Grace is an amazing polyglot. In fact she is famous for it. Was famous for it. Until the birth of her daughter, Lotte derailed her career. But she absolutely adores Lotte. And she is determined to make her 16th birthday perfect by getting her the perfect cake.

But life isn’t so perfect for Grace. She’s divorced from Lotte’s father, Ben, who she still misses. Lotte refuses to talk to her mother and lives exclusively with Ben. And Grace is honestly a perimenopausal mess.

The story takes place on Lotte’s 16th birthday and involves a series of slightly far fetched events. But intertwined are flashbacks to how Grace ends up where she is on the momentous day.

I think Grace’s story is a much needed perspective to motherhood, raising teens, and surviving “the change” that hits women in their late 40’s. There are a few parts that seems ridiculously far fetched though. But, this novel includes themes of loss and how different people process it. And maybe Grace (and society) should offer herself a little “grace” as women navigate the muddy waters of motherhood through the years.

Thank you to @henryholtbooks and @netgalley for an early review copy of this novel.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for this Advanced Readers Copy of Amazing Grace Adams by Fran Littlewood!

Amazing Grace Adams by Fran Littlewood is one of the best books I’ve read this year. The author perfectly captures the sorrows and frustrations of life as a woman in her mid-40s. I don’t think I’ve ever related more to a character.

Littlewood brilliantly alternates between two points of view and three different timelines. It’s a complicated structure, but it works. Grace and her husband Ben narrate the story in the present (where Grace is manically walking to her husband’s flat with a cake on her daughter’s 16th birthday), the recent past (which focuses on the strained relationship between Grace and her daughter Lotte), and woven throughout is the timeline of their marriage.

I love how the author used the theme of language and communication. Both Grace and Ben are linguists who speak multiple languages, but lose the ability to communicate with each other. At the same time, Grace struggles to translate the social media slang of her teenage daughter. It sounds threatening, but maybe her daughter is right and she just doesn’t understand. Ultimately, Amazing Grace Adams illustrates the importance of speaking the hard truth to each other and to ourselves.

I read this book quickly over two days, much of it while standing in a three hour line with my own teenage daughter. From Grace’s struggles with perimenopause, her demeaning public treatment and resulting rage, to her sense of loss as her teen grows into adulthood, this novel hit me hard. By the time the narrative strands came together at the book’s climax, I was a mess of tears.

This is a book I will be recommending to my friends and book clubs for a long time.

Thank you to Henry Holt & Co. and NetGalley for the gift of this eARC.

Ever heard the song “My Give A Damn’s Busted” by Jo Dee Messina?🎶 that pretty much sums up 45-year-old Grace Adam’s perimenopausal life at the present. It’s a tale of womanhood, marriage, motherhood as seen through Grace’s POV.. whom ironically, has just hit her threshold while stalled in gridlocked traffic.. she’s thinking enough is enough.. and whew.. I’m not doubting that one bit. Those feels are relatable.. we’ve all been there right. Although for Grace there’d been so much sadness (not to mention crazy) going on in her life.. she gets out of her car.. and just walks away. That begins Grace’s determined journey of finding herself, along with putting a flailing relationship with her teen daughter to rights. It is a wonderful debut that is thought-provoking, emotional and tender. Not at all what I was expecting. ❥ 4 stars — Pub. 9/5/23

Thanks to the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Grace Adams used to be amazing. Now she just feels invisible. These days, Grace feels like she’s taking grief from all corners, especially from her teenage daughter Lotte and her estranged husband Ben. But today, Grace has finally had it. She’s had all she can take, and she’s not going to take it anymore.

This story has a lot going on, with three timelines and a whole host of issues and themes. It’s probably easier to keep track if you’re reading the physical book, but it was a bit difficult to keep them all straight while I was listening to an audiobook. The fabulous narration more than made up for it though! The narrator is outstanding – so expressive and gives so much life to Grace’s thoughts and dialogue, I felt like I was in Grace’s head and feeling all her feelings.

I can’t remember the last time I’ve ever identified with a character so strongly. Grace is in her mid-40s and perimenopausal, and her hot flashes and gamut of emotions are so relatable! The mother-daughter dynamics were spot-on. Every time she struggled to connect with her daughter Lotte, her frustration with teen slang and being out of touch absolutely resonated with this mom of a 16-year-old.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company for providing me an advance copy of this book.

3.5 stars. Thank you to Net Galley and Henry Holt & Co. for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. Grace Adams life is falling apart. She's stuck in traffic and she's hemmed in on all sides. Her sister keeps calling her and her family is worried about her. Grace just can't take it any more and decides she can't wait any longer and abandons her car on the road. This beginning grabbed me and I was interested to know why someone would make this choice. We then go to the recent past (several months ago) and Grace's daughter isn't showing up for classes and the Head Teacher wants to meet with her. She doesn't understand why this is happening and her daughter Lotte won't say a word about it. We then go back to 2002 when Grace meets Ben at a Polyglot of the Year competition. Grace is a linguist and speaks 5 languages. She's wins first, a weekend away; he wins second and Grace invites him to join her...and he accepts. The story continues on in this fashion jumping around. I was interested in Grace's story but the jumping provides only a snippet of each time period and it feels like it jumps around too much. Also, Grace is quite a mess and makes alot of bad decisions which I found to be a bit over the top. Yet, it had a nice message about embracing our mistakes, having understanding and forgiving to move forward with those we care about..

Thanks to NetGalley, Fran Littlewood and the publisher for opportunity to read this before publication. As the blurb say if you liked Where Did You Go, Bernadette you will enjoy this book.
I finished it just to find out the ending

Grace Adams is 45 and dealing with perimenopause. Her life is crumbling around her and she is on the verge (or in the middle) of having a mental breakdown. That shouldn't be funny, but I'm pretty sure most women over the age of 40 can identify with what Grace is going through. You have to laugh or you are going to cry! The story itself is told through 3 different timelines, with additional flashbacks throughout. That made things a bit muddy at times. The current timeline has Grace trekking across town to bring her estranged daughter a birthday cake. Grace's predicament illustrates how most women struggle at some point with the balancing act of trying to have it all. With some serious topics, the book still tries to remain a bit lighthearted. Again, you have to laugh or you'll cry!

This was a book I couldn’t put down. It is both heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. I loved all of the characters, I will be thinking of this book for a long time!

Before I get started on my review of Amazing Grace Adams by Fran Littlewood I have to give my thanks to Netgalley, Henry Holt & Company, along with Fran Littlewood herself for gifting me with this Digital Arc in exchange for my honest review. Everything I write here will be entirely my own thoughts and opinions. As always I will provide trigger warnings down below. Please be aware that this book has some heavy-hitting topics so please pay attention to those warnings below.

This book was a difficult one for me to read. That is not to say it wasn’t a good story I am just not sure that it was for me entirely. There were definite parts I enjoyed about it but then there were parts that made me feel an overwhelming fear of the aging process. The difficulties and symptoms Grace is going through with perimenopause I really hope are exaggerated a bit or oh my gosh YIKES all women are in for it.

This is the story of Grace Adams a woman who speaks five languages and has big dreams in life. Like many people, life doesn’t turn out the way she had imagined that it would. Her husband Ben is not who she thought he was and their relationship is falling apart right in front of her eyes. Lotte her daughter who is soon to turn sixteen is not the daughter she thought she was. Lotte is living a life that Grace knows nothing about. The girl is a TikTok sensation and speaks in a language Grace does not understand. Grace fears she is losing her daughter but feels helpless on how to navigate the situation. Not only is all of this going on but Grace also loses her job and in my opinion is having a mental breakdown.

One day Grace decides enough is enough so she sets off to get her daughter back and reclaim her life. It is a hot day and she is sitting in traffic worried she will be late to pick up a birthday cake she believes will fix Lotte and her relationship. She can not risk being late to Lotte’s party even though she was not invited so Grace decides the most logical thing to do is get out of her vehicle, leave it right in the middle of traffic, and start walking to the bakery. The plan does not go as expected and she finds herself in multiple situations that are just not good. While she is on this journey to get the cake to her daughter Grace’s memory is bouncing from past to present leaving her feeling absolutely awful both physically and mentally. Like I said before I think she is in the middle of a mental health breakdown.

If you are looking for a family drama with multiple timelines, mental health issues, and buried trauma then give this one a go because I do not think you will be disappointed. Like I said before I think that this is a good story but it just was not a story for me. I do want to say be aware of the trigger warnings before going into this one. As always I will list them down below Reader.

Trigger Warnings:

Child Loss
Broken Marriage
Child Grooming
Depression
Arrest
Infidelity
Estranged Children
Parental Death
Suicidal Thoughts

Many thanks to NetGalley, Henry Holt & Company, and Macmillan Audio for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of the debut novel by Fran Littlewood and wonderfully narrated by Claire Skinner - 4 stars!

Grace Adams gave birth, blinked, and now suddenly she is forty-five, perimenopausal and invisible. Today of all days, when her estranged daughter, Lotte, is turning 16 and she is desperate to make things better between them, everything is going wrong. Grace is so worried about Lotte's recent behavior and is at a loss to make things better. Because things used to be so good. Ben and Grace, both polygots, seemed perfect together and Lotte made them a family. Grace just needs to prove to them and herself that they can work.

Told between three different timelines, we see Grace then and now. While I found myself sometimes yelling at Grace's behavior, I also felt her pain. Life interferes for all of us and it all becomes too much sometimes. I really enjoyed the language factor in this book - how Grace was so easily able to express herself in so many languages, until her words failed her when she needed them the most. It's a story of growing older and missing our younger selves and lives, while hoping to change the future for the better. Grace was a funny, fierce, emotional character and I enjoyed this debut novel fully!

4.5 stars. Grace Adams is awesome. But it seems a few people closest to her have forgotten this fact. And as Grace struggles w/ all kinds of failures, grief, separation, teenage angst, she just seems to snap. And the day she snaps happens to be her daughter’s 16th birthday.
Full of humor and with a fantastic character we can all relate to, this book shows how we can lose ourselves and find ourselves all over agin.

* Special thanks to NetGalley and Henry Holt and Company for this e-arc.*

This book is told in multiple timelines, which at times, was difficult to follow.

In 2002, Grace Adams was amazing in the sense that she speaks five languages and was awarded the polyglot of the year award at the annual convention. She also meets her future husband Ben and they connect instantly.

Flash forward to the current timeline, Grace's husband Ben serves her divorce papers, and her daughter Lotte and Grace are estranged.

So, basically, in a twenty year time period, Grace went from AMAZING to hitting rock bottom now jobless and divorced..

What I did like about this story is Grace's determination and perseverance, to prove to Lotte that she loves her unconditionally and that they are still a family. Unfortunately, with all of the flashback and timelines, the main focus of the story seemed to go on the backburner. It was simply a mother trying to understand her teenage daughter, which is something I feel EVERY mother has experienced.

Well, not exactly what I had expected after the publisher's description. I had a difficult time getting into the story of Grace Adams and certainly didn't find her amazing. I appreciated the opportunity to read it and based on other reviews I'm sure others enjoyed the book much more than I did.

I have nothing positive to say about this book. Horrible writing coupled with non-existent character development make this a hard no for me.

The description of this book does it a disservice. This book is deeper and sadder than Elinor Oliphant and similar books. The quaintness of those books doesn't really exist in this book. Grace Adams' life is a mess and her 16-year-old daughter's life might be a bigger mess. This book outlines the day she loses it while telling the complete story through flashbacks. I am sure I would have liked it a bit better if I had been prepared to read something that is fairly depressing.

PUB DATE: 9/5/23
PAGES: 272
RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐✨
GENRE: Drama/Literary Fiction

A BIG “Thank You” to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Co. for gifting me this advanced reader’s copy in exchange for my honest review!

SYNOPSIS: This book is told through 3 different timelines, the early 2000s, Present, and 2-4 months prior to Present (very easy to follow). When Grace is in her early 20s, she’s on top of her A-game! She’s a translator and she’s fierce in everything she sets her mind to. She enters a Polyglot competition, an excelled contest for those that speak fluent, multiple languages (she speaks 5). She’s determined to win! At the competition she meets the ever-so-handsome and equally talented Alex. That one meet & greet with him changes the rest of her life. Fast forward to present day, Grace is at odds with her sixteen yr. old daughter, and everything is going wrong that day. Having had enough, while sitting in unmoving traffic on the freeway, Grace gets out of her car and simply…walks away.

REVIEW: I enjoyed this debut novel so much! I went in blind and thought it might be a comedy/romance, and in some places, it is, but this story primarily deals with the struggles of a middle-aged woman who used to be such a Superwoman, but she’s lost her A-game and her finesse. It explores the exceedingly difficult things Grace has experienced since marrying and having a child. She’s going through perimenopause, and everything just seems to be going downhill. This story was so original! There aren’t many books about FMC in their 40s, and I really appreciated it. We see so many books around girls in their 20s and older FMCs. It was very realistic to me, and it reminds that life can & does throw you curveballs, but the outcome can be all in how you set your mind to something. I hope to read more by this author!

Happy Reading!

This story is not told chronologically; rather, the chapters bounce back and forth in time. It's the story of Grace Adams, linguist extraordinaire, who meets Ben, the love of her life, at a linguistic competition. Years later, Grace's life is unraveling. Ben has moved out, she's lost her job, her teenager is on the warpath, and Grace is trying to survive menopause. But basically, the story is about grief, and the ways in which it can destroy us. I loved the ending.

This book was so bizarre. Not 100% sure how to rate it either. On the one hand, I hated Grace and her daughter drove me nuts. I was very confused through half the book. But, I couldn't put it down. I was so curious to figure out what was happening at why Grace and her daughter were so unlikeable. The ending, although sad, did answer many of my questions and explain what was going on in half the book. It was written in varying timelines from Grace's perspective - present day, the years ago, and 2-6 months ago. This part of the book was well done and I was never confused as to which timeline I was reading. Overall, a book that kind of reflected the main character's life... chaotic but hard to turn away from.

Grace Adams can't believe that she is 45, perimenopausal and her life is in shambles. After leaving her car in a traffic jam, she sets across London with a birthday cake to win back her teenage daughter on her 16th birthday. Can she prove that she is amazing to her daughter, (ex) husband and mostly herself.

PUB DAY: September 5, 2023

Thank you Netgalley for my advanced reader copy.

Grace Adams is having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Her husband has left her. Her beloved daughter, Lotte, has chosen to live with her father and won’t speak to her. She has lost both of her jobs. Today is Lotte’s 16th birthday, and Grace has one goal: to make it to Lotte’s birthday party and deliver the Love Island cake she specially ordered for her in the hopes of healing the rift between them. Stuck in traffic in London, Grace is late to pick up the cake. When she suddenly can’t take it any longer, she gets out of her car and walks to the bakery. As she makes her way across London, with some unusual and interesting encounters, Grace flashes back to the pivotal times in her life that have led her to this very moment. Her story is gradually revealed, beginning with the early days of her relationship with her husband, Ben, and leading up to the falling out with Lotte. How did the once amazing Grace Adams get to this point?

Compared to the likes of Eleanor, Rosie, Ove, and Bernadette, I was expecting a lighthearted comedy, but what I got was a gripping, emotional story about joy, love, grief, and hope. Yes, there were some very funny moments, but this novel was incredibly moving and, at times, heartbreaking. I found myself laughing out loud and also wiping away tears. This was an unforgettable read that had me captivated until the very end. Just a beautiful debut novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.