Much thanks to David Fickling Books and The Fantastic Flying Book Club Book Tours for sending me a copy for review and for inviting me to be a part of this tour. This review is voluntary and opinions are fully my own. Also, all quotes are taken from the ARC and may or may not appear in the final published copy.

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Book Details

Title: Furious Thing

Author: Jenny Downham

Date Published: January 7, 2020

Number of Pages: 378 pages

Publisher: David Fickling Books

📚 Series: No, standalone.
📚 Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Fiction
📚 POV:
📚 Cliffhanger: No.

⚠ Content Warnings: Child Abuse. Emotional Abuse. Manipulation. Gaslighting.
⚠ Read if: you are a fan of

Book Blurb

From the critically acclaimed author of Before I Die comes a remarkably affecting story of a girl who burns with anger for reasons she can’t understand, and the power and risk that comes with making noise. Fans of E. Lockhart, Jennifer Niven, and Gayle Foreman will find their own fury in this exceptional novel for our times.

Bad things happen when you’re around, Lex…

That’s what her stepfather tells her. That’s what she believes about herself.

But how can she convince herself and everyone around her that her anger doesn’t make her a monster? If only she could stop losing her temper and behave herself, her stepfather would accept her, her mom would love her like she used to, and her stepbrother would declare his crushing desire to spend the rest of his life with her. She wants these things so badly, she’s determined to swallow her anger and make her family proud.

But pushing fury down doesn’t make it disappear. Instead, it simmers below the surface, waiting to erupt. There’ll be fireworks when it does…

An intensely real story of manipulation and identity, Furious Thing is about the slippery slope of manipulation and how one girl can fight to claim back the spaces that belong to her.

About the Author

Website ||Twitter

Jenny Downham is a critically acclaimed, international bestseller. Her debut novel, Before I Die, was shortlisted for numerous awards in the UK, including the Guardian Award and the Lancashire Children’s Book of the Year, was nominated for the Carnegie Medal and the Booktrust Teenage Prize, and won the Branford Boase Award. Before I Die was turned into a movie called Now is Good starring Dakota Fanning in 2012. Her most recent novel, Unbecoming, garnered four starred reviews and was an Entertainment Weekly Must List pick. Jenny lives in London with her two sons.

My Favorite Quotes

‘I’ll change,’ the girl said. ‘I’ll be good from now on, I promise.’
She wanted it to be true.
She wanted her family to love her.
But fury sat in her belly like a vicious snake. And some promises are hard to keep.

♡♡♡

“It’s a quiet thing he does, a smoke and mirrors thing. He takes away everything good inside you and replaces it with fear.”

♡♡♡

“‘…if anyone ever tells you to stay out of a room, I hope you know that’s exactly why you should look inside.'”

Review

Sometimes you read a book and you finish it with a feeling of anger flowing through your bones. Even after everything, the feeling stays with you. This is definitely one of those times. Furious Things stay true to its title. Reading it will give you extreme emotions – most especially, anger.

This book is an extreme one. It shows domestic violence in the eyes of a teenager, and if this is triggering to you, I suggest that you must stay away from it. It is very hard for me to finish this book and all I felt was an extreme drain of energy after I finished this.

A story like this is necessary and I feel like it can teach many young adults about the harsh reality of abuse, of things not being what they seem, and how to deal with intense emotions.

My Book Rating Breakdown

🌼 Blurb:⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
🌼 Main Character:⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
🌼🌼 Support Characters:⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
🌼 Writing Style:⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
🌼 Character Development:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🌼 Pacing: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
🌼 Ending: ⭐⭐⭐☆
🌼 Unputdownability: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🌼 Book Cover:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐