14:40 made my whole life complete 😂❤

At this point, all of these very muscular masculine alpha men give me copy paste NPC vibes. You know, when they use the same character model for all the NPCs and just change their hair and clothes a little.

Personally I don't understand why "dark romance" just translates to romanticisation of abuse to all these writers. Like this isn't dark or romantic, it's not a gothic tragedy or something like that. It's just basic vulgar bullying lol? They need to come up with a new genre name like abusecore. Something honest that doesn''t disguise itself behind "dark fiction". It's kind of annoying seeing low-effort writing like this try to pass itself off as being in the same grouping as writers like Anne Rice, for example. If the "dark" in your "dark romance" just comes from the partner being an abuser, that's not dark romance that's straight up abuse porn.

You mentioned Harry Potter and House of Night, but you know what this book is really reminding me of? My Immortal

Did they seriously make a character that says ‘we’re a different race. A better one’ a love interest? That’s. definitely a choice. Wonder whether eugenics is gonna be a disturbingly large point of this series

When I'm too hard on myself about my own story I remember that books like this exist and feel like JRR Tolkien

What would have been cool is if one twin had two elements and the other twin had the other two elements. So together they have all four. Could really explore their differences even though they are twins

There's a very clear vibe of someone who's not in touch with their sexuality, someone who doesn't understand where their kinks and fantasies come from, accidentally pouring them into a story without using the appropriate framing, language and descriptions. Like, I get that the ideas in question can be a fun fantasy to enjoy for certain tastes but they themselves don't understand the erotic part of dark erotic situations. And the worst part that's personally unforgivable to me is that it reads like it was written for children (the mcs are 18 but they act like even smaller children, nobody has brains) and if it was really a story written FOR people with certain kinks, it would be kind of disturbing to make it clearly targeted at the age demographic that hasn't tried alcohol and doesn't know how rent works yet.

1. You can't right a smut book with your sibling. It's just not right. 2. I'm taking personal offense as a gemini.

Also I just realised what this reminds me of and it reminds me of The Sims. A lot of scenes from this story could have legit been inspired by a session of The Sims. I think I've cracked the code. They're in Sims world. That's why everyone looks the same and just stand around with no response while horrible things are happening.

"Speaking of cherries - has yours been popped yet?" THE WAY I SCREAMED "EWWWW" SO LOUD MY NEIGHBOUS STOPPED TALKING ON THE BALCONY NEXT TO MINE 😭

Been warding off a spate of poor mental health myself. The perception of not having anything to look forwards to makes the friction of mundane, everyday life more adhesive.

Couldnt help but giggle when you were talking about the school having a dance and how adults don't do that and my first thought was "No, we have balls which is somehow way more immature sounding" lmao

I love me some 3 hour KZfaq video about books I will never read

THREE HOURS OF THIS NONSENSE I AM SO EXCITED

The problems for me in this genre is when the author has no idea of they are actually writing about i.e. the love interest coerces the protag into sex, which is considered r*pe but the author doesn't know what consent is and justifies it with 'its okay because she liked it midway through'. These books tend to side with the perpetrator instead of the victim which is iffy, especially in YA. And there is just so much misogyny in them. Writing about dark themes is fine but requires skill. That being said some of these booktok books are my guilty pleasure because they are so bad. Just like terrible movies.

One of my asexual guilty pleasures is reading romance novels and seeing how absurd they can get, but even I, who has seen the depths of hell Kindle Unlimited has to offer, couldn't make it past reading the blurb on this one. I appreciate you being the buffer Rachel or else I think I would truly die.

Weirdly enough, 1. Voldemort was hot before he turned himself into a reptile man. No it doesn't make sense in the books either. 2. Part of his villain origin story is that he wanted to be a teacher at Hogwarts but was too evil. 3. No known cousins, hot teachers or otherwise.

Imagine writing a book only to have your writing compared to the House of Night series, I would simply cease to exist

the animated rachel avatar smiling while you say "angy angy" made me laugh very hard this book reminds me of a story my friend wrote in middle school with me as the main character lmao (except she wrote me a nice love interest because she actually respected me!!)

Hold on, Tori Vega... like the nickelodeon protagonist??? What in the strange Victorious fanfiction. 😂 Not to mention the other twin having the blue dip-dye of the other main woman from Victorious, sadly not the name as well, that would have been really funny. I've seen people say this series is a ripoff/fanfiction of winx - seems like it's some kind of cross-over haha

(Personal Opinion!!) I just genuinely will never be able to wrap my head around people finding abuse to be sexy and hot just because you get to create the abuser in your head rather than go through what so many people have.

3 HOURS? Oh we are getting FEEEEED!!! (I love these, they're perfect to play in the BG while I draw TvT)

I could have accepted a Professor Pyro if, and only if, they had him communicate solely through muffled grunts and shouts.

One day, Rachel will review a book I've actually read. Until then, I'll keep enjoying multi-hour videos about books I've usually never even heard of, because it's Rachel talking about them and making good points and being funny

Your opinions about Harry Potter are so real! Rick Riordan and anything he has been written is amazing and a series of unfortunate events is also super cool!

The hair color looks so good on you!!💕💕

This auto played and im at work when suddenly and without warning, Rachel is whispering about alpha males in my ear💀💀

Also I can't believe you got through more than one of these! Congrats. Cari tried to do a reading vlog about them a while ago and had to DNF bc it was so awful. I know "bully" is a trope but I cannot for the life of me understand it.

My theory is that a lot of these authors no longer write for the sake of producing a good book. They write with the intention of hopefully selling a mediocre Netflix series hence why the writing is mostly dialogue-led with unnecessary details.. it’s also why they release like 12 books in the space of 2 years (allegedly)

A 3 hour video before a weekend? Rachel your spoiling us + ty i can get my sewing project done! Btw side note, not a "bullying romance" per say, if you are interested in watching a movie about a kid who was a bully towards a deaf girl but grows and changes through his teen years after addressing his issues and ends up befriending his victim, check out "a silent voice" I think its a beautiful story about how people can change if they want to, and the artstyle and animation is really pretty to boot - have a look at the tw before checking it out I'd say, it handles some heavy topics so yeah

Oh sweet, this sounds absolutely cursed.

One thing I will disagree with is the idea that the twins have any less claim to the throne than the four heirs. They're still only being considered because of their parents. It's just nepotism all round.

Rachel you are my favorite creator and I have been STARVING for this exact video. Thank you.

When I think of "dark romance" I usually think of something like the Hannibal tv series. You know two people who are both fucked up and toxic and manipulative to each other but it's entertaining to watch them screw each other over. Or you know something supernatural like with vampires and werewolves where murder and body horror stuff is involved. What doesn't come to mind is a story where one person is abusive but it's treated as peak romance.

The basic political premise actually offers promise-the lost heir unexpectedly thrust into the spotlight, utterly unprepared and hitherto unaware of their new role. The pre-existing factions who have ruled in the interregnum alternately plot to control or eliminate them; the loyalist/royalist party act as the heir’s primary benefactors. At first the heir should understandably lean towards favoring the latter, until they realize this side also has their own self-serving agenda. Eventually they would realize their own capabilities and establish themselves as monarch.

"Sorry but threatening women is not hot". That's why I come to this channel, for the searing hot takes.

On the note of you feeling burnt out, I (and I’d hope everyone else as well) am more than happy to wait for a part two if it means you get to keep your sanity! Thank you for all of your hard work, it doesn’t go unnoticed!! ❤

1:24:17 Honestly, if their fire teacher had literally been the Pyro from Team Fortress 2 it would have made the book at least a little more bearable. and the Pyro would probably treat the twins with more respect than literally anyone else at this nightmare school.

I get that it’s a power fantasy thing but I really want one of these romantasies to have a main character who isn’t special and just absolutely sucks at the fantasy stuff. No never-before-seen powers that makes them incredibly unique, they’re constantly struggling through this ridiculous world and fighting for their life

HAHAHA OH GOD. I’m excited for this one, but it also feels like I’ve entered a parallel timeline where something isn’t quite right 😭😂

The new hair style and dye is absolutely gorgeous. Just striking. I started looking for glues of it being a wig without even thinking about it. Guess my brain associates such healthy and glossy hair with natural wigs 😅

It’s not that serious, I think. But it really bothers me how it’s called ZODIAC ACADEMY, yet deals with fantasy creatures like what the hell is this? The only zodiacs mentioned are Gemini and Sagittarius. That’s all, nothing more. Like am I bugging out or something? Have I not heard of different Zodiacs with werewolves, vampires, and sirens?

I agree with you on Harry Potter being written in an unimpressive writing style. I had a religious parent who forbade me to read them and so when I finally did as an adult, I was quickly bored and thankful that the much better-written The Lord of the Rings book had NOT been similarly off-limits.

"9 books" Me: omg no "and 7 spin-offs" Me: ok so 2 main books and 7 spin-offs "16 books" Me: ☠

Is "apex predator" the "alpha male" of these kinds of books? It really feels like that character is Andrew Tate, if Andrew Tate was a furry. Zodiac Academy sounds like they just wanted to write Colleen Hoover books, but also wanted it to have more high-school level nonsense.

Not my boss asking me what’s wrong after catching me laughing from being uncomfortable for 3 hours

I’ll just go read it myself; it’ll be over quicker 😂 Jk I love your thorough dismantling of crap books.

Please do more videos of reading these books Rachel! I’ve read about 5 out of morbid curiosity and was both disgusted but weirdly fascinated at how this was so popular 😬

I feel like the bones of this plot had so much potential to be interesting that it's infuriating that it turned out this awful! Twins whisked away to magic school, their parents were royals who were brutally murdered, four families with different magic affinities took over in the power vacuum and their hot sons all go to the same school works for me, I'm good with all that so far. Setting's solid, backstory is fine, it's everything else that falls off. Like hear me out - What if the twins were actually different, distinct people. Keep their trauma, one who got betrayed, one who's terrified of deep water after a car accident, but give them each two different affinities - personally I'd give Tory the water affinity and one other since that's her fear and it'd be interesting to see her conquer it and use it as one of her strengths, but the main point is that they aren't crazy overpowered individually and have powers that fit with their (ideally different) personalities. Like maybe after the betrayal Darcy got super angry and distrustful so she has fire and air to physically keep people away, while Tory is more anxious but still trusting so she has water and earth to be literally more grounded. Give them different struggles in learning how to use their powers, have them clash a little over their struggles and wishing they had the other's strengths, have Darcy get angry at Tory for being passive and Tory get upset at Darcy for being hotheaded and too reactive without thinking - do something interesting instead of making them so similar that I had to google which twin was which after watching a three-hour video entirely about them! And what if the four guys were all different, distinct people too. Don't have all of them just be shameless, interchangeable assholes with the exact same body type; maybe have one of them be a direct douchebag (who gets teased as a love interest because these books keep insisting abusive men ate hot) but have the others be a little more approachable. Hell, make two of them not actively mean but maybe standoffish / suspicious and have one of them be actively nice to the girls! Have him charm them and protect them from the one who's a huge dick, show scenes where he tells off the douchiest one and tells the ambivalent ones to get their heads out of their asses and help the twins acclimate to their new setting, make him have a vulnerable conversation with one of them where he talks about how he was raised for the throne thinking the entire royal family died and how much of a shock it's been to the four of them to have the twins come back, but he thinks they can work together to rule because he wants the best for their world - then make him betray them at the end and reveal that he's been working with the other three to gain the twins' trust with the specific goal of stealing their power and getting them killed or kicked out of the academy! That betrayal would hurt a hell of a lot more than "guy who's been a douchebag becoming marginally less of one, then returning to being a dick shortly after". And what if the teacher wasn't romantically interested in either of the twins at all, at least at first? Give one of them a crush on him where he seems at least somewhat aware and a little uncomfortable but still has to teach them since it's his job, then over the course of the books have something develop naturally as he tutors them if you need a teacher romance in there. Hell, make him rudely reject the one who's interested in him at some point and be cold to her if you need him to come off as an asshole! So yeah now that my fanfic rewrite notes for this book are done I guess my feedback would just be "make the characters distinct and less abuse please" but I think that's too much to ask from these authors. Big rip. Maybe I'll have to go write my own fantasy series now.

Any interesting point. The houses are meant to feel like college Greek fraternity/sorority houses. This is clear using words like 'pledge'. But on the other hand, it treats it like high school Hogwarts, with being forced into a house. I know I put this general comment other places, but everyone trying to push them out doesn't line up with real power hungry people. The leaders would be buddying up with the twins. If all they have to do is make it to graduation, you either have to hyper bully them or kill them. And if they have any willpower, they will graduate. So, the "hazing" has to be beyond brutal which has a greater chance of backfiring once they obtain power OR the more likely process would be the current leader's children trying to be friendly. In fact, it would serve them better to marry into their lives. The Vega name now becomes their family name and your children have the power. That's my whole problem. It's treated like the bullies are hyper intelligent and brain dead at the same time, but the brain dead person would know, the Vega twins are going to be super rich and can pay for their treatment.

this is such perfect timing now I can survive the rest of my work day 🙏🏼

"Air focus, House Aer. Life with us is a breeze." that one hurt me physically.

Honestly you’re so real calling for more body types for men in romances. I want to see pretty boy twinks and bears, not just jocks

I'm so excited to watch this in its entirety :) I love your long form content and your book reviews. Thank you for the work you do, your videos have gotten me through some of my own rough times. I hope you feel better soon Rachel.

... This whole thing really makes more sense when you realize it's blatant Erotica that has been (probably purposefully) mis-marketed as "Romance" for the sake of getting more sales. Why is everyone hot? Because it's erotica. Why is the actual plot stuff so sparse and predictable? Because it's erotica, and the plot's not the point. Why are all the men terrible people but still found attractive by the protagonists? Because it's erotica that plays into degredation kinks. It being placed in the romance section instead takes what could have been a series for people who have those specific kinks to enjoy while being perfectly aware that they would never want themselves or anyone else to actually be in those situations and makes it something unsuspecting romance readers could go into and wind up either disgusted or triggered by or, for the more impressionable, led down the road of romanticizing abuse. Of course, there is a world where the authors thought they were writing a romance and were in the position of having romanticized abuse to themselves as well, which is the more terrible idea, but with situations like the shimmying out of a dress after being thrown into a body of water for little/no reason and all of the mind controling and the general de-emphasization of the actual plot going on in the background, it being intended as erotica makes more sense to me. This is not to say the book would be without its flaws if it were marketed as an erotica, but at the very least if that were the case it would take it from romanticizing abuse to playing into certain kinks, the latter of which is assuming anyone who read it would be aware of and wanting to indulge in degredation and powerplay kinks through a medium which, if they ever felt it got to much for them, they could simply put the book down or skip a few pages. Having kinks like what are present in this book isn't a bad thing on its own, so long as it's understood to be pure fantasy and that the actual situations would be tramatic and highly immoral. What is a big problem is when such actions and situations, even in their fictional portrayals, are taken out of the context of kink that is indulged in with full awareness, consent, and safety of all involved and are instead made out to be genuinely "romantic" or "desirable." Being marketd as a romance, it has the potential to actually influence people into loosing that understanding of what is and is not morally acceptable, and that is dangerous. These situations should never be subject to line-blurring, in fiction or in reality. At least, that's my take on it. Feel free to carry forth the conversation if you disagree or feel I've mispoken.

3 HOURS. Rachel, your channel is such a treat

The SOuE shoutout oml an incredible series Also i cant believe twins did this attrocity 37:26

Dark romance for me is Morticia qnd Gomez Adams.... Just give me that. Please.

Kyra's sound effects 😂♥️

I’ve barely seen anything of the guys so far but they all seem like Andrew Tate fanboys. Like they’d all call themselves alphas or sigmas, not just the werewolf

Thank you angel! Saving this to listen to while I do paint by numbers tomorrow. 😍

So, that was a *lot*. Thank you for enduring all this so we don't have to! I hope you're able to get some rest and look after your health. I have questions: 1) Did the authors intend to reference The R*pe Of The Lock, or have they never even heard of it? 2) Why did Orion bring the twins back if he doesn't want them to be the ruling queens? Wouldn't it have been easier to leave them in the human world? 3) How was a 30-year-old man 18 when an 18-year-old woman was born? (This has been bugging me throughout the video.) Furthermore :D I would also say 'fass-ahd' (not 'fass-aid'), but I'm not sure hereditary rule is the same thing as nepotism.

Love the energy at beginning of the video!! 💀💀

I mean, names *do* mean things. You're usually not lucky enough to get a name that is a perfect match for you, sure, but I don't find "Lupin" particularly egregious. I mean, you have surnames like "Frost", "Hawke", "Rose"... but sure, go off. I think it's worse that there are names like "Hogwarts", which is such a daft name for a castle - like, of all the things you could name a castle, you choose Hogwarts. It's like you're ashamed of it. Also, S.P.E.W. Really, the brightest witch of her age, and this is what she comes up with? I think it's a niffty trick to have names hold significance beyond just the family/house they are tied to... so long as they still kind of make sense given the world. And considering Harry Potter was a children's series and so were a lot of other series with "silly" names, it kind of works. That said, Harry Potter *is* mediocre, and really didn't deserve the hype it got... I just personally hold this opinion for different reasons.

i loved this video! also i think itd be cute to see your avatar have a picture of your filming background as the background so it looks like shes in your office!! very cute though

I love the oc animated character you used 💕💕

They've obviously never rented an apartment in America

I really enjoyed this video and I'm looking forward to the next one! I would never be able to read these books myself, thank you for sacrificing for us!

Firstly, cute earrings-definitely watched that unboxing and secondly AS IF YOU MENTION IN THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES Lemony Snicket and Unfortunate Events when myself and my podcast team had a very lovely interview chat with the man himself only a few days ago! What a coincidence (not really they’re incredible books) but can’t believe of all the series and authors to mention 😂❤

I’m so excited to see this video 🤩

Haven't come very far in the video yet, but I just want to say that your hair looks amazing! The color really suits you and also the length. Now I will continue watching the video. Thanks for everything you do!

Oh I’ve been hoping to see more people talk about this one!!

I will say that I truly enjoy this genre of KZfaq videos 😂 “I did x so you wouldn’t have to’ lol and I like your commentary ❤

omg this book is terrible, I actually feel violated by proxy just from hearing someone else talk about it. The entire time I was hoping that the twins would realize that this new world is awful and cruel and team up for some sort of massive scorched earth type revenge plot. The only interesting characterization was at the very beginning when one of the twins (Tori?) was struggling through the window and thinking about how she decided to do it even though she knew she wasn't the best only because she knew her sister was better and she wanted to prove herself. That could have led to some really cool development in her character and would have been a cool concept to explore, given that they're twins. Also Tori Vega?? Like Nickelodeon "Victorious" main character Tori Vega???

Slogging through post big fun event depression right now, myself. Being isolated is total shite, but having videos done by someone who i feel like is akin to those few I hang w in real life makes it easier. Right on time, as usual, lovey. Hope youre feeling better. ❤

Also as absurd as the House of Night series is, at least all the characters in it are DISTINCT. There was never a point in Alizee's video series where I mixed up who was who, that's for sure.

Your wide-eyed avatar is making your moments of sarcasm even funnier lol. Also, thank you for your sacrifice. I'd have sacrificed myself to the Strawberry Moon if I'd had to read this book, and I'd still get a better deal out of that experience lol.

the character break when the puppy came in 🥰🥰🥰 what a good baby

I'm sorry did they literally name a character Tori Vega

The intro 😂😂 I got goosebumps from your whispering hehe

Okay, you really got me in the intro... I'm SO IN

I was so curious when I saw that you read this on goodreads - I’ve heard of it online but I’m not a fantasy or romance reader so I didn’t know what it was about etc - I’m so excited to watch this lol

Commenting because you deserve all of the support after that slog. Way to go!!

Oh man, a three hour-long video! And you’re wearing your new earrings too. So cute!

THANK GOD someone else hated these books. I tried so hard to like them but I had to DNF book 7. When there was an entire chapter about someone bedazzling their junk I just couldn't keep reading, it was over for me

Your hair looks beautiful!

learning that you also like asoue has made my DAY

Wait, the phoenixes are the race that they decided to have being extinct? Isn't that, like, the exact OPPOSITE of what they should be? Also good cue on Kyra's part, she should help with audiobooks. =3

Aaaaah the rachel icon is so cute wth

Even Astarion asks for permission

I loved Harry Potter it was like my main life obsession when i was teenager and it definitely saved my life. Now even back then i absolutely hated a lot about it. I loved the magic itself, the hogwarts vibe, but so much of a plot and characters and writing style i didnt like. So then i started writing HP fan fiction where i "fix" all jk rowling bullshit and i still write it for fun now at 29, where jk rowling bullshit and for example racism are being treated correctly. I also despise rowling as a person (im trans) and will never ever purchase anything with hp attached to it.

Oh my god you've joined the trenches of bad Tiktok Romantasy Rachel, whyyyyy XD

It's rainy and cold here in south aus, I'm very excited to rug up and watch this one 🐸

The last few seconds of this video made me giggle and was very much needed to end on!

I ❤ how your eye shadow matches your pillow behind you. It's really you ❤❤❤

I love how you mentioned A Series of Unfortunate Events series. I first read them in middle school and became such a big fan of them. They're still entertaining to read over and over. I love them.

I dont even understand the world building in this. So do unicorns/dragons/phoenixes/ect exist or are they all humanoid fae? If so how would evolving similarities based on a creature that doesn't even exist work?

Why is this badly written fire emblem 4 houses? Lmao But fr this kinda kink is just not for Rachel and that's ok, but it's prolly for others and that's okay too. I shame them only about their taste in writing, not in their kinks hahahah The only real problem here is if it's marketed as romance and not kink.

ou rachel your hair is looking lovely in this video!! 🥰