega twins. It still has the one of the most used plotline where the girl is of a coming age and suddenly she realised she has power and now she has to fight for the world. Typical? I know I know. But when I say this one is different even though the ZA world still involved Magic and Faes. It is different. Because this whole story is more like character driven and the also the mystery in this is very very intriguing.

Some of the characters are horrible and f*cked up and some are just amazing that I want to protect them so badly and the whole mystery about what exactly happened to Vega twins and their parents and the whole dark magic thing in is perfect and will keep you wanting more and more. I can't say much about writing except it was simple which made me read it very fast.

╰┈➤ Things I love the most
➛ The magical world (Solaria)
➛ Faes and their powers
➛ The shape shifting powers
➛ The Orders mostly Vampires and Dragons and the Zodiacs
➛ The powers of elements 💨🔥🍃🌊 and stars 💫
➛ The humour and the witty banter
➛ THE WHOLESOME SIBLING RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TORY AND DARCY 💘 (both twins are my favourite and I'm not choosing any single one)
➛ Tory and the badass things she did and her sassy mouth
➛ The palpable tension between Orion and Darcy
➛ The angst and hatred between Darius and Tory (I want him to grovel and beg her in the next book or I'm done shipping them)

It was a rollercoaster of emotions because how many times did I wanted to punch them in the face or throw my kindle away because they frustrated me so much. How many times I was furious when they tried to bully Vega twins and how many times I laughed reading the funny puns. I have lost count at this point.

✦ Darcy Vega
She is the most relatable and the practical twin and I love how clumsy she can be sometimes but also stands up for herself and her sister when needed. She always tries to do her best. She may not be the fierce twin sister but she is a badass in her own way, who is attracted to hot jerks or shall I say hot-as-f*cking-hell professor 👀 Darcy is me. I am Darcy🫂

✦ Tory Vega
The badass, bold and fearless twin. I love her and I really hope she kicks some more asses in book 2 mostly of The Heirs because the way they tried to almost kill her is f*cked up. Tory is the one with spontaneous decisions but I love her for how she never let anyone walk over her. Plus I love her humor 🔥

➙ The sisterhood bond between Vega twins
I love both the sisters and their wholesome relationship so much. They both cared for each other so deeply and support each other no matter what. Yes they are opposite of each other but they never tried to use that against each other. Do they hide secrets from each other? I think yes they do. But they are not here in ZA as rivals. They are here as the Vega twins. The sisters who will do anything to protect each other.

“Don’t underestimate the depths of vengeance. My sister and I have more power than the lot of you, and you’d be fools to think we won’t remember what we went through while we were getting to grips with handling it.”

✦ Lance Orion
A Handsome professor with Chef's kiss sarcasm and who smells like cinnamon and bourbon. First of all he is Lance and HAS DIMPLES and HUMOR (which had me dying) and second of all he is a Libra and third he doesn't give a sh*t to anyone so I am already love him so much 💘 He is the only male character who didn't frustrated me in this book so I really hope the authors won't do anything to my hot mysterious professor or I'll bring chaos 🥰 his obsession with Darcy had no limits lmao! Like how he tried to possess her before Caleb could make her his "Vamp blood source". Can't I have hot professor who would do things like this for me???

"Careful Miss Vega expressions like that are punishable in my classroom."

YES SIR 🧎🏽‍♀️

"Orion's brows had raised during my list and now he was grinning, his dimple out in full force."

𝘏𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘶𝘱 𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘭 💘

✦ The Celestial Heirs
I. Hate. All. Of. Them. And. They. Deserve. To. Be. In. Prison. For. Their. Crimes.
I didn't think that they would take all this bullying to this level. It was horrible. Their whole personality is nothing just co*cky f*cked up assholes who can't control their testesrones.

I get it they felt threatened by Vega twins because of all this throne and power but they didn't have to go this far. At first it was small pranks and bullying but that drowning thing they did to Tory was pure attempted murder and nothing less. And I know Tory and she's gonna make them regret every single thing they did to the them.

➸ Darius Acrux: Remember how I said I love him when I read the prequel novella. Yeah I might change my statement now if he doesn't start grovelling or begging to Tory. I get it he had his reasons but he didn't need to take it all out on Tory. Yes I was attracted towards him because who wouldn't? He has dark vibes and had black hair and black eyes and has muscular body and he is freaking GOLDEN DRAGON??! I was sold like Tory but nah he needs to redeem himself in the next books.

➸ Caleb Altair: oh boy I really thought he would change or maybe will try to change but guess what he is too f*cked up to even stop his friends but then he starts acting all this possessive over Tory because for what? She is his walking talking blood source!?!? But its still true that Caleb is the only heir I would believe. He is bad and possessive but also had this "I'm bad but I won't harm you." kind of vibe?

➸ Seth Capella: Boy you are much better and pretty when you are just howling and running in the woods. And please for the love of god there is no such thing as Mouth Thumping 😭 f*ck. OF. SETH.

➸ Max Rigel: The emotions sucker siren. I really hate sirens now and I hate him so much for how he tried his f*cked up power on twins to tell their fears to him so he and his buddies can mess with them. So no I don't like him.

➙ Lance and Darcy #BLUELANCE
I ship them your honor. I ship them so badly 😭💘 And the tension between them is just so perfect and palpable. Like I wanted Darcy to just jump on him. Also their forbiddeness adds more to their dynamic. They both are so obsessed with each other and their eyes always found each other. So romantic. I also know they are going to be my favourite couple in this series. I really want them to build trust between them which is nowhere to be seen right now, but I know they are inevitable. And Lance calls her BLUE 🤭💙 Yes! I'm all in for #BLUELANCE

“Blue, you’re with me.” He pointed at me and I scowled at the nickname.

I lifted my chin and the air became thick between us. “One day, Professor, I'm going to be strong enough to fight you off.”
He took a measured breath and I felt like he was sucking something vital out of my body that I wasn’t sure I’d ever get back.
“I know,” he said, his eyes glittering. “But until that day, you're mine, Blue.”

➙ Darius and Tory
Do I ship them?? YESS BECAUSE THEY ARE INEVITABLE but also not right now until he begged Tory and until Tory take her revenge on him. I want all the angst and enemies to lovers but I also want Darius to treat her the way she deserves to be treated. There is not much ToryDarius in this which hopefully changes in book 2 🤞

The ending. Well it's a cliffhanger with a upcoming mystery plotline and all. And I'm already in too deep with this series and these characters so why not just binge read the rest of the books now!!

Drugs? Hell no!!
Zodiac Academy?? YESS IT IS THE BEST KIND OF CRACK!!

—————————————————————————

The fomo was too much to handle so here I am finally starting my journey of Zodiac Academy 🤭
I have a feeling I'm going to be very very very addicted to this crack 😙

No, this wasn't for me.

Notes:
🅐 This wasn't strictly a bully romance, it was more like a difficult romance that was super hard to read and just a ton of bullying.
🅑 The romances were super confused. Two MCs both with love triangles that somehow merged a little and created a love hexagon? No thanks.
🅒 The two main characters were confusing, they were twins and super alike, so it was like reading the same character with the same thinking just different name.
🅓 Didn't actually like any of the characters, most apparently were just shallow mean people, no depth to their character at all. Not realistic.
🅔 The actual 'Zodiac Academy' had very little to do with the story, apart from giving you some horoscope predictions, I couldn't see the whole 'zodiac' inside this book. Shame.

I can understand why some people might like this 'bully romance', but in my opinion I have read way better bully romances that are actually romances, not just bullying. I can see why people might enjoy this but it wasn't for me.

→ 1.5 stars

Hi. My name is Cecelia, and I am a Zodiac Academy addict.

What a roller coaster of epic proportions and un•put•down•able series! It is impossible not to get sucked in and be completely consumed. This is my emotional tornado of choice, the BEST ride, and a family I love coming home to.

If you are wanting to give up, I urge you to keep reading. Get through the second book before you toss it. The Awakening has a lot of bullying — that only makes the girls stronger. Stick with it and you will see how the relationships evolve.

These writers have done an incredible job with world-building, belly laughs, romances you root for, fierce friendships, and knee-dropping gut punches!

How much is rent in Solaria these days? Might have to postpone my acceptance into Hogwarts.

❝
He chuckled darkly and the sound made my toes curl…

He was dangerous in all the right ways…

…why am I even turned on by Lord Voldemort’s hotter, younger cousin?

Whatever you think you know, you will soon learn there is much more that you don't.

But until that day, you're mine, Blue.

PERSONALLY I would like to see The Heirs suffer.

No I NEED them to suffer for that because that was so FOUL

The humilation and trauma Darcy and Tory were put through was too much omg I can’t #justiceforthevegas

So far Darcy is my favourite of the twins. I love Tory as well she’s a badass, but Darcy is more relatable in my opinion!

I’m literally obsessed with Orion and Orion alone. He can do no wrong🥵

“Do you want me and my sister dead?” His eyes softened, running over my face with the faintest of frowns. “No, Blue. I don't.”

this is why im terrified of men

Darcy/Tory - idk, i can't keep them apart, neither do i want to learn to - constantly going "oh yeah, he tried to kill me but he's just so hot you know?" has the same energy as the Dahmer thirst traps on tiktok

you all have fun with your bully "romances" and sex addicts' fever dreams, but i'm too old for this

i honestly don't know how you do it. this not only gave me a headache but i will also blame it for the sprained ankle and food poisoning i "acquired" in the time i tried to read this.

dnf @33%. thank god Ridds agreed or i might have had to threaten her

Yes, three and a half stars for the execution, but honestly this is addicting af.

I AM SO DISAPPOINTED (rant ahead)

I went into this expecting sooo much (based on things I've seen online about this series and A LOT of fanart) and did it deliver? No, I'm sorry.
I have to say that it had a lot of potential and these two stars you see above are for world building which is the only good thing about this book. I love the concept of Zodiac Academy itself, the orders and the overall storyline.
As it goes for characters, I only like Lance. The rest of them were so flat, I still can't differentiate the twins, the heirs are carbon copies of each other. Not a single good line, nothing to highlight, not one single comeback was funny. The writing style is just awful.

HOWEVER, I'm thinking about giving this series another chance by reading the sequel. So PLEASE tell me, is it worth it, does it get better? 🤭🤔

disclaimer: I was basically half asleep while writing this and didn’t have the motivation to write more ignore the mistakes <3 +spoiler warning

[ 3.5 stars ]

“The most important thing I’d learned in life? You can’t trust people. And you especially can’t trust boys with wicked smiles and equally wicked intentions.”

I just wanted to say I'm in love.

I SAID IT

Was this another level of f*cked up?

absolutely.

I need to brutally murder and castrate every single heir 🥰🔪

moving on...

this wasn't a masterpiece in any sort of way

the plot:
➣ rags to riches or in this case poverty to royalty (well almost...)
➣ the vega twins basically getting "bullied" (almost killed yes.) emotionally, sexually physically abused by the four “heirs” with an ego the size of Antarctica because they won't let them take the fae throne.
➣ CULTS?//?/?/?/?
➣ murder mystery?

yes, that's basically the entire plot

the characters:
➣ I LOVED THE TWINS. LOVE THEM. I honestly expected two whiny pick-me fmcs but they surprised me with their strong badass personalities (yay feminism!) and don't ask me to choose because I simply can't thank you <3

➣ Jacob wannabe, toothless, Edward wannabe, pinky pie: I wish you all a painful death <3 (DARIUS BETTER GROVEL OR ISTG-)

➣

"Orion rested his hands flat on his desk and peeled his upper lip back. My heart took a freedive into my stomach as his canines extended into sharp points. He grinned darkly, then ran his tongue across them as they retracted once more."

oh, that sound? those are my ovaries exploding I'm so sorry don't mind me <3 darcylance are going to own me I KNOW IT

“Do you want me and my sister dead?” I pinned him with my hardest, most unwavering stare. For Tory. For me. I had to hear his answer, even if it was a lie. His eyes softened, running over my face with the faintest of frowns. “No, Blue. I don't.”

I'm just going to leave this here.
bye.

Tory and Darius are still nonexistent. I can't forgive him for what he did to tory. I do think deserves a redemption arc after reading the prequel but for now, I still need to kill them (death sentence your honour)

➣ the world-building, the drama, was just amazing. fantasy usually puts me in slumps but this had me hooked from the first sentence and I'm so surprised this I finished this in a day

so just read this ( don't if you're easily triggered because I was but chose to ignore that) if you want to escape reality, fall head over heels in love (I’m so in love it hurts help) with a hot silver fox (???) vampire, feel so much rage that will make you want to commit murder-

going to resume reading book 2 now thank you for reading this chaotic mess I call a review <3

————————————————

I’m either going to love or hate this series there’s no in between

This was a fun introduction to what will hopefully be a really great and long series!

✅ I REALLY ENJOYED DARCY AND TORY as main characters. Even though they were twins, they each still had a distinct personality and a lot of spunk (especially Tory!)

🆗 THIS WAS MY FIRST BULLY NOVEL and I was nervous to read it because a bully romance really didn't seem like something I would like. I can't say it was my favorite, but I'm just happy that I didn't end up hating it. I can definitely see how this has the potential for some really amazing character arcs though!

✅ THE ZODIAC SIGNS signs were fun and interesting. I am definitely not a horoscope person, but I thought the horoscopes Darcy and Tory got every morning were clever and it was funny how Tory just completely disregarded them each time

✅ LOTS OF MYSTERY around the fae world so far and I'm excited to find out more in the sequels. The school felt like a mixture of Harry Potter and Avatar: The Last Airbender, both of which I'm always here for 😍

🆗 THE ROMANCE... I'm not quite sure how I feel about the romance yet, especially with the whole bully thing. I've read some spoilers so I have a pretty good idea of the direction the romance will take and I'm excited to see how it progresses in the sequels!

Overall, I enjoyed this book and will try to get to the sequels as soon as I can! I am soooo ready to start seeing Darcy and Tory stick up for themselves and turn into badasses. There are seven books total so I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with what I've gotten myself into lol

*record scratch*

*freeze frame*

you're probably wondering how I got here, because if you know anything about me, it's that i like fluff, not assholes who bully because they think it makes them look like an alpha daddy. i like complex magical systems, not a harry potter rip-off complete with house points. i like science and astronomy, not the stars determining you're going to have a sh*tty day because some idiot woke up and decided to be a total scorpio. but i also liked this, and to be perfectly honest,

i also don't know how to review books that i don't hate with every fibre of my being. rant reviews? i made three in the last hour. five star book reviews? yeah that's me.

HOWEVER this is a three-star review which means that i enjoyed it but the review (mainly) includes the things i didn't like. so no matter what you read here, just know that i enjoyed this book and binged the next rest like my life f*cking depended on it. (writing this as i read book 7)

______________

THE WRITING

the writing is so bad it's entertaining. i wish i was joking. i don't know if all the commas went on strike, because there was an actual scarcity of them, and i'm not sure if all the thesauruses decided to burn themselves with dragon fire because each verb was used a couple hundred times. "snorted" was used twice on one page. TWICE. (snorted as in laughed, not in terms of cocaine okay now calm down) and then there is just the random downtown abbey, walking dead and miley cyrus reference because who doesn't love references? (spoiler alert:i don’t )

WORLD BUILDING/FANTASY ASPECTS

okay, now i don't know if it's because i'm sort of new in the fantasy genre, but never have i ever read one featuring unicorns.

yes, unicorns.

the horses with horns.

a flying one at that.

no, i'm not joking.

"my lips curved into a smile which grew uncontrollably. i mean, i wasn’t usually a girly girl but this was a goddamn flying unicorn!
i had to stamp down on the squeal of excitement that was bubbling in my chest as the unicorn trotted towards us.
“omagod,” darcy gasped as he came to stand directly in front of us."

yeah i wasn't joking. (also "omagod" seriously darcy???)

moving onto the whole hp thing which i just CAN.NOT.LET.GO

*deep breaths* i can do this *deep breaths* without lots of shouting and swearing *deep breaths* you can do this saffiyah *inhales*

THE HARRY POTTER HOUSES WHAT THE FU-

yeah i couldn't do it. i don't hold any faith in myself either.

each of the heirs are head of a house (i had to take a ten minute break to laugh because i remembered the way they introduced each house😭😭😭)

max - house aqua
seth - house aer
caleb - house terra
darius - house ignis
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎----- anddd they have house points, andddd it is not as dumb as it sounds.... because it's even worse

the names of the teachers i..
- professor perseus
- professor pyro
- professor rockford
- professor washer
guess what subjects they teach?
i bet the sTaRs held this fAte for them

the whole alpha wolf thing, it's a myth, it's been debunked. please stfu about being this big scary alpha, it’s gotten old fast.

it also wouldn't be a fantasy book if our main characters didn’t have all the powers in the goddamn universe.

when the twins are brought into solaria, they don't know anything about this magical realm. so naturally, they would be confused. except, they're not. sure for 2 pages tory is in denial, but after that everything just comes SO easy to them because they are oh-so-powerful-and-the-mightiest-fae-to-ever-exist. but these are just general questions that i have about their world (maybe just because i’m incredibly dumb):
- how can caleb go into sunlight if he's a vampire?
- don't vampires and werewolves hate each other's guts?
- does solaria have countries? or is solaria the country?(i wasn't joking when i said i'm dumb)

more to come - maybe when i regenerate brain cells although that could be years from now

THE CHARACTERS

*(my opinions have changed after reading the next few books because their development is chefs kiss😘💋so this is going to be a brief overview of how much i hated them at this point in the series)*

------ the heirs

I’M KIDDING…there’s four of them

do i laugh, do i scream or do i cry. all seems like a pretty good option right now.

SETH
seth - with no due respect - please shut the f*ck up. seth is just not like the other guys and i would very much like to strangle him with his hair and let him wear it as a choker ifykyk

MAX

there's not really much to say about him in this book

CALEB
i have very mixed feelings about Caleb. On the one hand, he didn't do the thing in the end, but on the other ... he's a blonde.

DARIUS
i read his name wrong 100 times before i got it right. Is it darian, dorien, or damian? who knows? (although my personal favourite is damian...)

ORION

perfect. perfect. perfect.
the fact that he comes in late to class ON PURPOSE is hilarious i was dying from laughter and the way he BASHES PEOPLE'S FACES INTO DESKS IT'S HILARIOUSSSS (we all need therapy so shush) and he’s kinda like a hot,

TORY AND DARCY

their dialogue was incredibly cringey sometimes. i would 100% recommend reading it in a hermoine granger accent. i was told that their povs are pretty similar and it was, but it also wasn't, if that makes sense.
i preferred tory, she was so cool and badass, she stole motorbikes

BULLYING/ROMANCE ASPECT

this is the second bully romance that i have read after the cruel prince which is a LOT more tame compared to this.

also, this isn't really a romance. the next few books have a more romance feel to them but not this one. this book sets the scene for the next 8(?) books and their romances, plus you get multiple different ships (two for each twin, and all the side characters have romances too!).

JUST OTHER STUFF I WANT TO RANT TALK ABOUT

- diego inserting one spanish word per sentence reminded me to complete my duolingo

- if the cruel prince and harry potter had a baby...and that baby was addicted to crack [the adult swim version]

- the series picks up wayy more after the third book, and it only gets better from there with more fantasy and romance elements being added in. the first one, genre-wise, is more like a coming-of-age novel but an entertaining one at that.

- and the series itself is kind of weird, especially with the way that each book isn't a year and how some books are super long but are only about a few weeks in the academy. lots of the events in all the books have smashed themselves into one big timeline in my head.

i had way more to say for this section and for other parts of the review (i would like to point out the past tense) but because goodreads decided to delete my hard work - see below for my rant about that - i had to rewrite this all off of memory😭

the stuff that got deleted that i forgot to add: (there is more coming just wait)

i put a poll out a while ago for my next read and only 22 people (6.5%) voted for this book. THAT IS AN UTTER DISGRACE. and to the 152 people who voted for caraval, i'm reallyyy enjoying it

______________

the bottom line: if you can get past the stupid hashtags, the stupid puns, and just the general stupidity, then it's really enjoyable.

_

Quotes:

“Why am I even turned on by Lord Voldemort’s hotter, younger cousin?”

“Tears never did anyone any favours, but sometimes they just needed to fall.”

“The most important thing I’d learned in life? You can’t trust people. And you especially can’t trust boys with wicked smiles and equally wicked intentions.”

“He was dangerous in all the right ways and I knew without doubt that the fire in his eyes would burn me up if I strayed too close.”

“But until that day, you're mine, Blue.”

“My deepest fear is being cast aside, my heart crushed by trusting blindly again. So I’ll never let anyone in again.”

“Where I’m from I found out the hard way that this life will throw all kinds of crap at you, but the one thing you don’t have to accept is other people’s bullsh*t.”

“Why are the hot ones always jerks?”

“This life will throw all kinds of crap at you, but the one thing you don't have to accept is other people's bullsh*t”

“Ignore the dimples, Tory, he’s an award winning dickasaurus.”

___________

f*ck YOU GOODREADS WHY WOULD YOU MAKE ME GO THROUGH 6 ROUNDS OF ✨aRe yOu A rObOt✨ ONLY TO DELETE MY REVIEW????

someone make a new app because i'm so done with this sh*t😭

___________

the hype got to me.

the hype always gets to me

i wish it didn't.

"faebook"

"fae investigation bureau"