Zodiac Rising by. Katie Zhao | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: Zodiac Rising (Descendants of the Zodiac, #1)

Author: Katie Zhao

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 416

Publication Date: 10/8/24

Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers

Categories: Young Adult, Urban Fantasy, Chinese Mythology, Heist

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Random House Books for Young Readers for giving me a chance to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

At a secret Manhattan boarding school, the Descendants of the Chinese zodiac have hidden away since the source of their magic—the twelve zodiac statues—was vandalized and lost to time. Thus, a curse befell the Descendants, and they’ve lived as creatures of darkness . . . until now.

When the lost statues suddenly resurface and a powerful classmate is found dead, all signs point to foul play from the fae. The Descendants finally have the chance to take back what’s rightfully theirs and break the curse. To pull this deadly heist off, though, they must assemble an elite crew:

THE VAMPIRE: After a century of burning hunger, Evangeline is out for blood.

THE SHAPESHIFTER: Nicholas yearns to restore justice to his people—and make peace with his past.

THE MORTAL: Alice seeks the truth of her mysterious heritage, and this mission may be the key.

THE WEREWOLF: Tristan will do anything to break free from the monstrous wolf inside.

Only these four have the power to save the Descendants, but the wrath of the fae waits at every turn. One wrong move and the fate of their kind will come crashing down. . . .

Content Warning: violence

The synopsis of this book intrigued me: Chinese Zodiac, a heist, and paranormal characters – well here are my thoughts:

Likes:

+ I like a book with boarding school setting and with this story and 12 zodiac signs, everyone is in their own zodiac groups. But not only that, we get more paranormal elements were some characters are vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters or mortal.

+ The heist kept the storyline moving for sure. Evangeline creates a crew to help her break this curse that was put on these zodiac descendants. It’s full of action and we get to know the characters of this main crew. The twist at the end was good also.

+ There isn’t really romance in this one but Evangeline (vampire) and Tristan (werewolf) had a forbidden love in the past. Descendants can’t intermarry, so I thought that was interesting. But these characters got the most time in the the story and I thought their bickering definitely showed that there were still feelings for one another but the heist took precedent over anything.

Dislikes:

~ I think the story had a bit too much going on with the descendants storyline and lots of characters to follow. The enemy of the descendants are Fae which I find to be very interesting but not sure how it all fits. I wanted more world-building, and definitely more character development.

My Thoughts:

I think this story has a lot of potential and I like how it was fast-paced, filled with action and had a heist. I do think it needs more character development but I thought the descendants of the zodiacs having Fae as the enemy was very interesting.

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Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Other Books I’ve Read From This Author:

How We Fall Apart by. Katie Zhao | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Stealing Infinity by. Alyson Noel | Book Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Title: Stealing Infinity (Stolen Beauty, #1)

Author: Alyson Noel

Format: ebook (KU)

Pages: 473

Publication Date: 6/28/23

Categories: Young Adult, Time Travel, Romance, Academy, Series

These days, I’ve been killing it when it comes to letting people down. Now I’ve been kicked out of high school, arrested, and accepted into a remote, off-the-grid school owned and operated by an inscrutable billionaire tech guru.

Gray Wolf Academy is looking for a certain kind of student. Ones that no one will miss. Like me.

Then there’s Braxton. The beautiful, oddly anachronistic guy who showed up right when the trouble started. And he’s a total enigma—which means that I definitely can’t trust him, even if there’s something about him that makes me want to.
They all tell me I have a gift. A very rare gift. And Gray Wolf Academy wants me to learn it. To use it. Because if what they say is true, I have all the time in the world.
And that makes me the most dangerous high school student you’ll never know…

Content Warning: violence, sexual assault

I’ve been curious about this title and saw it as available to borrow as an audiobook so I tried it out. But then I found it was on Kindle Unlimited so I stopped listening on the audiobook (which wasn’t bad or anything) and read it because I thought I could just read it faster. There are 100+ chapters but each chapter is short, like a page short.

Just an FYI, time-travel stories are usually a hit or miss for me. I think for this book it’s a hit! Natasha is going through some teenage things. And when her ex-best friend, Elodie, sets her up as a thief and she gets taken away to a secret academy she learns the truth about what Elodie is or does. Gray Wolf Academy is a training facility for time-traveling thieves under Arthur Blackstone’s tutelage and demands. He’s a wealthy man who covets historical artifacts and he needs Natasha to do retrieve some unconventional things from her trip missions.

It’s an academy book so I like the drama – I expect it with this trope. I like that Natasha doesn’t really know who to trust and something is happening at the academy, like people going missing or not coming back from their “trips”. I want to know why. Elodie lives up to that girl who is a frenemy. The romance between Natasha and Braxton is a bit of an insta-love moment (not that Natasha calls it love, but she’s testing the waters). I found all the training and time traveling fascinating and Arthur Blackstone is a mystery. The art and historical artifacts knowledge is fun – Natasha is just a wealth of information isn’t she?

Would like more character development in book two but for the most part I thought the story was entertaining, especially for a time-traveling story.

Tropes: insta-love, time travel, boarding school academy

Why you should read it:

you like time travel and boarding school academy settings
there is a lot of mystery and historical facts
there is romance and backstabbing

Why you might not want to read it:

not into the boarding school academy trope – I feel like teens and young YA readers would enjoy this one
insta love

My Thoughts:

I’m someone who loves books set at a boarding school and I thought the time-travel element was done well. I think I’d like to see more character development in book two. Everyone’s background is still quite a mystery and I think there is a lot more to learn about everyone.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Back to School ~ Books Set in a Prep School

I love books set in a prep school or boarding school – why do bad things always happen there?! 😅 It’s always the perfect setting for a mystery or thriller. Or it’s the perfect setting to dethrone the popular kids and fall in love. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I don’t think I could deal with the pressures though. Here are some books set in a prep school or boarding school.