Reviews with content warning for Child death - Amazing Grace Adams

This book was not what I expected, but so much more! It rotates among three time periods, 20+ years ago when Grace met her husband, 4 months ago when her life really took a downward turn, and present time when Grace is simply trying to get a cake to her daughter's 16th birthday party. Surprisingly, it wasn't difficult at all to keep up with the different time periods. It began as a familiar story of a middle-aged, perimenopausal woman who decided she was fed up with the everyday nuisances of her life, i.e., the things women are expected to put up with, and instead was going to take action rather than tolerate them anymore. There are several funny anecdotes about her standing up for herself, but as the story continues, it becomes more serious, and heartbreaking in ways that any mother could imagine. She learns more about herself and her family, and how she could have handled things differently without taking the blame for everything. As other reviews have mentioned, it did seem like the author tried to put a lot of issues into one story, but at the same time, combined with the flashbacks to the other time periods, they actually worked to explain Grace's situation. Wonderful debut and great cover!

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jenny_c's review

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emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

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

5.0

Wow. Perfectly captures the screaming frustration of the mother teen daughter relationship - and every other maddening and heartbreaking moment coming at us in midlife. Other reviews suggesting it is unbelievable or far fetched HAVE NOT BEEN THERE.

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susareads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

3.75

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camchorse's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

2.5

Fran Littlewood's debut book uses a triple timeline format to chronicle what has led Grace Adams to the place of desperation she now finds herself in. Her daughter's 16th birthday has given her a reason to prove that she is still amazing and worthy of love. Unfortunately, despite Grace's best intentions, her journey to help her daughter celebrate her birthday is riddled with a series of unfortunate events.

The timeline jumps back and forth between 2002, four months before now and now. The previous time periods explain how Grace has ended up in her current predicament. I found the frequent jumping back and forth to be a little confusing. I could not always keep the details straight and the some of the situations Grace found herself in seemed to be far fetched.

Readers who enjoyed Where'd You Go, Bernadette? and Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine will likely enjoy this one too. I found myself feeling impatient with the chaos surrounding Grace whether it was warranted or not.

Be sure to check the trigger warnings before reading this one.

Thanks to the Macmillan Audio Influencer Program for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

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weefeereads's review

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challenging emotional lighthearted sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

A story of a family’s grief, though it doesn’t become apparent until we’ll through the book. Once famous polyglot Grace unravels over the course of an incident packed day, while trying to deliver a birthday cake to her 16 year old daughter. Several time frames.

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spreece's review

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.25

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