Three timelines here.

Billed as the next Where'd You Bernadette? and I just didn't see it. The humor never resonated for me and I just felt frustrated constantly with how far-fetched this was. I struggled so much with Grace on top of the world to Grace abandoning her car in traffic. This reminded me a lot of In Her Shoes by JoJo Moyes so if you liked that one this may be a great book for you to take a peak at.

It might be a sign of my age (ahem) that I am drawn to the stories of middle aged women and the challenges we deal with as we age. I found the premise of this book really exciting - middle aged woman snaps and ditches her car in a traffic back up to make it to her daughter’s birthday party.

I always enjoy reading about the complexities of life- they impact us all and I think too often we don’t consider what other people are going through. If you are ready for a roller coaster of emotions this is a book for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I tried really with this one. I made it to 42% before admitting defeat. Everyone keeps calling this book funny, but I found zero humor in it. It was endlessly depressing. And as a 48-year-old woman who lives in southern Kentucky, I understand hot flashes in the heat of summer, but the constant repetition of how hot she was and how hot it was outside was wearying. At first, I wanted to find out why her life had spiraled out of control, but the more the story drug on, the less I cared. This book simply wasn't for me. Thank you to Netgalley and Henry Holt and Company for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was OK - it wasn't my favorite because it was giving me FInlay Donovan vibes with the slapsticky type of antics, and I struggle with those.

I think this book will resonate with many readers and despite my age and the description it just didn't strike a chord for me. However, the Amazing Grace Adams definitely told the tale of a woman with the determination to start over and overcome. I think that will attract many readers.

Have you seen the 1993 Michael Douglas movie, Falling Down? As I read through Grace’s trials and tribulations, I kept thinking about that film, only to find out in the author’s notes that yes, in fact, this book was inspired by the movie. So be prepared for a wild ride.

Told in triple timelines, we follow Grace, a 45-year-old linguist whose teenage daughter’s birthday is that day. The daughter is living with her dad, and even though she hasn’t been invited, Grace is determined to deliver a 16th birthday cake to her daughter, Lotte. Something went down with the teen in the recent past, but you have to read the book and flashbacks in order to find out what happened. That’s the second timeline, occurring four months prior. The third timeline is the beginning of Grace’s adult life, when she wins an award and hooks up with a guy named Ben and then subsequently finds herself pregnant. We follow their relationship over the course of the past 17 years.

As a woman of a certain age, I found myself relating to Grace in a lot of ways. Can you say mid-life crisis? There’s teenage drama, a marriage that’s disintegrating, perimenopause, you name it, it’s being thrown at Grace. And she has. had. enough. I do love the fact that while the world around her is falling down around her, Grace, while seemingly suffering a mental health crisis, loses nothing of her forthrightness, feistiness, or humor. There are so many layers to Grace, and slowly, throughout the course of the story, we find them revealed.

For a debut author, I thought Fran Littlewood created a great novel. I’ve not read any of the books it is being compared to, but it certainly held my interest. My only complaint was that there was enough drama in the book to sustain it until it’s end, and then she threw in something else which was wholly unnecessary to drive the story along. It felt like a little bit like the kitchen sink being added. Grace had enough on her plate without adding to it; women can go a little crazy without extreme drama piled on with more drama.

My favorite timeline was the four months prior one, only because I have four teenagers (three girls!) and could predict the drama that surrounded Grace and Ben’s daughter, Lotte. And I did enjoy meeting the feisty Grace prior to having a baby and comparing her to the modern-day, middle-aged woman she became.

If you’re looking for some good women’s fiction and are of a certain age, I highly recommend this book. I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and Henry Holt in exchange for an honest review; all opinions expressed are my own.

The blurb for Amazing Grace Adams lets us know that the novel "tells the story of a life, a marriage, a family, set against a single north-London day. A rollercoaster ride of redemption and discovery, it's a powerful celebration of womanhood." But the book tells another darker story of loss and longing and it is this piece that makes this book both deeply moving and unsettling. I wanted to like Grace more than I did for most of the book - her life experiences as a middle aged women who no longer recognizes herself in the mirror are certainly relatable but her slightly slapsticky actions are not. And yet, when Littlewood unspools the devastating core of this novel (and not the subplot, which is devastating on its own too), I better understood Grace Adams for her approach to this challenging period of motherhood, career, and womanhood. Kudos to Littlewood for crafting a compulsively readable complex novel about a woman barely hanging on. Thank you to Henry Holt & Company and NetGalley for the ARC.

This book was, unfortunately, a bit of a disappointment to me. Maybe it was just me, but it was not funny or touching or heartwarming, as the description promised, but rather a bit crude, depressing, and painful to read.

The premise was interesting - a book about motherhood and finding yourself... not as a parent of a young child but rather a teenager, later in life (but not too late in life). From the beginning, it is clear that Grace is a determined woman, independent and strong. Yet she has been hurt and is seeking to heal now. Overall, this book had potential but fell short for me. I thought that all the bad things that happened to Grace over the course of one awful day (when she is trying to win back her daughter's affection) detracted from the message of the book - that she is worth it, that life is something she can overcome, that she shouldn't be counted out yet. The bad stuff overshadowed the heartfelt elements/lessons learned by Grace.

I also found the timelines confusing. There were varying timelines in this book - both pre and post divorce, but also multiple years ago and several months ago. I felt the timeline piece made this book a bit confusing to keep track of what happened when. Perhaps others will love this book and I'm just in the minority.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

Grace Hall is having a meltdown. We’ve all been there. But hers seems to be cascading. Whatever she does is wrong and today is her daughter Lotte’s sixteenth birthday. In one of Grace’s most frustrating failures, rebellious Lotte has gone to live with her father and doesn’t even want to see Grace.

I hope I’m not making this sound awful because it’s really a good and fascinating book. Littlewood is an excellent author. You care about Grace from the moment you find her stuck in traffic and deciding to just walk away and abandon her car. The setting is London, but it could be Los Angeles or anywhere else just as easily.

Littlewood unfolds Grace’s life, pre and post divorce, by flashbacks. Or maybe that’s the wrong word. It’s not a first person novel, so Grace isn’t remembering (at least not always). It’s more like Littlewood is examining how Grace arrived at this moment in her life.

There were moments when I couldn’t stand how unhappy Grace, her husband Ben and daughter Lotte all were, and how almost obtusely misunderstanding of each other. But I still couldn’t put it down. I had to know what happened. Would there be a way back to amazing for Grace?

Littlewood is excellent at emotions. If you’re a parent you will probably relate, and definitely feel for Grace. But in the end, the book is about hope, and redemption, and breaking down walls that we never even wanted and don’t know how they got there. And love.

My thanks to the publisher and author for allowing me to read an advance copy. All opinions are my own.

This book felt unfocused, like the author couldn't decide which trope/theme to follow through the story. I f0und myself confused by the three timelines that were described as they also included flashbacks of their own so it was difficult to follow at times. Character development was solid and overall, an enjoyable read.

This is definitely going to be a love it or hate it read, and unfortunately for me it's going to just be a DNF. For me, it's lacking the warmth and humor that some of the comps had, and it's a little crude.

Amazing Grace Adams follows the story of a messy mom, who is struggling to come to terms with the fact that she is getting old and that her teenager daughter is becoming an adult. I like how realistic and messy it portraits motherhood and being an aging woman in general. Nevertheless, I found it confusing at times when the storyline jumped from one year to another. It dragged a little but I liked the story. This book reminded me a lot of "Where'd you go, Bernadette?". If you liked that book, you'll like this one.

Thank you netgalley and the publishers for the e-arc.

Initially, I thought this book was about one thing and then it turned out to be about that thing, as well as several other things. I enjoyed it, but as more was uncovered, it felt unfocused. And the resolution seemed a little too easy. I do think many women will find something that resonates with them, however.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

This is a hard book to review because I loved it, it was exactly what I wanted/needed right now, AND it was a bit of a mess. So I’m stuck wondering if I would actually recommend it, even though I devoured it and loved it. There was a lot going on, a lot of sad stuff, including a few things that could be very triggering, however, the book is basically about a brilliant woman with a family history of mental health issues trying to fix her life that has slowly fallen apart. I fell in love with Grace and cheered for her every step of her walk across London. I loved that her passion was linguistics and wish that would’ve been an even bigger plot point!!

Grace Adams has had enough and calmly abandons her car in the middle of traffic, and so begins her very long day.
Through timeline jumps, we find out that once upon a time, Grace was amazing. She could speak multiple languages and was the hottest thing on a tv quiz show. Then she got pregnant and she settled into a life with Ben and their little family in a London suburb. Fast forward 15 years and Grace is trying to reconcile with her estranged daughter.
This book was quirky and as others have mentioned, it was a little tough to follow with all the timeline jumping. It managed to keep me entertained and wanting to get to the resolution. The end spun out a little and was a bit over the top but overall a good debut.

a cute book, but the multiple timelines made it a bit hard to follow

thank you to netgalley and to the publisher for this review copy.

Amazing Grace Adams by Fran Littlewood September 5, 2023 Henry Holt & Company
Grace is having a hard time. When the novel begins, she’s late to pick up a Love Island cake she purchased for her daughter’s sixteenth birthday, despite the fact that her daughter is not currently speaking to her. When the traffic becomes unbearable, she abandons her car in the middle of the road and hoofs it. Thus begins Grace’s spiral towards becoming unhinged. We are reeled back in time, four months earlier, when her daughter’s school attendance is scant. A third time period, and arguably the most compelling, goes back further in time when Grace meets her husband through their joined love of language. Grace is a polyglot and currently hosts “Dictionary Corner” a television segment where she teaches viewers a new word. I wish this were a real thing! While at its best, it had some Lessons in Chemistry Vibes, the three timelines were discombobulating and made for an overall choppy read. Thank you to Henry Holt & Company for the advanced review copy.

The Amazing Grace Adams is a book about a woman in her mid-40’s. She knew she used to be amazing! She is fluent in five languages, she looks great than most and she have everything figured out as efficiently as she can managed in the palm of her hands.
Lately, Grace does not feel that amazing anymore. She feels like she is being attack from all corners of life, she feels like she is not seen and was just passing through. Her opinions do not matter, she suddenly becomes clueless and unable to comprehend despite her fluency in many languages. She is losing it! She stresses mostly about her rebellious teen age daughter Lottie and her estranged husband Ben. Where has all the amazing connection between them both have gone?

The storyline is packed. Told in three time lines, which was interesting and I must admit that it can get overwhelming and a little confusing. There were so much going on that its a little bit tricky to track. Reading it might be better rather than listening to the audiobook. The narrator does a great job but with the story line that looks like a shopping cart overflowing with groceries and purchases, its hard to keep the other stories from spilling.

I do love how Grace Adams character was packaged. It is very relatable to every woman who is at the same stage of her life. There is humor and there were facts. Generally, it was just an “okay” read for me. Thank you to Henry Holt via Netgalley and MacMillan Audio for the digital copies both in e-book and audio format in exchange of my honest review.

I very much enjoyed that the characters were polyglots. The timeline was very difficult to follow as each of the 3 separate timelines had flashbacks. This did not work for me. The occasional switch in perspective to Ben was confusing. Hitting readers with 2 major emotional triggers 75% in seems unfair. Due to the latter, I would not recommend this book.

This amazing tale of hope, love grief and life is told in flashbacks of Grace and her husband Bens life and courtship. Throughout her life Grace holds it together, behaves as she should. But on the day of her daughters 16 th birthday Grace finally loses it! I rooted for her throughout the book and had my fingers crossed for a happy ending… sensitively written with heart and courage, this is a book for women that celebrates our strength and grit. Thank you to NetGalley for the electronic copy.