Book Review: Envy by Elizabeth Miles

Envy by Elizabeth Miles

Reading Level : Young Adult
Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Simon Pulse (September 4, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1442422211
ISBN-13: 978-1442422216
Series: Fury #2
Source: ARC provided by Paper Lit Lantern
Cover: There is nothing wrong with this cover. It's pretty and I love the stormy background but it's just not as stunning as the original cover (I think it is the cover for the UK verison). I loved how strange the girl on Fury looked and the girl the UK version of Envy looks just as beautiful and strange. This one sort of reminds me of a skin care ad for a beauty spa. Like I said, it's nice but not half as strinking at the UK version.
First Sentence: "You say you want to play with the other boys."  

Mini-Review: Envy is devious good fun!

Summary:  

The Furies are back in the second book of a chilling paranormal trilogy where revenge rules the day—and “sorry” isn’t going to cut it. Spring is coming, and the ice is slowly melting in Ascension…revealing the secrets buried beneath. 

Emily Winters knows the Furies have roots in Ascension, Maine—but she’s about to discover that they’re deeper than she ever imagined. With the help of her new friend Drea, she vows to dig them out. But it’s hard to focus when she’s desperate to 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 popular Gabby takes her under her wing, and 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.

Review:

Envy mixes every deliciously bad thing that the girls in Mean Girls did to each other with supernatural beings hellbent on revenge, a girl hellbent on getting the supernatural out of her town and just a touch of the trainwreck known as Toddlers and Tiaras into one. And you know what? It really, really works!

I know that fury received a lot of mixed views. And it is the opinion of this blogger that it did because the characters were almost too flawed to like. Both Em and Chase screwed up royally in Fury and it was hard to figure out if you should be rooting for them or not. Luckily, Envy does not give the reader the same moral dilemma. Yes, some of the characters are clearly bad but I think they are sympathic enough to be likable and if you don't, at least they get what's coming to them.

Em is back but this time, she is on a holy mission and it is a good one. After dealing with the Furies in Fury, Em has no tolerance for their games in this one and she lets her intentions be known. I loved watching Em become a stronger character in her right and her journey to redeem herself (by kicking the Furies out of her home) is a pleasure to see unfold. You get a much more likable character because this one is all about Em caring for other people instead of solely for herself. That isn't to say that her mistakes of the past are gone and forgotten but she is really working to make up for them and it's nice to see that she is way more accepting of other people.

To replace Chase, we've got a character named Skylar. Even though I knew *spoiler highlight to read* she was going to be the Furies plaything in this book, I still find her a lot easier to identify with than Chase. I think it probably had something to do with her being a girl and just wanting to find a place to fit in. *end spoiler* It's in Skylar's chapters that we get an extra big does of the Mean Girl with a side of Toddlers and Tiaras. I liked how Skaylar constantly warred with herself about her feelings about Gabby. She wanted to love her and be her best friend so badly and sitting right next to that need was her intense jealousy because Gabby made it look easily. I really loved that the author made it a point for Gabby to tell Skylar that it was not easy for her, that she was so tired of working at it all the time, and then having Skylar still choose to believe that it was easy for Gabby. I think, in the end, Skylar's reasonings for doing the things she did made sense to me so it was hard to hate her. I mostly just felt pity.

Envy is fueled by a a diverse cast that wasn't so big as to make everyone feel like a stereotype but small enough to capture that small town feel. As in the last book, I really loved Gabby. It was nice to see a popular girl that was mostly nice to everyone. Gabby had a way of making the room light up and you felt that every time she was on the page. I also loved the addition of Crow. We'd heard about him in the first novel but it was cool to see Em hanging out with him and he really confused my feelings as to who Em should end up with. I loved her sweet charming best friend JD in the first book but Crow sort of took the place of JD in this novel. The nice thing is that Em still seems to know who she wants so it didn't feel like the stereotypical love triangle. I'm interested to see where his character is going in the future.

What I kept noticing about this book was just how good the writing was. Miles has a way of capture little sensations, of pointing out things in everyday life that are intangible or back music and bringing them into Envy to make it feel real. You'll notice that most of my favorite sentences are things that feel familiar but are never seen in novels like the idea of headlights punctuating a conversation in the car. So many times, I marveled at the words strewn togehter like perfectl ittle pearls on a necklace that brought home the mood. I read one review that said this book seemed more shallow than the last one and lacked the creepy factor of the first. I've got to completely disagree. I got chills every time the Furies decided to show their faces or laugh into the night. At one point, Em and Drea go into the woods and every hair on my neck stood straight up on edge. Envy is bursting with the creepy factor and I love how its sandwiched between the creampuff girlyness of Skylar and Gabby.

My only compliant would be that the plot felt a little straight forward. I guessed pretty early on what the big reveal was going to be with both girls which made the novel feel just a little long during some parts. However, I really enjoyed getting to the end and going on the journey with the characters even if I already knew how it was going to end.

If your looking for a read that one part creepy to every two parts Mean Girl than I think Envy is perfect. If you're having doubts because you didn't like the first one, I think you might want to consider Envy anyway because it has a very different tone than Fury and the characters are a little softer. I'm glad I took the berries with Em in Fury and came back to find out what they meant in Envy!

Rating:

Favorite Lines:

Their faces were illuminated every time an oncoming car drove by; it gave their conversation an erratic rhythm.

--Pg. 15 of an ARC of "Envy" by Elizabeth Miles

She could have been wearing an invisible cloak and she still would have felt like she was being trailed by a spotlight.

--Pg. 31 of an ARC of "Envy" by Elizabeth Miles 

The night was suddenly filled with silent space, like black holes.

--Pg. 178 of an ARC of "Envy" by Elizabeth Miles

"Relax," Crow said with a smirk. "I understand that members of the female species wear bras."

--Pg. 224 of an ARC of "Envy" by Elizabeth Miles 

Skylar thought that if guilt had a smell, it would be of cheap air fresheners or drugstore body oil...

--Pg. 323 of an ARC of "Envy" by Elizabeth Miles