Book Blurb:
GRACE AND FURY by Tracy Banghart
Pub. Date: July 31, 2018
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Formats: Hardcover, eBook
Pages: 320
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.
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Review:
4 Out Of 5 Stars
Genre: Another-World, Historical, Mystery, Royal-Court, Survival, Suspense, Teen--
Serina has trained her whole life to be a Grace, the lovely women chosen by the leader and his heir as their property. Serina knows how to sew, play the harp, have poise and beguile men and most importantly be beautiful. Nomi, younger by a year to Serina has never wanted the life of a Grace that Serina covets, instead she does household chores by day and commits the biggest crime by learning to read at night. When Serina is chosen to attend the Grace selection, Nomi goes to be her handmaiden. Through a fate not her own, Serina is caught with an item that is not her's but Nomi's and now she faces a life she never even knew existed- while Nomi takes her place as a Grace.
We got off to a slow start, G&F and I, but by the end I was flying through the pages, the action building so much so that I could not put down the book and I needed to know how everything would play out. I found Grace and Fury to be an interesting mash-up of genres, such as a historical other world with a Royal Court type system in an imaginary Italy (at least that is where I feel like it was) where girls are called together to be "selected" as a Grace for the Heir to the realm (which is very reminiscent of The Selection) and then we have the harsh prison system that was all fighting to the death, starvation, potential sexual assault- which felt a little bit like The Hunger Games. I could see inspirations from other YA stories within the pages but they were used in so many different directions and ways that ended up making Grace & Fury something special unto itself.
The story was narrated by Serina and her younger sister Noni, having their voices and experiences switch at chapters. In complete disclosure, I hearted Serina and I feel like she was a complete badass (even if she didn't think so- the girl had it in her!) She had her whole life turned on it;s head yet she never once lost her loyalty to her sister- causing her to be thrust into a scary world that she knew nothing about. And yet, she did not give up but showed her strength and promise and made something nobody thought possible. in a world, she was courageous. Serina was my girl this story, every moment I spent on her journey cemented our bond and I want her to be all that she can be. Iknow this is not a competition, but if it was I am completely team Serina. You go girl!
And then we have Nomi, who pretty much is in a position of her own machinations. Let's rebel against the man- oh shoot now the man wants me. It seemed every choice she made put her in closer to the court that she appeared to loathe...but she did enjoy her luxuries and not spend a lot of time being sad. At one point, she is the victim of a love triangle, having the affection from 2 powerful men she did not mind kissing. She is just so very naive and trusting, but her actions end up hurting everyone she loves and she does not do a good job thinking anything through.
The ending was just enough of a cliffhanger by Tracy that I will now be counting the days until I can read the next book. To put it mildly, there was A LOT going on in the last two chapters of the book, and really the tension and my anxiety just kept building. I do hope that there will be more world building to come because I had a lot of questions and almost no answers. Maybe we can solve the mystery, save the women and reunite the girls next.
Author Bio:
Tracy Banghart grew up in rural Maryland and spent her summers on a remote island in northern Ontario. All of that isolation and lovely scenery gave her the time to read voraciously and the inspiration to write her own stories. Always a bit of a nomad, Tracy now travels the world Army-wife style with her husband, son, cat, and sweet pupper Scrabble. She wrote Grace and Fury while living in Hawaii.
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Week One:
7/23/2018- Tea Party Princess- Review
7/24/2018- Paperback Princess- Review
7/25/2018- Confessions of a YA Reader- Review
7/26/2018- Book Dragon Lair- Review
7/27/2018- laura's bookish corner- Review
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Week Two:
7/30/2018- The Desert Bibliophile- Review
7/31/2018- Do You Dog-ear?- Review
8/1/2018- Synopses By Sarge- Review
8/2/2018- CoffeeCocktailsandBooks Blog- Review
8/3/2018- Kat’s Books- Review
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Week Three:
8/6/2018- Feed Your Fiction Addiction- Review
8/7/2018- Portrait of a Book- Review
8/8/2018- To Be Read- Review
8/9/2018- Brooke- Reports- Review
8/10/2018- Cindy's Love of Books- Review
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Week Four:
8/13/2018- A Court of Coffee and Books- Review
8/14/2018- Smada's Book Smack- Review
8/15/2018- The Young Folks- Review
8/16/2018- Book-Keeping- Review
8/17/2018- A Gingerly Review- Review
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Review tour provided by Rockstar Book Tours
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