Ever since her mother died, Kate has stood out from her peers even more than she used to. Though she's ignored some of her mother's paranoid ramblings and re-enrolled herself and her brothers in public school, she holds out on the main one-- ignoring the fancy private schools that are scouting her middle brother. But it looks like her father is starting to cave to one of them, and when one of the cadets from the school moves to town to tutor her brother, Kate worries she might be fighting a losing battle.

I liked the premise of this book, though it felt like it was longer than it needed to, considering how little actually happened. There were other things that broke my immersion-- some of the language used felt outdated in a way that made me think, for the longest time, that the book was set in the early 2000s. There were also times Kate changed her mind on things for reasons I couldn't understand.
This first book drew me in enough to read to the end, but not enough to want to sit through the rest of the series, even though I am curious to know what else happens.

I had a hard time liking the story. The characters felt flat, and the story line moved at a page that felt disjointed. It has promise though.

Definitely a page turner! I kept telling myself one more page and then one more chapter! I couldn’t put the book down. The characters come to life on the pages and there are twists and turns that you won’t see coming! Can’t wait for the next one!

The Academy Saga by C.J. Daly is an angsty story of a young girl protecting her family. Intriguing yet a bit whining in places the book has good pace and twists that are unforeseen. Overall good read and fabulous characters that evolve and grow on you.

The story started out very promising, but soon devolved into a confusing mishmash never regaining its momentum.

Pete Davenport, played by Noah Centineo in my head, was a great attention getter at the beginning of the book. HIs bad boy attitude and dismissal of 'The Academy' had me hooked in the first chapter and I was excited to see how he would play out his role in the mission before him. Yet after a few more chapters I was ready to put the book down and forget about Katie. Yes, her life is awful, her dad has a lot of rules that aren't great, and things have just generally sucked since her mother died. However, the way that she is dealing with everything that is happening with Pete trying to recruit her brother to 'The Academy' had me pulled out of what could have been a great story more often than not. She is so hot and cold with Pete that it just becomes frustrating after the third time. Much of the book could have been shortened if these sections had been cut down to one, Katie hating Pete to start with, falling in love with him, and then being betrayed (or not), but going back and forth so often gave me whiplash and made Katie not a very likable character.
Much of the story was told in the last few chapters and that was where I felt like Daly had really come into her writing. There weren't as many random phrases or misspellings that jerked me out of the story, and the story flowed better without me feeling bumped around by Katie's feelings.
Overall, Pete was written really well as the bad boy who doesn't want to do what is expected of him, and then he unexpectedly falls for Katie so is now fighting between himself over doing his duty and what his heart wants. Katie was written like she can't make up her mind from one second to the next and overall until the last 10% of the book made me want to put it down.
I'm not sure if I want to keep reading this series or if I am ready to let Pete go.

I read about 10% of this book, but it just didn’t grab my interest. The description sounds great, but I feel it was just too slow of a start and I wasn’t interested enough to keep reading. Also, I know ARCs can have typos and other mistakes, which don’t usually bother me, but this book had one that bothered me while reading. Any time there are two letter L in a word the second one is missing, but there is always a space where it should be. This causes words to be split in half or to be spelled incorrectly and it occurs every time two letter L are needed.

This is the first book in The Academy Saga series and let me tell you to get your copy! It follows Kate's life, who was forced to grow up and care for her brothers after her mother's death and when her father left. Her life is very relatable; there's drama, hardship, laughter, and everything else in between. The story is a bit slow initially, but don't dare put it down, it will catch on, and everything will make sense. CJ's writing style is marvelous, from social uniqueness, relatable characters up to the emotional consequences. This book has it all – mysterious, action-packed, electrifying, and unputdownable! I can't wait to read the second book!