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earlieststar's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
im cringe but im free
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Car accident, Classism, Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Sexism, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
listen: it is described as bully romance but these girls get absolutely very much abused from beginning to end. it's not schoolyard bullying, those are crimes being committed every other page.cait's review
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Torture, Violence, Alcohol, Body shaming, Bullying, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Grief, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Stalking, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, and Abandonment
geooo's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
Trash.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Violence, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual harassment
jamby4546's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexism, Bullying, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Violence, Classism, Emotional abuse, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Stalking, Abandonment, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
Drowning mentionthewildbookcase's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
What I struggle with when writing this review is I hate almost everything that happens to Tori and Darcy in this book. I find 99% of the characters irredeemable and their actions entirely inexcusable- but this book is GRIPPING! I am dying to see the Vega twins rule the kingdom.
I really enjoy the absurdist / farcical elements of this series. I know people say it’s not “high quality writing” and I understand why they say that. However, I think the Twisted Sister knew exactly which elements they wanted to emphasize the stupidity of- and the exaggerated features are there to entertain, which they do so successfully.
I also really love Geraldine who is just someone I wish I had in my life. I love the Vega twins- I think their rise from the ashes is going to tell an amazing story. I love that the series uses elemental magic and I love how easy and quick it was to read.
However, I knew from the first interaction that Tori and Darius will get together but it’s difficult to reconcile who Darius is now and who I know he will bebecause burning her clothes and forcing her to expose her body against her will lost all romantic credibility in my eyes.
I also hate passively abusive people like Caleb.Oh- I can’t “harm” you because it’s against the vampire code. Well inaction is an action and it helps the oppressor. At least he feels guilty about it but wtf.
Don’t even get me started on Lance and the other teachers.Lance dragged them to ZA against their will and then treats them like shit- and Darcy has a crush on him? Talk about abusive.
I know it’s a bully romance and I know this world has a different understanding of what’s “normal” or accepted but it’s genuinely so aggravating. Yet I can’t stop reading. This is such a binge worthy series and while much of the world building makes my blood boil, an awful lot of the dialogue makes me laugh.
I really enjoy the absurdist / farcical elements of this series. I know people say it’s not “high quality writing” and I understand why they say that. However, I think the Twisted Sister knew exactly which elements they wanted to emphasize the stupidity of- and the exaggerated features are there to entertain, which they do so successfully.
I also really love Geraldine who is just someone I wish I had in my life. I love the Vega twins- I think their rise from the ashes is going to tell an amazing story. I love that the series uses elemental magic and I love how easy and quick it was to read.
However, I knew from the first interaction that Tori and Darius will get together but it’s difficult to reconcile who Darius is now and who I know he will be
I also hate passively abusive people like Caleb.
Don’t even get me started on Lance and the other teachers.
I know it’s a bully romance and I know this world has a different understanding of what’s “normal” or accepted but it’s genuinely so aggravating. Yet I can’t stop reading. This is such a binge worthy series and while much of the world building makes my blood boil, an awful lot of the dialogue makes me laugh.
Content Warnings
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Death, and Sexual harassment
akcurtis's review
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I rarely give below 3⭐s, but this book was a challenge for me. First, did they actually pay someone to edit this? Where are the commas? Why are there so many typos? There were so many mistakes that they actually distracted me from reading.
Content-wise- first, let me admit I didn't know this was a "bully romance." I didn't know that was even a thing going into this. So some of why I hated this admittedly is my own fault. That being said, this wasn't bullying, this was sexual harassment (and that's being generous). The unwanted physical contact was hard to stomach, and the female leads' thirty-second aversion that flips to desire was gross.
The storyline is actually intriguing. I read this quickly. I want to know more about the world, and I want to see how long it takes for them to realize who the (obvious to me) predator is. I'll just have to skip huge chunks of the text to do so.
Content-wise- first, let me admit I didn't know this was a "bully romance." I didn't know that was even a thing going into this. So some of why I hated this admittedly is my own fault. That being said, this wasn't bullying, this was sexual harassment (and that's being generous). The unwanted physical contact was hard to stomach, and the female leads' thirty-second aversion that flips to desire was gross.
The storyline is actually intriguing. I read this quickly. I want to know more about the world, and I want to see how long it takes for them to realize who the (obvious to me) predator is. I'll just have to skip huge chunks of the text to do so.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, and Bullying
shaykay's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
5.0
You can only hear about this series on TikTok or in the book world. Zodiac Academy was everywhere, especially last year. It has calmed down a bit this year but is still a super popular series. When a series is super hyped, they really intimidate me. Plus, I just haven't been into anything supernatural, and everything I used to pick up has been very contemporary/traditionally published, so Zodiac Academy was nowhere near my TBR. But this year, I've been picking up some crazy random books and decided to dive deep into this series. Now, I went in as blind as I could, but at the same time, I knew a lot about this series because it's been all over the place, and I honestly really liked this book. I felt confused about who was who because the book switches between Darcy and Tori's POVs, and since they are twins and the book keeps going between their POVs, I struggled to figure out who was who. But overall, I get the hype and really like what the story is starting to set up. I hope to get to the point where I can tell the twins apart. Everyone struggles with that, but it does get better in later books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Bullying, Gaslighting, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Car accident and Death of parent
Minor: Sexual content
adalora's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
0.5
It had potential as a premise then quickly falls off. The storyline is a little addicting, but some of the things that happen are unnecessary and extremely off-putting.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Sexual content, Violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Drug use, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Gore, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence
kittyinatophat's review
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
As a pre-review disclaimer, I want to say that everyone is entitled to enjoy whatever books they want and I also have plenty of things I love that are very off putting to others so...my word is not absolute.
I described this book to one of my friends as “it’s like eating flour”. It’s becomes very unpleasant very quickly and might poison you.
Let me tell you folks something: I am a seasoned fanfiction reader and author, who loves to go looking for the weirdest content tags. Crack fics, filler plot, poor character development and general YA cringe doesn’t phase me. I consider myself to be someone who thrives on the most ridiculous, poorly written and at times barely coherent material, the worse the better.
But this book? It humbled me. What I believed was a high tolerance for poor writing was actually just barely scratching the surface.
I admit the mistake is mostly on me: I did 0 research going into this series and I had no idea of the overall feelings of it. I just got sucked in by the cover and the fact that I’m an astrology girlie ™️.
If (keeping with the flour analogy) this book is supposed to be a cake, there’s a reason why it isn’t cake and is instead literally just flour: we are missing a lot of other key ingredients to make a cake. I’ll highlight a few:
- Set in a “dog eat dog” world where it’s “everyone for themselves”. Frequent reoccurring s*xual harassment, groping, murder, really edgy stuff. Except…the both internal and external dialogue is heavily written in a YA style. This book can truly not decide if it wants to be raw, real and uncensored or a “freshly-turned-18-Mary-Sue-adventure”.
- Switching between grammar and spellings of words? i.e. Favorite vs Favourite??? Where is the editor? It seems like there are two people involved with writing and no editor.
- We spend the majority of the book without a plot. We get it, everyone is an antagonist, this is a harsh world, but what’s the overall plot? It sometimes reads like every chapter is a clean slate and we have to reestablish the entire narrative
- There’s way, way too many characters and none of them are well written or good people so they truly have no redeeming quality.
This book is literally missing everything else to be a complete story. The eggs, butter, sugar, everything.
My biggest issue is who this is supposed to be aimed at though. Because I found myself thinking as I read “Maybe I would like this more if I was reading this 15 years ago, when I was 15”. But with the non-con and detailed sexual descriptions this shouldn’t be in the YA category at all imo. If you’re writing adults for adults, please write adult dialogue.
The only thing that changed this book’s trajectory into my DNF pile was when one of my good writing friends jumped into the hellfire with me and it shifted from “reading for literature” to “reading for trash”. I wholeheartedly recommend reading this book with someone so you have another human to process the awfulness of it with.
Once I made that switch though the book got much better to the point where I will probably continue with the series at some point, if not strictly to see what the hell becomes of this world plot that doesn’t exist and all the loose ends. But I need a deep brain cleanse first.
P.S. Everyone knows the most dramatic ass people have blue hair (from someone who has had blue hair multiple times)
I described this book to one of my friends as “it’s like eating flour”. It’s becomes very unpleasant very quickly and might poison you.
Let me tell you folks something: I am a seasoned fanfiction reader and author, who loves to go looking for the weirdest content tags. Crack fics, filler plot, poor character development and general YA cringe doesn’t phase me. I consider myself to be someone who thrives on the most ridiculous, poorly written and at times barely coherent material, the worse the better.
But this book? It humbled me. What I believed was a high tolerance for poor writing was actually just barely scratching the surface.
I admit the mistake is mostly on me: I did 0 research going into this series and I had no idea of the overall feelings of it. I just got sucked in by the cover and the fact that I’m an astrology girlie ™️.
If (keeping with the flour analogy) this book is supposed to be a cake, there’s a reason why it isn’t cake and is instead literally just flour: we are missing a lot of other key ingredients to make a cake. I’ll highlight a few:
- Set in a “dog eat dog” world where it’s “everyone for themselves”. Frequent reoccurring s*xual harassment, groping, murder, really edgy stuff. Except…the both internal and external dialogue is heavily written in a YA style. This book can truly not decide if it wants to be raw, real and uncensored or a “freshly-turned-18-Mary-Sue-adventure”.
- Switching between grammar and spellings of words? i.e. Favorite vs Favourite??? Where is the editor? It seems like there are two people involved with writing and no editor.
- We spend the majority of the book without a plot. We get it, everyone is an antagonist, this is a harsh world, but what’s the overall plot? It sometimes reads like every chapter is a clean slate and we have to reestablish the entire narrative
- There’s way, way too many characters and none of them are well written or good people so they truly have no redeeming quality.
This book is literally missing everything else to be a complete story. The eggs, butter, sugar, everything.
My biggest issue is who this is supposed to be aimed at though. Because I found myself thinking as I read “Maybe I would like this more if I was reading this 15 years ago, when I was 15”. But with the non-con and detailed sexual descriptions this shouldn’t be in the YA category at all imo. If you’re writing adults for adults, please write adult dialogue.
The only thing that changed this book’s trajectory into my DNF pile was when one of my good writing friends jumped into the hellfire with me and it shifted from “reading for literature” to “reading for trash”. I wholeheartedly recommend reading this book with someone so you have another human to process the awfulness of it with.
Once I made that switch though the book got much better to the point where I will probably continue with the series at some point, if not strictly to see what the hell becomes of this world plot that doesn’t exist and all the loose ends. But I need a deep brain cleanse first.
P.S. Everyone knows the most dramatic ass people have blue hair (from someone who has had blue hair multiple times)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment
Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment
Minor: War
kaiyoung_kop's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Zodiac academy is like if every overused book trope had a baby - and I kinda love it for that
Dead parents ✅
Twins that are very different ✅
Secret heiresses ✅
New world ✅
It was… an experience,
It was like everything in a bad YA novel in a NA scene.
But I was here for it.
I devoured this trash up.
Like it was bad in a good way?
(I know, my standards are so low they are on the floor)
At around half way through the book, I was like, wow Seth is such a golden retriever
Well uhhh… we know how that worked out…
*sighs saltily*
The book condones abuse (?) as in the main characters accept that they are going to be physically, emotionally (and even sexually) abused until they get stronger?
The ‘love interests’ were so fucking creepy.
Eg; Seth (love interest) was licking and sniffing one of the fmc when they first met?
Smh
Also the alpha wolf thing?
*dies in cringe*
At most points, it felt like bad fan-fiction
But in the best way possible
It’s absolute garbage for me, but I love it.
It’s one of those books where you have to recognise it as bad to be able to enjoy it.
It’s just an easy, fun read.
I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone with standards
But if you want a quick, bad, fun read to help you escape a reading slump, I would recommend it.
Dead parents ✅
Twins that are very different ✅
Secret heiresses ✅
New world ✅
It was… an experience,
It was like everything in a bad YA novel in a NA scene.
But I was here for it.
I devoured this trash up.
Like it was bad in a good way?
(I know, my standards are so low they are on the floor)
At around half way through the book, I was like, wow Seth is such a golden retriever
Well uhhh… we know how that worked out…
*sighs saltily*
The book condones abuse (?) as in the main characters accept that they are going to be physically, emotionally (and even sexually) abused until they get stronger?
The ‘love interests’ were so fucking creepy.
Eg; Seth (love interest) was licking and sniffing one of the fmc when they first met?
Smh
Also the alpha wolf thing?
*dies in cringe*
At most points, it felt like bad fan-fiction
But in the best way possible
It’s absolute garbage for me, but I love it.
It’s one of those books where you have to recognise it as bad to be able to enjoy it.
It’s just an easy, fun read.
I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone with standards
But if you want a quick, bad, fun read to help you escape a reading slump, I would recommend it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Murder, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Blood, Pedophilia, Cursing, Bullying, Alcohol, Abandonment, Car accident, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, and Death