The book blurb and book cover are misleading. There is nothing humorous about this book as Grace becomes more dysfunctional each chapter. The chapters flip around in time, but it is not until the end of the book that a twist helps explain Grace’s behavior, her daughter Lotte’s problems, and her distancing from her husband, Ben. The twist in the book makes everything clear, but it was difficult getting to that point. Grace was a talented linguist, and it was a challenge to understand what was happening to her, as much seemed to be blamed on menopause, which wasn’t really at the core of her problems. I would hesitate to recommend this one. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I was excited about reading this book after hearing about it.
Grace is trying to win her estranged daughter back. The road to get her back is riddled with all kinds of crazy happenings. This book made me sad, it made me happy, and it made me laugh. The book did, to an extent, remind me of Eleanore Oliphant and Ove.
Amazing Grace Adams is a quirky book with a lot of heart. Well worth a read!

I'm always so grateful to NetGalley and the publishers for these opportunities to read good books early. So I feel quite guilty if there's one I just can't make my way through. I tried until I found me hating myself for trying. Yes, the content is just that objectionable! I wish I'd read a few reviews before I asked to read it. Apparently, other readers agree with me.

Let’s be honest, adulting is hard. Motherhood is super hard. And when all things go awry, attempting to do both is extremely hard. Enter Grace Adams having a horrible day. Things have spiraled out of her control with her job, marriage and teenage daughter. The story bounces between various time periods in Grace’s life, but mainly focuses on her daughter’s birthday. It started off humorously in that things-are-so-bad-you-just-have-to-laugh way, but eventually some poignant messages started to surface. I ended up feeling sad for most of the book. There are just too many struggles in Grace’s world!!

Thank you NetGalley, Henry Holt & Co., Macmillan Audio, and author Fran Littlewood for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for an advanced copy of this book in return for my honest review. For me, this book falls into the category of "I Really Wanted to Like This One But Sadly Didn't." If you read any of my reviews you will see that connecting to characters is HUGE for me. It doesn't matter how much action or drama, if I don't connect to the characters or even worse if I don't LIKE the characters (especially the main character) I have a hard time enjoying the book. And as a mother of teenagers in menopause, I was THE target audience, but I think there are better books out there for us. I won't be recommending this to my middle-aged friends.

This book is a character driven novel by Fran Littlewood. It is Read with Jenna Book Club pick.
Grace. It is a book that will provide stimulating conversation with book club members and readers.

Thank you to Net Galley and for an advance review copy. My thoughts are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Henry Holt & Company for the advanced reader copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

In Amazing Grace Adams, we follow Grace, a mother of one who is determined to get to her daughter’s sixteenth birthday party. She’s equipped with a Love Island themed birthday cake and is determined to make it there before the end of the party. Along the way, Grace runs into many obstacles, from traffic to road rage and the obstacles in her mind, reminding us that no matter how far we fall, we can always get up again.

I found this story both funny and terribly sad at times. While I was mostly entertained, I just wish there was a bit more story to this one in the present day. This book is split into the present, the far past and the more recent past and I don’t know if the intersplicing of Grace’s backstory into the present day worked as well. It just left me wanting more.

This cover is perfection. It’s exactly how I feel after reading this book 🖕Thank you NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. I really tried hard to NOT throw this away! It’s because of you (and Jenna B. Hager) that I didn’t DNF this book 15% in. There were too many different timelines and even the POVs were confusing, coupled with absolutely zero character development and zero likable characters! This book was so depressing and I wish I could get this time back. I hate to say it but 🖕Grace Adams. You get 0.5/5 💫 for me 😢

I love how Grace has decided to remind herself and those around her that she truly was and is amazing. Sometimes life can wear even the best of us down. We can all use a little of Grace's determination. While I didn't see the comparison to Elanor Oliphant nor Ove, the book is defintely one that everyone should read and heed!

So this was the first read with Jenna pick that I did not like. It started off okay, but ended with a dark and disturbing story about a sexual relationship between a teacher and Grace's 15-year-old daughter. I'm really surprised that she chose this book because it was really hard to read about Grace discovering/witnessing this, and it was supposed to be an entertaining book, not about child abuse. Clearly the marketing for this one was all wrong. It's not an "easy" or "light or really "funny" read at all. It was dark and depressing. I thought it was about a woman who had enough, kind of rediscovering herself, but it was not that at all

* I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this book. All thoughts are my own.

Amazing Grace Adams was such a struggle for me to read and it’s hard to find anything I particularly liked about the book. I couldn’t get into the flow of the book for quite a while, and then the timeline was jumping around so I couldn’t make sense of what was going on. I really couldn’t tell you what this book is about other than Grace is a 45 year old mom, who seems to be having some issue, and whose 16 year old daughter is mad at her and she’s going through a divorce.

Would not recommend.

Amazing Grace Adams was a slow burn, for sure. For the most of the book, it seemed that Grace was dealing with a mid-life crisis. It was not until well after halfway through the book that the pieces start appearing and as they start to fall together, I realize that my heart had become attached to Grace and her life mattered to me. This book was expertly crafted and I will not soon forget it. Grace was at once spunky, hopeless, smart, sassy, and lovable. Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I love Grace. I loved the narrator. I really loved that this book touches on so many topics many other books about women ignore.

I am not a fan of the style of writing where we keep jumping from the present to various times in the past. But I have to say that Fran Littlewood knows how to grab a reader's attention. The beginning, at a polyglot contest where Grace meets Ben is immediately interesting. and grabs you right in.

Grace's mother was a depressive personality and that has a lifelong effect on her. Grace's erratic behavior as she attempts to deliver a birthday cake to her daughter Lotte shows some craziness but is still believable. Not so much the autoimmune condition that is making Grace's vulva disappear. Never heard of that one. (Note to self: Check it out on Goggle.)'

I also wish that there had been more about Grace's ability with multiple languages and how she acquired it. There wasn't much mention after the beginning. Other than that, this novel is worth your time and makes Littlewood a name to watch.

My thanks and appreciation to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC copy of this book...

DNF for me. I just could not make a connection. I tried listening and reading Amazing Grace Adams. Still, nothing clicked. I always give a book a fair chance and do not put it down until I have at least read 100 pages. I don't DNF too often, but I'm not going to force myself to read something I am not enjoying. Fran Littlewood wrote a every entertaining piece and I understand why many of my fellow readers enjoyed this book. Would I ever read anything from this author again? Absolutely!! Her writing skills are excellent. Just this story was not for me. I am grateful to have the opportunity to read this book prior to its release date. Thanks to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company.

I honestly don’t know how I feel about this book. I finished it and I’m not above DNFing so it definitely kept my attention enough to complete the book. However, I expected this book to be funny and it turned out to be A LOT of trigger warnings-grief, sexual assault-just to name a few.

Unfortunately I didn’t seem to connect with the characters; I like debut authors. It must be quite the challenge to write a book and get it to press. Jenna Bush Hager has Amazing Gracie Adams as her Sept 2023 pick and finds it “wildly hilarious” per today.com … kudos!

SO MANY jumps in time between “now”, “4 months earlier”, “2003”, “now”, “4 months prior”. I kind of felt like whiplash every time there was a “time” change.

On the “NetGalley book cover”, there is a “circle” in the middle of the cover that says “I rooted for Grace from the first sentence.” … This NetGalley circle covers a woman holding up her middle finger. Had the “real cover” been what I had seen, I likely would not have requested to read the advance review copy.

Regardless … thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Henry Holt & Company for approving my request to read the advance review copy in exchange for an honest review. Rounding up to 3 stars; somewhere between 2 and 3 stars in my opinion. If it means anything, I thought the last 30-25% of the book was the best part.

The story was entertaining, authentic, and a quick read. It did, however, leave me wanting more backstory about particular characters, and I felt the ending left much unresolved. I didn’t expect it to be a tidy ending, but it seemed a bit disjointed towards the end. It was interesting that I wasn’t sure who to root for in the story. Each character had moments that made me feel for them, but also some that really annoyed me. Then again, perhaps that’s why I found it authentic!

I found the multiple jumping timelines to be distracting. The story/plot was not exciting enough to warrant it, and it felt confusing and tedious at times. There were also mentions of random side characters that did not become more fleshed out, so I felt like I was just left with information and random stories about people I didn’t know. With that said, the mother-daughter relationship felt very real, including the lingering guilt over Bea. The tragedy left a sick taste in my throat as if I were there, and I think the author did a good job at conveying the complex emotions and blocking out that would result.

I was so endeared to 45 year old Grace and how hard she tried to be a great mother. I really connected with her on that aspect! As mothers we are constantly feeling like we are failing (but really we aren't), and will do absolutely anything to help our child and make sure our child feels loved. That was my takeaway from this book!

Grace seems to be having a very OFF day and on the verge of a full mental breakdown. Things continue to go wrong and she throws all propriety out the window as she is on a mission to be sure she gets a very special birthday cake to her daughter on her 16th birthday.

As the reader we follow Grace during 3 time periods. Current, a couple months ago that progresses up to the current time and then also around 20 years ago that progresses in time. This worked fine for me because I physically read it in one day (paired with audio), but I can see this create a disjunct for other readers. For that reason I think reading the physical book will make one enjoy this more.

This had a good mix of humor, but also reality, love, kindness, hardness, trials, and really makes you see that you're not the only one that has an awful day. At times it felt over the top, but I was okay with it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Co. for the complimentary e-copy of this book.