Amazing Grace Adams was a pleasant book to read about a couple falling in love in unusual circumstances and building a family the non-traditional way. It is interesting to read about a young woman --Grace-- who has her whole life in front of her (she speaks fluently 5 foreign languages, she has a strong personality, a good head on her shoulders). She knows from a young age that she does not want to have children; she wants to focus herself solely. And then she meets this guy... Ben. They never really dated, but they spent a steamy night together. And then, Grace's life gets turned upside down when she discovers 5 months later that she is expecting. As a respectable and responsible young adult, she decides to keep the baby and inform Ben, even though she hasn't seen him since that night. Ben, just as responsibly, decides to give this relationship a try, and be a daddy to this unborn child. That's when you think, "Nothing can go wrong, right?" Well, wrong! Anyone's life can go wrong. The reason being that no one has any control over their lives. Fran Littlewood takes on this amazing woman's journey; how hard it is to be a mom, to handle so many things in life: your relationship with the kids, with your husband, trying to juggle a career in the middle of all that chaos, and manage to tackle the constant obstacles, flawlessly.

There is no perfect mom, and sometimes we mess up: we say the wrong thing, we make the wrong decision, we look like the asshole or the bad guy for a greater good, BUT we love our family with every fiber of our being. I recognized myself in Grace Adams, that might be why I enjoyed this book so much. It was a good reminder to give myself a break.

Thank you Net Galley and the publisher for this advanced copy in exchange of my honest opinion.

This book was a rollercoaster ride for me! Grace snaps under stress and just walks away from everything. This whole story takes place in only one day. Her stress mainly comes from her relationships with her teenage daughter and her husband and a huge mistake she made years ago. This book has so many timelines going at once that it was confusing for me. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book!

great book and I enjoyed the characters growth. Loved the friends and how this all worked out. I enjoyed the characters journey to finding oneself and others. I hope to read more by this author again.

I really liked this book for about 200 pages, it was witty, sharp and a decent story, then I am not sure what happened. Too far in to give up now, I carried on into the melodramatic and sometimes awkward (not in a good way) storyline.
It is a shame as it was going so well, even though the characters were pretty much all unlikeable, the humour kept me with them, until the last third of the book when I just wanted it to be over.

Grace Adams had at least one amazing quality when she was younger. She could speak five languages and won a competition for Polyglot of the Year, also winning the heart of the young man she defeated by just one point. But now, at the age of 45, her life has imploded. Her teenage daughter, Lotte, is receiving inappropriate messages on social media and won't talk about them, Grace herself has lost two jobs simultaneously, her perimenopausal body is letting her down, and her estranged husband has moved out. But Grace is determined to deliver a birthday cake to Lotte, who now lives with her father, even though she hasn't been invited to her 16th birthday party, and even though she has mindlessly abandoned her car in the middle of the road.

In short, Grace is a mess and, to me, not an endearing one. Yes, she has been through some traumatic events, but her seeming refusal to take any responsibility for her spiraling life makes her unrelatable. The constant time shifts are jarring as well. I found this to be a way more depressing book than I would ever knowingly choose to read (the blurbs are misleading), so it wasn't the right read for me.

My thanks to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Co for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of this book.

Grace Adams, a divorced middle aged woman is falling apart as she traverses London determined to bring her recently estranged daughter a special cake for her 16th birthday. Using multiple timelines and flashbacks, Littlewood unravels her story of a mother's love.

The publicity for this book is misleading. I simply couldn't bring myself to care about Grace. She wasn't "amazing," just amazed.

The tale of Grace Adams unfolds through alternating chapters, depicting both a significant single day and the preceding years leading up to it. In life, things don't always unfold according to our desires, yet Grace Adams is determined to seize control and fulfill the task she has set for herself on this scorching summer day.

While Grace's proficiency in linguistics only plays a minor part, it serves as the foundation for the entire narrative. What captivated me was the way Littlewood skillfully weaves together Grace's life story and the events of a single day. The convergence of these elements through this remarkable storytelling technique is truly intriguing and creates a captivating narrative.

Where to start with this book? the concept of the book was interesting, I wanted to read about a woman in her 40s trying to figure out who she is and where her life is going after her divorce and the events leading to that, but then it became so boring it took me ages to finish it simply because I really didn't want to read about her anymore!

the writing was decent, but the characters were all so meh and I didn't feel connected to any of them, and I think that was the main reason it took me so long to finish it. also, the whole going back and forth in the timeline stopped working after the midpoint and was just not interesting.

overall, was it the worst book that I have read? No. but would I recommend it to others or pick it up again? Also no!

A big thank you to Netgalley and Henry Holt & Company for providing me with this ARC.

What a nice find. This was the first book I've read from this author and I really enjoyed it. The story was different from anything I've read recently and really captured my attention. It was so well written and the characters were fantastic.

I wish I could say that I enjoyed this book more than I actually did. The jumping timelines made it really hard to follow the flow of the story, which may have been the author's intent - to help the reader get into some of what is going on in Grace's scattered mind - but by the middle of the book I was just over it.

The book had a great premise, but just didn't live up to itself. I think a strong edit to keep a more consistent flow would help it tremendously, because I have a lot of sympathy for Grace, and I'd like to see her win this battle of middle aging. But I lost track of how many different time lines there actually were, and the last 100 pages I really just read to check off the "done" column.

Thank you to Net Galley who provided me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I picked this book up after listening to the author at a virtual netgalley event. I was looking for a fast paced fun read and it met some of that criteria. It is fast paced. I enjoyed the fast and short back and forth between time zones although there were moments it felt like I was jogging to keep up with it! At times it is funny but there is a serious and sad side to the read. I’m always intrigued by the decisions an author makes on what interesting side stories or details to include. In this case it is the fact that the main character is a linguist. It definitely added positively to my reading experience. This read is a social commentary and may make you break out in hives if you are currently raising a teenage daughter!

Thank you to netgalley for providing me with an early release in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I was drawn to this because it was compared to Eleanor Oliphant. I acknowledge the attempt at matching the quirkiness of Eleanor was earnest, but the author didn't quite pull it off. Too many jumping timeliness that were confusing to follow, and Grace herself was not a character I cared much about. It seemed to me she created most of her own problems and accepted no responsibility for them at all.
I will say the author has a knack for snappy, razor-sharp dialog; that alone makes me want to give her one more try.
I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Amazing Grace has been compared to "Bernadette, Eleanor Oliphant, Rosie, Ove..." and I disagree with that comparison. It sets the wrong expectation for this book. Yes, there is a sort of meet cute in the beginning, but this isn't really a humorous book with cranky, but funny characters. It stands on it's own without the comparisons. It is a look at a woman who changed her course in life, then life hit back hard. Very hard. Unequipped to handle the pain and guilt, Grace checks out of her family's and her own life until one day she just snaps. When Grace abandons her car mid-traffic to reach her daughter's 16th birthday party of which she wasn't invited, her mind starts to unspool over her losses and what she wants going forward. It seems like way too much time and trauma have occurred to repair the damage, but I was rooting for all the members of this damaged family.

I really wanted to like this book more but there is a lot going on and it’s not always easy to know “when” in the storyline you’re reading about. It also seems to just keep going when you already know how hard or sad or depressing or difficult a situation is just so emphasize the main character’s current state of mind. It is a story about a strong woman who is approaching menopause and is coming to terms with several different events in her life and deciding how to deal with these events, over the course of one day, her daughter’s 16th birthday.
I rate it 2 1/2 stars. Thank you Netgalley for the eARC.

Two people who speak several languages each somehow fail to find the words to keep their marriage together. We learn about prize-winning polyglot Grace Adams and how her life has fallen apart. She’s on the verge of divorce and her teenage daughter won’t speak to her.

The story is told through multiple timelines, and we get pieces of the puzzle and finally see the whole picture at the end. In this case, I wish it would have been told chronologically. I felt like I was missing the details of Grace’s story to understand her character better.

On the day of Lotte’s 16th birthday, a myriad of disasters befalls Grace, starting with a giant traffic jam. She decides to walk away from her car, determined to pick up a birthday cake.

This is a story of motherhood, love, menopause, and fighting back from adversity. Grace was an interesting character and I think now that I’ve had a chance to reflect back on the book, she is getting more sympathy from me.

“Where’d You Go, (amazing) Grace?

This is what the Publisher’s blurb promised:
“Bernadette, Eleanor Oliphant, Rosie, Ove… meet Amazing Grace Adams, the funny, touching, unforgettable story of an invisible everywoman pushed to the brink—who finally pushes back.”

Whenever I read that I am about to meet the next Eleanor or Ove-I am all in!

But, Grace is nothing like those characters.

However, the story is reminiscent of “Where’d You Go, Bernadette?” (Maria Semple) so at least that comparison is accurate.

In 2002, Grace Adams was an AMAZING woman-a polyglot who spoke 5 languages and was also beautiful, competitive and impulsive. She had her whole life mapped out and was confident about what she wanted.

“Four months prior” to the “NOW” chapters is when Grace lost her husband Ben’s love and her daughter Lotte’s trust.

And, “”NOW” today, on Lotte’s 16th birthday, she has reached her own breaking point.

Stuck in standstill traffic, she exits her car and abandons it. She cannot let Lotte down again, and she is determined that she will pick up her daughter’s birthday cake and deliver it to her party on time- despite the fact that she wasn’t invited and EVEN if she has to walk the rest of the way to her ex husband’s new flat, carrying the cake the rest of the way there!

How can a woman fall so far from grace?

This is her story.

Round and round and round we go-alternating between the THREE timelines, throughout the entire book.

It was not at all confusing -BUT, I think if the story had been told chronologically with just flashbacks to 2002, the story would have worked better.

Often manic, and rarely funny, this one didn’t quite work for me, but it also has many 5 star reviews, so it just might resonate with you.

You can find out if it does on September 5, 2023.

Thank You to Henry Holt and Co. for the gifted ARC provided through NetGalley. It was my pleasure to offer a candid review.

This was one of the most intense reads I've had in quite a while. The story is about one day in the life of Grace Adams, mother of Lotte and wife of Ben. Grace and Ben met in 2002 at a conference/competition of polyglots. They discovered an instant and intense connection. The story gives the background of how Grace Adams comes to the day of Lotte's sixteenth birthday and why she is in crisis mode.

She and Ben have more than sixteen years of history as a couple and have reached a breaking point. Grace feels old and worn out at age 42 with symptoms of perimenopause. Her career is stalling due to an inability to focus and get things done, including showing up on time for work.

I loved the initial discovery of their fierce attraction, both physical and intellectual. Grace and Ben had fun with everything they did until real life came to call. They dealt with parents, jobs, and pregnancy the best they could, together and united. Ben's loyalty to Grace was stunning.

I loved this deep, thoughtful book of love and life and loss. However, things are all falling apart as Grace desperately tries to get a spectacular birthday cake for Lotte for her sixteenth birthday party. I felt like I had traveled this arduous journey with them.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the advanced copy of the book.

I just reviewed Amazing Grace Adams by Fran Littlewood. #NetGalley

Thanks to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Co for my ARC in exchange for me honest review. This book will be published September 5, 2023.

In my opinion Grace Adams is NOT amazing. She’s a mess. Living with unresolved grief and guilt, she snaps on her daughter’s 16th birthday while trying to get a fancy cake for a party she wasn’t invited to. She abandons her car in traffic, steals a golf club, bashes another car and lies to the police.

But wait. There’s more joy! She loses her job, her husband has an affair and her daughter is in an inappropriate relationship with her teacher! There is so much going on in this book and it’s all depressing.

Told in 3 different time periods, this book was a mess. Could have been 1 star but gave it 2 since Grace Adams finally grew up. But too little too late.

Grace is having the worst day. It is her daughter’s sixteenth birthday and her daughter refuses to see her. She is estranged from her husband. Menopause is overwhelming. The heat wave is just too much to bear. Grace leaves her car in the middle of the road and starts walking to pick up the beautiful birthday cake she has made for her daughter. If she can only take it to her, everything will be ok.
The author did a wonderful job of making the reader feel all the jumbled overwhelming feelings, both emotional and physical that Grace feels. The story is told in flashbacks that slowly unravel the story of how Grace and her family got to this day. There is a surprise towards the end of the book. And I really liked the ending. I am very much a mood reader and spending so much time in Graces jumbled thoughts was not easy. Overall, I am glad I read it. I read it as a slow but steady. In the right mood, I probably would have read it much more quickly.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC I am glad to have read this book. ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫