Elizabeth Miles

A first entry in a debut series is set during a holiday season in Maine and finds the questionable moral decisions made by Emily and Chase causing them to be selected for punishment by three beautiful, mysterious girls.

Fury

Monicap

Reasons I picked up this book:
 AMAZING cover.
 Interesting premise.
 
What Actually Happened:
 This book was interesting. It’s the first thing I’ve read involving Greek Furies. 
But. The. Pacing. Was. So. Slow.
 Like, glacial. Ugh.
 (about halfway through reading this book, I read the synopses for books two and three. This was me breaking own of my own MOST IMPORTANT READING RULES.)
 And we had two main, point-of-vie characters, Emily and Chase.
 Emily is sort of your average girl. She hooks up with her best friend’s boyfriend while best friend is away on vacation. I did not relate to her AT ALL.
 And Chase was pretty much a complete dirtbag. I LIKED THIS. You just don’t get the point of view of a complete dirtbag very often, you know?
 (a very bad thing happened.)
 What??? WHY would you do that? One of the ONLY things you had going for you, gone.
 (I stopped reading for a day and a half)
 (came back and finished it)
 WHY on earth would you eat the berries??? Aren’t all humans born with the innate knowledge that you DO NOT eat berries when they’re offered to you 1) by a magical creature or 2) while you’re within a magical realm? Wait, no? It’s jut people who obsessively read things concerning fairies and Greek mythology? Oh, Okay.
 (Since I had read the synopses for books two and three, and pretty much knew what wa going to happen and thought it sounded interesting enough, I checked out book 2 from the library and put book 3 on hold. Go check out my review of book 2)

Jessica Nottingham

It honestly took all my effort to finish this book. I almost put Fury down multiple times, but I have a hard time marking books DNF, especially if I've already made it nearly halfway. I feel it is unfair to review a book I didn't finish reading. So, I kept doggedly reading on. This wasn't a book for me for a few different reasons, and I'll share those below.

I was really excited at first that this book was about Furies. They are fascinating mythical creatures! They punish those who commit wrongdoing, but are also fabled to be very fair (albeit slightly vicious) in their punishments. These Furies were anything but fair. I won't spoil, but the wrongs that are committed in this book are so difficult to imagine being punished for. They are normal teenage problems, normal teenage mistakes. Why on Earth would a Fury punish a girl for thinking she's in love with the wrong guy? If that's the case, I know plenty of people who would have deserved punishment when I was growing up.

On top of this, there isn't even that much focus on the Furies themselves. Most of the spotlight is on Em, Chase and their problems. All that is really said about the Furies is that they are girls, and good looking ones at that. I did like that Miles kept their names true to the original Greek mythology, and just shortened them. However it was bothered me that so little is said about their history, or why they might be there. It is glanced over so quickly that it is extremely easy to miss. 

My biggest gripe though was that every time it seemed something wasn't going to be explained, there was an "I don't know" to cover it up. Why were the Furies there to begin with? No clue. Why did they choose to punish those specific characters when there were so many other kids who I'm sure were in the same boat? No idea. I rarely if ever rant about a book, but honestly I feel like this one just left so many things unclear and unfinished.

In defense of Fury, I really believe it would have been a great story without the paranormal/mythological aspect. Em's story is one that a lot of girls can latch on to. Her friendship with Gabby is sweet and believable. Even her not-so-relationship with JD (who I LOVED) is wonderfully written. I think that if this had been a Contemporary novel, one that focused on Chase and Emily navigating the depths of high school while coming from two different walks of life, it would have been wonderful. Sadly it was the additional story line that kept me from really loving this book.

Bottom line, this wasn't a book for me. I know there are plenty of people out there who loved it, and I'm sure there will be many more. I am but one opinion in a sea of readers. That's why I'm telling you straight how I feel. This book fell really short for me, and I'm disappointed. I think Elizabeth Miles has fantastic potential as an author though, so I will keep a lookout for her future works. I loved her characters. I just didn't love this story.

Fury

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