My first Kindle Unlimited book I read was The Awakening by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti. Candyce already did a review of this book, but that was almost 3 years ago, so I figured I could do one now as well. So let’s jump in!

I’m a Gemini. Impulsive. Curious. Headstrong. A twin. Heir to a throne I know nothing about. And it turns out, I’m Fae.

But of course there’s a catch – all I have to do to claim my birth right is prove that I’m the most powerful supernatural in the whole of Solaria. And sure, technically that’s true as I’m the daughter of the Savage King.

But the bit they didn’t put in the brochure was that every single Fae in this Kingdom would claim my throne if they could.

My biggest problem is the drool worthy Dragon shifter who has his eyes on my throne. He and his three psycho friends are determined to make my time here hell.

All I’ve got to do is survive. But fate might have other ideas.

Dammit, why couldn’t I have gotten a letter to Hogwarts?

This is a dark, bully romance – don’t go expecting a sweet school for magic with friends around every corner. Fae fight for everything they own and Zodiac Academy is a cutthroat school for students aged 18+ where only the strongest prevail. There’s no Dumbledore here to save anyone’s ass and Lionel Acrux will give Voldemort a run for his money in the evil dictator category. So hold onto your stardust (broomsticks not required) and get ready for a bumpy ride

I came across a Tiktok a while ago (surprising to no one I expect) and it was someone talking about the order to read the Zodiac Academy books in. It was just the push I needed to finally try these books. I love astrology, so a book based on astrological signs is definitely something right up my alley. As you probably know, I also ADORE anything with a magical school or even better, a magical ‘university’. The setting in this book is wonderful, we get houses based on the four elements and they are all in their own territory on the school grounds. I would love to visit this academy, it sounds like such a cool place.

Our main characters are orphans who grew up in the mortal world. But they turn out to be the lost princesses and heirs to throne of the previous king. So a pretty common plotline in fantasy novels haha. Tory and Darcy are twins (and Gemini) and I do actually quite like them as main characters, they’re strong, sarcastic, don’t back down from a fight and very loyal to each other. They make some wonderful friends at the Academy (and since I’m already reading book 3 I can say I love their friends so far).

Of course we also have some problems, and the main problem are the Heirs. They are 4 boys who are supposed to take over the ruling of the Fae world, once their parents will step down. Before Tory and Darcy came to school they were the strongest Fae by far. They are also a bunch of assholes. Especially in this first book they are horrible people and they do some insane things. But like the synopsis says, this is a dark, bully romance so it does make sense.

There are some plotlines I thought were hard to read and I really disliked. But overall this is an enjoyable book. It definitely isn’t the best book I’ve ever read, but if you go in with reasonable expectations I think this is something to enjoy for sure. I’m curious to see where this series is going and I will continue reading (at least part of it haha). There are currently 9 main novels and at least 7 novellas and short stories so I have a while to go!