Grace and Fury (Grace and Fury #1) by Tracy Banghart

🌟🌟🌟🌟 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

In a world where women have no rights, sisters Serina and Nomi Tessaro face two very different fates: one in the palace, the other in prison.

Serina has been groomed her whole life to become a Grace - someone to stand by the heir to the throne as a shining, subjugated example of the perfect woman. But when her headstrong and rebellious younger sister, Nomi, catches the heir's eye, it's Serina who takes the fall for the dangerous secret that Nomi has been hiding.

Now trapped in a life she never wanted, Nomi has only one way to save Serina: surrender to her role as a Grace until she can use her position to release her sister. This is easier said than done. A traitor walks the halls of the palace, and deception lurks in every corner. But Serina is running out of time, imprisoned on an island where she must fight to the death to survive and one wrong move could cost her everything.

*ARC provided through Netgalley via the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

Grace and Fury reminded me of The Red Queen with the exception of magic and the society that the author creates in this book. I enjoyed the world building. The author created a world that was ruled by men leaving women to be pretty baubles to be traded and looked at as beautiful statues. They are not allowed to learn to read or write and have no choices in order to keep them harmless and docile. Some of them go along with this but one of the main characters, Nomi, believes that this is unacceptable and wants to carve her own path. She is rebellious which I loved about her although she does not always think before she acts. I didn't like Serina at first because I found her to be complacent. I think that she has the most  growth in the story which made me change my opinion of her very quickly.
One of my favorite things about this book is the way that author portrays the strength of women in many different ways. She is able to capture how some may seem docile but theirs is a different type of strength. Most importantly, the author portrays women as a force that if pushed will show just what it is made of.
I didn't much care for the princes due to the plot point of the differences between them and their relationship feeling too familiar to me. However, I loved the idea of graces, how they came to be, and what they represented. I thought that it was an intriguing difference to other YA books that I hope the author will focus on more in the sequel. I want to know more about these women and how they felt about being chosen.