The Grace Year is Handmaid's Tale meets Hunger Games. In a town where the women are believed to have magic, girls are sent to purge their magic during the Grace Year. For a full year, these girls must band together to survive more than the elements. They must survive each other. Thrilling, thought-provoking, infuriating, and incredibly woven, The Grace Year is a must read for teens.

This had been on my TBR list for a while and I wish I would have picked it up sooner. I devoured it! It doesn't have traditional chapters like most novels, and normally this drives me crazy - but it worked for this book. These girls are sent away to lose their "magic" before marriage, so they cannot cast spells or bewitch anyone upon their return. If they leave the camp though, they will be killed by poachers who sell their body parts back to the town as they have powers because of their magic.

Not everything is as it seems and we learn about the girls' magic over the course of the story. It is really one girl's journey to understanding, finding love, forgiveness, and acceptance over the course of the grace year. It has a bittersweet ending. I highly recommend this one!

Good Gracious Kim Liggett THE GRACE YEAR! (#shockandawe)
Moreover, months after reading this, I’m still reeling from it.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Wednesday books for providing me a copy of this novel to read.
This book is not what I expected at all. (In a good way) Even now, I want to reread it again and again.
This book is stand alone and it has excellent ‘grip’ from beginning to end.
As always, this will be a spoiler free reivew! Let’s get to it~~


“A person is made up of all the little choices they make in life. The choices no one ever sees.”
― Kim Liggett, The Grace Year

First, there is no reason why my review should have taken this long. I’m not sure why I held off on writing it. I rated the book 5 stars immediately but trying to put into worlds all the nuances and points of the book I loved, seemed overwhelming to do.
It’s still overwhelming.


The plot, when reading the summary, felt like a ‘hunger games’ scenario. When reading the book, it was not that straight forward. Women are betrothed before they are sent to the woods to ‘purge’ their magic. Their ‘Grace Year’, if you want to call it that….That is honestly just the tip of the iceberg of this plot and its roots are vast.


The characters grow so much. All of them grow. Unwillingly or willingly, but frightfully and roughly they learn and grow. Tierney leads this movement. She’s the catalyst and the car that drives it. She is amazing and I adored her. The characters, all of them were unique and contributed to details, the intricacy of the tale. As a result, The Grace Year hits hard and with feeling.


I’m being vague but I truly think this a book you experience. In short, I would recommend it if you enjoy psychological books. Books that make you think. A novel that makes you question.
My hat is off for The Grace Year and the writing was incredible.


Happy Reading~
Ash

This book definitely had some Handmaids Tale dystopian vibes. I have been wanting to read this book for forever and in really enjoyed it. It was weird at first but then everything became clear and I understood why everything was happening the way that it was. This book was filled with suspense, mystery, and a coming of age story like no other. There were some hard parts to read but Liggett didn't hold back how utterly raw this story is. I loved it.

The Grace Year is a book that will make you angry in the best possible way. It makes you want to fight and change the world. It is wonderfully written and definitely keeps you on your toes. It's not for the faint of heart, so go in knowing there are some rough scenes. But ultimately, I think this is such an important book and one that all teens should read.

I'm sad to say that I've given this book 1.75 stars. The concept was interesting, the ending was great, but the process of it was slow and boring.

This was one of my most anticipated books from that time and I'm really sad that I couldn't enjoy it the way I wanted to.

I think dramatically immature YA books don't excite me anymore.

Thank you Netgalley and Wednesday Books for the free ac of this book in exchange for an honest review.


Girls possess magic and come into their power at 16 and are sent into the woods for a year to burn the power they' have in a ritual called The Grace Year. The power drives men into fits of lust and attraction and drives older women to jealousy. Consuming their skin alone is considered to be an aphrodisiac in their community of Gardner County. Tierney James is now sixteen and must prepare for The Grace Year, but she just wants to come home and work the fields. She dreams of living not as someone's wife (the goal of most girls) but about living on her own terms. When she is sent into the woods she has nothing but her sense of self and determination to keep her alive as she must deal with the poachers a group of men who hunt the girls for their skin, and the others girls in the camp. Tierney the Terrible they call her and she's public enemy number one to popular girl Kiersten.

Tierney felt very reminiscent of Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice and I instantly related to her wanting to make her own way in life and resenting the men in her life who thought they knew what was best for her. Kiersten was the typical mean girl that I think every girl knew in high school. At the same time I just wanted to know why she was the way she was. This beautifully heartbreaking book demands to be read In one sitting. I could not put this down and I could not stop crying near the end. This isn't a book about magic so much as a book about what it's like to grow up female. The pressures society puts on you to look like an adult when you're still a child and then bashes you for being too sexually appealing and it's not men's fault for feeling that way. For the older women who are afraid of losing their significant other in a world full of people trying to replace what and who they have with a new younger version. Finally it's about what women can do if they're allowed to work together instead of pitted against one another.

Wow. Just . . . wow.

I did not know what I was going to be getting myself into. I just know I kept hearing how good The Grace Year was, and I don't usually buy into the hype or when I do it's nothing like what everyone was making it out to be. I have major black sheep syndrome.

However, this book was so much more than I anticipated. In so many amazing ways. It is such a raw emotions experience of reading about these girls going off to be secluded from their family and friends for a year, and fighting to the death . . . because that's how it's "always been."

This book has a lot of Handmaid's Tale vibes, but for younger girls. Being told what to do in society, being chosen for marriage, what job you'll have, etc. It's a very interesting take on society that I feel is slowly becoming a reality in today's world.

Several plot twists made The Grace Year a wild ride. I thought we'd be following along with the girls going at each other's throats and just waiting for them to kill each other off. Which, of course, they did. There was one scene that really bothered me, because it really sounded like one of the girls was raping another girl with a feather. However, I cannot be certain that is exactly what happened.

However, there was more to the story and a great plot twist with Tierney getting away from the other girls because they banished her. Tierney is a free thinker and very logical, and she was quick to take charge. The other girls saw this as a threat. The ending was a complete holy shit moment. I was shocked and then so moved by emotion. I might've cried.

This is a book about female empowerment, a twisted "coming of age" element, and a look into how girls can treat each other when left to their own. It's a book you'll want to read!

Kim Liggett presents a dystopian society that will chill you to your marrow. Tierney's society believes that sixteen-year-old girls have siren-like powers that make him susceptible to their allure, preying on their weakness as men. To solve this problem, the girls are sent away for a "grace year," during which they relieve themselves of their power and prepare to marry a man who selected them prior to their departure. The girls, I must emphasize, have no say in who picks them.

Tierney bristles against all of this, viewing it as nonsense. She has drive and a strong will, which put her at odds with just about everyone in her community. She also has a tendency to misread people, particularly those closest to her, believing she's smarter than them. Liggett builds toward her comeuppance, making them moments of growth for Tierney.

The girls' experiences during their grace year will remind you of The Hunger Games and Lord of the Flies, which ought to tell you how harrowing some scenes are. The grace year intends to break these girls, making them pliable, malleable wives. The more Tierney bucks, the greater her risk of harm or worse. She has to learn to play the game, which makes her an entirely different sort of future wife.

Love assumes different shades in this book, including a selfless love shown Tierney from an unexpected source. That particular character, by the way, deserved more than they were given in this book. Tierney lucked out with a friend who proved to be there for her when she least deserved it but desperately needed it.

Teens will love this book. It's dark and edgy yet hopeful, and it's even a bit swoony. There is much to discuss: what would you do if you were Tierney? How would you have adapted to the grace year? Why do you think Tierney's community started the grace year tradition? Why do you think they are able to continue it? Why don't more people question it?

Let me know what you think of The Grace Year. If a teen in your life reads it, let me know what they think, too. It's a book you will want to talk about.

So it took me a while but I finally got around to reading this and let me tell you it did not disappoint. This gave me so many different feels and I love the dystopian aspect to it and it really reminded me of the handmaid‘s tale which is one of my favorite dystopian tales. I really felt for the characters and this book wasn’t very predictable which was great because I never knew what was going to happen next. The ending really threw me and I’m still thinking about it. I definitely recommend this one if You’re a fan of dystopian‘s!

This was probably my most anticipated book of 2019, but when it came time to read it, I just couldn't get into it. As a result, I put it to the side to come back to read at another time. I am very glad I did that and didn't just DNF the book because The Grace Year was a very interesting read.

Don't get me wrong, there are some truly horrifying things that happen in the book, but the writing is just so beautifully done it really does a great job of conveying those elements. You feel what you are reading. You don't exactly feel that you are part of the story, but you feel like more than just a passive observer.

3.5 Stars??

This is a story about patriarchy, and I think the description of this being a cross between The Handmaid's Tale and The Lord of The Flies fits well. I appreciated Tierney's anger and how it was shown throughout the story, especially in the beginning. You can feel how much she wants to at least stare daggers at the comments that are made about her while she has to just sit and take it.

I thought the writing was well done, and the descriptions of the surroundings were very visual and atmospheric. We really get the feeling of being in this society where women can be killed at the drop of a hat for minor "transgressions" and the fear that these women deal with every day. I would like to point out that there didn't seem to be any women of color in this society. No skin colors are brought up (that I remember, I may have missed it), which may have been on purpose, but a society where all girls are required to wear their hair in a single braid down their back does not seem like one where black people are welcomed.

I was really getting into the story until about halfway through when the "love interest" came into play. I hated how it changed the course of the story. I did not think a story about women coming together and finding sisterhood needed a romance at all, much less with a man. I just incredibly disliked that part of the story, and it really changed how I read it. <spoiler> He had a schematic on how to skin her alive. You cannot convince me that was "love".</spoiler>

Up to that point I would say I was enjoying it, however much you can really "enjoy" a story about violent patriarchy. And there were parts without the romance that still felt haunting and well done, but unfortunately everything was tinged by it. Especially at the end where I felt like the men of this society got off too easily. I wanted a more I guess... violent ending? I don't understand how we could go through everything we go through and then end up how we did. Maybe that's not the story Ligett set out tell, I don't know.

Anyway I did incredibly feel for the characters as stories like this always pull at my heartstrings, there were just some logistical things I didn't like.

Wow, this was a beautiful book. The atmosphere it captures and the emotion it stirs in readers is definitely first class.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I love dystopian stories and this one seemed like it was going to be similar to The Handmaid’s Tale, so I was extra excited. It didn’t disappoint. Tierney and the other girls from her village are sent away for a grace year before submitting to marriages chosen for them by village elders. It’s a bit of a Lord of the Flies scenario with every girl for themselves. As Tierney encourages the girls to work together, others in the group do their best to sabotage each other. And all the while, they are in danger from something on the other side of the fence. This book is full of adventure and twists and turns that will keep you guessing until the end.

What a page turner .. I enjoyed this dystopian novel set in a colony where every year, sixteen year old girls are sent away into the wilderness for their “grace year” its a time where they are forced to live without much food, water, .. and a lot of danger..all due to the belief that at sixteen their bodies emit a powerful aphrodisiac that must be let go of to later return home and be docile and ready to marry.
Yes, there are comparisons to The Lord of the Flies and The Hunger Games, I’ve read both of those books and still think this is very original.
I enjoyed it!

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for the ARC!

This is set in a dystopia-like world where women are pitted against each other. On every woman's sixteenth birthday, she is sent away in order to release her seductive magic into the wild so she's doesn't harm those around her, but not everyone comes back alive.

A fever dream of a novel, keeping me turning pages later into the night until I finally finished, drained.

In the alternate reality story, girls are thought to have magic.  In an effort to cleanse them, they are banished to spend their sixteenth year (the grace year) in the wild.  
It is basically a female version of The Lord of the Flies and we learn the girls are no less horrible to one another than are boys.  I am giving the story 3.5 stars - it would have gotten 4, but for the ending.

I liked the story, but it worked better in theory than in practice with me. I just didn't connect with the writing or any of the characters.

This is not like many other books I have read. It fits into the fantasy genre, which I do not normally choose. I was hearing about it everywhere, so I gave it a shot, and I am so glad I did. This was a very entertaining and interesting read. A bit of fantasy, a bit of Handmaids Tale.

I would definitely suggest this book!

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review