Being a Sheriff’s Deputy is not all about saving lives and arresting criminals, and each day Grace wonders if she’ll make it home.
While kids at the schools Deputy Grace Halling visits see her as the knight in blue-cotton armor, people involved in the cases she is dispatched to have a different opinion. She has every confidence in her ability to do her job and arrest criminals. She easily takes down a knife-wielding woman and a drunken combatant teenager without hesitation. Everyone—victim, suspect, or witness—has a story to tell or to lie about, and Grace is never perturbed by their tales.
That all changes when she looks down the barrel of a gun. She loses confidence in her ability as a deputy, she loses trust in herself and fellow officers, and she struggles to stay afloat as shift after shift passes. Grace cannot find her rhythm of being a deputy again. And when the Police Chaplain unexpectedly barges into her life, her personal and professional lives are flipped upside down. Grace struggles to find her even ground, worrying that the next time she stares a murderer in the face will be the last.
Adrian J. Smith has been publishing since 2013 but has been writing nearly her entire life. With a focus on women loving women fiction, AJ jumps genres from action-packed police procedurals to the seedier life of vampires and witches to sweet romances with a May-December twist. She loves writing and reading about women in the midst of the ordinariness of life. Two of her novels, For by Grace and Memoir in the Making, received honorable mentions with the Rainbow Awards.
AJ currently lives in Cheyenne, WY, although she moves often and has lived all over the United States. She loves to travel to different countries and places. She currently plays the roles of author, wife, and mother to two rambunctious kids, occasional handy-woman. Connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, or her blog.
I loved it. My favorite part about the book is the characters. Of course, I adore Grace herself--she's someone I'd like to know in real life! But I'm also drawn in by the people in her life. She's surrounded by fascinating individuals. If you just want to spend an afternoon losing track of everything else, this is the book to do it with. There's suspense, humor, and even a little hint of romance (though it's not at all a love story, really)--something for everyone.
Another brilliant book by AJ that I had the pleasure of reading chapter by chapter before it was published. I haven't read this version, though (a few changes were made), so I'm super excited to read the final product! When I read the first version, I was on the edge of my seat the entire way. Grace and Amya are such brilliant characters. I kept finding a little of myself in each one. I love how realistic AJ's books are. Most writers over dramatize things, while AJ shows day by day trials that cops and chaplains face. It's not always shootouts and murder scenes; there are traffic accidents and simple events. Don't get me wrong, if you're read AJ's other books, you know she will kill people off in a second, but she doesn't over-dramatize just for the hell of it.
Amya and Grace's relationship is so sweet. I love them as much as Addison and James. Getting to see their start is so wonderful. Amya is so kind and grounded. I love that about her. The plot of this keeps building and the ending broke me. I can't wait until the second book! I NEED IT NOW!
Literally leaves you hanging, along with the main character. Some typos and missing words, but not enough to detract from the reading of the story. I'd like to read more about the main character's personal life (she doesn't really have one despite having a secret gf) and less about the police work, except for the curious conundrum of cops getting shot. Will look forward to the next installment.
Adrian J. Smith takes us through the day to day life of Deputy Sheriff, Grace Halling, who has a heart of gold hidden behind a few guarded fences. Through the slow calls and the close calls we learn more about our clumsy yet lovable protagonist who is ready to make right all the wrong doing in today's world, if she can manage to avoid tripping over the curb on her way there.
My likes: The details in this story were very well planned out and didn't require much guess work and yet maintained a yoyo effect of ups and downs for our main character. There were very relatable struggles that the MC experiences, but her sense of right and wrong never wavered even when mine perhaps would have. I love experiencing MC's trauma and inner dialogue while trying to work through her emotions and not always understanding why she behaved in certain ways.
My dislikes: I wish we were able to see more of the MC's relationship, but I am a sucker for a heart wrenching romance (it's a personal preference and in no way makes this book less enjoyable). There were too many references of lip play as far as "biting her lip", I would like to "see" more of MC's mannerisms.
In my opinion this book was a great read and I would rate this book a 4/5 stars. There were no plot holes, it contained plenty of twist/turns to keep my interest. I would not recommend this book strictly for the romance because it is NOT specifically a romance, but there is a f/f love interest without at all having to "come out", which I love to see.
Deputy Grace Halling works hard. Her job is difficult, gross, and thankless. Even when suspects are difficult and nasty to her, she still tries to help them out of their unfortunate circumstances. She is a softie but gets impatient easily. She loves children, although she would never admit that out loud. Meeting with and talking to or teaching grade schoolers is the highlight of her day. She loves her job and trusts her instincts when she is out on the streets.
The books is about a female cop, Grace, which I understood going in. I expected some cop work along with a side of romance. While I enjoyed the characters and their little imperfections and the realistic feel of them, I felt like emotions were missing from their actions. The actions, movements and descriptions were there but the feelings and reasons were left off a lot of times making it hard to fully connect and feel for the main characters.
I felt like although it was a cop book, there was too much cop work and details given. I would've liked to see it focus more on the actual big case and the relationship that was slowly developing instead of all the mundane day to day work as it took away from the book and slowed the plot to me.
Having a father and husband that work with or close to the local police force for over 30 years, I had issues with some of the ways things were handle as that's not how I know them to be done or taken care of. That is a completely personal observation that most likely won't affect most people that read the book though. Plus, all I know is from someone else and all from the same state so likely it could be slightly misconstrued because of that and the way every state/department is run a little differently.
Overall, I loved the two main females and would've liked to see more focus on them then the cop work, then again I'm a romantic at heart and love that side more than the cop work as I heard about that on a day to day basis.
Can't wait to see where the next edition in the series takes us! I was given this in return for an honest review by Inked Rainbow Reads. ~Renee
FourStars For By Grace, written by Adrian J. Smith, is a crime procedural featuring Officer Grace Halling, a police officer more likely to stub her toe getting out of bed then not, but who can take on whatever situation her shift presents with calm and "grace". Featured prominently is also Amya, the precinct's new chaplain, who initially rubs Grace the wrong way, but eventually forges a strong relationship with her.
First, for the full disclosure. Adrian and I have known each other for a couple years now, and she often beta reads for me. While I was not one of her betas, I did pinch hit on a few chapters for her, so I've been very minimally involved in this novel from an early stage. However, I don't believe that lessens my ability to give it an honest review.
The good: Adrian is great at writing the crime aspects. She obviously has done a lot of research about what it takes to be a law enforcement officer and that shines through clearly. The dialogue is strong and realistic, the grammar is top notch, and the editing is phenomenal. As far as a book being well put together, it doesn't get much better. There's clearly been a lot of work into presenting a clean and polished product and that makes reading this a breeze.
The meh: For me, I would have like some more emphasis on the burgeoning and changing relationship between Grace and Amya. It's there, just lurking beneath the surface for most of the novel, and it's never featured prominently. I know this isn't a romance, and I wouldn't want it to be, but for me personally, I like all my novels with a hefty dose of romance, so I'd have liked to see a little more there. For all you parents: though this book is marketed as adult, there is no reason it's not appropriate for a teenager. There's nothing explicit in here, so while it's a meh for me, it may be a giant plus for you. As an introduction to the LGBT genre for someone not sure if they'll enjoy a f/f pairing, this is a great way to dip your toes in the proverbial water.
The not so good: My biggest problem with this book is the chapters. Each one is relatively self-contained, and I prefer more flow. A larger, over arching plot. There isn't as much of that in this as I prefer, with each chapter covering a shift and what happens therein. It's a very different take and I don't think I've ever read another book with the same setup, but for me, it didn't work.
And the verdict is: A worthy read. For By Grace has way more good things than bad, and the bad are just my own personal preferences rather than some fatal flaw within the novel. Overall, you won't be disappointed if you pick this up, and I highly recommend that you do so.
Rating: 4 stars I was given this in return for an honest review by Inked Rainbow Reads. Sirena
The blurb intrigued me when I saw it and couldn’t wait to read it. I’m not really sure how I feel about this book. There were so many things that felt off to me, I’m still not sure what really happens.
Grace is an interesting character. She is a cop who loves her job and does it because she wants to help people. Help and protect them. I find that trait very admirable. Grace isn’t out as a lesbian officer. She hasn’t really dated anyone in awhile and that has also helped keep her secret. Grace is all about helping out others. She’s actually really good at that part of her job. She goes into every situation with the intent on helping and figuring out what has happened and how to help.
Amaya is seen thru Grace’s eyes, so from what I can gather about her…she’s a chaplain and she’s got this wonderful sense of self. She’s a steady character who falls for Grace. Amaya seems to have a pretty level head on her shoulders and really likes what she does. Amaya puts up with A LOT, and I do mean A LOT from Grace. However, she sticks through all of Grace’s quirks and still makes herself a part of Grace’s life.
There were so many characters in this story that I can’t pick just one that stands out as someone who really helps Grace as a character. I will say that of all of the secondary characters, Peter is the one that is shown the most. He’s this young man whose mother is an alcoholic and is fast approaching the same way. Grace and Peter have several run ins and yet, Grace seems to only want the very best for him and helps him throughout this story. I also like Harold. Harold is a gentleman that is in housing for people with mental issues. Harold is such a sweet, childlike character and I really enjoyed seeing him whenever he was on the page.
This book had no sex at all. It wasn’t even fade to black, it just never seemed to go there at all. It was interesting because it focused on the growing relationship between Grace and Amaya. That was nice and very sweet, however, maybe it’s just me, I really like to see our characters show their love and affection for each other in a physical way. This book reminds me of how lesbian fiction was years and years ago…either fade to black or implied. This book didn’t even do that.
The author did a great job describing police procedures and it showed throughout the book. There was really good research for that and I felt like Grace truly was a wonderful deputy. I will say that I was very unimpressed with the fact that I can’t seem to really say that this is a romance, it seems to be more of a police procedural with some mystery/suspense and action in it. The romance seemed to be more of an after thought.
I liked the fact that Grace is clumsy and it is a source of discomfort to her and she gets teased about it from her friends and coworkers. I disliked the fact that she seemed to get hurt with some regular frequency. That bothered me a bunch. I’m not saying that it doesn’t happen, however, with every instance where she had to throw down with a suspect…Grace got her butt kicked and that didn’t seem right to me. I’m not really even sure where the hell this book is supposed to take place in. It never seemed to have been brought up.
This book also spoke A LOT about God. I’m not sure how you feel about the subject as religion is such a personal thing, however, it’s not stated in the blurb and I was a bit taken aback by just how much this book seemed to be about God. Just a little FYI for you.
There was something that really irritated me to know end in this book…it was the lack of growth on the Grace’s part. I just felt ambivalent towards her as this story had evolved. I was hoping that by the end of the story that something would happen to make me feel something and I’m still waiting. The story ended on a cliff-hanger…I can only assume that it’s there that Grace experiences a change.
A copy of this book was provided in exchange for an honest review. Please visit www.lovebytesreviews.com to see this and many more reviews, author interviews, guestposts and giveaways!
NOTE: This is a Police procedural and not a romance. Grace is a female police officer whose past hasn’t always been the best. She has many friends on the force and isn’t out. She meets Amya the new chaplain and her life personal life changes. Will this affect t her job? For me, the story starts out a bit slow as each chapter is basically a day by day accounting of her day at work. Sometimes minute by minute, move by move. I felt the description was a bit too much at times. Now having said that. This is a pretty good beginning of a series. I really liked Graces character, and I think that was the saving Grace to this story(pun intended). There are some good stories in her daily tales that are heartwarming and show how concerned and caring Grace is. I would have liked more of her relationship with Amya and Grace and more about how she met Crystal and their friendship as well. I guess I am saying I would have liked more of her personal life. The ending was quite a dramatic and wow was I am not expecting that!. I have to read the next one now for sure!
Pages and pages full of police things, from writing tickets to car chases and shoot outs. Oh, and somewhere along the line a cop and a chaplain hook up.
Also, appearing three times in the book, some religious nut shows up and chapters upon chapters we're treated with quotes from scripture. What?
The blurb isn't correct at all, I was expecting something about PSTD after a traumatic event. None of it there,, though, she just gets back to work, treating us with more descriptions of mundane police work.
It is hinted two cop killings are related, because at both scenes there's a golf magazine present. Huh?
In the last pages some car chase goes south, and golfballs are mentioned. Ok, whatever.
And what the fuck is that ending? Did she just die? I spent a whole book reading about Grace's work, and she just dies? Or what? What the hell?.
Also my ebook version was riddled with errors, words missing and what not. What a complete and utter waste of my time.
Excuse me, while I get a refund.
Worst book I ever read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Engaging. It's a cop story that happens to have a love story that happens to be with another woman. Oh, did I forget to mention this awesome cop just happens too be a woman. Really? Is their anything sexier than a strong, confident women who happens to be in uniform? This is a depiction of a capable woman who stands up for herself and others. A woman who is a wonderful example of coworker, friend and human in general. We should all hope to share some of her attributes, but she is also flawed which makes her real. There are too many reasons why this is a good story to explain adequately, so get the book and find out yourself. One caveat though, start it when you don't have any commitments the next day you may not be able to put it down.
Book is set up as a series of events in a police officer's life. Story flows well and kept me involved in the story. Grace is your normal police officer and not some super cop without flaws and weaknesses. Was surprised by the way the story ends and I definitely look forward to a sequel. Overall good read.
So, this book I was asked to read last year by the publisher, and so when I read it it was not available on goodreads to track. For that reason, I am marking it as read now, and keeping my review of it to myself, as it has already been shared.