Fury by Elizabeth Miles: Review Posted by Tiffany at 12:01 PM

Title: Fury
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.

Em and Chase have been chosen.

(Goodreads)


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.

The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter: Review Posted by Tiffany at 9:30 AM

Title: The Goddess Test

Author: Aimee Carter (site)

Published: April 19th, 2011 by Harlequin

Pages: 293

Buy: Amazon / Book Depository 

Rating: 4.5/5

Source: NetGalley
Synopsis: It's always been just Kate and her mom—and her mother is dying. Her last wish? To move back to her childhood home. So Kate's going to start at a new school with no friends, no other family and the fear her mother won't live past the fall.

Then she meets Henry. Dark. Tortured. And mesmerizing. He claims to be Hades, god of the Underworld—and if she accepts his bargain, he'll keep her mother alive while Kate tries to pass seven tests.

Kate is sure he's crazy—until she sees him bring a girl back from the dead. Now saving her mother seems crazily possible. If she succeeds, she'll become Henry's future bride, and a goddess. (Goodreads)

Review: What a great book! I loved the characters. Kate was a great heroine- strong when she needed to be, but far from confident. Things start out mild and normal and then BANG! everything goes nuts. Nothing in her world is as she thought it was, she has a chance to bring her mother back from the dead, and everyone has an ulterior motive. She manages to navigate through all of the insanity without losing her mind. The love interest is cold and seemingly uninterested in her, despite the fact that the purpose of this whole ordeal is to make her his wife (not a spoiler if you've any sense at all). Henry was a great character. Very much Young Mr. Darcy + hundreds of years of guilt. I wish we'd learned more about him, spent more time dealing with his past. I'm hoping that this is something we'll see develop further in the sequel. The plot had plenty of twist bits, although none of them were too very surprising. This didn't, however, make the book dull or predictable. It gave it more of a movie feel. You know: "DON'T DO IT! CAN'T YOU SEE THEY'RE CRAZY AND INTENT ON MURDERING YOU?!" The romance was slow (almost non-existent at first) and, after we learn more about Henry, believable. I love that the reader is presented with the same Henry that she is and then, as we begin to learn more about him, the reader falls in love with the character in the same gradual way that she does. Final words: this book was amazing, one of my favorite releases this year. Go out and read it!