This book was a pleasant surprise.
I thoroughly enjoyed it, as it was a quick read and a good time.

What a conundrum this story leaves with the reader. A family is destroyed at Christmas from a suicide bomber. Th wife and their daughter are killed instantly. The husband must move on. Leading up to the tragedy the couple have been going through a surrogate with an egg donor because the wife was able to have that daughter and hasn’t been able to conceive since. Move ahead 5 years. The husband is now raising that child. One day he comes across all the information about the egg donor. His late wife did extensive research to get the absolute right donor. The twist, when he searches the donor out, is she looks just like his late wife. Almost like twins. He starts dating her. Their friends are freaking out, want him to confess to his new girlfriend, which he intends to do one day. Predictably it all blows up. And the end is just what you know is going to happen. It’s the getting there that is fun with this book. I honestly haven’t read a book with this theme before so it was a fun, interesting, kind of nail biting read for me.

This was nothing like I was expecting! Like at all. It takes a lot for a book to truly surprise me but this one pulled it off.

Like many others have stated, it really pays to go into this book without knowing anything about it. It was completely that way for me, which resulted in many surprising and unexpected twists and turns. A highly emotional read.

Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC, in exchange for my honest review and opinions.

3.5⭐️s. Well written and deep. The book takes a very real, very methodical look at grief and choices, for better or worse, made out of that grief as well as hope and the aftermath of loss.

The pacing of the book is fairly slow, which is understandable since the content is so deep and methodical. I thought the concept of grief and loss was very well done. It took the complexity of living with it and really told an excellent story.

I felt for Tom and was invested in him as a character, as well as his decision making. While part of it felt like watching a car accident in slow motion, that’s what really caught you at the same time - you wanted so badly for a happy ending because he was just such a good guy.

Overall would recommend and enjoyed it, it’s just not a fast read.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are mine.

I cried all my tears over this book. It broke my heart, then shattered it into a thousand pieces and then slowly put it back together. The topic covered is definitely not light, if you expect a happy and carefree reading, change the book, because this one will destroy you emotionally, but then it will cure you. For me it won fiction of the year. Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishing house for allowing me to preview this masterpiece. The book will be released on June 10, 2025.

Wow. I went into this one blind and the last line in the first chapter threw me for such a loop that I had to read it repeatedly to wrap my mind around it. I just never saw it coming the way it did. Such a heartfelt and emotion journey around love, loss, parenthood, grief and learning to live again. A full circle story that had me smiling while tears flowed down my cheeks.

As others have said, you are better off knowing nothing about this book when you start. Fortunately, the GoodReads summary does not give away too much, unlike some other books.
Some things are just a little too improbable, but I liked reading something a bit different. I do like it when a book makes you think of so many possibilities on how something can happen, especially when a secret is involved. I did question something about the timing in the end.

Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for a copy to read and review!

Honor has everything. Until she doesn't.

I picked this up randomly knowing absolutely nothing about it simply because a favorite author blurbed it. And y'all. Wowowowow. Chapter one left me in shock, while chapter two had me almost in tears. I spent the rest of the book in morbid fascination eating metaphorical popcorn as the drama played out on the page. Loretta Rothschild's debut is a love story, but it's unlike one I've ever read. I don't want to say more without giving spoilers, but you should read this book! It will likely be a favorite of the year!

I highly recommend FINDING GRACE. If you're looking for an emotional ride with themes of family, resilience, and forgiveness, this might be a book for you.

Content Warnings: sex, miscarriage, infertility, gaslighting, death of spouse/child

I’m going to try and do this without spoilers, so please excuse my quick and vague review.

I can’t remember a book that broke my heart and continued to break it so thoroughly as Finding Grace. This is both good and bad which was perplexing at times because I found myself unsure of what I even wanted to come next. The big twist in this one hits you right in the face and achieves its purpose of true shock at a remarkably unexpected time.

It’s ending….. Almost too perfect and too neatly tied together with a cute little bow, but also exactly what we needed after the emotional turmoil we went through as readers.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this advanced copy before it’s intended publication date of June 10, 2025.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley and St. Martin's Press in exchange for an honest review.

The description of this book did not prepare me for the actual story. The "shocking event" is something that I never would've guessed and did not see coming. Plus, it happens so early in the book that the writer really lets it reverberate through until the end.

Tom's behavior was off-putting, to say the least, and it made him a less sympathetic character. One of the women, not going to say who to avoid any spoilers, is a complete nut.

I really enjoyed how the flashback portions built up to the ending. I would recommend this book.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC. Wow... I am usually a mystery reader, but this book was spectacular. Great writing.

Goodness, this story will grip the reader from the very first page. I loved how the author engages the reader and had me turning page after page until the very end. It's full of emotions, feelings and situations that really make the reader think. Highly recommend!

Thank you to net galley for the arc in exchange of an honest review.

This book started off the quite the bang (literally and figuratively). The first chapter left me baffled and really excited to continue with the strong momentum. However, the pacing and the tone of the novel soon shifted into something less engaging for me. The first half of the book had me thinking it was going in the direction of drama/thriller territory, but all of the tension withered away near the end and it evolved into an aimless and cliché romance. The ending felt rushed and not entirely realistic, and while I thought the decision to have the book written from the perspective of Honor, it did occasionally make it confusing and had me wishing we could see the world from Tom's point of view. The central themes of grief and longing were handled with delicate care. The concept of the story in general is so interesting, and though it had a lot of potential, I do not believe it was executed as well as it could have been.

I absolutely loved this book! The subject is fresh, original and completely engaging from the first paragraph. A riveting story of passion, obsession, and romance gone haywire, I will recommend this read to anyone I know! I savored every detail and was torn between rushing to the end or lingering over the story as I wanted to learn more about the drama and intrigue of the character's lives.
Five stars all the way to the satisfying conclusion!

FINDING GRACE by Loretta Rothschild is astounding for a debut novel. The writing is wonderful. This novel touches on so many timely situations; infertility, surrogacy, grief and redemption.

I was invested from the first page to the very last. I recommend this book for an enjoyable read.

3.5 ⭐

Wow, this book packs a punch!  I'll begin by saying it's a difficult one to review because the synopsis doesn't include one of the central details of the plot; as I don't want to spoil it for anyone, I'll be keeping this somewhat vague.⁣
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Finding Grace was an emotional read that opened with such a heart-rending first chapter that my jaw hit the floor. It immediately pulled me in. I loved how original this storyline was, delving into grief and ethics and love after loss. It was character-driven, and I found myself easily invested and wanting to know how everything would resolve. As beautifully written as this book is, I'm surprised it's a debut.⁣
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That said, I did struggle somewhat with this read. I wanted so badly to root for the main character Tom, and initially I did... He'd been through a great deal, and he was a flawed but loveable character in the beginning. As the story progressed, though, he grew more and more manipulative and did a great deal of lying and gaslighting, and I found the ultimate product of all this awful behavior rather unbelievable and disheartening. I was still invested in the story, absolutely needing to know how it would end, so that speaks to what a great writer Loretta Rothschild is, but it left a bad taste in my mouth. ⁣
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Even with my mixed opinions on this book, I'm intrigued by Rothschild's beautiful writing and am excited to see what she releases in the future.

I will say, the cover initially drew my attention, but I'm glad to report that the story beyond it was just as intriguing. The characters were flawed but well developed and as a character-driven reader, I really enjoyed that. The story moved a little slowly at times, but overall, a worthwhile and thoughtful read!

A couple struggling with infertility decides on IVF and surrogacy but before things come to fruition, tragedy occurs with devastating consequences. It's difficult to review this without giving away a large facet of the plot. The husband character was at times sympathetic but at other points a bit unlikeable. There were times that the plot frustrated me and I had to suspend disbelief but overall it was a solid 3 star read.

This was not at all what I expected or what the summary describes. It's not really a love story, if it is it's pretty morbid. I'm not really sure what I would describe this as.

The beginning starts off interesting and I really thought I was going to be able to dig into this. After the first few chapters I found it to be quite boring because it dragged on to Tom needing to reveal the secret. Nothing really happens. The secret is revealed and as expected Grace does not take it well. The ending I found to be a miss. I felt like it was wrapped up too easily and nicely.

I had some other issues with this. Grace is adopted and I really thought that there were hints she was actually Grace's half sister but nothing came of this. This is also just a me thing... it annoyed me that there was always a "this characters famous....food...". I don't know I felt like it was mentioned too often.

Overall this wasn't for me.