DNF @ 25%

I wanted to love this book so much, and I did for the first 15%, but then came the romance, and for some reason I completely lost interest in the book. Though, I do believe that this book just simply wasn't for me. It happens.

But I do need to say that I was listening to the audiobook and that the narrator did a brilliant job at it. I felt that their voice fit quite well with the story and the characters. So I would recomend listening to the audiobook.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

<<Furia>> is an absolutely engrossing, vibrant coming-of-age story of Camila following her dreams against odds and expectations. The intersectionality of racial representation and feminism is executed beautifully-- I'd recommend this to all YA readers in my life. 

Read in the author's own voice, the audiobook adds even more life to the already vivacious, stunning book.

It’s the futbol, family, and female empowerment for me.

Honestly, this tells you everything without telling you anything, so if any of those words get you hype then read this book.

Wow, it really is a feat that Saied Méndez managed to make me care about a book about football! I'm not at all interested in sports but I love reading about people who are passionate about things like the way Camila is passionate about football. It discussed some important topics like violence against women, and the general expectations placed on Camila because of her gender, and I thought it incorporated those aspects into the book well. Overall, really liked this!

I loved Furia! The main character, Camila, wants to be a futbol star, yet her situation as a girl in Argentina playing in a league her parents don't even know about is precarious.  At the outset, this book reminded me of The Poet X, between machismo and parental pressures in both books. As the story continued, I loved the pacing, the excitement of the games (I'm a soccer fan myself) and Camila navigating some pretty tough relationship issues both with family and a past love. All the while, Camila holding tight to what she believes in and staying true to that dream even through such intense pressures is what makes her such a heartwarming character I want to rally around. I needed to read this powerful, positive feminist story during this crazy time in our country.

Furia is an Argentine She’s the Man - filled with on field action and realistic tension, this book is a treasure. Camila is a 17 year old with a secret - she’s a soccer powerhouse who has helped her team quality for the South American tournament. But La Furia on the field has more to worry at home between an abusive father, a defenseless mother and her old crush who has come back in town.

Although these tropes have been seen before, Méndez executes them with stunning accuracy - breathing new life into teenage drama. The book thrums with passion without passing into the blasé. Camila pursues her love but VALUES HER GOALS MORE. I have never felt so delighted and refreshed from an 17 year olds life choices.

The writing is fast paced, the details thoughtful and the character relatable and dynamic. Skip the TBR and put this at the top of your list.

Quotable: “I felt joy for being alive, playing a sport that a generation ago could have landed me in prison.”

This is a little different for me but I have to say I enjoyed it. It’s a book that has a strong female character that addresses lots of issues at such a young age. Lots of different dynamics and relationships but not one overpowering the story. The pace of the book was appropriate and loved the narrator as it really added to the story when she spoke in the native tongue. Would recommend... 

Thanks to Netgalley and Workman Audio for the opportunity to read this ARC and review that was published on the 15th of Sept.

Ohhhh Furia's story makes me both rage with anger at the patriarchy and jump for joy at the hope that exists in so many girls around the world. Furia lives in a world of poverty and domestic abuse. She is a girl with a brain and a dream. Her family places so much pressure on her to become successful to "save" them from their troubles and offer her little to no support for her dreams. 

There are so many dramatic telenovela-esque moments that left me hardcore rolling my eyes, but I took it with a grain of salt that Camila was a teenager and culturally there is a lot more emotion amongst her and those around her than I am used to in my day to day life. The writing was a little over-flowery at times for my taste with lots of unnecessary metaphors, but again I tried to think of the story as glimpsing into this young girl's diary and that helped when I grew annoyed with it.

I appreciated Camila's drive to be who she wanted and fight for her dreams amidst everyone trying to bring her out of the clouds and tell her that her dreams were unattainable. Too many times women are told you can't have it all, and that's complete nonsense. It will take work, discipline and perhaps some sacrifices along the way but you can have it all. It does take a supportive network around you though and boy were Camila's friends and family frustrating. Roxana and Diego really irked me because their friendships seemed very conditional.

I listened to this one on audiobook via the new Netgalley shelf, and was really impressed with the narrator. I appreciated that she had the appropriate accent and sometimes pronounced the words differently than I might, it made Furia more real to me.

There was real hope in this story and lots of education about the culture of Argentina and life of a mixed BIPOC girl who's trying to be something more than just someone's wife.

It doesnt support or open after I download the pdf version of it. It's also not showing in my shelf in netgalley and I cant open it to read Please look into the issue and if you can send me the pdf in my mail ID- taniagungunsarkar@gmail.com I cant read the book from here. Please look into the issue

I LOVED THIS BOOK, especially as an audiobook. YA perfection encapsulating the struggles of being a teenager with dreams that are outside what your family/culture expects of you. Narration was excellent. Highly recommend! I'll be thinking about this story for a while.

ARC from the publisher via NetGalley, but the opinions are my own.

Furia by Yamile Saied Méndez is an Ownvoices young adult contemporary set in Argentina, about a girl who is a rising soccer star. Camila Hassan, a seventeen year old has been living a double life in Rosario, Argentina.

One is where she plays soccer with her local team and another one is where her parents don't know about it. Her brother, Pablo is also a rising soccer star player. Her father is very absuive and short tempered.

But on the field, everyone calls her La Furia - a powerhouse of talent and skill. She and her team work really hard and get qualified for the South American Tournament. We see a very resilient Camila Hassan and also theme of female empowerment.

Furia is a character which will give you energy, hope, power and the will to do something that you truly believe in and dream about. Across the book, the character of Furia keeps on growing into a positive and strong female.

We see very wonderful and inspiring Love and Friendship in this book. Diego, also a rising soccer star has been visiting cities and playing for different clubs. His career is taking a peak, we see how realises his mistakes at the end.

Camila's father is a very abusive and controlling parent who doesn't want her daughter to be roaming with the "not so right crowd" or even playing soccer. I loved when Camila's mother stood up to him once and for all. Her support for her daughter's dream was brilliant.
___

Thanks to NetGalley and Publisher for providing me ALC.

Thank you NetGalley! I wasn't expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did. I don't normally read contemporary fiction, and I don't know much about sports. I saw the beautiful woman on the front and decided to check it out. 

I read this on audio, the narrator has a soothing voice and does a good job of showing emotion. I'm not sure if she's a native English speaker because there were a few words that were mispronounced. 

If you like strong female characters, I would highly recommend this. Camila is a strong, inspiring female lead. She's a young woman who overcomes many obstacles so she can live her dream. 

#netgalley #Furia

The hero of this story is a 17 year old girl called Camilla. She grew up playing soccer (futbol) in Argentina along with her brother. As they got older her brother excelled but Camilla wasn’t allowed to play because she is a girl. She went against her strict parents wishes and hid her playing. Through many personal events, some positive, others very trying, Camilla (Furia) comes out strong. A powerful book about racial and cultural inequities in Argentina.
Thank you #netgalley and #Furia for the audiobook.

Furia is a beautiful novel of womanhood. Of standing up for yourself, believing in YOU first and moving on to bigger and better things. Camila is a surrounded by soccer kings, her brother plays for a local team and the boy she has crushed on for years plays for Italy. Yet she may be the best player of all of them. Except her father forbids a woman to play soccer. It is a man's sport and there is no place for a girl there. So, naturally, Camilla plays anyways, in secret on a league headed to an international competition! Between managing her relationship with Diego, the boy from Italy, keeping out of her abusive father's way, and trying to earn money to pay for the tournament, Camilla keeps herself busy. But it's all worth it for the love of the game. She protects hard, and plays harder. It's a sweet coming of age story with a happily ever after. I loved the mix of culture throughout the book and the sharing of the difficult political climates in Argentina. This book covered everything, dealing with tabloid relationships, abusive parents, LGBTQ, feminist movement and then some. All fairly lightly but any deeper and it might be too much for a ya book.

Overall this was a great read. Very altruistic but I think those go well in moments like this. I feel like there were several things that were lost in translation in the spanglish throughout the story but I was listening and it may have been different if I were reading instead. It was something that was enough of a difficulty that I felt it pulled away from the story because I couldn't connect because I didn't understand it. Something as simple as an English translation could help. (again something I could have easily Googled if I were reading but couldn't really as a listener.) I just wanted to completely connect and understand and felt like there was a blockade preventing that could have been avoided.

Cant wait to pass along to my neices as a story of empowerment and hardwork!

Furia is so much more than a book about a girl who plays football. Furia is about the obstacles our protagonist Camila faces while pursuing football on a professional level: she challenges society's expectations of women, deals with her home life and navigates her friendships and romance. Although some challenging topics are discussed, like domestic abuse, homophobia and the patriarchy, Furia is accessible and easy to read. 
I loved Camila as the main character. Her drive is inspiring and she will stop at nothing to pursue her dreams, prioritising herself over the male figures in her life, whether that is her father, brother or love interest. Her friendships with Roxana and Karen are great, as well as her developing relationship with her mother. The romance took a good direction and it had a satisfying ending, although it could have been longer!
Her personal life is balanced by her love of football. It is easy to follow Camila's football matches, whether you are interested in the sport or not. Her passion and skill on the pitch are conveyed beautifully, and keep you invested in the successes and losses of her team. I wish there had been more interaction with the rest of her team though as captain. 
I think the integration of Argentinian culture was done really well, and I enjoyed the use of Spanish too. Great read!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an ALC of this book.

Camilla is not going to give up on her dreams for a boy and I LOVE that for her.

I have to admit that this book could be hard to listen to at times because of the intense subject matter. I think it's really important to read about though, and it is a great read!

Camilla works so hard and her feminist attitude and determination are admirable! I love the messages in this book and what she was able to accomplish!

CW: abuse, sexism, death

This book was so hard to review for me because I felt very connected with "Furia". She reminded me being a tiny girl and wanting to play fútbol with her cousins and my dad being very angry about it because in our Latino culture is not something girls should do. Reading or in this case listening her retelling her story was hard, heartbreaking but at the same time heartwarming. 
My favorite character besides Furia was her mom... boy did that woman made me teary more than once! 
I didn't expected I'd like this book as much as i did but I'm very glad an story like this one was published. 
Kudos to Yamile for writing such a precious story.

Thank you to Netgalley,  the author and the publishers for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I confess that I have a weak spot for any story with a Latin American setting, and any story set in Argentina will instantly have a special place in my heart. As an immigrant who has had the opportunity to live in Argentina during (most of) the last decade, I love seeing the Argentinian culture and customs portrayed in my stories. As soon as I read the blurb of Furia, I knew I was going to be in for a treat. The setting in Rosario (a city I've had the chance to visit a couple of times over the years) as well as the prejudice the main character has to face as a female soccer player had me fully intrigued... And it most definitely turned out to be a powerful listen.

I know that I'm still a newby when it comes to the whole audiobook experience, and I also confess that I still prefer reading the stories myself, but there is just something about listening to a book set in Argentina that is narrated by someone with an Argentinian accent. While I do understand that some might be put off by this as non-Spanish speakers might be having a more difficult time understanding the many Spanish phrases thrown in, I personally felt it gave the story a real sense of authenticity. Sol Madariaga's voice grew on me almost immediately and I applaude her fluidity switching between English and (Argentinian) Spanish flawlessly. The pace and flow of the audiobook were just right for me, and I had no problems at all keeping up with the story. And I think that this audiobook might just only have enhanced my experience with this story for me.

Like I mentioned before, Furia is set in Argentina and it shows. Not only do we have many thorough descriptions of Rosario and Argentinian customs in general, but this story also deals with social issues including domestic abuse and violence. The all-popular soccer is another very important element of course, and the power of this sport can be felt throughout the story. It doesn't stop there though, as Furia is made even more authentic through the use of many many (Argentinian) Spanish words and phrases that are woven expertly into the plot and dialogue. While I do understand that non-Spanish speakers might seem them as a burden, I personally loved how it gave the story that true Argentinian flavor.

I personally more of a rugby fan, but I have seen with my own eyes just how important soccer is in Argentina and I really liked how the sport was incorporated into the plot. Furia is about soccer as well as the struggles of the main character as a female soccer player, and the writing really made the sport and its players come alive for me. As for the characters... Camila was quite easy to warm up to, although I did end up having mixed thoughts about her. Why? I don't want to give away spoilers, but the constant lying and 'hot and cold' treatment of Diego did get on my nerves... And I particularly found the whole keeping her soccer playing a secret for over a year unbelievable. Again, why? Well, let's just say that people love to talk and gossip down here, and the soccer passion is in the blood of most... So I just don't believe nobody ever mentioned something to her parents before, especially with her brother being a well known player too.

That said, I did enjoy most of this story and it felt like a true ode to Argentinian soccer and culture. Lighter moments and romance are mixed with heavier topics, and all in all Furia turned out to be a satisfying story to listen to. I can definitely recommend the audio version, but I would advice non-Spanish speakers to approach with caution as you might struggle understanding the Spanish words and phrases in the audio even though they do make the story feel more authentic.

Cliche.
I must express, the start of the story was unique, the football concept was great!
But, as the story progressed it was all a big cliche for me. I gave this 3 stars because the speaker gave life to the story. The double life of Camilla, the love story of her and Diego, all was only enjoyable only and only because of the speaker of the audiobook.

Furia is a debut YA novel by Yamile Saied Mendez. It tells the story of Camila Hassan, a seventeen year old from Argentina who wants to be a footballer. Coming from a family of an abusive father, a suppressed mother and a popular brother, Camilla turns into the fierce "la Furia" on the football ground. Her talent is doubtless; her circumstances are what she had to conquer in order to fulfill her dreams. 

I had heard much about this book but after completing it, I'm left with mixed feelings. Camilla is a confusing character. I have seen reviews saying that this book is about female empowerment and that Camilla is a role model for young girls. To a certain extent, I would agree with that sentiment. She is strong, talented and determined, and has a pretty clear idea of where she wants to be. However, I didn't connect with the methods she uses to reach her goals, especially by constantly lying not just to her parents but almost every person in her life. Also, I found her relationship with Diego inconsistent. The writing constantly swings between "I love Diego" and "I can't be with Diego" and after a point, it becomes irritating. I wish the novel hadn't focused so much time on the romance; it took away from the beauty of the story. 

The sports-related struggles of the characters are written beautifully. You can actually empathise with the efforts and struggles of the players. The mismatch between the opportunities available to male and female sportspersons is also wonderfully depicted.  Furthermore, the day-to-day problems of people in Argentina are expressed in an authentic manner. But the familial problems are dull in comparison and very predictable. Overall, it is a decent one-time read. 

I heard the audiobook as narrated by Sol Madariaga. She expresses herself pretty well. The accent is a bit strong so while that added to the authenticity, it also made it a little difficult to understand the native words. But overall, it was a nice audiobook to hear. 

I received an advance review copy of the book for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.