Tracy Banghart

Bold, brutal, and beautiful--a must-read fantasy full of fierce sisterhood, action, and political intrigue for fans of The Selection series, Caraval, and The Handmaid's Tale. In a world where women 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 as 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 release 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.

Grace and Fury

Lena Gleixner

Chloé

Loved it. Strong female characters. Loved how the world was described even though its infuriating the laws set on women the writing puts it across as unbiased, it allows you to be angry on your own.

Bold, brutal and beautiful, this is a must-read with the glitter and romance of The Selection and the thrilling action and intrigue of Red Queen. In a world where women have no rights, sisters Serina and Nomi face two very different fates: one in the palace, the other on an island prison where women must fight to survive. Serina has spent her whole life preparing to become a Grace - selected to stand by the heir to the throne as a shining example of the perfect woman. But her headstrong and rebellious younger sister has a dangerous secret, and one wrong move could cost both sisters everything. Can Serina fight? And will Nomi win?

Gillian Rose

It starts off slow and hits so many YA tropes but it has so many entertaining twists!

dija

I think it's better if i go back to 2015 releases. 

The synopsis of this book was promising, i was excited for this one, but ??????? What happened???

Elisa Bieg

Ugh, this book.

This is a frustrating book. The premise sounded good!

But man, was it a disappointment.

The way the story unfolds, the characterization... there is no elegance, no subtlety. Its not even that it was super-predictable (though some of it definitely was), it’s just that even the “twists” were more like a fist punching through glass — the equivalent of someone stomping around in heavy boots in the middle of a scene. New elements are just thrown in , with all the subtlety of something 
  crushing through the ceiling
, and it hugely affects the pacing and flow and general plot development.

And the characters... how is this touted as a feminist book? The characters simply swap roles. That’s it. Serina, who starts out having no other ambition but to become in all respects the equivalent of a living Barbie doll, does find inner strength and that’s good, but Nomi has this weird thing where she is goes from being all rebellious to being as uninspiring, whiny and gullible as you could possibly get. 
And we’re supposed to find her inspiring how? Because she occasionally takes a break from hiding and being submissive to give a minuscule hint at what’s on her mind? PLEASE.

Not since Caraval have I felt this annoyed and let down by a book. I’m giving it 2 STARS because the writing was marginally better, but this is going straight on my swap pile.

Story Eater

I believe this book is the August 2018 OwlCrate book based on the clue given by OwlCrate, “Would you survive if you were thrust into a devious royal court? Our August box is all about royals who rule and win; no matter the cost. Our book pick is an intense story about two sisters who are thrown into a world of court politics, brutal competition and fierce rulers. When they are separated from one another, each girl must figure out unique ways to survive” for the August book selection.

I was right about this book being in the August 2018 OwlCrate. 

I sped through this book easily. Maybe it was because the plot was overly simplistic. Maybe it was because I knew what the secret of one of the sisters was well before I got out of the first chapter. Or, maybe it was because I had read all of these characters before. Nomi is the quintessential, cardboard, flat, cookie-cutter feminist. Serina is very nearly exactly like Tris from Divergent. I think it was probably because the plot twist that felt like it was supposed to not be obvious was obvious from the beginning, and I knew exactly what every aspect of the twist would be.

The book combines the aspects of a royal court romance/catty intrigue/Stockholm syndrome with a starkly contrasted, volcanic, post-apocalyptic all-female gladiator arena from Ancient Rome. If that makes any sense. The problem is, the sister that would typically thrive in that environment must adapt to environment that embodies the personality of the opposite sister. Nomi, who would do better on the island, winds up at court; and Serina, who would enjoy being married off to the Heir as payment for her family's prosperity must learn to fight and survive in the lady fight club. This would be a great story if it hadn't been done a million times before since Mark Twain wrote The Prince and the Pauper. And I really don't like obligatory representational checks dropped casually in books. Make the representation an essential part of the narrative, or don't put it in there. 

Am I going to read the next book? Sure. I'm curious by nature, and I want to see where the train wreck may be heading.

Katie Holem

laura

* I got this book for review for my honest thoughts*

I really enjoyed this book and found it def be a darker fantasy novel but I would call it more a historical fiction novel. I would be intrigued if some type of magic system becomes more obvious in future books. I was equally invested in both lead characters storyline and liked the duel POV of the story. I really flew through this book and I thought the world building and the various mysteries were engaging. I wish the ending was less predictable but I will def be checking out book 2!

Alexis 

This was just an okay book, honestly nothing really caught my attention. I felt so board while reading it. I'm defiantly not going to finish the books, there is absolutely nothing that intrigues me enough to continue.

Rina

** spoiler alert **
           I adore this book
The Story is about two sisters, who couldn't be more different.
Serina is trained to be a Grace. (A Grace is kind of like a wive, but with much less rights) And Nomi (Serinas younger Sister) will be her handmaiden.
But, big plot twist, Nomi is coosen by the Heir to become a Grace and Serina is turned into the handmaiden. 
And so the Story begins. Serina is caught reading and is send to prison, while Nomi is left alone in the castle with the other graces. Both of them start to learn how to survive, Serina in prison, where the guards let women fight each other till death, and Nomi is trying to learn how to become a Grace and trying to finding a way to free her sister with the help of the Heir's brother.
The World the sisters live in, is not exactly woman friendly. Women are not aloud to work or read and the not allowed to cut there hair without their husbands permisson!
It is a stroy with lot of feminism (I LOVE IT!) and feelings. And I think everybody should read it!

Dana Musser

Jolie

Grace and Fury is one of those books that caught me by surprise. I don't get taken by surprise by books. I can usually see a plot twist coming a mile away. I can usually see when an author is foreshadowing. I can usually see who the bad guy is in the book. I can usually call who is going to die. But not in Grace and Fury. The author did a fantastic job at keeping me in the dark with everything I stated above. And I loved it!!!

Grace and Fury starts off with Serina being chosen to go to Bellaqua to compete with other girls to become a Grace. Serina has worked her entire life to become a Grace. That dream is shattered when Serina's younger sister, Nomi, is chosen instead. It is further shattered when Serina takes the blame for something that Nomi did. That something has Serina shipped off to a prison island. There she is forced to fight to the death for food. Back on the mainland, Nomi decides to embrace her role as a Grace. She does that with the hopes that she will get Serina off the island and back with her. But Nomi is soon caught up in a dangerous plot. A plot that could end everything that she has worked so hard for.

I couldn't believe the injustices that the women in that society endured. They weren't allowed to go to school. They were dominated by the men in their lives. So, I loved it when Nomi bucked the rules. Learning to read was her way of thumbing her nose a the society that was keeping her down. Even as rebellious as she was, she was loyal to Serina. Using her position as a Grace, she did try to get her sister off that island. I was as surprised as she was when everything went down the way it did.

I didn't like Serina, at first. She had trained to be a Grace since she was a child and had no clue how the real world was. Being a Grace meant that her family would never go hungry. She also loved her sister. My turning from not liking her to liking her happened when she took the fall for Nomi. She could have taken Nomi down with her. And when she got to the island. Instead of having a breakdown, she did what she had to do to survive.

There are several twists and turns in the plotline. I wasn't ready for any of them. I thought that this was going to be one of those typical YA fantasy book that would be heavy on the romance and teen angst but would have no twists. Yeah, I was wrong. This book had more twists than a mountain road.

The fantasy angle of the book was fantastic. Set in an Italian-like country, the author did fantastic world building. The world was 3D, as was the character.

The YA angle I didn't feel. Yes, Serina and Nomi were in their late teens but it didn't read like it. If I didn't know their ages, I would have placed Serina in her mid 20's and Nomi as the teenager. This book also didn't have much angst that most YA books. Which was refreshing.

I do want to touch upon the amazing girl power vibe that was going on in this book. It was fantastic and I loved it!!!

The end of Grace and Fury was insane. Everything happened at once. I was surprised at what happened with Nomi. Very surprised. Surprised to the point that I had to wake up BK and tell him about it. He wasn't impressed...lol. I will say that the book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. Which means that I need to read book 2 when it comes out.

Onto why I gave Grace and Fury a 4-star rating. I loved how I was taken surprised time and again in the book. I liked Nomi and her rebellious ways. I loved the strong girl power vibe throughout the book. I didn't like how the women were treated in the book. I didn't like Serina at first. I also didn't like the cliffhanger.

What I liked about Grace and Fury (to recap):

A) Being taken surprise by the different elements of the book

B) Nomi

C) Girl Power

What I disliked about Grace and Fury (to recap):

A) How the women were treated in the book

B) Serina, the first half of the book

C) The cliffhanger

I would give Grace and Fury an Older Teen rating. There is no sex. There is kissing (that's about it). There is violence, sometimes graphic. There is no language. I would recommend that no one under the age of 16 read this book.

I would reread Grace and Fury. I would also recommend this book to family and friends.

I would like to thank Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for allowing me to read and review Grace and Fury.

All opinions stated in this review of Grace and Fury are mine.

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

Joleen

This arc was provided to me for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 

5 STARS

Let me start by picking my jaw up off the floor because holy crap. Grace and Fury was everything I didn’t expect. Not going to lie, I wasn’t a fan at first, it seemed very cliche and I thought I could guess where the book was going. But it fooled me and it instead was this brilliant novel.

Tracy Banghart created a world where women have no rights, they do not have the right to choose their husbands, they cannot get an education, and they are only allowed to work a few jobs. This book follows Serina and Nomi, two sisters who are completely opposite. Beautiful and submissive Serina has spent her entire life training to be a Grace, a concubine for the heir because she knows ultimately it would be better for her family. But wild, Nomi who has trained to be her sister’s handmaiden believes women deserve better rights and should be free to do what they please. In a turn of events, Serina is caught with a book that Nomi has stolen and is sent to Mount Ruin, a women’s prison on a volcanic island. Separated, both sisters find a way to get back to each other, but while both facing their own hardships.

Now, this is what I wanted, strong females rising up to take what is theirs. I am so glad I stuck with this book because it turned out completely different than I thought. For every twist and turn, I expected something else. And I think I am going to go impatiently wait for the second book. Because holy cliffhangers.

Strong female characters, great twists, and even a little romance, this book has it all. I am definitely pre-ordering this book. I need it to grace my shelves. 

P.s. When does book 2 come out?

Roos Kuijper 

Wowwwww....that ending! 
This was such a fascinating read, I couldn't put it down.
And I want / NEED more!

Manon van Heumen

This was such a good book! It took me a couple of chapters to get into, but from then on I basically floated through it! I can highly recommend it.

Casandra Sandu

Fatima Zahra

Kim Killen

Bold, brutal, and beautiful -- a must-read fantasy full of fierce sisterhood, action, and political intrigue for fans of The Selection series, Caraval, and The Handmaid's Tale. Serina Tessaro has been groomed her whole life to become a Grace -- someone to stand by the heir to the throne as a shining, subjugated example of the perfect woman. It's her chance to secure a better life for her family, and to keep her headstrong and rebellious younger sister, Nomi, out of trouble. But when Nomi catches the Heir's eye instead, Serina is the one who takes the fall for the dangerous secret her sister has been hiding. Trapped in a life she never wanted, Nomi has only one option: surrender to her role as a Grace until she can use her position to save Serina. But this is easier said than done . . . a traitor walks the halls of the palazzo, and deception lurks in every corner. Meanwhile Serina is running out of time. Imprisoned on an island where she must fight to the death to survive, surrounded by women stronger than she is, one wrong move could cost her everything. There is no room for weakness on Mount Ruin, especially weaknesses of the heart. Thrilling and captivating, Grace and Fury is a story of fierce sisterhood, and of survival in a world that's determined to break you.

Megan During

Lane Hokanson

Samantha bolton

A must-read fantasy that "breathes new life into the feminist story of oppression and resistance" (Publishers Weekly). Perfect for fans of The Belles, Caraval, and The Handmaid's Tale. Serina Tessaro has been groomed her whole life to become a Grace--someone to stand by the Heir to the throne as a shining, subjugated example of the perfect woman. It's her chance to secure a better life for her family, and to keep her headstrong and rebellious younger sister, Nomi, out of trouble. But when Nomi catches the Heir's eye instead, Serina is the one who takes the fall for the dangerous secret her sister has been hiding. Trapped in a life she never wanted, Nomi has only one option: surrender to her role as a Grace until she can use her position to save Serina. But this is easier said than done.... A traitor walks the halls of the palazzo, and deception lurks in every corner. Meanwhile, Serina is running out of time. Imprisoned on an island where she must fight to the death to survive, surrounded by women stronger than she is, one wrong move could cost her everything. There is no room for weakness on Mount Ruin, especially weaknesses of the heart. Thrilling and captivating, Grace and Fury is a story of fierce sisterhood, and of survival in a world that's determined to break you.

Grace and Fury

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