Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

The Awakening by Susanne Valenti, Caroline Peckham

87 reviews

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. 

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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. 

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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

lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I picked this up because everyone seems to be raving about this series, and I was curious.
"The Awakening" follows twin sisters: Tory and Darcy. Tory and Darcy have been in the foster care system since they were orphaned as babies. Now, 18, and kicked out of the system, they are just trying to make enough money to cover rent. But all of those worries seem inconsequential when they find out they are actually the daughters of the Savage King, and they are the rightful descendants of the fae crown. Now they must go through Zodiac Academy to learn about their true home and fight for their birthright.
This book was very fine. There is a lot of violence, nonconsensual acts, and ALOT of bullying, which I had a pretty good idea about before I started reading this. I found the hazing that the other students put Tory and Darcy through to be really off-putting, and the fact that none of the teachers did anything to remotely stop it was disheartening.
This book is definitely HEAVILY influenced by other popular stories, which is fine, but it made the book feel unoriginal.
I do not know if I will continue in this series, but I can now appreciate why everyone seems so enamored with this series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Blood, Death of parent, Grief, Stalking, Gaslighting, Torture, Violence, Physical abuse, Death, Bullying, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexual content

obiterocelot's review against another edition

dark funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Read if you love: enemies to lovers, bullies, cheesy fantasy-romances, will they won’t theys, slow burns, dark and dangerous men, vampires, warewolves, Fae, good dialogues, high school setting but it’s actually more like a university and legal, the forbidden professor student interest.

Avoid if you don’t love: trauma bonding, unlikeable characters, anything to do with zodiac signs, frustrating tension, death, occasional C grade writing, Harry Potter but make it hotter.

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Seth Capella can burn in every circle of hell imaginable but if it’ll lead to more Orion/Darcy scenes please don’t stop Dog Boy

And despite my usual taste being more Tory/Darius I just can’t bring myself to caring about Tory. But Darcy, the sweet summer child she is, must be protected at all costs

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Violence, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Bullying, and Death

bergha1998's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-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

3.0

I didn’t love it. I get why others would, but it wasn’t for me personally. I’m just not a bully romance reader. The lore seems really interesting and the multiple romance partners the could choose is an interesting twist (if it isn’t Tory/Darius and Darcy/Orion in the end though I would be shocked). 

Bully Romance, Magical School, 2 🔥

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Bullying, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, Violence, Abandonment, Alcohol, Car accident, and Cursing

faith99's review against another edition

funny lighthearted slow-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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Bullying

Moderate: Sexual content

bunnybird22's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Death, and Sexual content

maregred's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Bullying

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Death of parent, and Death

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, and Car accident

cheriepie's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

0.25

Let it be said that I went in with an open mind. I heard mixed reviews on this book, and I was like, "hey, it might be trashy, but I like trashy sometimes! maybe it'll be fun!" and I was wrong. I am not this book's target audience. I'm a pretentious little queer who generally doesn't read this kind of book. In short: it's poorly written, not edited, and I have read wattpad fanfictions with more care and depth than this. 

Listen, when the map at the front of the book has JPEG compression, I can't be surprised when it is a poorly written shitshow, littered with spelling and grammar errors, worldbuilding that leaves much to be desired, characters that are indistinguishable from one another, and all build up and no payoff. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, and Sexual harassment

aubrieanne's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Car accident, Bullying, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death of parent, and Death