The Bursting Bookshelf

It was a confluence of creative inspirations -- a combination of interest in mythology and fables, horror movies, and contemporary YA -- with a little bit of personal revenge fantasy thrown in for good measure. :)



3) What was your favorite moment in Fury?

Without wanting to give too much away, I love the New Year's Eve scene, when Em and JD go to Boston together. 

4) What was your initial reaction to seeing the book really coming together (ie.getting a cover and being added to Goodreads, etc.)?

Shock, glee, terror, you name it. My bff Lauren Oliver often asks "Aren't you excited??" because my reactions are sometimes understated. It's not for lack of excitement -- sometimes it just takes me a few extra minutes to process such overwhelming news!
 
5) As an author, name 3 things you cannot live without.

1) Quiet alone time
2) Books
3) Cheese

Sometimes sorry isn't enough....

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.

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.

In Ascension, mistakes can be deadly. And three girls—three beautiful, mysterious girls—are here to choose who will pay.

Em and Chase have been chosen.

Review:
Before receiving this book for review, I had never heard of it before. When I saw the cover however, I fell hard for it. I dove in, expecting an amazing read, but unfortunately, that is not what I found.

The cover for this book is gorgeous online, but on the ARC in person, it is something else. The letters are embossed and the cover will be soft touch. On the final copy, apparently it will have foil. Awesome right? The coolest part of the entire cover is how the cover model's hair turns to smoke and then if you turn the book over, there is some of the hair/ smoke below the summary. That has to be one of the coolest covers.

My troubles over this book begin with the characters. I did not care for Emily that much. She did not respect her friend enough to leave her boyfriend, Zach, alone and she did not respect herself enough to stop being with Zach even when he was quite clearly just playing her. I found it odd how she did not realize that she was being used for the longest time, which also was partially why I did not care for her. Chase on the other hand was in a tough place in his life, putting on a facade everyday to keep other people from getting too close to him. What I found I disliked about him though is how easily fooled he was during most of the book and how he trusted people too easily as well. I found that I enjoyed Chase more than Emily, though they were not my favorite main characters ever.

Fury is set in two different perspectives; that of Chase and Emily. I liked how that gave you insight into what they were thinking when they did some of the things they did. What I did not enjoy was how the characters were so easily tricked into doing these things throughout the story. Though I did not care for the story, the book was well written besides the fact that the characters had a tendency to swear a little too often in my opinion. The ending of Fury was very open ended. I did not find it to be a cliffhanger, but more of an end that you could stop reading the series at or continue on with the books.

Overall, I did not care for a lot of the aspects of Fury all that much. I give it a 3/5, but I will be giving the second book a try when it comes out.