Author: Elizabeth Miles (site)
Published: August 30th, 2011 by Simon and Schuster
Pages: 352
Buy: Amazon/ Book Depo/ Powell's
Series: Furies #1
Source: GalleyGrab
Rating: 2.5/5
Synopsis: It’s winter break in Ascension, Maine. The snow is falling and everything looks pristine and peaceful. But not all is as it seems...
Between cozy traditions and parties with her friends, Emily loves the holidays. And this year’s even better--the guy she’s been into for months is finally noticing her. But Em knows if she starts things with him, there’s no turning back. Because his girlfriend is Em’s best friend.
In Ascension, mistakes can be deadly. And three girls—three beautiful, mysterious girls—are here to choose who will pay.
On the other side of town, Chase is having problems of his own. The stress of his home life is starting to take its toll, and his social life is unraveling. But that’s nothing compared to what’s really haunting him. Chase has done something cruel...something the perfect guy he pretends to be would never do. And it’s only a matter of time before he’s exposed.
Review: I have been looking forward to reading this book since I first saw the cover and blurb. The Furies come to town and make some teens pay for their misdeeds- sounds like a very creepy and exciting story. I love the new greek mythology trend in YA and was looking forward to reading about The Furies. The book starts out with Em, who has a thing for her best friend's boyfriend. I hated Em pretty quickly. She's is selfish and stupid. I have no idea why she likes the guy, he's nothing special. I'm not a big fan of cheaters in general, but she was ridiculous. She goes on and on about how they're best friends, have known each other since childhood, inseparable, etc. Then she just jumps right up and goes after her best friend's boyfriend the day after her friend leaves for vacation. I felt no sympathy for her whatsoever. In fact, I was looking forward to her punishment. She thinks that they're "in love" when he's never said anything meaningful to her at all. He's obviously in it for the action, doesn't care about her or his girlfriend. The other main character, Chase, is a kid from the wrong side of the tracks who is best friends with Cheater Boy and is only popular because he's good at football. He is pretty shallow and a bit cruel, but I liked him at first. In fact, he's the main reason I kept reading. However, he turns out to be a complete jerk as well, so there are basically zero sympathetic main characters. Em's neighbor who is obviously in love with her was great, but he wasn't really a big presence. The best friend whose boyfriend she was stealing seemed pretty selfish and empty-headed, too. All of the guys that the two popular boys hung out with were annoying. The characters that I really wanted to get to know, The Furies, only made cameos here and there. (Except Ty and her actions didn't really make any sense at all.) Overall, I'd have to say that I'm pretty disappointed. If you have unsympathetic characters, I can live with it- just make them suffer. Chase suffered plenty, but Em got off scot-free for most of the book. They only came after her for a bit at the end. I was very surprised to see that this would be a trilogy. Things felt so disjointed and vague that there is certainly a lot of explaining left to do, but I don't really want to see what happens to Em. I wanted her to be punished at the end and then be done with the series. I'll keep an eye on the reviews for the second book and give it a chance if it looks good, but I'm not going to put it on my pre-order list.
