A heartfelt story about family, forgiveness, and starting over when the happy ending ends—and handling it all with a little bit of grace.Family is everything—Grace Adams McHale’s mom must have said it to her a thousand times before she died. Before Grace’s dad ran off with an aspiring actress half his age. Before only-child Grace found out she was unable to have children of her own. Before … own. Before Brian—her childhood best friend, business partner, and finally her husband—dropped a “bombshell” on her in the form of her stunning new replacement.
Which means Grace now has…nothing.
Until she receives a letter from a woman claiming to be a relative Grace never knew she had, sending her on a journey from the childhood home she had to move back into, to a Florida island to meet a total stranger who embraces her as family. There, Grace starts to uncover answers about the eccentric woman her family never mentioned: a larger-than-life octogenarian who is the keeper of a secret held for more than fifty years, and the ultimate inspiration to always be true to yourself. As Grace gets to know this woman and picks up the pieces of her own shattered life, she is forced to question whether she can find forgiveness for the unforgivable.
more
I absolutely loved this novel about acceptance, family, love and, yes, grace. It’s hard to review without giving away a major plot twist, so suffice it to say that this novel has deep layers, yet plenty of sweet light moments. I was truly impressed by this story, and the heart with which it was written, and I am looking forward to more novels by Phoebe Fox!
A Little Bit of Grace is about the amazingly strong character of Grace, as well as the wonderfully wise, and outrageously fun, Millie. When these two women finally connect, look out!
Grace knows what she wants and is happy with her life. That is, until it’s all taken away from her. And then what is she supposed to do?
Millie is a warm and caring woman, who swoops Grace up at just the right time and tries to help her turn her life around and let me tell you, they have so much fun along the way. Millie is such a wise and gregarious person—I wish I had someone like her in my life.
This is a tale full of hilarity, love, compassion, strength, anger and frustration, understanding, forgiveness, family and friends, finding oneself and being happy with that discovery. And there are plenty of memorable characters that I fell in love with. This novel has it all!
A Little Bit of Grace is a wonderful, heartwarming story written by one of my favorite authors. I loved everything about it and enjoyed my journey of discovery with Grace and Millie. I highly recommend it and I know you’re going to love it—and them—just as much as I did!
Like a five-course gourmet banquet, this delightful, funny novel delivers a delicious meal for the reader with a character coming into her own, a bit of romance and more. I couldn’t put it down and, by the last page, felt like I’d taken a vacation on an island. Great ending!
This was my first book by Phoebe Fox and I enjoyed it very much. The underlying themes of forgiveness and family secrets make it more than a beach reach, and the writing is beautiful and makes it a page turner.
I wasn’t a fan of Grace as a person – nor Brian, to be honest – and wanted to shake Grace awake a few times and tell her to “get over it” and to make up her mind, but I absolutely loved her great-aunt Millie. The story has some twists toward the end, and they gave the plot a new depth.
I recommend this book to everyone who enjoys books about relationships and family. It would also be a wonderful book club pick.
I really liked this, it was the type of story that just keeps you reading too late at night when you have to work the next day! The story was full of surprises, definitely not your run of the mill boy next door that eventually leaves you trope. Grace is a vibrant character and while coping with her mother’s still recent death, infertility and divorce, she receives a postcard sent to her mom from someone in Florida. Grace is a lawyer, and a bit skeptical, but places the call and learns she has a previously unknown aunt, Millie, living in Cypress Key, Florida. She wanted to reconnect after years of estrangement. Grace takes a leave from her law office and heads to Cypress Key. Millie is full of life, the sun does wonders for Grace and the story of her life changes in ways she couldn’t have imagined.
From the very first page, I was in love with the main character of this compelling and endearing novel. Grace was adrift, lonely, and a little bit broken. A divorce and the death of her mother have left her stuck in the past, unable to let go and move on. Then a picture postcard of a beautiful beach, sent by someone she’s never heard of, provides her the boost she needs to shed not only the Missouri winter, but also the pain that is weighing her down. Grace’s journey and transformation were sometimes painful, always honest and real and heartfelt. My connection to her was so strong, I hurt with her and for her, I grieved with her, I shared her anger, I celebrated with her, and I was cheering for her to find her hope and happiness. A Little Bit of Grace is a book I read with my whole heart, with a character who I will long remember, and a story that is heartwarming and uplifting.
Well done! There is a big, unexpected twist in A Little Bit of Grace, but it doesn’t become the focal point or take over the story, it is so seamlessly folded in. The story is all about people, about family, about yourself. About understanding yourself, loving yourself – about being yourself. And author Phoebe Fox does a marvelous job of revealing layer after layer about all the fascinating characters in this charming book.
Grace expected things in life to work, somehow. They always did. Maybe not like she’d hoped, but kind of, enough. And when suddenly (or so it seemed to her) things no longer worked, she felt like we’ve all probably felt at one time or another. You can’t accept the change and your new future; you don’t even want to try to accept it. Instead, you just keep thinking if you hang in there, persevere, try harder, hope more, love more, change, somehow not be yourself anymore, things will work like you so desperately want them to. But – they won’t.
So what is Grace to do now? Life with Brian was right, oh so right, meant to be. Well, anyway, like that at the beginning. So why isn’t it right anymore? And then Grace is forced to wonder if it ever was right, and if that even matters now. Maybe this is what was meant to be – a colorless, dull, life where she is never, ever the one in the spotlight, the one who matters most of all.
Life in Missouri is cold. Not just because it’s winter but because of Brian and his life plans. So when Grace discovers a postcard addressed to her late mother from an aunt she never even heard of, off to Florida she goes. Grace learns that Florida is a lot different than Missouri. Not just the temperature but the people, the surroundings, the feelings she’s never experienced before. She discovers some really big secrets, huge secrets, and learns that family really is everything, one way or another.
A Little Bit of Grace is a wonderful story. Charming, funny, sad, bittersweet, romantic. Well written with a smooth plot and some surprises. It will make you laugh and it will tug at your heart. You will want to nudge Grace along, make her learn her own value, love herself.
Thanks to Penguin Random House for providing an advance copy of A Little Bit of Grace for my reading pleasure and honest opinion. It truly was a pleasure to read. I loved it and recommend it without hesitation.
A delightful read with characters you will wish were your own family.
Predictable Grace McAdams’ world stopped the day Brian, her best friend/business partner/ex-husband, showed up at her house with his former college girlfriend saying she was moving in with him and dropping the bomb about her being pregnant. Grace was still in love with Brian and did not take the news well. Let’s just say Grace lost it. Brian saw a side of her that he had never seen.
Grace’s life gets a pick up when she finds out she has a great aunt who lives in Cypress Key, Florida, and she goes to meet her. Grace is hoping the much needed vacation and a change of scenery will help her get her life back on track. Grace also wanted to find out why her family kept Millie a secret. When Grave finds out the truth, it only brings the two women even closer. Spending time with Millie teaches Grace to live life to its fullest and to be a strong positive woman. But when Grace meets Jason and gets to know him, he just might be the one who changes Grace’s world for good.
I was not ready for this book to end. The characters really grew on me and I was always anxious to see what Grace and Millie would end up doing next. Some of my favorite scenes were the wedding, shopping and makeover session. The entire book was easy to read and visualize each scene. I think we can all use an Aunt Millie in our lives to help us learn to live again.
Grace MacAdams has always done the right thing; she had the words ingrained in the head “Family is Everything” by her mother while she was growing up. She’s had a run of bad luck lately her mom has passed away after a long illness, which has left her emotionally drained. Her best friend/ex-husband who she runs her estate planning practice with has just told her he is moving in an ex-girlfriend who he has reconnected with after several years into the home she lived while married to him. The worst part is that it’s a few doors down from where she lives now. Grace has always held on to a spark of hope that they would get back together but this is too much for her to deal with, believe me, she lets them know she’s not happy with this arrangement. I love the way the get’s her revenge on Brian and his new bride to be.
One day she receives a postcard addressed to her mother, it’s from an Aunt that lives in Florida who would love to get reacquainted with her. Grace has never been aware of any other family members this is confusing to her, who is this woman and why hasn’t she heard of her before. Grace decides to get to the bottom of this, she calls this woman and informs her of her mother’s recent death. During the phone call, her great-aunt extends the invitation to Grace who accepts. What could it hurt, she’s had enough on her plate, and it will only be a week, long enough for her to come to term with the news she just received about Brian.
Grace flies down to Florida and is met at the airport by a group of rowdy senior citizens. She thinks what in the world have I gotten myself into? The fun is just beginning; she’s discovering a lifestyle that she had been too afraid to live before, carefree and spontaneous were the last words one would use to describe Grace.
I instantly fell in love with Aunt Millie, who is in her 80’s but you couldn’t tell by her active lifestyle. There are several laugh out loud moments when Grace is getting to know what her Aunt does for a living. You will fall in love with her too from her bright red Telsa to the strange female cave where she does her funky art and has her quirky workout worm.
Grace makes some decisions regarding her life, and I can’t wait to see what Ms. Fox has planned for Grace’s new future.
Disclosure: I received this e-galley in exchange for my honest review. My opinion of this novel is my own.
A Little Bit of Grace by Phoebe Fox would be in a genre that I rarely read, “chick lit”, but it was worth the read.
Ms. Fox’s descriptive writing, character development highlights the growth of Grace as she begins a new life for herself after discovering a family member that she has never known about before. With precision and grace, Ms. Fox depicts Grace’s life as a “normal” life with family, love, divorce, heartache and then rebirth as she begins to grow within herself. Under the loving tutelage of her Aunt Millie, Grace discovers that there is more to life and herself than she ever imagined. A smoothly paced plot that allows the reader time to get to know the characters and maybe even look at life a little differently.
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book from Henery Press via NetGalley. All of the above opinions are my own.
Favorite Quotes:
‘Because I told Mandy she could have Grandmother’s chair over my dead body, and I’m nothing if not a woman of my word.’ Mrs. Fielding had taken that vow to the extreme, I reflected, breathing through my mouth as I looked at where her body sat slumped in that same chair, thinking that new upholstery might not be enough to get the smell of her decomposing body out of the antique for Ms. Yeager.
I wish I understood young people’s obsession with their own genitalia and capturing it for posterity… Honey, there’s not one thing you can do about a man who lacks any class and the sense God gave him and insists on foisting his frank and beans onto your phone screen.
Gracie, you’re a beautiful young woman… But you’re a peacock dressing like a pigeon.
‘First time stripping the taco? … The lady portal. The bizniz. Sweeping the stairway to heaven.’ I stared. ‘Come on, you know—waxing Madame Bovary. First time you got the full monty?’ She made a diamond of her hands around her groin area.
Sugar, when the day comes that someone has to live here with me and wipe my helpless bottom, I assure you he will be far younger, well-muscled, and more macho than you are.
Don’t you know our state mottoes? ‘Florida: home of the newly wed and nearly dead.’ ‘Death’s doorstep.’ ‘Where America goes to die.’ There is a lot of fertile ground here for estate planning.
My Review:
I tumbled right into this engaging, cleverly written, and delightful tale that was packed with all the feels. I reveled in Ms. Fox’s witty descriptions and clever use of humor while we navigated the painfully insightful inner musings of the endearing and lovable character of Grace. Grace was struggling to come to grips with a series of devastating losses and unpleasant surprises. The final straw that proved too much for the normally mild and placid woman to withstand had her boiling over with a level of emotion that shocked her, as much as her impulsive yet clever act of retribution had appalled and dismayed her – she quickly fled town under the cover of darkness for a much-needed vacation.
Phoebe Fox has a smooth and sneaky way of implanting me behind her characters’ eyes. I was right there feeling all of Grace’s feels, my chest was tight when she was devastated, I fist-pumped when she finally got mad, and my eyes burned and lower lip quivered as she sweetly detailed incidents of her childhood with her mother to her long-lost aunt. I think I may have even walked funny after Grace had her first waxing experience. Most of us have known a Grace at some point during our sojourn on earth; Grace was the ultimate small-town “good girl,” sweet, kind, considerate, trustworthy, admirable, unassuming, smart, overlooked, plainly dressed, prepared, making do, and patiently waiting. Full disclosure – I have never been a Grace.
The storyline was superbly crafted and unfailingly entertaining while the writing was witty and wryly amusing yet also thoughtful, emotive, poignant, and keenly insightful. The narrative was vividly detailed with humorous and colorful observations that often had me smirking. I adore Ms. Fox’s endearingly flawed, lovable, and relatable characters; even her secondary characters continually enticed and plucked at my curiosity and had me wanting to know more about them. I adored the ebullient and feisty Aunt Millie, whose inner beauty and indefatigable kindness despite her family’s long-standing history of rejection stung my eyes and made my heart hurt. Literally 😉