I really enjoyed this one, it was fantastic, excellent writing. I got sucked in and a few hours later realized it was 1am and I had to get up soon for work.

It was a little bit of everything, I felt like I was reading a mash up of Maze Runner, Hunger Games, and a few other books, it was similar in a lot of ways to a lot of dystopian books out there but at the same time I think that was what made it really good, dystopian books are right up my alley, I am always on the look out for a good one. This was an easy read that sucked you in, it had good world building, I could picture easily what was going on. The ending left me wanting a second book, and if there was one, I would read it in a heartbeat!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!...to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book!!!!!!!!!

Stick with me...

First, you need to know that I love Kim Liggett. I have read most of her books, and I enjoy the fact that they are all different. In fact, one of her books gave me nightmares. I loved it! So...if her name is on the book, I purchase it.

When I first started this book, I was afraid that it was going to be so in your face political. YA books right now are sooooo political, and I feel like instead of telling a really good story, the issue, or issues, the author wants to address take away from the the actual story. (My opinion. YA is extremely heavy-handed in expressing political views at this moment in time. MY OPINION!) It can be done in a subtle way that leaves a reader with something to ponder, and I, personally, would like to see that more.

Also, this book came with a lot of hype, and it isn't even published yet. That usually guarantees that I might not enjoy it as much. Sometimes hype is just hype. As I was in the early stage of reading, I was thinking that I knew where she was going with the story...nothing new here.

Then there is the format, it's written in seasons, not chapters. That was off-putting to me. I kept thinking that if I was frustrated with finding a place to stop, teens are not going to enjoy it either. In my experience, short chapters are best for them. (and adults)

BA-BAM!!!!!!! (That is the sound of me getting hit in the head with the awesomeness that is this book!)

You know what? This book IS worth all of the hype! It wasn't political at all, as a matter of fact, it's just an fantastic story that I cannot stop thinking about! Why did I read it so early?!?!?!? Now I have to wait until September to discuss it with my teens and adults. UGH!!! (Oh yes! My adult book discussion group will HAVE to read this!)

My initial dislike of the format disappeared quickly. I couldn't put the book down, so stopping wasn't an issue. How can you put a book like this down? IMPOSSIBLE!!!

Did I figure out what was going to happen...heck to the no! It dropped my jaw more than once! In fact, at one point I startled my son because I yelled out loud about what was happening, even took joy in it. Then, Kim took my joy away, but she's a bigger person than me...LOL!!! (You'll see when you read it.)

That characters are so great! She did a really good job of making each one an individual. If you took away the names, I would've known who was talking. That's a some great writing! I had VERY strong feelings about each one. She also got me! Man! She's is marvelous!!!

PLEASE PURCHASE THIS BOOK!!! READ IT!!!! PLEASE, PLEASE READ IT!!!

At this point, Kim Liggett could write lists of random words, and I would purchase them! This is a book that is already being talked about, and when it comes out, it's going to explode! What an author!!! What a story!!!

The things we do to girls. Whether we put them on pedestals only to tear them down, or use them for parts and holes, we’re all complicit in this. But everything touches everything else, and I have to believe that some good will come out of all this destruction. The men will never end the grace year. But maybe we can.’

At its heart, the above excerpt sums up the message of this book for me.
A brutal story, chilling in its execution, but utterly compelling. A must-read, and I’m so thankful to NetGalley for allowing me to read this prior to publication.
From an early age girls in this dystopian world know that they are feared. It’s a commonly-held belief that they have the power to turn men mad with desire and to manipulate other women. As a result, upon reaching sixteen the girls are forced to live apart from their community for a year in an attempt to rid themselves of their powerful magic, and prepare them to return and take up their places in the community.
We follow Tierney and her fellows Graces as they make their journey to the encampment. It’s a journey fraught with danger, but sometimes the greatest danger comes from within.
Watching the girls settle into their lives there was a sense of optimism. Under Tierney’s guidance, people started to make plans for the future and to prepare for the changing seasons. Unfortunately, not everyone is happy with this scenario and things start to go badly wrong.
The harrowing account of the girls’ camp experience was akin to Lord of the Flies. Nothing more brutal than a girl scorned, and the desire the girls show to punish one another was discomforting. This is not a read you want to ignore, but there are so many moments I wanted to weep at the senseless cruelty that pervaded every action.
In spite of the horrors that seem to be at every turning, there are glimpses of hope. Watching Tierney slowly realise just what some of her past encounters truly signified, and fighting for her deep belief in what was right was stirring. Seeing her reassess everything she thought she knew about the poachers and her home world, gave a brief glimpse of what might be...if people were brave enough. Though some of our expectations were cruelly cut down, the turns taken in this story offer hope where it’s most needed.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an advance readers copy of The Grace Year in return for my honest review.

First off I loved loved loved this book. The Grace Year is not in the genres I normally read or I have I ever read a book like this. Kim Liggett had a way of describing things in the book without using a bunch of descriptions. I could picture everything that was happening as could I "see" the landscape. I hate when I read a book and the author spends so much time describing things that I find myself skipping over some of the story. This was not the case with this book! I could feel what every character was going through and couldn't stop reading to see what was next. Although I wish there was more time spent with Ryker. :)

Unputdownable so well written so involving..A book that reminds me of The Handmaidens Tale.A book that will be passed from woman to woman. Grab this book. #netgalley #st.Martinspress.

An intense book with tension and lush description. A strong heroine and a world that echoes Handmaiden's Tale.

I think the strength in this book lies in its concept, not its execution. Instead of taking a familiar story and making it something completely new and inspiring and harrowing, it was just the same thing we've seen over and over again, not only in YA but in literary fiction as well. Also, I'm afraid to say, it's been done better, several times over.. Let's start with the characters - Tierney is bland and a poor caricature of every YA dystopian heroine. Kiersten, as the misunderstood villain, is almost ridiculous and too overdone, and Gertie as the castoff from the popular crew who is later befriended by the, also castoff, main heroine is probably, the most interesting character. The plot itself feels recycled and while I understand the purpose of the forbidden romance was necessary in terms of driving the big plot twist at the end, it felt contrived, unsurprising and, well, cheesy. Honestly, I don't enjoy writing reviews like this, but in a time where books like this are so important, it is extremely disappointing when they don't deliver. This is absolutely nothing against the author - like I said, I appreciate what she was trying to do here, the pieces just didn't fit together. And when it comes to recommending a story like this to readers, unfortunately, there are other titles I would recommend first.

With thanks to #Netgalley and the publisher for my ARC.

Wow! Just wow!

The story and characters in this book have been with me since I began reading, often I will devour a book in one sitting, but this one needed and deserved to be read more slowly, so that all of the visceral feelings, emotions and judgements could be experienced, sorted and reminisced upon.

As other reviewers have stated, I too believe that it could be described as, “The Handmaid’s Tale” meets “Lord of the Flies”.

The tale begins in a patriarchal society where men are revered and girls’ value is only as future wives and mothers of boys. Girls are sent away for their sixteenth year, “the grace year” to rid themeselves of their magic - that which fascinates and seduces the men in ‘the county’. Prior to their departure veils (wedding veils) are presented to those girls seen as worthy enough or esteemed enough to be wives on their return. If a girl doesn’t receive a veil her life will be spent ‘in service to the county’.

The reader follows Tierney, the main character through her grace year. Tierney struggles to survive as the other girls descend into chaotic, primitive behaviour - turning against one another; becoming bloodthirsty vengeance filled creatures with little regard for one another.

In the midst of this Tierney discovers who she really is, and who the people around her are, she begins, ‘to really see’. Ultimately Tierney’s strength will need to be enough to survive the grace year unbroken.

In this book, the Handmaid's Tale meets the Hunger Games and Lord of the Flies. The book is well-written and you keep reading as you just don't know what is going to happen next. You feel a whole range of emotions from fear to surprise and hope to despair. There are many twists in the plot that will keep you reading. The main characters are strong young ladies and this makes it an enjoyable read for young adult ladies but is equally enjoyable for adults too. Feeling the repression that the young ladies of the community, you hope that this group of grace year candidates will find a way to break years of women being treated differently and the seeds are certainly sown in Tierney (in more ways than one!) If you enjoyed supporting Katniss or found the Handmaid's Tale uncomfortable, but enjoyable reading, you will certainly enjoy this book.

This was an unrelentingly sad and violent book, but it’s written beautifully and the ending really blew me away. I definitely had moments of frustration—the pacing is a little uneven, and there’s some instalove issues—but overall this is a really strong, dark story.

The one thing that did really grate on me, and I want to mention in case it’s an issue for anyone else, is the use of historical facts as “gotcha” style plot devices. The girls are from a Puritan-esque society that believes that teen girls are inherently wicked, and must be banished to an island to burn off their magic before they’re marriageable. Spoiler alert: the real source of the “magic” is based on a myth many people still believe about the Salem Witch Trials. Also there’s a plot point that involves allusions to how the colonists gave indigenous Americans smallpox. None of this is bad writing, per se, but it did induce some eye-rolling from me. Plus, it served to cast Tierney and Ryker in the pall of the “white girl/savage native man” trope which isn’t a good look for anybody, even though this certainly didn’t seem like the author’s intent.

Whoa...just WHOA. This is hands down one of the best books I've read in years. Shocking, captivating, and original. It's the unicorn of books. Everything amazing in a neat little book package. Cannot recommend highly enough. Everyone must read this book.

The Grace Year is definitely one of the Books of the Year! The concept put forth is different and renders for a story that the reader will not forget.

Brilliant prose and heart-grabbing material !

Many Thanks to St. Martin's Publishing and NetGalley for a great read !

I really enjoyed this story. It was heart-wrenching and wonderfully written. It will be a hit with fans of "Handmaid's Tale."

I was really excited when I first read the description for this book and thought it was a very interesting concept. Unfortunately it was very formulaic and had a very predictable love story. I wish I had known that before, as I generally stay away from books that have relationships like this one. The mystery behind the "illness" ultimately wasn't that exciting and the ending wasn't anything great either. Too bad, I was expecting this to be a whole lot better.

I loved this book. It will be featured on my blog in a future themed post about the religious right and the Quiverfull movement. Thank you for providing me with a review copy.

A unique tale reminiscent of lord of the flies and a handmaid's tale with a sprinkling of the knife of never letting go. Girls pitted against each other in an oppressive society only interested in compliant women. This book was engaging. I do wish the ending had been a bit stronger but absolutely worth the time invested to read! Thanks to the publisher and netglley for an eARC.

When I first started to read this book I tried my best to categorize it by things that have come before (think "Handmaid's Tale" meets "Hunger Games" meets "Mean Girls."). It drew me in because it became its own book because the main character, Tierney, was so strong.

On the surface, it is about the "grace year" - every year, all the 16 year-old girls in the village are sent away. The "lucky ones" that return are an absolute mess. What happened to them? Prior to leaving, the "lucky ones" are presented with veils by their new husbands (husbands they are given to by their fathers). During the grace year, they can be hunted down by poachers. The women are sent away to this ordeal to rid them of their magic and allow the survivors to return to the village where they no longer represent a threat.

This book is about a lot more than surviving the grace year. It has a lot of say about society's fear and control or women, how society sets up women to destroy each other to the benefit of men, and how women continue to survive despite this and find ways to support one another and challenge the system.

It’s absolutely brutal and kind of devastating. The premise is basically that in this patriarchal dystopian society, change can only happen if women band together for change instead of turning on each other for the scraps they are allowed. Which great! But also depressing! I think it’s trying to be The Handmaid’s Tale for Teens, but I don’t think that’s necessary? And when I say it’s brutal, I mean this book is not for squeamish people. Highlight include: a maggot infested axe wound, lopping off body parts and hanging them from trees, and a girl that sets herself on fire. I think overall that it was just too bleak for me to really enjoy it.

This was described as Handmaid's Tale meets the Power. I think it's a little more Handmaid's tale meets the Hunger Games with speculative magic, especially with the ending going the way it does. It was a slow start but then picked up with some hive mind / Lord of the Flies, then went sideways. If you like Dystopian fiction such as The Hunger Games, Matched, the Maze Trials, etc, this will be a solid reading choice for you and your YA library collection.

Every year, the village exiles their 16 year old girls to the wilderness for their Grace Year. During their Grace Year, the girls work to expel their magic--which makes them dangerous--and become suitable wives.

However, not every girl returns from their Grace Year, and the ones that do are often scarred both physically and mentally.

Tierney, raised in a manner more suited to the males of the town, has no desire to be a wife. She hopes that she remains unchosen so that she can work in the fields and have some semblance of freedom. However, on the day of the veiling (the process where men in town choose a wife from the suitable candidates) she is given a veil by someone she never expected, or that she wanted a veil from.

With the veiling, Tierney is put into a very dangerous position with the other girls. She is soon ostracized in the wilderness as the girls magic begins to come in and they begin to turn on one another. They send her outside the walls of the Grace Year encampment where she faces a number of new dangers, like poachers who kill Grace Year girls and harvest their parts for money.

The Grace Year feels a lot like Lord of the Flies, but with teen girls forced into the wilderness by society. The book's premise was really interesting and I was excited to read it. And I enjoyed about 75% of it. I didn't love the way the ending felt very hand-wavey. It could just be the fact that I really wanted the book to end with what amounts to an uprising and Tierney overthrowing the oppressive patriarchal system...and a lot of the build up to the conclusion of the story felt that it could be heading in that direction...but it just didn't.

The book was good, I'd recommend it but with the caveat that the ending may be less than satisfactory.