Forthcoming Fridays is a new series starting on Pages and Pugs, where you’ll be able to see reviews for books that aren’t yet out but are releasing soon. I can’t promise to post this every Friday, but I’ll try!

Grace and Fury, by Tracy Banghart
Goodreads ¦ Amazon¦ Barnes & Noble
Series?: No
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Release Date: July 31, 2018
Length: 320 pages
Source: ARC
Format: Paperback
Times Read: Once
Rating: I’M SORRY BUT ARE YOU LEGALLY ALLOWED TO END A BOOK LIKE THAT

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.

What I Liked: Guys, I had so many feelings when I was reading this book. The husband kept catching me whispering “Don’t do that.” “No, don’t do that.” “Girl, he is a bad guy.” “Don’t do the stupid thing.” “Please don’t do the stupid thing.” “DON’T DO THE STUPID THING.”

♥Page Zero. I fell for this book from the dedication page: For every woman who has been told to sit down and be quiet… And who stood up anyway. SMASH  THAT  PATRIARCHY 

♥ Nomi & Serina. These girls live in a world where women have no power and no voice, no rights, and few choices. Serina has trained her whole life to be a Grace, basically a (super-submissive) concubine to the Heir of the throne, and Nomi her handmaiden. Things go to hell one day when the Heir chooses Nomi as his Grace instead, and Serina is caught doing something that’s VERY illegal for women (spoiler alert it’s reading RUN FOR THE HILLS!), which she wasn’t even doing, Nomi was, but Serina took the fall, and anyway Serina is sent to prison.

♥ The Settings. The palace and the prison. The palace is beautiful, but Nomi never wanted to be there. Nomi has always longed for more than this, she wants a life where she can read, and learn, and go to school like her twin brother. Where she can make choices.

“Well screw you too, Belle.”–everybody else in town

But the prison? Hoo, boy Mount Ruin is rough. The women are basically used as gladiators for the guards’ entertainment, and it’s learn to kill or be killed. Serina was NOT built for this. There is violence and bloodshed, very little food, and the entire island is a live volcano. Seeing Serina break out of her shell here and grow into the person she was meant to be was a real treat. Nomi is great, but Serina definitely has the most growth.

♥ Secretly Feminist Boys. Sure, it’d be nice if they could be creating visible change, but damn if they aren’t making waves and doing their part to SMASH  THAT  PATRIARCHY  underground, and I am SO HERE FOR IT!

Shawn Hunter, original feminist dreamboat of my youth

♥ I Don’t Know What To Say About This Part. If you read it, I’m pretty sure you’ll know if I say “GIRL, WRONG ONE!”. It felt a little reminiscent of another popular book, but literally NO ONE ELSE has mentioned this so I feel like I might be making that up.

What I Didn’t:

⊗ The only thing I didn’t like was the ending and that’s only because it was a cliffhanger and it was the end.