Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti are sisters and co-authors whose works span the wider romance genre. Some of their explored subgenres include contemporary romance, fantasy romance, paranormal romance, and reverse harem (i.e., stories in which the woman lead has several love interests but never chooses between them). Reverse harem is somewhat explored in The Awakening, as both Darcy and Tory have several potential love interests, and they do not choose a single partner in this first installment.

In 2015, Peckham and Valenti drafted their first novels separately and self-published them on Amazon. After writing several series individually, they began co-writing. The sisters explore dark themes, explore the complexity of masculinity through relationships, and create formidable women characters. Their works are often categorized as darker romance due to their complex and mature themes. Zodiac Academy tackles dark and complex themes such as extreme bullying, sexual harassment, and misogyny.

The co-authored works by Peckham and Valenti include the Age of Vampires (2019), Forbidden Fairytales (2019), Boys of Sinners Bay (2020), Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac (2020-21), Harlequin Crew (2020-22), Darkmore Penitentiary (2021), Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep (2020-21), and Dead Men Walking (2021-22) series. Zodiac Academy remains the authors’ most popular series, having sold more than 2.