If there was one book I could buy for my teenage niece, this is it.,

I screamed when I found out I was getting a reviewer's copy of this audiobook! I couldn't believe my luck, and for a good reason - Furia is an absolutely wonderful and unforgettable YA novel I'll absolutely be coming back to in the future.

The plot follows a young Argentinian girl, Camila Hassan, who is a soccer player. She kicks a** on the field, but at home it's an entirely different story. Like countelss other women around the world, she has to obide by traditional, restrictive parental and societal expectations, none of which foresee much of a future for her in the world of sports. Especially not soccer, which is an unsuitable and masculine sport.

But Camilly is strong and resilient, and what she wants to achieve is a university scholarship for her sports talent.

Furia is a beautiful and motivating story for boys and girls alike. We get to know Camila, and we get to know a lot of the Argentinian culture, which I adored - especially during the current restrictions.

*Thank you to the Publisher for a free advance copy of this audiobook in exhcnage for an honest review.

I am so excited to review this book! This is my first #netgalley book! Thank you @algonquinyr for the audiobook!

This book was such a special read for me because my husband served a two year mission in Argentina. I loved hearing his stories come to life in this book through Camila! It even mentions missionaries twice, and talks about the Utah Royals!

I loved how strong and independent Camila was. This is a female empowering book that shows you can do what you want if you work hard for it.

5/5 stars from me! Because of this book we have gnocchi, milanesa with fried eggs and mate on the menu!

The book had great flow and the story was never confusing. You felt like you were there in Argentina playing Futbol! I will definitely follow for more books by this author.

I'm so glad NetGalley started offering audiobooks so I can read audiobooks like this one!

This book especially worked well as an audiobook - the narrator was excellent, and did a very good job with this title.

This book covered a lot of difficult topics respectfully, and I liked how they were dealt with and the balance the book struck with these topics and positive moments. I adored the main character, and thought her voice was especially strong; this was likely partially due to the audiobook and audiobook narrator, but I think her voice also would have come through in the physical book format. All of the characters were well fleshed out and nuanced, especially the main character and the main character's mother.

The conflicts in this book were all very realistic - a problem I typically have in YA is when conflict happens for conflict's sake but I never had that problem in this book.

I can't wait to read more from this author!

I am so pleased I had the opportunity to listen to this audiobook. Furia is a YA novel that tells the story of Camila, a futbol player approaching her 18th birthday. As her coach tells her, in the previous generation, a girl in Argentina would not have been allowed to play. Camila and the others on her team face many barriers to competing. The story is rich, and the whole surrounding world and supporting characters are beautifully described. But the backdrop also details threats of violence against girls and women. Against this, Camila's story is one of hope, belief, and the pursuit of an impossible dream. After the story concluded, the Author's Note by Yamile Saied Méndez provided further context.

This story was so good as an Audiobook. The audio version added to my experience with singing of the chants and songs, whispering,  and different voices easily distinguishable. The tone and feeling of the scenes were carried well through the narration by Sol Madariaga. I felt more truly immersed in the story.  I highly recommend the audio version of this great book!

This is a powerful story about female empowerment set in Argentina. The female protagonist Camila is a force to be reckoned with. She refuses to give up her dreams of becoming a soccer star in exchange for the plans her family has for her to become a doctor. This book tackles many difficult issues such as a woman's role in the family and the inclusion that sports can bring to women. You will root for Camila from start to finish as she challenges the men in her life and teaches them to respect her right to chase her dream. The South American cultural aspects definitely enhance the reading experience. I highly recommend this book as it is very inspiring in the same realm as Elizabeth Acevedo’s The Poet X and The Fire on High.

Furia is about Camila Hassan, an girl from Argentina who dreams of a career as a soccer player. She has so many rocks on her path, such as troubled family relationships, the lack of female professional teams on her country and poverty.

I really enjoyed this, especially being from South America myself. A lot of what Camila went through was very relatable to me as a Brazilian, and you can tell that the author wrote this book straight from her heart. I adored the romance and all the soccer references, and I loved how the protagonist was strong but was constantly trying to overcome her flaws.

Now, let's talk about the audiobook: I didn't like the narrator at first, but I grew used to her and it was an enjoyable way to experience this story. However, if you don't speak Spanish, I'd recommend having the actual book to follow along, because there are quite a few terms in Camila's original language and it can be confusing.

I recommend this one, especially those who want a well-written multicultural Young Adult!

I loved this #OwnVoices contemporary YA set in Argentina!

An anthem to following your dream, despite your family’s and community’s rules and expectations. This story touches on the dangers many women face to just live their daily lives, and how they are portrayed as deserving of the violence against them. It addresses the struggle it takes to rise above those chains and cling to a dream. To refuse to let someone else save you, and instead to save yourself by sticking to your goals and your heart.

I do love fútbol (soccer), so the parts about the passion and the pain and sweat and disappointments resonate with me. Even if you aren’t a sports lover, you won’t be lost by the passages about it. I think, though the lens of their passion for the sport, it will expand your compassion for the characters’ love and struggle, and the family they build together.

*A note on the audio version: I really enjoyed the narrator, Sol Madariaga, and hearing the correct accents of the Spanish words. I still think there are quirks to be worked out with the app, as the sound was a little tinny. But I'm not counting that against this amazing book and a wonderful narrator.

Thanks to Workman Audio and Algonquin for the free audio copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Furia is a contemporary, young adult (YA) novel about a 17-year-old Argentine girl, Camila Hassan, who dreams of a bigger life.

As readers, we witness Camila’s magical first love with an older professional fútbol star. We follow her rise as a powerhouse fútbol athlete. We see her try to break out of the cycle of living within the confines of a patriarchal society. And we watch her, with her sense of wonder and possibility, as she tries to do impossible things.

For the first half of the book, Camila lives a double life. At home, she tries to meet demanding expectations of her parents. She gets excellent grades and is a successful bilingual student. But on the fútbol field, she becomes “La Furia” who longs to play for a university in the United States.

And all the while, her she keeps her athletic passion—and her superstar boyfriend—a secret.

Then, when her team suddenly qualifies for a big tournament, Camila, the team captain, gets the chance to see just how far her passion will take her. She then comes clean about her secret. But her mom tells her she can’t have it all. Camila cannot play fútbol AND become a doctor. She cannot be a successful athlete AND a wife.

It’s a story young women have been told for ages. But La Furia is a feminist. And she persists, against all odds.

When reflecting on her female ancestors, and the issues they faced, Camila says: “I have their warrior fire inside of me. I summon their speed, their resourcefulness, their hunger for life. No one can stop me but myself, and I’m never going to stop. 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.”

In the author's note, Yamile Saied Méndez says that, like Camila, she comes from a multicultural family who’s obsessed with fútbol. Readers will get a sense for Yamile’s love the for game. After all, Furia is written in an exciting first-person narrative that makes you feel like you’re on the sidelines of an international championship game.

Equally impressive is the narration of the audiobook by Sol Madariaga who does a beautiful job bringing the character (Camila/La Furia) to life. Originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sol’s Spanish pronunciations are exquisite. She narrates the mix of English and Spanish throughout, so I felt like I was in a master’s level Spanish class!


Overall, I very much enjoyed Furia. It’s a captivating lesson in how to break cultural norms while making difficult choices in order to pursue seemingly impossible dreams.

In the end, Camila shows us that empowered females have every right to dream, and that we CAN have it all.


An #Ownvoices #YA novel
One of BuzzFeed's Must-Read YA Books of 2020
A Reese’s Book Club YA Pick, October 2020


Special thanks to Workman Audio, via NetGalley, who gifted me a copy of audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

I mentioned Friday that I’ve been intentional to diversify my reads. So, I was delighted for a chance to listen to #Furia on #netgalley (swipe for goodreads synopsis)

This was a #reesewitherspoonbookclub YA pick and Reese almost never steers me wrong! This is no exception.

I might not be the intended audience of @yamilesmendez (mid 30s, white, stay at home mom, never played a sport), but I loved listening to Camila’s first-person perspective on combating her culture and family to achieve her dreams. I loved the narration (totally recommend listening!), and really loved hearing the little flex between English and Spanish here and there.
There are major girl power ✌️ vibes, and a really great underlying romance wrapped up in this story. ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

This audio was incredible!!! I love that the narrator was from Argentina herself and did an amazing job with the accent and the voice of the characters. The narrator also sang the fútbol chants and it was so so fun to listen too!! I high recommend the audiobook version of this novel!

I LOVED this #ownvoices contemporary YA novel set in Rosario, Argentina. This story follows rising soccer star, Camila Hassan, as she follows her passion of playing soccer and dreams of earning an athletic scholarship to a North American university. She juggles all of this while dealing with the complications her disapproving family and life in Rosario presents. Because her parents believe women aren’t allowed to play soccer, that it’s a man’s sport!! There’s also a little of romance thrown in the story! But more than anything, this story is about Camila “La Furia” Hassan growing into the badass soccer star she is!

I loved how this story shows us about life and culture in Rosario! I loved the representation and the diversity shown within the Latin American community! Furia herself discussed her Russian, Palestinian, and African roots. The author also discusses heavier topics like feminicidos “feminine homicide”, domestic violence, sexism, and social inequalities. She also mentions Ni Una Menos, a feminist movement which started in Argentina and aims to end violence against women.

This has been my favorite YA sports fiction book of the year and I couldn’t recommend it more! Thank you to @yamilesmendez for writing such a powerful story and to @algonquinyr for the gifted copy!

Thank you Workman Audio and NetGalley for an audio ARC of Furia by Yamile Saied Mende. This is about the love of futbol and being a young girl growing up in Argentina. Furia loves futbol but only boys can play it and the family has put their sights on Furia’s brother Pablo. He plays and is very good so the family puts all their energy into him succeeding and rescuing the family from their poverty. Another local boy, Diego, has already made it into professional fit ok so they know it can happen.
Furia is a quiet, good girl that is very careful not to ruffle the waters. When her father gets angry he becomes abusive so everyone does everything to not let that happen. But Furia loves futbol and so sneaks away when she is suppose to be studying to become a doctor and plays on the evening league of a women’s futbol team. When she becomes La Furia, she realizes she could go further than expected but only if she keeps her focus on futbol. That becomes difficult when her childhood friend, Diego, comes back to town.
I listed to this book and the narrator, Sol Madariaga was very good. The recording itself was very scratchy and sounded like the narrator was talking in a tunnel but I loved the story and was able to listen through that.
I would definitely recommend this for anyone that loves YA, coming of age books. Especially those that show a strong culture story of having to change that culture to be what you want to be.
#Netgalley #WorkmanAudio #Furia

Oh my goodness, what a wonderful surprise this book was!

The first thing you need to know about Furia is this - if you’re a soccer fan, this book was made for you… and if you’re not a soccer fan, well hold on to your cleats because you’re about to become one!

Meet Camila, a hardworking, ambitious teenager with big dreams, from Rosario, Argentina. She also has a secret alter-ego - LA FURIA, one of the most talented up-and-coming fútbol stars of her generation… her family just doesn’t know it yet.

Camila dreams of playing soccer professionally, ideally in the United States where her heroes and favorite fellow-women players play… but there are a lot of obstacles standing in her way.

Not only is women’s soccer not respected in Rosario, but her family does not support Camila’s dreams of being a “futbolera” either …despite their avid support of her brother’s professional soccer career and her father’s own sporting past.

To make things even more complicated, Diego, her first love and international soccer star of the legendary Juventus FC, is back in town and looking to reconnect. But should she give their relationship another chance? Or will it distract her from her upcoming soccer tournament, a huge opportunity where talent scouts from around the world will be searching for new players for their teams?!

Furia is such a fun, inspiring story, especially for young women… but it also has a lot of depth. Important topics like feminism, misogyny and machismo, and violence against women (including domestic violence and femicide) are prominent throughout this story, as well as discussions about socio-economic stability, opportunity, and financial privilege.

I listened to this book on audio and it was a fantastic listening experience - Sol Madariaga is a spectacular narrator whose engaging storytelling style made me laugh, cry, rage, and cheer! She gave so much to her narrator and even sang the book's fútbol chants and cheers! I hope to find more audiobooks narrated by her in the future because she is officially one of my new favorite narrators!

I absolutely adored this book and I wish I knew more young women to share it with. I highly recommend this one to anyone who could use a genuine, uplifting, and inspiring story right now.

I loved this book! What an excellent Reese YA book pick. Family drama, a sweet romance and a strong character.
I enjoyed learning about this characters experience growing up in Argentina as well as women in sports.

My goodness, I loved this book so much! Camila, is a 17-year-old girl living in Rosaria with her parents and her talented fútbol-playing brother, a rising star on the local team. However, she is living a double-life, on the one hand playing the role of the dutiful daughter and sister at home, and a fútbol star in her own right (aka La Furia) outside of the house. She keeps that life secret from her family, knowing they would either use her talent for monetary gains (her abusive father) or they would stop her from playing because it is not right for a girl to play soccer once they hit puberty (her mom and much of the town). Additionally, her childhood best friend and first love returns to town. Diego has now made it big in Italy and still loves her. She realizes she never stopped loving him, but she also knows her love and passion for the game and her dreams of playing for an International team cannot be stopped. This book covered the plight of women and girls in Argentina, as well as domestic abuse, the kidnapping of females, especially young girls, teen pregnancy, some of the complicated nuances of race in Argentina (she is on the darker spectrum in terms of skin color), and being able to have more than one dream and finding the strength to not give up on the ones that allow your heart to sing. I loved Furia so much and really appreciated this #ownvoices novel. I did listen to this novel and loved hearing the gentle accent of the narrator, as well as the correct pronunciation of the names and occasional Spanish words. For me, personally, I felt that it added to the #ownvoices feel of the story, but I know I would have enjoyed this story regardless. Some tears were definitely shed for this book, but it was not all sad, and the ending was both inspiring and uplifting. I highly recommend this story!

Special thanks to the author and publisher, and also to Netgalley for this advance review copy in exchange for my honest review.

No one is bringing down Furia! A talented young woman who vowed to prove herself to the world and did exactly that despite all the challenges and discrimination she encountered. She may be young, but she is full of compassion, courage, and determination. I find her very relatable because not only is she pursuing a sport that is male dominated but also not having the support from the people you expect will be there for you is difficult. Unfortunately, there are still places that focus on being prejudice rather than see the person as a human and equally talented and intelligent. I love that the author tackles different family structures and dynamics and gender equality. There is also romance in this book, which is so cute and inspiring. But I am drawn how empowered our young woman lead, and I highly recommend this book if you are into sports-themed (futbol), cute romance, charming characters, and inspirational read.⁣

I loved Furia so much! This was one of my favorite books of the year so far. I love a good YA and an #OwnVoices novel, even better! Camila/Furia was such a strong and independent female lead. She has one dream, to make it out of Argentina and reach the US to play soccer professionally. With an overbearing father, a dangerous town, and numerous setbacks, Camila does everything it takes to make her dreams happen.

I did a combo of audio and ebook for Furia. I did enjoy the audibook narrator however I think I liked reading this story even more. I usually listen to audibooks at a faster speed than 1.0 and I found myself wanting to read the words and not rush through them. Overall, such a great read and listen!

I've seen this book going around on my social media and had to get my hands on it. I've never read a book or seen a movie where the protagonist was from Argentina. This was something that excited me to learn about. I'm not a sports fan so it was also interesting to learn about soccer and those who play it. It was a great story, although the ending felt rushed. Looking forward to reading more from this author.
Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for providing the audiobook.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Furia brought me back to my soccer days. Oh man, my ninja self scoring left and right on the field. Was I a rising star? Psh - no. Was I good enough? Probably in my mind. Did I enjoy it? For a while but then I definitely started to hate the sport. I don't even watch soccer on TV anymore.

Back to the book, now Camila is good - like really good - at soccer. She was unapologetically herself in every way, shape, and form. Even if she had two personalities, she was amazing in my eyes and definitely someone to look out for. Unfortunately for her, she has to hide this secret bad ass side of herself because her family doesn't seem it to be valuable to or for her.

It's a shame when someone makes a decision for you and that's that. Which is why I loved that she never gave it up and stuck with it. Camila worked hard every day and put over one hundred percent into it as well. She was very dedicated and it showed. It was mesmerizing to read/listen to because one should never want to squash a kids dreams.

In the end, I adored this book. I loved getting to see what her family life was like and just for her to grow throughout the book as well. Definitely recommend this one!

4.5 stars

CW: [On-page domestic violence and emotional abuse. Discussion of murder and misogyny in society (hide spoiler)]

I’m crying so hard right now. This book isn’t perfect and the end needed more time to breathe (too much happened in a rush), but I have ALL THE FEELS. Gah. I am incoherent.

Going into Furia I had high expectations because of all of the good reviews it was getting. I was actually let down immensely. I actually really enjoyed the setting of Argentina, I don’t think I have read a book set there so that was refreshing for me.

Now for Camila as a person, she got on my nerves a lot. She has the “not like other girls” syndrome. Her feelings for Diego were very wishy washy to me, one day she would be in love with him and then the next she would tell him to leave her alone and then she would go back and forth and her that got so old. Because of that I felt like the romance didn’t add much and Camila liked the concept of Diego rather than actually have feelings for him. She also felt like she had to hide this romance from her best friend and claiming that she wouldn't understand her so that was really odd to me and bugged me a LOT.

For all of the hyped up talk claiming that this book was extremely feminist-yes, it did have it’s points but for the most part I didn’t actually see much of that. Camila doesn’t stand up for herself, lies A LOT to her family and friends, and she doesn’t tell people what is on her mind or how she’s feeling. It drove me insane that she just lied to everyone, including her best friend. I felt that she was a little petty too. I expected a much stronger character with Camila. I did like some of the topics that were covered but I felt they were breezed through.. I’m happy with the ending, I actually liked the last maybe 20% of the book but as for the rest of it, nothing really happens and was quite a drag to read. The narrator did do a great job though so I did enjoy that.