Slow start with a beginning that felt very similar to others of the same genre. However, the further you delve into this story you find that it is actually quite refreshing in its honesty about the complexity and painfulness of growing up. It shows that poor choices can shape our future and unfortunate choices the same as unavoidable tragedy. There was also a sense that you can overcome all adversity to succeed in life.

This book was a bit creepy in the sense of high school girls and how entangled they can get with things they should sometimes stay away from. It was a good read, but not something that I would want to keep on my shelf and revisit over and over.

Katie Lowe's The Furies was, unfortunately, just an okay read for me. I struggled to care about any of the characters in the book and therefore didn't feel very invested in their journey. I loved having a school campus as a backdrop for this dark tale of witchcraft and revenge, and I thought the author did a wonderful job of creating a dark and somewhat creepy atmosphere. Overall though, the book just fell a little flat for me and I ended up skimming through much of it I did enjoy Lowe's style of writing though and wouldn't hesitate to pick up another book from her, but these characters and their comparison to the mythological Furies just didn't captivate me as I had hoped they would. Thanks so much to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of the book.

Whoever had the idea to publish The Furies in October was brilliant- this witchcrafty school story is ideal for fall reading. Featuring four young women who are all at least a little bit troubled, they start working together (and against each other) with a teacher who is somewhat enigmatic. Teenage girls can be so riveting to read about, as friendship and enemies can turn on a dime. This was atmospheric and held a touch of menace all the time.

This was one of my most anticipated releases of the year and boy was it disappointing! To compare yourself to The Craft is a brave move and I have to say it didn't pay off. This is your typical YA "witchy"/mean girl read. I actually read until 60% then after absolutely nothing happening had to skim until about 80% and pick up there. I was bored and underwhelmed with this whole book. I am super disappointed because I was all for a book claiming to be like The Craft (one of my favorite witchy movies). But if you enjoy that new girl/mean girl thing with the tiniest pinch of witchcraft then this will be right up your alley. A more accurate comparison of this book would be Mean Girls with a dash of spellcasting.

Very much like THE CRAFT just with a murder twist. High school is hard enough now you add a bunch of witches. Teehee. Pretty good YA READ.
Thank you Netgalley for my copy of The Furies.

This novel may be better than expected, simply due to the disservice done by comparing it to The Craft. Inevitably, one begins reading this story actively looking for likenesses and parallels with the movie which most likely masks the true plot that, in my opinion, is much more realistic and powerful than witchcraft and “friendships”. The need for adolescents to belong, especially those who feel left out or different is so strong that they often forgo their own identities and end up with a “mob mentality” of sorts which contributes to actions they may not otherwise engage in on their own. As an adult reading this novel, I had to remind myself of my own adolescence and the possibilities portrayed in this novel, every time I began to roll my eyes at the thought of people behaving this way. The “academics” depicted were a bit unnecessary for me, dragging the story into a lull more times that advisable. The slight element of the supernatural or the hint of it enhances the minutiae people will cling to in order to believe and belong. Not my favorite read but certainly more layered and real than some others.

This was a hard one for me to read. The four main characters attending a high school are truly evil. The things they do and get away with truly made me feel nauseous. It also seemed preposterous that they didn’t get caught. There were many times I was on the brink of leaving it unfinished as it was far too graphic for me. There is a storyline and at times when I wasn’t sickened by the text I was very impressed with the style and flow of Katie Lowe’s writing. One star for the plot but I do believe her writing is enjoyable. Thank you to Katie Lowe and NetGalley for an ARC of this just published book.

Violet was lost before she found her way to Elm Hollow Academy. When she was younger, she was in a car accident with her father and younger sister. She was the only survivor. After the accident her mother just shut down, so Violet feels like Elm Hollow could be a way to start anew. And as she starts her classes, things do start to get better. She makes a friend. Robin can be a little wild, but she genuinely likes Violet and wants to spend time with her. And Violet gets noticed by her art teacher Annabel, who even offers her a spot in her advanced class. There are only 4 students in Annabel’s special class, just Alex, Grace, Robin, and now Violet.

As the weeks go by, Violet goes along with Robin and all of her craziness. Parties with college guys, drinking, even trying drugs for the first time. Meanwhile, Annabel’s classes are making her head spin with ideas about art and society, about women and power, about sisterhood and revenge. And about the rumors of witchcraft that the school itself is built on.

Violet shrugs off a lot of the gossip and rumors of the supernatural, until she is assaulted. After that, her fury wants nothing less than vengeance, and she relents to Robin’s suggestion of casting a spell to even the score. What happens when the four girls try out witchcraft is something that will bind the friends together forever, but will they be able to live with the consequences when what they unleash turns out to be harder to control than they expected?

The Furies is part coming-of-age, part suspense novel, with more than a hint of Gothic horror. Fans of the teen movie The Craft will enjoy the relationships between these young women, and any woman who has felt belittled just for being female can relate to the sense of empowerment they crave. Author Katie Lowe has written a compelling tale of the intricacies of friendship, with all of its intimacy, jealousy, anxiety, and complexity.

I really enjoyed this book. It was an ideal read for the dark days of October, with the leaves crunching outside and the warm blankets and hot drinks inside. It’s a powerful reminder of growing up, of the intense friendships of those crazy teen years, and all the storm of emotions that comes with growing up. There is some darkness to the story, but if you can handle that, it’s an amazing tale of girl power, of revenge and regrets, of secrets and sorcery, of healing and hope. The Furies may keep you up at night, but you’ll never be bored.

Galleys for The Furies were provided by St. Martin’s Press through NetGalley, with many thanks.

THE FURIES is a novel of deeply character driven literary fiction, turning on the twin cruxes of Sisterhood and "female rage." It stars several charismatic demagogues, including Robin, the girl whose friendship narrator Violet so strives for (to the point of mutating her character) and cherishes; Annabel, teacher of Aesthetics and a perennial "secret" girls' class, inciting female rage and revenge; and the not-quite-appropriate Dean of Students. Elm Hollow, the private girls' school in a small seaside English community, is the inheritor of myth and history, including an undercurrent of occult study and practice so appealing to a certain segment of the students.

This YA book truly gives the term "mean girls" a whole new meaning. Violet is new to an elite academy known as Elm Hill Academy. She's in a fragile state. Her father and younger sister recently died in a car accident, leaving her alone with her mother who is not coping well at all. This makes her vulnerable to the machinations of a girl named Robin and her two cronies, Alex and Grace. Robin, in particular, doesn't seem to have a conscience whatsoever and Violet falls right in with her.

Violet is also invited to join the girls in a special study session with Annabel, one of the more intriguing teachers on campus. Annabel seems to let the girls focus more on the supernatural history of the school. The rumors of witchcraft are high on their list of topics.

The girls dabble in a little bit of everything - alcohol, drugs, and a spell or two. They don't seem to find anything off limits. Violet's insecurity and fear of being shut out keeps her in the thick of things with Robin. Regardless of what Robin suggests, Violet will go along with it.

There is a death that has occurred at the beginning of the book and you're left to wonder how the girl died. As you journey through the book, you find that a few other people have died or will die along the way as well. Unfortunately, very few people seem to be safe in this sleepy little community. The town they reside in is rundown to the point that it's somewhat dark and dismal. A very fitting setting for this type of book.

Overall, I don't know that I felt that there was anything profoundly new within the pages of The Furies, but I still found it to be an interesting and enjoyable read.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I think perhaps I was just not a good target audience for this book. There was a lot of teenage drama (I've left that behind many years ago) and I couldn't identify with any of the characters. It was an interesting premise and the creepiness factor was pretty good. I didn't feel totally engaged in the story, though, and the characters didn't ring true to me. Still, the writing was ok - good enough that I'll give the book 3 stars.

I was so thankful to receive this book early from NetGalley! I was drawn to the aspect of witchcraft because I love anything dealing with magic. However, this book didn't turn out like I had hoped it would.

Once I started reading, the book didn't hold my attention and I started skimming. I would say this might be due to the fact that I'm not a huge YA fan. The characters were so cruel to each other (to the point where you didn't believe it could be possible) and there was no depth to any of them. They had no substance about them. You don't really know much about any of them outside of Violet. You don't know much about Tom, Andy, the Dean, the girls' parents or even the girls and Nicky. It just made no sense on what this book was about.

I loved the paranormal witchcraft vibes of the book but I wish there was more of it since The Furies are based on a group of girls who utilize magic. The rape scene was irrelevant as it didn't really relate to what was truly going on. It seemed like that relationship just existed to further the story of the girls' need to do magic?? There was just ultimately no substantial plot within the book that kept you hooked until the end. The only decent closure was on what happened to Emily.

Witches - Just In Time For Halloween!

Violet, after suffering a double family tragedy, begins attendance at the private school, Elm Hollow Academy where she quickly becomes involved in a study group of girls who have a strong interest in witchcraft and old lore and the school. There is also the question of the disappearance of a member of the group the year before. As things get more and more extreme, Violet has to rely on herself to find her way out.

I particularly enjoyed the use of old lore and mythology in the book. It was a fun, although quite dark read but I like dark! Perfect October read!

I received a an advance copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

Read as arc from Netgalley, a 3.5. I found the writing good, the plot compelling--so much that I finished the book after the deadline of publication. I don't usually read YA. My "gold standard" for adolescent girls is "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood and this book explored some the cruelties and common issues with adolescent girls. The characters felt a bit disconnected, and their behaviors were horrifying. The best parts of the book, for me, were the special sessions with their tutor Annabel about mythology, women and power dynamics. A fast read and interesting. Somewhat disturbing in the subject content and the moral resolutions of their actions.

3.5 rounded up. I'm a sucker for mean girl cliques + murder + paranormal (and witchcraft is like the icing on the books I love to read cake. I also love books that skirt the "is this real life or paranormal" line. I wasn't disappointed with this one. A lot of the time I did not like these characters but that was part of the attraction. Tension building was on point. It also takes a lot for a twist to not be predictable but I was pleasantly surprised.

The Furies is absolutely the best book for Fall and Halloween. I absolutely loved this book and the teens in it. It made me so thankful for the fact that I had a son. The characterizations of each of the girls were so well written and the descriptions of each of buildings and the forests made me feel as though I were there. The descriptive writing in the very first few chapters is actually what drew me in immediately into this book and I found myself reading well into the morning. I lost complete track of time and even scared myself and at certain points cause of the sound from outside due to a storm while certain events were happening in this book at the same time. It was pure comedy on my part- I won’t spoil it for others. This book deals with some serious issues that teens and women do deal with like fitting in and bullying and more (not going to ruin it) but also is a thriller and shows how scary it can be. Super good and would highly recommend!!

Violet Taylor arrives at the prestigious girl's school, Elm Hollow, on the tail end of a trauma. She is the sole survivor of the car crash that stole the lives of her younger sister and father. Her mother, the only living relative she has left, is practically comatose with grief, but in the aftermath of the accident and windfall from the life insurance, decides to enroll Violet in the private school that serves as the only glimmer of hope in what is an otherwise depressed and recessed seaside town.

The school, though, is plagued with a sordid history of murder and revenge. The founder of the school was burned at the stake, accused of witchcraft — an accurate accusation as it turns out. She was burned on the very grounds of the school she founded for orphan girls, an old and gnarled wych elm standing as testament to where she died.

Soon, Violet discovers that witchcraft is still being studied at the school, as she is welcomed into an "advanced study" class led by the art teacher, Annabelle. There, Violet joins three other students: Robin, Grace, and Alex. But Violet struggles with feeling wholly accepted by the other girls. Though Robin latches onto her immediately, her grip feels more to do with the fact that Violet bears an uncanny resemblance to Robin's former best friend, Emily — a girl who disappeared under mysterious circumstances only months before and was a former member of their advanced study group.

We follow Violet, as she narrates the school year, the girls becoming closer, entwined in a toxic friendship full of drugs and magic, mystery and misunderstandings, until things reach their climax in decisions made and actions taken that can never be undone.

I struggled with this book. Despite what seemed a fascinating premise, it proved a real slog for the first half and I was tempted to put it down again and again. I did end up finishing it, but only after forcing myself to read a chapter a day until I was done. There were a few things I thought the author did well, so I'll start with those before launching into what didn’t work.

The world building is exquisite, and I was quite taken with the seaside down and the delicately described state of disrepair. I'm also a sucker for books about English boarding schools, with their stone architecture, glass chandeliers, clock towers, and shadowed hallways. The author paints vivid scenes, and this is where her writing really shines. The dichotomy between wealth and lack is also well described. Violet's home is basically falling apart around her, the house decaying much as her mother wastes away with grief. Meanwhile, Alex lives in luxury, a grand house with antiques, an endless supply of alcohol, and an absent mother.

Despite the beautiful scene descriptions and what was often lyrical prose, the story itself fell flat. The story is written from main character Violet's perspective a couple of decades in the future, as she spins the tale of what happened in the year 1998 at Elm Hollow. But Violet is an empty shell, devoid of personality, and therefore impossible to feel anything for. And because she narrates the story and we see everything through her eyes and her lack of emotions, the plot unfolds from a distance, and it's hard to summon any response to the events that occur, no matter that they become more outlandish as the novel unfolds.

There are also numerous interjections from Violet-as-narrator to the tune of "if I'd known then what I know now..." which only increases the detached air of the book.

The most interesting thing about Violet is everything and everyone around her: the tragic deaths of her father and sister; the slow wasting of her grief-stricken mother; the best friend Robin who spins a web of chaos and deceit around her; the inseparable Alex and Grace with their whispers and shared secrets; the enigmatic art teacher, Annabelle, who has taken these four students under her wing, to train them up in the old ways of the school's witch founder. Violet herself is rendered merely an observer to all that unfolds around her, so it feels as if one is reading the story through a fog. And because Violet functions as nothing more than an observer, the reader is just observing an observer and this compounded distance is a difficult hurdle to climb.

For me, this book didn't work. Violet is more disembodied voice than main character, Alex and Grace are wholly interchangeable, and Robin is a tired cliché of every mean girl you knew in high school from her unconventional beauty to her wild streak to her penchant for lying and manipulation. The book as a whole was Mean Girls plus witchcraft, minus humor, and that's a tough niche, because what's left is just the viciousness of teen girls at their worst and most deadly, and it simply didn't make for an enjoyable read.

A girl remembers the past, a time for her of suffering, youth, and the highs and lows of friendship. Violet is that young girl, who has suffered a tragedy and is going to school at an academy where myth is entwined with history. Violet meets a group of girls and particularly befriends Robin, an enigmatic girl who sucks Violet into a haze of drugs, boys, and drinking. Violet and Robin also attend after-school sessions with a mysterious teacher named Annabel, who claims that nothing supernatural is going on. Yet, the girls pursue the supernatural anyway, and may find that the pursuit overtakes them.

As the girls explore the mysterious, and as their carefree partying takes its toll, Violet begins to feel like the friendships she's forged, and the path she's chosen, may not be what she expected after all. Robin had friends before her, and that group of friends has a history also, which Violet comes to realize carries more baggage than she anticipated. The blaze and fury of intense, obsessive friendship comes to the fore as Violet descends into horrors she would never have found alone.

The Furies is a sober examination of how friendships can grow cold, where the past bleeds into the present, and how tragedy can lurk unbeknownst to us just around the corner. Is Annabel right, that nothing sinister lives in the walls of the academy, or will Violet and Robin find something that changes who they are forever?

I am not exactly sure just how I stumbled across this title... but it's certainly a great read for October! It's a sort of British version of The Craft, about a group of students at a girl's prep school who take up the school's long-standing history of witchcraft. The book is full of murder, mayhem, jealousy, violence and the obsessive friendships so unique it seems to that age group. The plot definitely takes surprising turns - and the first death really left me gasping! The actions get a bit convoluted in the final climax - which I think reflects Lowe's commitment to Violet's perspective - which is consistent and wonderfully done. The book is well-written and the scenes, along with even the more minor members of the cast, feeling completely described and come vividly to life on the page. I think that because Violet herself isn't always the most sympathetic of characters, I never found myself completely loving this book, but I certainly did enjoy it overall. It's a great seasonal read - and I think that from an audience perspective, despite the youth of the characters, this is an adult thriller more than a Young Adult one.