Envy by Elizabeth Miles

Release Date: Out now!

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Pages: 320pgs

The Story

Spring is here, and the ice is slowly melting in Ascension . . .

revealing the secrets buried beneath.

The Furies are back, and Emily Winters is about to discover that their roots in Ascension are deeper than she ever imagined. With the help of her new friend Drea, she vows to take them down. But it's hard to focus when she's desperate the make up with JD, and to figure out why Crow, a mysterious Ascension High dropout, seems to be shadowing her.

Meanwhile, new girl Skylar McVoy is determined to leave her own dark past behind. So she's thrilled when not only does popular Gabby takes her under her wing, but the stunning and sophisticated Meg offers to give her a major makeover. But everyone knows what happens to the vainest girl of all . . .

It's tempting to be naughty. But beware: the Furies are always watching, and their power grows stronger by the day.

The Review

A big thanks to Simon & Schuster Australia for sending me a review copy of this book!

I am quite jolly to write this book review today for you today because I was absolutely dreading - or rather I was really worried and quite anxious - about reading this sequel since I was one of those few people who 'didn't mind' the first book, Fury, but I also didn't necessarily love it wholeheartedly either. But the minute I got this book in the mail via the awesome publishers and was reunited back with many familiar and unfamiliar faces, I'm currently thanking my lucky stars here because I can safely say that I'm back to loving this series and appreciating the devil-ish twists ENVY has offered up to me! It was really, REALLY good! 

ENVY, the second installment of the Fury trilogy, begins shortly after the events of the first book. With our main heroine, Em, making a deal with the vengeful furies to save her more-than-just-a-friend JD, she's now trying to salvage and place back her trust into what's left in her relationships with others before the furies return and create havoc once more. But with another perspective being introduced into mix, Skylar, a new girl who wants nothing more than to reinvent herself in Ascension - to be popular and leave her awful past far behind, little does she know that her dark past will soon be catching up with her . . . sooner than she ever anticipated. So when three unearthly beautiful cousins befriend this girl, Skylar, and start taking an unnatural interest in her and offering advice to her as well, Skylar's story then begins to entwine with Em's and it's mostly up to Em alone to figure out what the Furies want with their next target, Skylar, and what she can do to possibly stop them once and for all . . . but with what cost?

I think the main reason why ENVY was such a vast improvement compared to the first book, Fury, was because the storyline was already established in this sequel and we didn't needed to get too much into it either since we already know what the Furies actually are and why they are haunting our characters for their specific reasons. In this sequel, it just merely went further into its already built world-building and the characters (thank those lucky stars of mine) who were in a much better environment this time round and were actually - to my own surprise - far more likable which made this a much more enjoyable read for me.

Our main heroine, Em, was one of those characters that finally redeemed themselves. Now I wasn't a fan of Em in the very beginning of this series because she was quite a messy character with many, many flaws which made it even harder for me to like her. However, like with what I'd experienced in this sequel and also having liked or even perhaps loving this sequel, her character had finally got a lot of love out of me too. Moving on from her cheating with her best friend's now-ex-boyfriend and after facing the Furies, Em has learned quite a lot about herself along the way and she truly wants to make amends with the people she's lost and hurt the most, even if it takes her a long time doing so. The major thing that changed my opinion of Em was her honesty in this sequel. She was being herself for a change. Deep down I think she's a good person and I loved watching her grow in continuing to be that good person. Sure she's made plenty of mistakes at the beginning of this series but she's slowly getting there and I love her for her mere determination . . . she was real treat to read about.

But it was more than Em's character - it was her relationship with JD, the boy we met from Fury and the one she saved the last time we saw them together. Out of everything I read in ENVY my favourite aspect of the book would be the tension between Em's feelings for JD and even her confusing feelings for Crow, another boy we will soon meet in this sequel. Sympathizing with her, I too struggled with how much she wanted to make-up with JD even with him always pulling away from her. Those two, despite their own complications, are just perfect together and I want a happy ending for them both . . . so please Elizabeth Miles . . . you're killing me here with those two characters! And by the way . . . don't get me talking about the cliffhanger . . . it was just . . . gah! I totally saw it coming too! Gah!

After reflecting on everything that happened in this book, I think the main reason why I gave this book 4 stars instead of the 4.5 - 5 stars it clearly deserved was because I had one problem with the book. Only one problem out of everything. It was the book being told from two different perspectives, Em's and the newly introduced character Skylar. While I love Em's perspective (clearly) but really Skylar didn't do anything for me. Like at all. She was probably the only thing I didn't like about this book and while I may have liked the part she played in this story and how her problems entwine with our main character's ones but yeah . .  . she was annoying and I just couldn't tolerate her. Honestly I just wanted more of Em's character really. And more of JD too.

Overall, I'm literally jumping up and down with joy right now and I'm glad to find this sequel was so much BETTER than Fury ever was and it only goes to show a series can improve as time goes on, so we shouldn't be too quick to judge based on one book alone in a series. So whether you liked the first book or not, I would seriously recommend giving this book one more shot because ENVY - with its faults and all - was so tense, well-written, and shocking for the majority of all things, and it's something that will surprise you beyond your own expectations. It certainly did it with mine!

The Rating

4/5 stars