Vampires, Dragons, Werewolves, Oh My
"I love you, Blue. I loved you then, I love you now, I’ll love you tomorrow even if I’m no longer on this earth. No time exists where I won’t love you." — Caroline Peckham & Susan Valenti, Zodiac Academy: Fated Throne
It’s my birthday!! Is anyone else a St. Patrick’s Day baby? If so, sending you the happiest birthday wishes imaginable!
What better way to celebrate my birthday, and my love of books, than to share my absolute favorite book with all of you! If you read my previous post about my favorite childhood book series, To Be or Not to Be…a Wizard or a Princess, then you know Harry Potter was one of my absolute favorite series. I can find all the differences between the books and movies and I know so much Harry Potter trivia that my sisters didn’t want to keep playing Harry Potter Trivial Pursuit with me after the first couple of times when we were younger because I almost always knew the answer. If the title doesn’t give it away, my love for a world full of magic, full of fantasy and destiny, and of course love, has continued into my adulthood. I am absolutely obsessed with Zodiac Academy by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti, and I cannot thank #booktok enough for putting this on my FYP to find this past year!
From the first few pages, I was sucked into the world of Solaria and was so curious for what was going to happen for the twins, Darcy and Tory Vega. Both of their characters, so different from each other, had this strong unique bond that I found so fascinating (and definitely made me wish I was a twin!). Then we are brought to the main location for the story, Zodiac Academy, where the twins had their power and magic awakened within. They are excited to see what this school would have to offer them, and what this world is truly about, especially since when their magic awakened they had all four of the elemental magic power making them the strongest fae in the school and in Solaria, even if they do not know how to use the power just yet. Their first steps into the school and they are met with disdain and suspicion from the Celestial Heirs and they have no idea why. Can they find the magic and power within to find their place in this school?
I truly cannot pick just one or two things in this series that makes me love it so much. It literally grabbed my attention from the first few pages and made me speed read as fast as I could to get to each next page, each next chapter, each next book. I love every single character and every single story line (yes, even the ones that are heart wrenching :( ). Characters that I despised in the first book are my favorites in the seventh book. The character growth and development for so many of them is done so well and every single book is left on some sort of cliffhanger that has you on the edge of your seat. I have to say, I was late to the game in finding this series, so I did not feel the cliffhanger pain until this last book, Heartless Sky, which just came out in December 2021. Now that I am having to feel the pain of the latest cliffhanger, December 2022 cannot come soon enough. I started reading the Darkmore Penitentiary series by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti after finishing the Zodiac books to stay within this Solarian world, and also see if there are any good Easter eggs to give me hints of what will happen in the final Zodiac book! The Darkmore books take place five years following the events of the Zodiac Academy series. There are three books so far in this series (I believe there is one more book left to be published) and I have found a couple Easter eggs about a few of the characters from Zodiac, but…. I cannot figure out what the comments mean! It is torture! But at the end of the day, isn’t that a good sign? When you become so invested in a story, and you are just dying to know what will happen? And so all you want to do is read the book(s) over and over again to catch anything you might have missed? That is the Zodiac Academy series for me. It has me in tears laughing, in tears crying, angry, excited, giggly, and every emotion in between.
As big of a reader as I am, this may not stay my absolute favorite book next year, or the year after that. I read, or try to read, so many books that there are a ton that stick out to me even to this day. I chose this series as my absolute favorite because at the moment it is my comfort book, my stress relieving book, and the one that I cannot stop recommending to others to check out. So that is what I am doing to you now! If you haven’t read the Zodiac Academy series yet, I highly recommend it. It will make you feel all the feels but in a way that has you sucked in and anticipating, yet dreading, the day when that final book comes out and it all wraps up!
What is your absolute favorite book? And what makes it your favorite? If you’d like to see what I’m reading now, check out my Goodreads or follow us on Instagram and Facebook! If you’re excited to see what other topics we’ll be covering in the coming months, make sure to subscribe. Thanks for reading with me!