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Announcing the U.S. FURY tour! Oh yes. It's hard (and expensive) to get ahold of this title for those of us who don't live in the YA hotbed of Australia, so the lovely Miss Marr has kindly sent over a U. S. touring copy of her book. If you'd like to have the opportunity to read this title, here's the info on the tour. The sign up form has further details regarding tour rules and qualifications.

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Hi, it's Shirley here, author of this book. I've been thinking for a while what I should do to "fill up" this space meant for a review. I'm going to do two things:

1) Say Thank You

...to every single person who has rated and/or reviewed Fury for better or for the worse! I try and thank everyone I can personally, but sometimes I'm so busy reading and reviewing other books that I forget to keep an eye out! But I do read every review. Above everything else, I value balance and honesty - so thanks for More...

**now with all-new tragedy in the spoiler thingie!!**

hell hath no fury like a rich teenager accustomed to evading responsibility for her actions.

if you want to read about my personal journey through pain and terror and shame and eventual, tainted, triumph, you may click on this spoiler thingie:

(view spoiler)[ wow - now i know who gets off on hearing about how bleak and sorrowful my life is. noted. so, i had been wanting to get my hands on a copy of this book for ages, ever since all the YA queens on here had b (hide spoiler)] More...

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

I did it. Fury crossed my threshold. I finally read Fury. I FINALLY READ FURY!

Do you know what that means? No. I don't think you do. Story time!

This book is so incredibly hard to come by and I swear IT'S CURSED. Whenever it attempts to cross on over America's border it mysteriously gets lost or stolen. Don't ask me why it's always this book. I don't know.

All I know is this: I tried to order it from Fishpond.com and they cancelled my order due to publishing issues.



So I di More...

I was hooked on this from the first page-- It was like reading about The Heathers murdering someone. A bunch of rich, spoiled high school girls are picked up for murder and the entire book flits back and forth between the main character, Eliza, harassing a psychologist who is attempting to elicit her story and flashbacks to the days leading up to the crime as Eliza actually shares the backstory. It was interesting to read a book in which we already know the killer from page one, nay, from the ba More...

This is the good thing about Goodreads. When you start reading, the mediocre fare doesn't seem so bad, maybe even enjoyable. But after reading your hundredth YA paranormal romance with Mary Sue, Miss Goody-two-shoes, virginal blob, it starts to leave a sour taste in your mouth and a dissatisfying sickness in your gut.

But on Goodreads, you get to learn about books like this. Books you might never have discovered if a friend hadn't reviewed it or someone hadn't recommended it to you.

After all thos More...

3.5 stars.

"Is it because we’re girls. I want to say. You think a bunch of girls are not capable of something like this?"

Initial Final Page Thoughts.
Iiiiinteresting.

High Points.
I was intrigued about this book before I even read the first page. I have this unofficial collection of my favourite book dedications. When I say unofficial it’s because normally I read a book dedication and say “WOW… that’s so funny/heart breaking/intriguing. I must write it down and remember it forever” but then I, well More...

4.5 stars.

Meet Eliza Boans.

Let me tell you, she's a piece of work. She lives in East Rivermoor, in this cocooned, upper class neighborhood. She comes from a "good" family, single child, her mom's lawyer, her dad is in America with his new family. She comes from money and it shows: she's a snobbish, elitist, mean bitch. Or is she? Why is she sitting at the police station, confessing to murder?

Fury is a book I won't easily forget, rest assured. It's one of those books that kept me guessing until More...

I can understand why some people might like Fury. It's one of those books that surprises you towards the end and it becomes increasingly darker throughout the novel. I did enjoy it. However, I didn't love it anywhere near as well as I thought I would simply because I can point you towards several authors that do what Shirley Marr does but are far better at it.

Raw Blue, for example, is a book that deals with personal trauma as well as family difficulties and it has a similar style of starting af More...

“When I think hard about it, I find that I… actually don’t like many people. I must be such an angry person.” - Page 178

Eliza is modern Furious girl.

Color me green. I’d never aspired to being a writer (writing this is hard enough) but Fury has me wishing I had written it! Because, among other things, Eliza Boan’s story is compelling, dark, at the oddest of moments funny, but very upsetting. (And her name be awesome too.)

Eliza is privileged; they all are and it’s because of this fact that I he More...

Thank you to the Midnight Garden for hosting this tour and giving me the opportunity to read this! I’ve been trying to that get my hands on for quite some time and I’m so glad that I was able to be a part of this blog tour.

’East Rivermoore built a wall to keep the world out. But what if the real danger came from within? Before the seven o’clock news started to call us monsters, I wondered whether deep inside I wanted myself to be one anyways.’

Storyline
Eliza Boans is a rich snob and spoiled brat… More...

"My name is Eliza Boans and I am a murderer."

Well, talk about an introduction. That sentence certainly got my attention, and I think it has made it on my list of fave first sentences. I was certainly on full alert right from the beginning.

If someone asked me to describe Fury in short, I'd say it's Courtney Summers meets Pretty Little Liars. It has the edge and the dark tone reminiscent of Summers' novels, but with the glitz, mean girls and high school cliques that reminded me a little of the Pre More...

I've finally read the almost unobtainable young adult novel Fury by the wonderful Australian author Shirley Marr (You see what I mean when you encounter her in one of the discussions here on Goodreads. Shirley is one of thoses authors who also dare to stay readers with their own opinions on books and the world, which means - like you might have noticed - being among the very last of an almost extinct species.)

Since crime-focused fiction is usually not my cup of tea, my rating (3.5 stars altogeth More...

4.5 stars

"My name is Eliza Boans and I am a murderer."

How is that for a brilliant opening line? I was instantly hooked. I love a mystery, and when a book opens with the protagonist in a police stationconfessing to murder, you know you're in for a good one. Who was murdered and why - and whether Eliza actually did it - is slowly divulged through flashbacks, as Eliza tells her story to an interrogator.Importantly, the pace isn't too slow; just the right amount ofinformation is revealed at key mom More...

Uh-oh, I seem to be in the minority here. A lot of my goodreads friends just loved this book to pieces and I could see why, but for me I didn't have the same experience.
There are many factors I take into consideration while reading a book.
Plot-concept. Writing-flow and balance. Character-personalities. And overall entertainment.

Fury had a good plot. There's noting quite like a good ole' murder to give yourself a reality check and change your life's perspective. Something that Eliza sincerely ne More...

After waiting 3 months for my copy of Fury to arrive from the other side of the world, I couldn't wait any longer and just had to dig into it. I was introduced to Aussie authors by my dear Goodreads friends and the premise of this one fascinated me. Reading it again now, though, I realize it doesn't really tell us anything at all - except that it's bound to be excellent! I mean - just read it!

So as you saw, we have Eliza who's telling us her story of how and why she's committed murder, but the b More...

Real review to come...

Timeline of a mental breakdown over a book

Aug 26: Reads Flannery's review comparing Fury to Heathers. Gets excited.

Sept 6: Orders from FishpondWorld. It's double what I normally pay for books, but what the hell. It can be an early birthday present to myself.


Sept 16: Fury status on Fishpond: "Picked & Packed"

Sept 18: "In transit to our local distribution center"

Sept 19: Back to "On Order"

Sept 25: "Order delayed"
Sends email.


Sept 25: "There has been a temporary delay in s More...

I had read great things about Fury from Nic and Nomes' reviews; but I did not realize how awesome this book was until I read it myself. This is only the third Aussie YA novel I've read and now I am craving for more.Fury is witty, fun, dark and sad all at once. I finished it in one sitting! The synopsis at the back of the book is exciting without actually revealing anything. We know there has been a murder and that Eliza Boans, our snarky MC, is somehow involved in it. But who was murdered? How d More...

(Actual Rating: 3.5 stars)

This one falls more on the scale of "I really liked it" because, even though the second half of the novel left me feeling more and more dismayed (distressed for the characters, annoyed by them, etc.) as I read on, I could imagine such a sequence of events occurring in real life. Anyway, full review to come.

"I think you can tell by now that this is not going to be a happy story."

No Eliza, no it's not.

To be honest Fury was sitting at about 3-3.5 stars until the ending shattered me to pieces.

Reminiscent of films like Jawbreaker and Heathers, it took me a while to work out where to put this book. Should I be taking this seriously? It is supposed to be funny? Is it a romance? Hmm not really.

There is a river of regret that runs through this book (poetic I know). Eliza Boans sits in a police station an More...

Wendy Darling said it best when she noted that this book has all those classing YA traps. What normally drives me insane about YA books is exactly what made me really love this one.

Eliza Boans is a Bitch (note the capitol 'B'). She's stuck up, purposely cruel, and vindictive. I really wanted to hate her. Here's the rub; she's frickin funny! And somehow you start to see that inside her tough girl facade she's actually pretty brittle and sensitive. She's somehow a mean girl that I could relate to More...

This wonderful debut novel by Shirley Marr tells the story of Eliza Boans, a spoiled rich girl who makes no apologies for her attitude or behavior, and who confesses to murder on the first page. As the narrative unfolds, the identity of the victim, the motive for the crime, and the modality of the murder are revealed by Eliza in a series of flashbacks as she recalls her tale to a forensic anthropologist working for the police.

Fury is a nice departure from most of the YA novels I've read lately, More...

So I am going to do a small pre-review first just because I have been obsessing over this book for almost 2 years now. The first time I heard of this book was when I first stumbled upon my dear friend Wendy Darling's review of the other Fury book. I read her review of the other Fury and then checked the page for this Fury...I was gone from the word go.

Things I Instantly Thought Were Awesome:
1) The author is Australian
2) It is based on the Furies myth
3) That cover
4) Dude the author is AUSTRALIAN! More...

Fury was a book I was fully prepared to love. I have high expectations for any book with a badass looking redhead on the cover. I have spent many years lamenting the fact that I am not, in fact, a badass redhead. Any chance I have to live vicariously through a literary character to attain my Ginger dreams is a chance I am eager to take.

Unfortunately, the contents of the book did not live up to the cover for me. Perhaps I am a little burnt out on books that use high-school as a setting, which is More...

WTF happened????!!

First of all this book was riveting. At first I wasn't sure I would like it, Eliza Boans is a spoiled brat/mean girl. I didn't go to a fancy high school as described in the book and we surely didn't have very much money but there are mean girls everywhere and my high school was no exception. For the first few pages I really disliked her but she started to grow on me. Even though the entire book is telling the story of how Eliza Boans and her friends came to murder someone I st More...

There are a lot of things to love about Shirley Marr's "Fury", but top of the list has to be, in my mind -- guts.

Not just because "Fury" is edgy. It is, but when I say 'guts', there's more to it than just the dark, nasty undercurrent than runs under the twisty, lovely plotting and sucker-punch scenes.

But, when I say guts, I'm talking mostly about the characters. One character is top of that list, Eliza Boans, the fierce and fantastic heroine of "Fury." I always find it hard when authors try to More...

See this review and more on The Moonlight Library!

Eliza Boans is sitting in an interview room, confessing to murder. That’s the premise of this book, and it’s totally awesome. We are told the story in a series of flashbacks: when new girl at school Ella joins ‘Lizzie’s little group of Lexi and Marianne, the harmony of the group is thrown askew. What leads these privileged girls to murder, and who is the victim? What could cause a girl with a bright future ahead of her, a large credit limit, an e More...

4.5 stars

"The doctor is pushing me hard, waiting for me to break. But honey, I want to say, you can't break something that is already broken."

Page 247.


So I read this book thanks to a Traveling Book tour I joined at the group YA-MA. http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/5...
And I'm really glad I joined.
The book was dark, with some funny, sarcastic bits. But always kept me on my toes.
It wasn't "PRETTY", it was REAL, and that's one of the things I liked most about it. I like authors, writing and book More...

Fury is a very hard book for me to rate. While on one hand I can see that it is a very well written book, on the other hand I didn't enjoy it at all. So I'm really not sure what to rate the book as. I feel that it isn't fair to rate this a 1 star because honestly, it's a very very very well written book. On the other hand I didn't enjoy this at all so hmmm choices choices!

I think the author Shirley Marr is an excellent writer. She takes what is essentially a simple storyline but through witty sh More...

Gotta say, all the hassle was worth it. It's a great novel, but it's not a comfortable book to read. The characters aren't that sympathetic, although I learned to appreciate them by the end. And I have to say I felt like Eliza, not sorry at all about what had happened. Maybe I'm weird or cruel, but I thought it was great. Good riddance and all that (don't look at me like that, it's true).

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I went to a LOT of trouble to buy this ebook. The Australian website that sold it wouldn More...