I was sucked into this one from the first explosive chapter, but ended up not loving it. It’s hard to explain why without spoilers. Giving it ⭐️⭐️⭐️ because it did keep me reading and it’s set in London.

Part of the problem is that I didn’t like the husband Tom, a lying cringey man-child who it’s hard to empathize with. The reader is held in his outrageous con for so long that the ending is anticlimactic - I wanted to rewrite it from about the midpoint to make it more plausible and interesting. I did enjoy the London setting and chuckled at some of the preschool politics, plus the way Honor stayed involved in the story was novel.

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the advance copy of this book.

Finding Grace begins with an event so traumatic that I had to put the book down for a couple of weeks in order to give myself time to mentally prepare for the rest of the book.

Luckily, the trauma dies down as the book progresses. It's hard not to spoil this book by describing it. This book is the kind of book with some morally grey areas. Our main character, Tom makes some questionable decisions at the start of the book that he cannot seem to find his way out of. While he is dealing with the emotional fallout from the sudden events at the beginning of the book, this doesn't excuse the fact that he continues to dig himself deeper by continuing to lie as the book goes on.

While it feels like the majority of this book was supposed to be a romance, I couldn't help but feel a sense of impending doom because of both the beginning and because of Tom's lies. They do finally reach a head at the 80% mark of the book.

The resolution of Finding Grace is somewhat quick and somewhat satisfying. I somehow found it both predictable and twisty and was left not knowing how I really felt about the plot once I finished.

This is certainly an original and surprising read and I am intrigued by this author and what she has coming in the future.

The book I read and the blurb did not align. I felt a trigger warning would've been super helpful to the reader. I had a very difficult time with the plot and character arc as soon as I realized how the story was playing out. Because I feel the blurb and the book I read do not match and I don't give spoilers in my reviews there is not much I can say that would not divulge the plot.

If you want a book with secrets, betrayal, surprises, and a twist or two this might be for you..

I usually read the synopsis before starting a book, but for this one — skip it and just dive in. Trust me, going in blind makes the experience even better.

This book has it all: complicated relationships, tough choices, intense emotions, and a twist that hits early and hard. It’s nearly impossible to talk about without giving something away, but if you like stories about marriage, friendship, fertility, grief, and messy, real-life emotions — you’ll love this.

Wow - this one packs a wallop. Loretta Rothschild is a gifted storyteller and once this one gets going, it moves fast. The narrative is surprising, moving, intricate, and emotional. I worked hard to read this one without any indication of what it was about and instead coasted to it based on its many positive reviews from trusted fellow readers. That was a good plan and I encourage it. I also suggest you pick it up on a quiet weekend when you can read it through, uninterrupted and undisturbed. You won't be disappointed! Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the DRC.

2025 has been the year for debut novels and this book fits right in line. Finding Grace is compulsively readable. This is a book that will make you cry twice within the first 50 pages. It strikes a chord. It is a tableau of grief. Of loss. Of hope. Of moving forward. This is a story of “the other woman” in the best possible way. It was an emotional journey - not only will you cry, you’ll also laugh.

The way this is narrated is so unexpected. It was a brilliant way to draw the reader in, but also allow you to see from a bird’s eye view. The depth of the characters was masterful. The secrets, omissions and outright lies Tom engages in are infuriating. Watching the Ice Queen, Colette, thaw was my favorite character evolution.

I won’t give away the plot because I think this is a book you need to let unfold before you. I will say that it’s a must read. I also enjoyed the double entendre of the title. I want to thank NetGalley, Loretta Rothschild & St Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinions.

You need to go into this book with as little information as possible. A family drama about love and loss.

I picked up Finding Grace on my backpacking trip, shown reading here by a shady creek to escape the HOT sun of our campsite. I had heard it had a shocking end to chapter one which made it hard to put down. And beyond it being a women’s fiction novel, that’s about all you should know if you haven’t read this one and want to pick it up.
Thanks to St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion. I love that the publisher left this book blurb vague - especially for a debut novel!
I’m going to try to keep everything I say here spoiler free, but if you haven’t read this book and want to, you might want to save this review and come back after you’ve read it JUST IN CASE.
The viewpoint chosen to tell this story is excellent, and it really connected everything for me as a reader. The English setting is also described so well - it sounded lovely, and I could see things like the school pickup, the friendly lunch get togethers, and the big party quite clearly.
Warning… unpopular opinion incoming!
Part of the reason I chose this book to read during my travels was because I had heard how compelling it was, and I love looking forward to reading something I can’t wait to finish as a little extra motivation to finish the day’s trek. However, I had to put this book down for days at a time because the male main character was SO cringe - I couldn’t take him for more than a couple of chapters at a time. There is a secret he is hiding and it seems obvious it is going to be revealed, and I could not stand how long it was drawn out. I just could not wait for the truth to come out. Props to the author for creating such strong feelings of aversion from a reader! I do recommend checking the book out, though, and it’s now available everywhere.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I don’t know what to say about this book except that it is so powerful. Without giving anything away, let me just say that the prologue was like 💥.

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SPOILERS

I was not expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did. In this story we follow Honor and Tom who are married and have a daughter, Chloe. The family is vacationing when a terrorist bombs their hotel and Honor and Chloe are killed. When Tom returns home he discovers that he surrogate that they were trying to inceminate with a donor egg is pregnant. Fast forward four years and Tom is raising his son alone. He inadvertently recieves a letter from the egg donor facility that tells him who the donor was. So he seeks this woman out and discovers that she looks just like his dead wife, Honor. This book was so emotionall and just not what i was expecting. I loved it from start to finish!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advance copy in exchange for my honest opinion. All thoughts are my own.

I'm sure if you've read other reviews they've hopefully been pretty ambiguous and spoiler free, which is frustrating, but I feel the same way as I write this review. I can't tell you what happens because even from the very beginning it's shocking.

I did have a hard time reading this because of all of the stupid missteps or things that were ignored altogether in the hopes they would go away. It took me a long time to get into it, but I'm glad I did. I wouldn't recommend this to all of my friends, especially those that like light and easy romance, because this is romance but it's not light, nor easy.

Finding Grace, the debut novel by Loretta Rothschild, is one of those books where you will be best served if you go in blind. Early on in the novel a shocking twist occurs which changes the course of our characters’ lives in quite profound ways. That’s all you really need to know. However, if you are a reader sensitive to certain topics you may want to check The Storygraph for trigger warnings.

Told from a unique POV and with alternating timelines, I found myself scratching my head early on in the book as I tried to comprehend what was happening in this story and where it was going. It was an interesting commentary on grief, the strong draw of motherhood, and the value of found family. Although the topics in this novel were quite serious, Rothschild sprinkled in humor here and there. Ultimately, If I had to put Finding Grace into a genre category, I would call it a non-traditional contemporary love story.

While this will not go down as one of my most favorites of 2025, I enjoyed the reading experience as a whole, and will look forward to reading more by this author in the future.

3.5 Stars

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martins Press for an ARC of Finding Grace by Loretta Rothschild in exchange for my honest review.

4.5 stars. Finding Grace starts off with a bang and gets more unbelievable throughout. My jaw was on the floor and my eyes were bugging out of my head for the majority of this book. Writing a normal synopsis would give away too much. Here are my key takeaways:
-I am picky about narration, and this was quite clever with a surprising tone that I enjoyed.
-There are many interesting themes in this book. Grief, friendship, and love are primary.
-TW: if you have been on a fertility journey or experienced the loss of a child, this may not be for you. It also might very much be for you, but it feels important to warn you.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for my ARC. Finding Grace is out now.

The end of the first chapter was just not what I was expecting. We meet Honor and Tom and their daughter Chloe on holiday in Paris at Christmas. Honor and Tom are awaiting news of whether or not their surrogate is pregnant. There's an event that occurs and the aftermath of that and then the story picks up several years later. This was a good story and it kept my interest completely.

It’s so hard for me to make up my mind about this book- which I think might be a good sign about its success. The first chapter fully sucked me in, and it was engaged from there on. The choices the characters make are sometimes incredibly infuriating (and occasionally a bit hard to believe), but I could not put this book down.

What do you say when you're blown away by a book? I had no idea what this book was going to be about and I'm really glad I went in with no prejudices. How do you review a book without giving a hint of what will happen? For this book, I think it just needs to be read. Understand it organically rather than going in with any expectations.

For goodness sake, this is a DEBUT novel. I can't imagine where this authors stories will take us. Emotional, heartfelt, family, secrets, and so much more. Read this book!

Wow, this uniquely tragic love story was oddly a breath of fresh air to me. Lacking the shallow tropes of most modern romances, I found Finding Grace fascinating from start to finish. Emotional from the start, Loretta Rothschild does not shy away from taking a deep dive into various forms of grief and loss. Although I do not enjoy stories that are centered around lies, I felt this story was strong enough to carry through to the end. The characters were also beautifully textured and easy to connect with.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of Finding Grace. The heartbreaking story of Honor and the ensuing repercussions of secrets woven in a modern romance merge to create a realistic and captivating story. Honor’s narration adds insights to her husband Tom’s moral dilemma and eventual reckoning. As the story unfolds, the twist and turns move this from a typical romance to an emotional story exploring grief and healing. Although the ending felt rushed, it did not detract from the story.

This was crazzzzzzzzy. This is a quiet, soulful unraveling of grief, identity, and healing. Like the first chapter has you HOOKED. It holds space for the messy parts of being human, like loss, longing, and the slow return to yourself. A reflective, tender story that lingers long after the last page. Definitely a book I won't forget.

Honor has the perfect daughter, a career she loves, and a husband, Tom, she loves. despite his 100-hour work weeks. But her need for a second baby starts to put a terrible strain on their family, and when a shocking event happens, their lives are changed forever. Years later, Tom makes one decision on a whim and it ends up changing the courses of everyone's lives.

First of all, the twist at the end of chapter one is something I never saw coming. i thought the overall story was a great view on grief, second guessing yourself after something terrible happens, and the endless questions on what is right for your child in the aftermath of something awful. Typically a storyline around omitted truth is one of my least favorite tropes, but in this case it felt natural for the story. While Tom was a terribly unlikable character, I did find his motivations and thought processes along the way to make some sense. This story was not what I expected, which made me love it even more.

Thank you NetGalley for an arc of this book in exchange for my honest revierw.