Parents' Guide to The Awakening: Zodiac Academy, Book 1

Parents need to know that Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti's The Awakening is the first book in the popular adult romantasy series Zodiac Academy that includes explicit sex and extreme bullying. Tory and Darcy are twin orphans who don't know that they belong to a magical fae world until they're forced into Zodiac Academy. In the human world, they have to steal to survive. But in the fae realm, they endure abuse at every turn, even from teachers, in order to survive. Abuse from students and teachers is met with negative consequences only once, so there's a glorifying element that is explained as inherent to fae culture. Vampires constantly feed on the twins without consent. Violence is mainly in the form of bullying and harassment but there is some fighting between students—with no negative consequences. Endless swearing includes "f--k," "bitch," "ass," "shit," "pr—k,""d--k," "douche bag," and much more. Both main characters become romantically and sexually involved with their tormentors (one of whom is a professor, so there's a power dynamic as well) and descriptions include kissing, handholding, groping, a lot of talk and jokes about sex, lots of nudity—sometimes as part of sex, but mostly because people transform into magical creatures. Explicit sex includes vaginal fingering, descriptions of erections and breasts, use of the words "c--k," "clit," and "t-ts." There's no legal drinking age and drinking liquor happens sporadically throughout the book; there's a few mentions about drugs, but none to be seen.