I was skeptical about this book. I truly thought it wouldn’t be a good fit for my very not very diverse middle school audience. I hope I was wrong after reading this book. I hope that the students who pick up this book are empowered by Furia’s story, her grit. There are so many positive messages offered about love, about family, about soccer/futbol, about gender identity and about humanity. The way it skimmed racism and feminism compliments the story making it appropriate for YA and adult readers alike. I found myself cheering, “Furia Furia!” A number of times while reading...

This book is an own voices YA novel set in Argentina. It's very atmospheric and made me feel all the feelings. It took me back to the emotional ups and downs of adolescent life. It reminded me a lot of my childhood. Women and girls being told what they can and can't do, the fear, the lack of power, and it taught me more about Argentina, about the culture and the history of missing girls. It was wonderful to read about Camila chasing her passion, working hard to get after her dreams and change the cycle of her life. It was difficult to read at times because it made me feel so much emotionally but I cannot recommend it enough. These YA books are hitting it out of the park lately and I wish they had been around when I was a teen. TW: domestic violence.

Thank you to NetGalley for the complimentary audiobook. I purchased a print book to have my own copy on my shelf.

I didn’t know what to expect with Furia when I first went into it, and the book was so much deeper, so much more intense, so much more incredible in so many more ways than I ever expected it to be.

To start off, having the experience of being able to listen to the audiobook of Furia was absolutely incredible, and I think added to how much I loved the book. The narrator was really amazing, and the audiobook was overall great.

I also thought that the characters were for the most part really well written, and all had a lot of depth. The book is written in 1st person from Camila’s perspective, and I really felt like I got to know her and to understand her as a character and as a person.

There was one character, however, who I wanted to know more about: Camila’s father. Camila’s father is abusive and very short-tempered. And while his story was very complex and well written, I just didn’t feel like there was enough there. The further we got into the book we did learn more about him though, so that was good. I just felt like it wasn’t enough.

Camila’s mother was written incredible, and her character arc and backstory was complex, had a lot of depth, and was very interesting.

The most incredible part of the book for me was how the author wrote about the violence towards girls and women in Argentina. The book did not hold back from the brutal truths of the violence towards young girls and had a very important message.

The romance was important to the book, and I thought that it was really well executed. Camila and Diego’s story was written out very well, and they also had a lot of history together so it wasn’t at all insta-lovey.

I never really liked Diego, but I couldn’t tell if that was how his character was written, or if that was just me. Diego is a rising soccer star and is becoming very famous around the world. He and Camila have dated before, and during the book, he comes back to her hometown.

The writing was also overall really amazing. The descriptions and dialogue were both wonderful, and I really enjoyed reading it.

Furia is a book about a girl who loves soccer and wants to follow her dream, and also brings attention to the violence against young girls and women in Argentina. A beautifully written book with an important message, Furia is a book that I definitely recommend!

What an empowering, engaging, moving story! Furia is a must read for all. We follow Camila who is "living a double life" as she balances school and her secret strength, power and longing for futbol in Argentina. She is an absolute powerhouse, a strong motivation for females. There is focus and mentions of the current struggles that are faced in Argentina including femicide, local governmental issues and oppression to name a few. It's also an empowering story of sports for women and the struggles/obstacles that go alongside it. I would highly, highly recommend this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

"Furia" tells the story of a young Argentinian girl who fights for her dream of studying abroad in the US while secretly practicing soccer, hiding this last thing from her family. I enjoyed some aspects of the story and ended up having a lot of respect for the author for making relevant all the social issues that are currently going on in Latin America (one of them being femicides,) and highlighting the feminism fight for rights and justice. I applaud this accurate representation. Something I did not enjoy much was the behavior of certain characters, which led me to roll my eyes a couple of times throughout the book.

I am a huge fan of Reese’s Book Club picks.  This book earned its spot as one of her YA selections.  Great representation, strong female narratives. Highly recommend this book to teens and young adults.

Sorry, I thought I would not be able to listen and review this title, but t still appears on my bookshelf on my NG app, It may be due to me sampling the start of the narrator. I will update my review once I finish listening to it (over my holiday break).

thank you

I started Furia by listening to the audio, but I decided to switch to the physical copy. I really wanted to make sure that I understood the Spanish that was being spoken, either by context or looking it up. Personally, I find that harder to do via audio.

Camila Hassan is a fantastic fútbol player in Argentina and her teammates call her Furia. She is also a dedicated daughter and student. These two worlds must not meet since her father does not believe that girls should play fútbol. Camila dreams of moving to the United States to play fútbol and go to college. She has already earned a certificate in English, she just needs to tell her parents about her fútbol team.

Furia starts out a bit slow. Camila is too much of a typical high school girl and I just might be too far away from high school age. However, I can completely remember being in high school and feeling like all of my problems are enormous and life altering. Yamile Saied Méndez does a fantastic job of bringing those feelings to life. Eventually I was fully invested in Camila and rooting for her to make the best choices.

I want to disclose that I am a white, American 20-something year old girl. With that said, I learned so much about a culture I had little information about to begin with. The story is set in Latin American, Argentina, int eh city of Rosaria. I knew some of their customs, but I learned so much more about their culture, social issues (domestic violence) and prejudices. Every culture has them, right? I still think it is important to learn about different areas and how that impacts their cultures.

Apparently, soccer is SUPER important in Argentina. This whole book focuses a lot on the sport and how it is different for men vs women. Camila is very passionate and good at soccer, but she has kept this from her family for over a year! She plays, trains, she LIVES for soccer, but her family doesn't know?! That's crazy to me, as someone who tells my family too much information about my life. But what else are you supposed to do when they don't support your passion? She wants to play professionally and go to the states to play for a school, but the pricing is so out of reach (you are telling me, friend). And lets not even get started on a childhood crush she has who also plays soccer...

The romance, the social topics, the laughs, and the passion for going after your dreams, this story is full of life. The audiobook brought it to a whole other level with the accent and the Spanish-words. Here are some reviewers closer to the culture and how they felt about the book :
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3549746281?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1">Yvonne (It's All About Books)</a>
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3521660640?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1">elena</a>

Trigger warnings by : <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/8223877-kate-reading-through-infinity">Kate (Reading Through Infinity)</a>
Trigger warnings for murder, mentions of rape and sexual assault, violence against young women, sexism, implied domestic violence.

This one was a little bit of a slow read for me- but I did find it really refreshing to finally read a strong young female character who didn't put a boy before her own interests. I loved the fact that Camila stayed focused on chasing her own dreams and stood up to societal and familial pressures in order to pursue her goal. Great role model for young girls.

Empowering, engaging, moving. Furia carried me along this unputdownable book, and now I carry her in my heart. WHAT a great read to get into our teenagers’ hands.

4.5 stars

Camila is a strong girl who knows exactly what she wants. But the path to every dream is sprinkled with obstacles. She lives two lives: at home, she’s the model daughter, but her other home is the futbol field. She plays in secret, but she is her true self on the field, La Furia, a force to be reckoned with. She hopes her talents will someday buy her a scholarship to play in North America.

Then Diego comes back into town, the boy she once loved. He’s an international soccer star, playing in Italy. But he’s back and he shows Camila that he’s still very much interested. Camila can’t afford more distractions, but can’t ignore him.

This was a fantastic story of a young woman navigating a life and a dream that short changes women. But she goes after it anyway, and on her own merits. She doesn’t take any shortcuts or handouts from anyone. She doesn’t let the patriarchal culture or her nay-saying family stop her from pursuing her passion.

I loved being transported to Argentina and seeing everything through Camila’s eyes. She was a fierce character that I will not soon forget. A powerful and empowering #ownvoices debut.

This book was absolutely perfect for a long car ride and I listened to the entire thing in one day! I loved it. It’s such a powerful coming of age story about a girl coming to terms with her identity and grappling with how that fits into others’ expectations. I learned a lot about Argentina, as well. I love how it showed so many different aspects of the country and culture and all its nuances, from gender identity to socioeconomic disparity - and not even just upper vs. lower classes, but all the various ranges in between. The romance aspect was cute, and the soccer was so fun to listen to (and I’m not a sports person at all!). I hope they make this into a movie, because it would be epic.

As far as the audiobook itself goes, I thought the narrator did a fantastic job of portraying the different characters as well as Camila's youthful energy. I would definitely recommend this audiobook to everyone!

Furia. Well titled book. This character was a fury. I enjoyed this novel because it puts you in Argentina. The locations, the culture, the music, the Spanish, was well developed and rich. The narrator did a great job in conveying the story of a Argentinian teen.

This book discusses issues such as domestic abuse, kidnapping and poverty in Latin America. This story while at times is very serious and intense, still has the fun lightheartedness of futbol. The family had many issues and complex relationships which made it seem more real.

Lots of mate mentioned, a little overdone. Same with the pop culture references, "the shadow of the wind", "Maluma", " Juventus". I was not sure how I felt about this..while at time dates the story more relevant and relatable to Latinos.

Overall I would recommend to those who would like soccer, enjoy contemporary, Argentina, family drama.
Last, I appreciated the thoughtfulness of the Author's Note.

a feminist triumph of a young argentinian woman's story of drive, passion, and futbol.

"furia"'s main character camila contains the strongest voice for a main character i've read in a while. by the end of the book, i truly felt like i knew who camila was; she was allowed to have goals and a strong drive while also acting like a real person. what i mean is, camila is allowed to have a crush without it dominating her story, she's allowed to get her period without it being a big deal, she is able to casually mention the argentinian pro-choice movement without it becoming a major plot point, and she can deal with issues of poverty and misogyny and domestic violence without these issues dominating the book. the story is always primarily about *camila* and it is all the better for it.

the author's note at the end also provided excellent context to some of the word choices in the book and to argentinian culture.

the audiobook narration was a joy to listen to. sol madariaga truly encapsulated camila and i would love to listen to another book narrated by her.

thank you to netgalley and workman audio for an audio arc in exchange for an honest review.

An own voices title that was also one of Reese’s book club picks means it’s a MUST read in my book. Being able to listen to the audiobook of this incredible title, while reading an in-hand copy made this one of the best books of the year for me for sure - this YA read definitely lived up to every bit of worthy hype it received.

This book, and especially Camila as the main character had me rooting out loud for all of her hopes, dreams, and everything she stood for. Yamile Saied Mendez made it impossible not to fall for this much needed contemporary story about a diverse young girl, the first-person narrative made it a book any teenager would have no problem relating to and giving a much-needed voice to girls like her.

Not only does she rise above the unfairness of being a girl in a man’s sport, but faces family struggles, being from a lower-class family & the pressures of being a teen all in one well-written book I would highly recommend to anyone!

I fight for every ball, and although I don't always win, no one can say I hold back. I leave my soul on the pitch. I relish what my body can do, appreciate its unorthodox beauty. The eyes of the crowd are on me, and I feel like a goddess.

An empowering protagonist I think ALL girls especially need to have, you won’t want to put this beautiful story down - be prepared to devour it in one sitting! YA is killing it this year, and I am HERE for it!

Thank you Netgalley for my gifted ebook and audiobook copies of this book. I absolutely loved this story.

This book is about a girl named Camilla who has dreams of becoming a famous soccer player one day. The only problem is that her parents don't really agree that girls can play soccer. She ends up joining a team anyways and hiding it from her parents. Without her parents consent she can only get so far. She needs their permission to be able to travel for games etc.

This is a beautiful story about a girl who fights for her dreams despite what everyone else thinks and what life throws her way. Her long distance boyfriend also plays soccer and wants her to put her dreams on hold to be able to follow him wherever he goes. Camilla has her own dreams though and doesn't want to put hers on hold for someone else.

I enjoyed this book for its diversity and its analysis on cultural norms in Argentina even today, despite the fact that football (or sports in general really) isn't of that much interest to me.

If I compared it to Bend it Like Beckham, which was pretty much the only similar story I had been exposed to before this, it definitely shows a great deal of difference between England, say, and Argentinian cultures.

Perhaps the family members in both places are not particularly big fans of their daughters playing sports. However, I don't particular recall from the movie the casual racism, sexism and general danger of being a young woman that we saw in this book.

In those ways, this was much more like The Hate U Give. Camila is just a young woman who is wanting to live her life and do something she love. Something, actually, that her brother and best friend Diego are lauded for doing professionally already. We find out very early on that she is playing football. However, this is a secret to everyone in her family and honestly every one in her life outside of the team because of the danger it puts her in.

When Diego starts showing romantic interest in her, her family give her a hard time because she's not showing the amount of interest in him that could get their family out of any hint of financial trouble because of his career as a famous football player. This pressure comes particularly from her father, who we soon find is abusive to her mother and basically the whole neighbourhood knows it.

Although there are some intense scenes that made me stop reading for longer or shorter periods of time, the resolution of all of these moments was satisfactory.

And the happily ever after that Camilla gets in the end feels very well deserved after the rough time she has of it during the plot.

Thank you to NetGalley and Workman audio for an audiobook copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This audio started out a bit slow for me, not really being a fan of soccer I didn't care about the storyline. But I soon found the story evolving into something more than just a soccer story. It is a story about a girl trying to succeed at what she does best, against all odds. It's a story of a young woman falling in love, but knowing she needs to find herself first. This was a realistic and well written story and I found myself even enjoying the soccer parts of the book.
Recommended to fans of YA, Soccer, Female heros.

I am SO GLAD I was able to read this book! I've read many books about teen girls, but this perspective was entirely fresh and new to me. You also don't get to read that many books about female athletes in general, so the fact that Camila (Furia) was both a phenomenal athlete who was a realistic and believable young woman really astounded and impressed me! Throw in the fact that it is a cultural experience in and of itself, and I think this is a book that could inspire many, young adults and adults alike.
At first, I was hesitant because of the love story element, but it actually added to the overall impact of the novel. It's true that many people don't just have one major side to their lives, so the fact that this main character was dealing with gender equality, a rocky family environment, athletic dreams, AND a first love just made this all the more effective.
I would recommend this to anyone!