Reviews

Grace is amazing, and she’s an absolute disaster in the most beautiful way we all are. With all the layers that make up our lives and can be peeled away like an onion revealing the soft & tender skin underneath. I really enjoyed this book and could identify with Grace, maybe being in my 40’s with teenagers helped.

felicitycot's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Well. Grace is having a break down, and bringing us all along for the day to experience it with her. There is so much in this book, so many awful things that happen to Grace and her family that it does feel slightly implausible in places.

ceacler's review against another edition

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emotional funny sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Good start. Pleasant ending. Sad reveal.
Overall I feel it was well written and a good journey for the reader.
Be good to read another by this author.

rachelsbookishlife's review against another edition

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1.0

** spoiler alert ** This book took me 4 days to finish. I generally read a book in 1 to 2 days. I had no desire to continue picking this up, and usually i would DNF, but i made a promise to see it through. And that i did. So this 1 star comes scathing from my computer so i can rant to you all about how terrible Grace is. This book is everything but the kitchen sink, there is absolutely way too much going on. Grace is not redeemable, even with her tragedies. Grace is a miserable human being, as well as everyone around her. Her husband betrays her, her daughter is worst than an angsty teen. I don't think there was a good discussion on women's bodies as there was a constant focus on Grace's body and the discussion around the grooming from her daughter's teacher was also just poorly done. The author wanted to put so much stuff in that everything was only mildly touched on, instead of picking 1 or 2 big topics and really making sure they talked about the detriment of those topics. I did not like that she didn't want kids, but instead got pregnant and changed her mind. So you know just like everyone in society says. Not only that she then goes on to just not be a good mom. She slaps her daughter, she has weird thoughts about her body, she stops being a mom for 5 weeks and then just comes back and everything is supposed to be normal. Not to mention her current day timeline where she beats the crap out of a car because SHE HAS TO BRING HER DAUGHTER A CAKE! insert confused face meme here... But of course it's because she is Perimenopausal... because you know women and their hysteria and all.
The only thing i will give her is that she reported her daughter's teacher for being a POS.
The flow was clunky, the chapters confusing. It has 3 perspectives, 2 of them are past timelines - 1 is 4 months before and after and the other is 2002 and after, and it has a current day timeline. All 3 timelines are frantic and baffling, as they have flashbacks that come without warning. The current day timeline is all in the place of 1 day, which just adds to the chaos of this book. In the end, this book is nothing like Where'd You Go Bernadette, or Ove or Brit Marie or any other quirky character that isn't all sunshine and rainbows. Grace was insufferable and i will not change my mind.

Content Warnings

fosterfish's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful sad

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

aim_flores's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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