Couldn't put this down. If you loved The Handmaid's Tale, you'll like this one. Same spooky "utopia" where they prepare girls for breeding. This has a bit of Lois Lowry "What's in the Woods?" type of flair to it too.

Just from the description I knew I would love this book but it surpassed my expectations. It is such an amazing commentary and look into society, bonds between women and the horrors that come out of blindly following the rules. To me it was like a mash up of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Hunger Games - a strange but wonderful combination. There were parts that were hard to read and there was definitely some gore but it was necessary and fit well within the story being told. Highly recommend!

This novel was definitely not for me. There were many graphic scenes that were tough for me to get through. Still, I recommend this for those that like dystopian fiction.

This is a strange book.The world building is lackluster and the reason for the grace year is murky.The over the topness takes away from any emotional impact.The characters seem flat and no one is likable.The distopian aspect seems dull and tired.The writing is okay but nothing spectacular.

This book has been compared to Hunger Games, Lord of the Flies, and especially Handmaid's Tale, but it takes these and creates a whole new narrative story of a patriarchal society controlling women, and most especially fearing the sexual maturity of teen girls. It is so feared that all 16 year old girls in the village are forced to live apart for a year in a small fenced in outpost so they can expend their magic-with the ever present poachers (camouflaged men who lurk outside the fence to kill and dismember the girls for body parts.
This book was a good read. It takes awhile to set up the small world, but once the plot gets going it moves fast between plot beats. The strongest parts were the relationships and friendships. The weakest part for me was the flimsy romance (no spoilers) where I wasn't sure what was real or not.
The ending was very good, I didn't guess what was going to happen, though it was a very mature ending. This book is just about a New Adult book more than an older YA book.
If you're a fan of The Handmaid's Tale, then you'll enjoy this book.

This book is . . . bad.

To begin with, the society is cartoonishly misogynistic. Like, women can’t even HUM without being accused of hiding magic—which is a crime punishable by death, btw. I have thoughts (that I will save for a later video) about making misogynistic dystopias this over-the-top, but suffice it to say that it’s so extreme it would be funny if it weren’t irritating. And on top of that, some parts border on, if not cross the line into, torture porn.

And even without all that, the writing itself isn’t good. The writing style feels too unpolished for a final draft, and the plot and plot twists are convenient/predictable at best and confusing/unbelievable at worst. One rivals Frozen in unforeshadowed “good person is bad person” twists, and that same twist also has an element that I either somehow missed completely or just makes no sense at all.

Then, to top it all off, the end is very rushed, and cuts off so abruptly that I thought my ARC was somehow formatted wrong and I was missing the last page(s).

I felt nothing for any of the characters, at any time, and even the character deaths had no impact. All I felt was frustration and the occasional flare of disgust, both targeted at the book for being just so bad.

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

The Grace Year was unbelievingly addicting. I will admit that the girls were naive and downright hilarious at points in this book - but I was addicted and hooked. I just wanted to know what the hell was going to go down and who was going to end up with who (or alive).

Without spoiling anything, I fell in love with the Ryker. He's a side character but I feel like he deserved better and should've been a star (again, at least in my eyes). The MC, Tierney, was a force to reckon with. I loved her from the very beginning and until the very last page. She was always true to herself and wanted to help everyone else around her but knew she couldn't. Especially when Kiersten was involved - ugh, I loved to hate this character. It's like she thought she knew better than she did and she was definitely the cause of many unfortunate deaths.

Overall, this was so freaking good and I definitely recommended it to anyone and everyone. Seriously, go read it.

Girls are banished to an isolated camp when they turn 16. This “grace year” is a time to dispel their magic, so they can return to the village ready to marry (if they were chosen by a man before banishment) or be assigned to a workforce.
I didn’t know anything about the book going into it, but was totally drawn into the world that the author created. It’s being compared to Lord Of The Flies, and I can see that.
While there were a few parts in the book that were not perfect to me (some of the romance, a few small things were predictable) I am still inclined to give the book five stars because I enjoyed reading it very much, and am hoping there will be a sequel.
I received a free ARC of this book from Netgalley in return for my honest review

I want to thank Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me the opportunity to read an ARC of The Grace Year in exchange for an honest and thoughtful review.

Every year, girls are sent away before they are married to remove the magic they possess in a time they call the grace year. While away from their families and the town they know, the girls have to fight off poachers, who take their body parts and sell them as aphrodisiacs, the magic they possess, and each other. Not all of them will make it out alive.

I liked the premise of The Grace Year, the synopsis captured my interest and the cover is lovely and haunting, but unfortunately my interest started to fade as I read. The lack of historical context and world-building left me confused. There was no reasoning as to why the grace year takes place. Their town seemed to be the only one that existed and the vague mention of the North as a sort of haven wasn’t enough for me to look at it as an escape. I would have enjoyed a more thorough understanding of how the grace year started and why the poachers and townspeople exist.

Our main character Tierney (love this name!) was the sort of character who had so much potential, but just didn’t live up to what I was hoping for. At first, her forbidden dreams and impractical wishes were something to be admired, but there was no development of these thoughts; they just continued to… exist, basically. I didn’t like the love story that blossomed (it is an interesting take on forbidden love/stockholm syndrome, I will admit) and it felt mostly forced. There just wasn’t enough backstory for me to sympathize with Tierney and her emotions.

I did, however, enjoy the imagery. The symbolism of the ribbons was a great device to show how the smallest bits of fabric were used to denote the age of the girls and how their bodies didn’t belong to them. And when the girls are away from the town, the ribbons becoming symbolic of their awakening sent chills across my body. The untamed, unnatural things that befell the girls were written extremely well. And the ending felt fitting for the storyline, which I think is one of the most important aspects of writing a novel.

Overall, I would have given this story a higher rating if there had been more explanation for the grace year and more world-building.

The grace year is the year girls are sent to an encampment deep in the outskirts to get rid of their magic, and what happens during the grace year is never spoken about by those who return. Before the girls are sent away a lucky few are chosen as brides and the rest enter the year knowing they will return to be sent to labor camps or domestic work sites with little chance of ever being wives. What happens at the encampment will change everyone who survives forever.

“The Grace Year” was like The Hunger Games meets Lord of the Flies meets Mean Girls. In their 16th year, girls are sent away to “get all their magic in out” so they can be good wives and workers when they return. Spoiler alert: not all of them return, or at least not the same as they were when they left. It was engrossing and infuriating and I devoured it and am still thinking about it weeks later. I would definitely recommend it.

The Grace Year is reminiscent of Lord of Flies
Tierney, our main character, lives in a small county that strictly controls the lives of its female citizens. Women are not allowed to meet in groups without men present. A woman can be punished with a whipping to her back for the simple transgression of taking a bath with rose petals in the water. The day before leaving for the “Grace Year”, each woman is paraded around town for the men to choose a future wife. The women have absolutely no control of whom they’ll marry.

There are so many challenges to the girls’ survival during their Grace Year. While contained to an enclosed area with little means for survival, they quickly establish a hierarchy. It’s the first time any of them are without the instruction and supervision of men. The new freedom of self control leaves many of them lost. Few of them are able to make decisions for themselves.

Four seasons of survival = four chapters of the story.


I’m disappointed to give this book only a 3.5-star rating because The Grace Year is truly a great story and it had me hooked. I definitely binge read this within three days (I have kids so I can’t read books in 1 day). This book could have easily been 4.5-stars if the formatting were correcting to include at least page breaks. The Grace Year is only separated into four “chapters”, one per season of the year. While the story is solid, the lack of true page breaks or chapter breaks is distracting to the story. In one paragraph Tierney could be asleep, then the next paragraph she’s awake and talking in a different place entirely. It causes momentary confusion and pulls you out of the moment. I hope this is revised before the book’s release in September 2019.

3.5 with an update to 4 with the fixed editing.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to.

I received a copy of The Grace Year from Wednesday Books through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

It's a cute pink cover, isn't? This story is not cute or pink. It's a brutal story of misogyny and control.

Tierney is a dreamer who is not allowed to dream. Her existence is destined to be an evil siren who lures men to their Doom.

Fighting back is not an option. Until it is.

It's a story about survival and how your worst enemies can be the ones who should be on your side and your allies can be who you least expect.
..
Absolutely brilliant.

This was so unputdownable! The author delivers a rapid-paced, suspenseful, gripping, well-written and perfectly executed thriller. In times like these, it definitely feels like it could hit close to home. Great book.

3.5
I somewhat enjoyed this book. It's quite Hunger Game-esque and also reminded me of Lord of the Flies. I found the description of how the girls acted during the graceful years very visual and the men in the story can be relatable at times despite how cruel they can seem in our moral standards.
This is obviously not set in a modern real-world setting so it's important to keep that in mind when reading this book!
A great summer read!

I do not know how to feel about this book. I did not like the beginning of book because I do not think the book show the reader why there was a grace year or what was going on. The girl/woman was just going a long with everything. That made me mad. The middle of the book started to explain why and what was going on with the grace year. But, by the end I understand what was going on and really started to love the characters in the book. So, I am really not sure where to rate this book. I think the book is worth reading, but I have to say it takes awhile to get into.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Brutal novel about a community of people where women are chattel and the least fortunate are hunted and slaughtered. It is a combination of The Hunger Games and The Midwife's Tale.

I loved the story line and the characters.

The Grace Year by Kim Liggett is a dystopian novel, along the lines of The Hunger Games, which follows the girls of Garner County as they enter their 16th year...their "Grace Year" during which they are banished from their homes and towns and sent to live together in a camp, far from home, so as not to tempt the men to stray as they come into their womanhood.

What goes on at camp is never discussed, and as Tierney James gets ready to leave, she is betrothed to her best friend, a young man who will soon be a town leader. But there seems to be an undercurrent of subversiveness in the town, involving her mother. Tierney heads to camp and her experiences there will change her life forever, and possibly those of all the girls in the county.

An inspired novel you won't be able to put it down!

The Grace Year is a cross between Lord of The Flies, The Crucible, and The Hunger Games, except much darker.
The plot is just insane, and I often find when Im reading books like this how on the earth the author can think this up haha :) I loved the main charecter Tierney, she is such a brave soul and I was rooting for her the entire time. I so hope there is a sequel!