Zodiac Academy: The Awakening by Caroline Peckham

|Synopsis|

If you’re one of the Fae, elemental magic is in your blood. And apparently it’s in ours. As twins born in the month of Gemini, we’re a rare breed even in this academy of supernatural a-holes.

Changelings were outlawed hundreds of years ago but I guess our birth parents didn’t get the memo. Which means we’re totally unprepared for the ruthless world of Fae.

Air. Fire. Water. Earth.

No one has ever harnessed all four of them, until we arrived. And it hasn’t made us any friends so far.

As the rarest Elementals ever known, we’re already a threat to the four celestial heirs; the popular, vindictive bullies who happen to be some of the hottest guys we’ve ever seen. It doesn’t help that they’re the most dangerous beasts in the Academy. And probably on earth too.

Our fates are intertwined, but they want us gone. They’ve only got until the lunar eclipse to force us out and they’ll stop at nothing to succeed.

We never knew we had a birthright to live up to but now that we do, we intend to claim our throne.

We can’t expect any help from the faculty when it comes to defending ourselves. So if the dragon shifters want some target practice, the werewolves want someone to hunt or the vampires fancy a snack then we have to be ready. But we’ve been looking after each other for a long time and fighting back is in our blood.

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|Review|

While a very popular series, I’d been putting Zodiac Academy off due to the poor reviews of the first book. Everyone who’d recommended it said to just get through the first book and the rest of the series was great. Who wants to push through a 400+ book before getting to the good stuff? Not me. Well I’m here to tell you those people were wrong and I absolutely loved the first book.

Tory and Darcy are thrown into the world of the fae and with it come a new set of rules. In almost every book I’ve ever read about the fae they’re cruel and that’s especially true in this one. While Tory is tough as nails and can play the fae game, Darcy is a tad softer. I felt for her but I liked seeing her learn to hold her own. Their sisterly bond was so strong and I liked that they always had each others back. 

The magic system itself was so unique. It really is a new twist on the fae and I liked learning about the Orders and the elemental magic.

The guys are so much tamer than I thought they’d be. Since it’s pitched as a bully romance I was expecting some horrific bullying, especially since they’re fae. Definitely look up the trigger warnings though. That being said the guys are so freaking hot. Darius, Max, Caleb and Seth can trying to bully me any day. Orion was my favorite though and he totally has the hots for Darcy, you cannot convince me otherwise.

Steam-wise this book was incredibly tame. We maybe get one little scene. I was expecting more, but maybe that’s why the series is said to get better after the first book.

This is definitely an all vibes book. Just don’t look at it too critically and you’ll love it. It’s not a bad book though and I thought the characters were well developed. I’m a tad confused on the world outside the academy but it’s an 8 book series so I’m sure we’ll get to it. Zodiac Academy is highly addicting and I    can see why it received the hype it did. I’ll definitely be continuing the series.