Cursed Fates (Zodiac Academy Book 5) by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti

Emoji Review by Rebecca Dixon

I finished reading the fifth book of the Zodiac Academy series, โ€˜Cursed Fates,โ€™ by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti and whereas with the previous book I needed an emergency heart ๐Ÿ’” transplantโ€ฆ STATโ—๏ธ! โ€ฆ THIS BOOK ๐Ÿ˜ฉ๐Ÿ˜ฉ๐Ÿ˜ฉโ€ฆ. mannnnnnnโ€ฆ. forget the transplant! I need a crash ๐Ÿ’ฅ ๐Ÿ“‰ cart people!!! It was soooooo BRUTAL ๐Ÿ˜ญ (but ok still AMAZING ๐Ÿคฉ๐Ÿ˜†)โ€ฆ that I actually had to take 24 hrs to simmer ๐Ÿฅด down before I wrote this review! If you have read it, youโ€™ll know what I mean! There are no major spoilers below FYI!

OK. So I have to address one thing first! When you get this bookโ€ฆ your basically getting a BOGO deal ๐Ÿ˜† ! This book is SUPER long ๐Ÿ“ and is LOADED with alllll kinds of stuff ๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜˜๐Ÿฅฐ๐Ÿ˜œ๐Ÿคฉ๐Ÿ˜Ž๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿค“๐Ÿ˜‡๐Ÿค—! I actually made a bulleted list as I was reading and I seriously couldnโ€™t believe ๐Ÿ˜ฒ when I finished the book HOW MUCH happened!!! Tons of character development! TONS ๐Ÿ˜ . The multiple POVs are going STRONG ๐Ÿ’ช๐Ÿป in this book. We learn SO much about so MANY characters! And the humor ๐Ÿ™Œ๐Ÿป! So many really GREAT ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿป , FUNNY ๐Ÿ˜† scenes! Most people talk about this book for the ending (and donโ€™t you worry, Iโ€™ll get to that and somehow not spoil it at the same time ๐Ÿ˜†.) But there are actually some really GREAT ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿป , SATISFYING ๐Ÿ˜ scenes in this book (I should know, I have a bulleted list ๐Ÿ˜‚!) If you thought A.S.S. was funny ๐Ÿ˜†, WAIT until you read about a new club that is formed ๐Ÿคฃ๐Ÿคฃ๐Ÿคฃ! Or how about a certain lilac reveal that was a long time in the making, but just made your heart so happy ๐Ÿ˜„ and full ๐Ÿ’–๐Ÿ’–๐Ÿ’–! Or an Orb scene where a certain faeroid induced lady gets whatโ€™s coming to her ๐Ÿ‘Š๐Ÿป ! Or how about a scene that is ALL about NOTHING. Sooooooo gooooood ๐Ÿ™Œ๐Ÿป!!!

Thereโ€™s also some GREAT steam ๐Ÿ”ฅ in this book!! If you were daydreaming ๐Ÿ˜ถโ€๐ŸŒซ๏ธ about a certain possibility (think a certain brand of red wine ๐Ÿท as a clue ๐Ÿ”Ž,) you may be completely stroked (err, I mean STOKED ๐Ÿ˜œ๐Ÿ˜†) to find out dreams โœจ may just be reality ๐Ÿ™Œ๐Ÿป! And there are some super tender ๐Ÿ’œ and YESSSSS ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿป moments where the ending of Book 4 isnโ€™t quite so bad anymore! Like now that Iโ€™ve read about morning jogs ๐Ÿƒ๐Ÿปโ€โ™€๏ธ , coffee โ˜•๏ธ , and chocolate ๐Ÿซ โ€ฆ Iโ€™m almost happy about choices made in Book 4!!! Thereโ€™s some courting going on that is super sweet and if things had turned out the way WE ALL WANTED THEM TO in Book 4 (cough cough looking ๐Ÿ‘€ at you Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti ๐Ÿ˜†!,) we wouldnโ€™t have these SUPER LOVEABLE ๐Ÿฅฐ moments in Book 5! But perhaps the BEST moment in this book was when certain characters were honestโ€ฆ FINALLYโ€ฆ and admitted to the possibility of FOREVER ๐Ÿ’œ๐Ÿ’œ๐Ÿ’œ. Considering their track record, this was a pretty monumental moment!! ๐Ÿฅณ๐Ÿฅณ๐Ÿฅณ

So there were some really, REALLY great scenes in this book! Lots of awesome stuff to enjoy ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿป! But whatโ€™s that sayingโ€ฆ do you want the good news first or the bad ๐Ÿคญ?! Welp! I made the executive decision to give you the good stuff first to soften the blow of the COMPLETE AGONY ๐Ÿ˜ฉ of this book! And Iโ€™d LOVE to tell you itโ€™s JUST ONE of our girls ๐Ÿ‘ธ that has a pretty BRUTAL ๐Ÿ˜ฉ turn of events happen to her! But Iโ€™d be fibbing ๐Ÿ˜ฌ to you if I did! Ok WAIT โœ‹๐Ÿป, sometimes denial is the best defense, so letโ€™s just pretend and deny-away, shall we ๐Ÿ˜‚? I actually posted my preference for Book 5โ€™s ending (as just a silly ๐Ÿคช funny and well, as a way to SURVIVE ๐Ÿ’ช๐Ÿป the HEARTACHE ๐Ÿ’”!) But mannnnnnn, itโ€™s ROUGH ๐Ÿคฆ๐Ÿปโ€โ™€๏ธ. Our poor characters sure do get a beating ๐Ÿ‘Š๐Ÿป! But you know what I always say about a bully romance??? When done WELLโ€ฆ. the bullying may be BRUTAL ๐Ÿ˜ญโ€ฆ but when the tables turn, IT IS SO WORTH IT!!!! And thatโ€™s how I feel about this book! Is it brutal? YES ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿป . Is it fair? NO ๐Ÿ‘Ž๐Ÿป. Is it agony? YES ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿป. Do you want to punch ๐Ÿคœ๐Ÿป some bad ๐Ÿ‘ฟ guys in the face and hope they fall in a manhole? YES ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿป YES ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿป YES ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿป ๐Ÿ˜‚. But just as itโ€™s heartbreaking ๐Ÿ’” , itโ€™s also HOPEFUL ๐Ÿ˜‡. The final chapter is PERFECT. Where there is darkness, there is light ๐Ÿ’œ. And to see certain charactersโ€ฆ FINALLYโ€ฆ get the big picture TOGETHERโ€ฆ itโ€™s just feels like it was written in the stars โœจ.

So another big SHOUT OUT to Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti for another great book! And with that, Iโ€™ll end with a super fitting quote by Theodore Roosevelt and say to these two authors who have now become a part of my all time favs โ€ฆ โ€œBULLY FOR YOU!โ€