I learned about A Little Bit of Grace through - you guessed it - Melissa! In this case, she actually introduced me to the author via FB Messaging. So I immediately bought the book and got to it right away. The only potential problem was...what if I didn't much care for it? The fact that Melissa liked it a lot made me feel a little bit more confident that I would too. But there's no guarantee! Well, there was no need to worry. I enjoyed the heck out of ALBoG. Here's the blurb, and then I've got stuff to tell you:
Family is everything - Grace Adams McHale's mom must have said it to her a thousand times before she died. Before Grace's dad ran off with an aspiring actress half his age. Before only-child Grace found out she was unable to have children of her own. Before Brian - her childhood best friend, business partner, and finally her husband - dropped a "bombshell" on her in the form of her stunning new replacement.
Which means Grace now has...nothing.
Until she receives a letter from a woman claiming to be a relative Grace never knew she had, sending her on a journey from the childhood home she had to move back into to a Florida island to meet a total stranger who embraces her as family. There, Grace starts to uncover answers about the eccentric woman her family never mentioned: a larger-than-life octogenarian who is the keeper of a secret held for more than fifty years, and the ultimate inspiration to always be true to yourself. As Grace gets to know this woman and picks up the pieces of her own shattered life, she is forced to question whether she can find forgiveness for the unforgivable.
Let me start the actual review part of this post by saying A Little Bit of Grace is simply delightful (one of my mother-in-law's favorite words). And it sure applies in this case. That is not say there is no substance. How do I know this?...because I got a takeaway from Grace. This only happens every 50-75 books. But it happened here. Let me quote the passage: "I just mean...maybe you and Brian were together for the part of your paths that ran the same direction...until they didn't anymore. And that was going to happen regardless of anything either of you did or didn't do. You just each moved on to a different part of your map." I'm going to keep this in mind when I encounter obstacles. Thanks, Phoebe!
Here's the other thing about this book. Phoebe has come up with some of the best visuals I can remember ever reading. Here are just a few examples of many:
"His forehead wrinkled like a shar-pei's."
"...people were bursting through the door like the Kool-Aid man..."
"I couldn't have felt more awkward if I'd broken in like Goldilocks and helped myself to a comfortable bed."
There are a dozen more where those came from. So many that I would have had to devote an entire post to these very clever similes/metaphors/comparisons. And if I did that, you would be missing out on a whole bunch of occasions to smile and nod your head. I don't want to take that pleasure away from you! More importantly, read A Little Bit of Grace. It's just what the doctor (any doctor!) ordered.
