Appreciating The People

Didi, our wonderful fellow blogger and author extraordinaire, has done another one of her posts showcasing some truly spectacular blogs. You’ve got to check them out!

Didi Oviatt

Just about one full year ago a I wrote a few poems about some supportive bloggers that I absolutely love, Supportive Bloggers, 1st poem, Supportive Bloggers, 2nd Poem, and Supportive Bloggers, 3rd and Final(ish) Poem. I pulled them up for a read the other day and was very pleased to see that practically all of the people/blogs I had mentioned in them, are still active and just as supportive to the date!

It’s extremely exciting to see that so many of the like minded people that you follow on the web, can in fact be considered as long term friendships! Talk about closing the gap between virtual and reality. I came to the conclusion that virtual friendships, much like face to face relationships, become richer and hold more depth/meaning with time! Not only does this reinforce my confidence in the time spent here over the last 2…

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Grace and Fury, by Tracy Banghart ~ 3.5 Stars

Tags

Fantasy, Social Issues, Suspense, YA Fiction

Thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown Books for Young Children for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: July 31st, 2018

320 Pages

Synopsis: In a world where woman have no rights, sisters Serina and Nomi Tessaro face two very different fates: one in the palace, the other in prison.

Serina has been groomed her whole life to become a Grace—someone to stand by the heir to the throne a a shining, subjugated example of the perfect woman. But when her headstrong and rebellious younger sister, Nomi, catches the heir’s eye, it’s Serina who takes the fall for the dangerous secret that Nomi has been hiding.

Now trapped in a life she never wanted, Nomi has only one way to save Serina: surrender to her role as a Grace until she can use her position to free her sister. This is easier said than done. A traitor walks the halls of the palace, and deception lurks in every corner. But Serina is running out of time, imprisoned on an island where she must fight to the death to survive and one wrong move could cost her everything.

Before I begin my review of Grace and Fury, I want to warn readers that there are some triggers that may make some uncomfortable. These include: Hints of past rape, implied attempted rape and sexual assaults, graphic violence, and animal abuse. Given the serious nature of the story none of these are written gratuitously, but they’re still there.

I loved the two dominant themes in this book, the bonds of sisterhood and women fighting back against oppression. The story is told from the alternating viewpoints of Serina and Nomi, and while I definitely had a favorite (I’m not telling you which one), I was invested in both. I have to be honest though and say that the two of them make some god awful decisions that not only impact them, but others as well. They didn’t really make sense to me and ultimately took away from the story. There is also a love triangle which I found annoying, and I thought the romance as a whole was overblown. The world building though is phenomenal and I was sucked in from the first page. It’s a fast read and the cliffhanger ending left me with plenty of questions so I’m looking forward to the next book.

Overall, while it definitely has some issues that will hopefully be worked out in the sequel, I think Grace and Fury is a promising beginning to this new untitled series. Because of the aforementioned themes, I’d recommend this to readers age 16 and up.