Title: Grace and Fury
Author: Tracy Banghart
Rating: ★★★

ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

The premise of Grace and Fury is really intriguing and I was excited to finally read it. However, as much as I wanted to love this, I just didn’t end up connecting with the story. There were a lot of elements about it that I liked, but in the end there was just something missing for me to really love it. 

The story follows the journeys of sisters Serina and Nomi. The chapters alternate between each of their POVs which helps lend a unique voice to each girl. Serina begins the book as a quiet, demure young woman who has spent her entire life relying on her beauty and training to become a Grace. Her younger sister, Nomi, on the other hand, starts the novel as headstrong, brash, careless, and a bit selfish. I was looking forward to following both sisters’ stories as they are thrust into roles neither are prepared for. Unfortunately, I only found myself enjoying Serina’s POV, and couldn’t really care about or connect with Nomi. Both Serina and Nomi start out naive, but Serina was the only one whose character had any growth as the story progressed. As Serina adapted to her surroundings and developed traits that made her stronger, Nomi remained naive and brash, which resulted in landing her in a whole heap of trouble by the end of the book – unsurprisingly.

There was a lot of positive girl power themes present, which is always a nice thing to see! There was also good representation of sibling relationships between Nomi and Serina; neither of them understand their sister, but it’s obvious how much they care about one another and the lengths each of them are willing to go to save each other. There is some romance, but it’s hardly present and to be honest I felt pretty meh about both. 

Grace and Fury has an interesting premise and a lot of potential, but I just couldn’t connect to the story or characters as much as I wanted to. The story has a The Selection meets Red Queen vibe for those who enjoyed those books!