Amazing Grace Adams had a really intense plot with some almost equality intense subplots. Sometimes the plot was heavy and dense, and, other times light and funny. It really unfolded a lot about the behind the scenes of a family setting, but specially, unfold the deepest feelings of a mother and woman who was suffering but didn’t have the option to feel her pain, as she had to be strong for her daughter. Amazing Grace Adams shows Grace life struggles through a perspective that often times we only have if we are leaving the situation. The way that plot is articulated shows to the reader that there are so much that goes on in a relationship between a husband and wife, that nobody outside of it, specially a child could never dream of. This book is raw and intimate. Each chapter plays with the reader feelings; we feel for Grace, we hate Ben, we feel for Ben, we judge Grace. Fran Littlewood creates a natural dialogue between the story and the reader.
The message throughout the book was impeccable. It will definitely make anyone be more empathetic, careful, and I even dare to say be more grateful for all that our own mothers have done and do to us.
The story goes back and fourth between past and present. Not really my favorite style because I got confused in some parts.
I would recommend this book for all women because the story will definitely change you, for better.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC! I’m not a mother so this book wasn’t completely relevant to me. With that being said, it was an enjoyable read. I found it to be both heartbreaking at times and heartwarming at other times. The book’s main character has many qualities that are relatable as she is unpredictable, quirky and awesome.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was funny, sad, courageous and overall a look into our frailties as human beings. Look forward to more novels from this author. Her characters were lovable and heart rendering.

Not a fan of jumping timelines, sometimes the details get lost in the to & fro -FRENETIC
The extent of what women or any human goes through via body changes and/or grief is inexplicable. The main character seems manic & adrift in the first half of the book - leading you to believe that this was about menopause and the hysterical truth of aging, but the complexities and the eventual probable cause are revealed too late & obscure- not really addressing the angst that put her on her wild journey.

This book was so well written. I kept noticing the care the author took to describe a feeling or what was happening or both. Truly, excellent writing. I had a hard time with some of the story. It felt like there were too many underlying issues, which I guess could be true in real life. It just felt like more and more tragedy and pain kept being revealed as the story went on and I wasn’t ready for some of it. Overall, the writing itself was what made me like this book, but I wish the story could have unfolded differently.

When I read the synopsis of Amazing Grace Adams I immediately wanted to read this book. I feel like I have a lot in common with the main character and I so rarely get to see myself in books. Peri-menopausal? Check! Daughter? Check! Divorce? Check!

However, the format of the book made it difficult to read. The book quickly goes back and forth between the past, future, and present. Our main character, Grace, is a talented and capable person. Her decisions left me confused because they didn't mesh with who she is supposed to be. It made the reading experience confusing and jarring.

If you like books about women, women's issues, and family-related drama, you would probably like this book. I can see where fans of Liane Moriarty would like this novel.

The early chapters were interesting and made me like/be invested in the characters, but the more I read, the less I liked anyone.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Grace Adams is Amazing. She captures the reader with a love story that begins with a line of BIC pens, carries the reader onward through the struggles of adolescence of a teenage girl, the tragic loss of a child, and the dissolution and reconfiguration of a marriage. This story will ring true for anyone who has loved deeply, found a partner when it was unexpected, struggled and grieved for one’s children or found and lost love from a partner, a child or a parent. Mothers and daughters, husbands and wives. And after all of that, it is kindly and sensitively written with details that will make the reader feel like they are living the story. And even more, it’s set in fabulous London!


Thanks to NetGalley and Henry Holt and Company for the Advanced Review Copy.

Wow! Amazing Grace Adams is a powerful read. Fran Littlewood does a great job of capturing so many of the complicated emotions of motherhood. The story is heartbreaking yet hopeful. Thank you to NetGalley, Henry Holt & Company, and Fran Littlewood for the ARC! It was a really great book!

What else could go wrong?

In the words of Alexander, Grace Adams is having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
She is only tying to get a cake to her daughter for her 16th bday, but an avalanche of baggage falls into her path.

I went into the book thinking it might have some relatable humor, but that was not the case. Serious topics introduced include but not limited to child loss, loss of career, mental health, divorce, menopause, midlife crisis and raising teenage girls in the time of Tik tok!

The story unfolds across a variety of timelines present day, months before and years before.. Within the timelines there are also other flashbacks which I found to be a little confusing at times.

The story didn’t bring me the humor and joy I anticipated. However, it does address serious topics and challenges that mothers face. It would be a great book club discussion!

Few areas of the books resembled movies or books. If you enjoyed these, then you may enjoy this book. Pregnant women in the workforce - think Lessons in Chemistry. I also had images of Kathy Bates mid life crisis character in Fried Green Tomatos. Those that enjoyed the movie falling down are sure to love this book.

Oh man, Amazing Grace Adams is a tough book to review. While the suspension of belief is high, the levels of disaster and grief are excessive, it's a well told story that really hits home. Parents of teens, especially women going through peri menopause, need this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC for an honest review.

I had the pleasure of reading Fran Littlewood's upcoming novel, Amazing Grace Adams, set to release on September 5th, 2023. I enjoyed my reading experience and would recommend this book to fans of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and possibly to fans of Finlay Donovan is Killing It who are looking for something a bit less mystery and more contemporary fiction.

I give this book a solid 4-star rating. Littlewood's writing style is accessible and lends itself to fast page-turning. I fell in love with Grace, the main protagonist, within the first few chapters and her well-meaning antics kept me reading to the very end.

The story follows Grace Adams as she presently navigates her way on foot to her daughter’s 16th birthday party as an unwelcomed party guest. We go back in time to find out how Grace has a daughter in the first place, after openly ‘not wanting children’, how and why she’s now estranged from her child, and why Grace is the way she is—harried, extreme, at times obscene, and maybe—we’re not quite sure—losing grip on reality.

Yes, the story does get a bit far-fetched in moments. I didn’t mind this because all the pieces came together in the end, providing a somehow plausible story with a character at the center whom I won’t soon forget.

Overall, Amazing Grace Adams is a heartfelt and entertaining story that will leave readers feeling uplifted. I cannot wait to see what Fran Littlewood has in store for us in the future.

Absolutely a fan of Fran Littlewood! The writing style is just seamless and so enjoyable. I loved reading about Grace, the 45 year old main character, and her mid-life crisis of sorts. I found the story line with her daughter to be so relevant as a mom of teens myself. Fresh, funny, cheeky, tender… loved this one!

This is a raw and emotionally charged story of modern motherhood.

The main storyline is set on the day of the 16th birthday of Grace Adam's daughter, Lotte. Grace reaches breaking point and snaps. As the day progresses we catch glimpses through the years of the events leading up to this point and come to understand and sympathize with Grace. Being a mother is hard, being a wife is hard, and it doesn't help that we are our own worst critic.

While the events of that chaotic day become increasingly out of control and a bit far fetched I could also emphasize with Grace. As a similarly aged women and a mother, I can feel her anguish and see just how easily things spiral so out of her control. Through all of this though we also see Grace's grit and resilience. She is a woman, she loves fiercely and she will keep getting back up no matter what life throws at her next.

This was a well written debut novel. I especially appreciated how Lotte's polyglot parents, while having an in-depth knowledge of many languages, flounder with the complexity of communicating emotions and are perplexed by the social media language of their daughter's world.

Also a shout out to Fran Littlewood for writing about the realities of perimenopause. This is a very real and often completely life-altering experience for women and it needs to be openly discussed more rather than dismissed as a frivolous and imaginary ailment of middle age women.

I am still reeling from the emotional hit and I know this story will stay with me for a long time.

Thank you NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company for sending me this book for review consideration.

ARC Review (c/0 NetGalley and Henry Holt and Co. Publishing. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review.)

Usually we expect the book to come first, followed by the film, yet the idea for this novel is attributed to the 1993 film 'Falling Down' and knowing this helps to affix the plot and its troubled protagonist in place. 

Grace Adams is a pitiful, mess of a mother and she says that of herself, swearing to herself, cursing at the troubles of her mental and physical state. The fact that she's meant to be perimenopausal is an embarrassing addition to the character's backstory and being a mid-40 year old mother myself, I'm not certain who the target reader is for this novel! At times, I empathised with Grace, wanting her to break away from the mundane normalitude of her existence, yet at other times, I felt like this representation of women at a most fragile and tumultuous stage of life is not supportive. It presented Grace Adams, in spite of the tragedies and external mishaps affecting her mid-life as unstable and perhaps a bit insane. Younger Grace is a great character. Mid-life Grace...not so much and this bothered me since I thought she was going to have more of a feisty older character, to make older females feel better about what lies ahead?

Nevertheless, there is excitement in the plot. There are memories of a younger, care-free self and the raw emotion of relationships experienced earlier in Grace's life.  The story spans from 2002 to 2018 with a present and 'four months earlier' story too. This allows the reader to get to know Grace's husband Ben before they meet, during and after their marriage, as well as their teenage daughter Lotte who contributes a huge element to the plot. 

The amalgamation of life revelations and incidents do come across as a little contrived in the second half of the novel, which is a weird thing to say since the story could almost be autobiographical in style as to how real each circumstance seems to be. It's as if the author has muddled up a number of family events from experiences she has come across in life to create a female protagonist with a lot of problems and troubles to deal with. Some elements of the story are incredibly sad and real, almost too real, so that the novel does not help in lightening the anticipation of perimenopause or menopause at all! 

It's a capable debut novel and I enjoyed the opening chapters most. I reckon younger teens might enjoy this novel more than the perimenopausal mothers it might be targeting! 

review by Christina Francis-Gilbert

A heartbreaking novel jumping through then and now vignettes of Grace Adams that threads a story of loss, depression, abuse, love, and fear. A day in the life of Grace moves through the vignettes trying to create a picture that explains Grace’s current situation and emotional status.
As I read, I kept attempting to pull the pieces of Grace together from the segments. I was lost until the reason for her behavior is explored almost at the end of the book. Then, it became clear but at the cost of losing my interest.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I absolutely loved this book! I could not put it down. Every mother needs to read this book.

Amazing Grace Adams is a brilliant book about marriage, motherhood, grief, and the universal guilt all mothers at one time or another feels when raising children. That they have failed their kids and are not the parent they think they should be.

I found myself rooting for Grace to see what an amazing mom she is.

Thank you #NetGally, #MacMiillian and especially #FranLittlewood for the ARC.

I'm not a mother so maybe that's why I struggled to connect with this book and at parts I really connected with Grace however overall it felt disjointed and as if we were trudging through the character development. I liked the concept of the three timeless of before, during, and after although I grappled with the execution. I really enjoy flawed imperfect characters and this book does that well.

An enjoyable read that is heartbreaking at times and heartwarming at other times. Grace Adams is quirky, carefree, unpredictable, and amazing. An entertaining read from start to finish.

I really liked the first half of the book, but then it just kept getting weirder. There’s too much going on, too many storylines, and the Now parts were just bizarre.

Thanks to #NetGalley and the publisher for early access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

Oh Grace Adams, I fell in love with you in the first chapter! Grace is a mess as a perimenopausal, 45 year old mother, just trying to get a birthday cake to her 16 year old daughter's birthday party and nearly everything that can go wrong does. Fran Littlewood does an amazing job telling the story of Grace, Ben and Lottie through three different timelines in this novel. The balance of heartache, humor, and relatability of the mess we call life in this book is skillfully done in a way that left me continuously thinking about this family. There are passages in this book that had me laughing out loud at the absurdity of the situation, but yet in the next chapter my heart would go out to Grace as she tries to navigate life with a teenager finding her own way. I absolutely loved this book and the will look forward to reading more from Fran Littlewood in the future. Thank you to Net Galley, and Henry Holt & Company for the advanced copy of this book that I'm certain will become a favorite of many other, imperfect mothers like myself just trying to get through this crazy life, all opinions are my own.