What do you think?
Rate this book
Somerville-Smythe #2
Saving Grace
If anyone needed saving, it was Jordan!
Charlton House had seen better days, but it's warm, homey embrace was irresistible -- as was its proprietor, Grace Brown. She had no idea her new guest, Jordan Somerville-Smythe, had come to convince her to sell. She knew only that despite his aura of power and success, this man was hurting in a way that made her want to hold him forever.
What was it about Jordan that was so different? The warmth in his dark blue eyes? The pain she saw in unguarded moments? Grace didn't even know what he did or where he came from. She knew only that her life changed the moment he took her in his arms.
Charlton House had seen better days, but it's warm, homey embrace was irresistible -- as was its proprietor, Grace Brown. She had no idea her new guest, Jordan Somerville-Smythe, had come to convince her to sell. She knew only that despite his aura of power and success, this man was hurting in a way that made her want to hold him forever.
What was it about Jordan that was so different? The warmth in his dark blue eyes? The pain she saw in unguarded moments? Grace didn't even know what he did or where he came from. She knew only that her life changed the moment he took her in his arms.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
1 person is currently reading
94 people want to read
About the author
Carole Mortimer
1,296 books907 followersI have written almost 250 romance novels in contemporary and Regency.
I am a USA Today Bestselling Author and recipient of the 2015 RWA Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2014 I received a Pioneer of Romance Award from Romantic Times in the US and in 2012 I was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II for my 'outstanding service to literature'.
I am very happily married to Peter with six sons, and live on the Isle of Man
I am a USA Today Bestselling Author and recipient of the 2015 RWA Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2014 I received a Pioneer of Romance Award from Romantic Times in the US and in 2012 I was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II for my 'outstanding service to literature'.
I am very happily married to Peter with six sons, and live on the Isle of Man
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
May 9, 2021
"Saving Grace" is the story of Grace and Jordan.
A saccharine feel good romance with a despondent hero, tired of his life meeting the ray of positivity heroine, and falling for her. He hides his true identity, some drama ensues and the book ends in a HEA.
Tooo... nice.... i need insulin.. I was a bit bored by it!
Safe
2/5
A saccharine feel good romance with a despondent hero, tired of his life meeting the ray of positivity heroine, and falling for her. He hides his true identity, some drama ensues and the book ends in a HEA.
Tooo... nice.... i need insulin.. I was a bit bored by it!
Safe
2/5
December 30, 2017
Re Saving Grace - Carole Mortimer has a wounded, but not mean about it H and a very nice h who likes to take in strays in this sweet little story.
This is actually the second book of the Somerville-Smythe siblings series, but for some seekrit HP editor reason, (or someone did not read the backlist properly,) this book got published before the first book on the HP side of things. Which means that the we won't get the prequel until October of 1994. As this is April of 1993 in HPlandia, we have 146 books to wait.
But it doesn't matter, cause CM throws just enough of the backstory from the previous book in so that it is easy to understand the character's motivations.
The h is Grace and she is 20 with a little 7 yr old brother, Timothy, that she is looking out for after her both her parent's died. Grace and Timothy have a big old house in the Lake District and for extra income, Grace takes in random guests on occasion, kinda like a B & B.
There are two more permanent residents of the house. Nick a reclusive 40 yr old who rents the attic and Jessie, an exuberant octogenarian whose really slimy Slug Son wants to dump Jessie into a care home and steal her money. Jessie likes living at Grace's tho, so slug repellent is frequently strewn about to keep Jessie's horrible Slug Son away.
The H is Jordan and he is 32 and having a identity crisis. The identity crisis came about in the first book when he discovered that the man he thought fathered him did not - his mother married him cause she was preggers with the baby of the man who was also the father of the H in the first book Fated Attraction. So Jordan's half-brother and half-sister by different parents are married and have been for two years.
Jordan is a hotel resort conglomerate in partnership with his half-brother. But ever since he found out that his bio dad wasn't who he thought, he has felt a hole in own identity. Jordan and Co want to buy Grace's house and make a Lake District resort out of it. But every time they make an offer via letter, they get firmly rebuffed.
So Jordan takes it into his head to go talk to Grace himself. He thinks Grace is a little old lady hanging on to her family home, so when Jessie answers the door when he arrives, he assumes she is Grace. Prior to his arrival, Jordan had spied two boys playing in the snow in the field outside the house, Jordan has a mopey moment when he realizes all that he missed by not growing up with his brother and having to assume care of his sister from an early age.
When Grace makes her appearance, Jordan immediately notices that she was one of the two boy he saw in the field. He is very appalled at his error, but his long surpressed lurve mojo radar is starting to pick up. Everyone mistakenly assumes that Jordan is another guest who booked a room and there is lots of speculation what the J in his name stands for. Jordan doesn't know why he pretends to be the other expected guest, except he feels really at peace in Grace's home for the first time in forever and he doesn't want to leave.
Grace knows Jordan isn't the pre-booked guest, he had called and cancelled his stay. But Jordan seems to be wounded and Grace likes strays, so she gives him a room and lets him stay. We have Jordan and Timothy bonding moments, Grace and Jordan attractions to each other and more slug repellent distribution to run Jessie's Slug Son off.
Jordan and Nick don't like each other on sight and Jordan can't figure out what the relationship between Grace and Nick really is. He feels that Nick is a romantic rival, so the tensions in the house start to mount when Jordan and Grace share some roofie kisses. Then Jessie has an accident and has to go to hospital. Jessie's Slug Son tries to interfere and everyone bands together to run him off.
Grace and Jordan are now in love. Timothy looks on Jordan as a dad and Nick is finally coming out of whatever was bothering him. Everyone is cozying up into an happy little family and Christmas is on the way.
Then the truth about who Jordan is comes out. Grace is hurt because she thinks Jordan, who hasn't confessed he loves her yet, is just trying to seduce her to get her to sell him the house. Jordan's sister shows up and stirs the pot some more when she inadvertently betrays Jordan's resort company ties and Grace finds the paperwork making another offer on her house.
There a little mopey moment page or two, where everyone feels bad and rues their behavior. Then Jordan's half brother shows up with a contract for Jordan to sign that prevents him from ever buying the house. We also find out that Nick is Grace's uncle - when Grace's dad died in a car accident, Nick's wife did too. They were both traveling to go see Nick's first big art show. With the loss of his wife and brother in law, Nick kind of went to pieces and locked himself up in the attic to be artistic. Jordan signs the proscribed purchase contract and gives it to Grace while confessing he loves her, she is his Saving Grace.
Grace is overjoyed, cause she loves Jordan back and Nick proclaims that he is ready to come out of the attic and start living again. Slug Son as been banished, Jessie will be moving back in to be part of the family as soon as she leaves hospital and Timothy is happy and hoping that he can have Jordan's old Jaguar when Jordan buys a new one.
Grace and Jordan decide to marry and live in Grace' s house and we have a little bonus epilogue where Grace and Jordan are all lurved up and have a two year old son, Nick seems to have found a new love and Timothy and Jessie are enjoying the happy family vibes with Jordan's siblings happily joining in, for a very Merry Christmas HEA HPlandia super sweet outing.
This is actually the second book of the Somerville-Smythe siblings series, but for some seekrit HP editor reason, (or someone did not read the backlist properly,) this book got published before the first book on the HP side of things. Which means that the we won't get the prequel until October of 1994. As this is April of 1993 in HPlandia, we have 146 books to wait.
But it doesn't matter, cause CM throws just enough of the backstory from the previous book in so that it is easy to understand the character's motivations.
The h is Grace and she is 20 with a little 7 yr old brother, Timothy, that she is looking out for after her both her parent's died. Grace and Timothy have a big old house in the Lake District and for extra income, Grace takes in random guests on occasion, kinda like a B & B.
There are two more permanent residents of the house. Nick a reclusive 40 yr old who rents the attic and Jessie, an exuberant octogenarian whose really slimy Slug Son wants to dump Jessie into a care home and steal her money. Jessie likes living at Grace's tho, so slug repellent is frequently strewn about to keep Jessie's horrible Slug Son away.
The H is Jordan and he is 32 and having a identity crisis. The identity crisis came about in the first book when he discovered that the man he thought fathered him did not - his mother married him cause she was preggers with the baby of the man who was also the father of the H in the first book Fated Attraction. So Jordan's half-brother and half-sister by different parents are married and have been for two years.
Jordan is a hotel resort conglomerate in partnership with his half-brother. But ever since he found out that his bio dad wasn't who he thought, he has felt a hole in own identity. Jordan and Co want to buy Grace's house and make a Lake District resort out of it. But every time they make an offer via letter, they get firmly rebuffed.
So Jordan takes it into his head to go talk to Grace himself. He thinks Grace is a little old lady hanging on to her family home, so when Jessie answers the door when he arrives, he assumes she is Grace. Prior to his arrival, Jordan had spied two boys playing in the snow in the field outside the house, Jordan has a mopey moment when he realizes all that he missed by not growing up with his brother and having to assume care of his sister from an early age.
When Grace makes her appearance, Jordan immediately notices that she was one of the two boy he saw in the field. He is very appalled at his error, but his long surpressed lurve mojo radar is starting to pick up. Everyone mistakenly assumes that Jordan is another guest who booked a room and there is lots of speculation what the J in his name stands for. Jordan doesn't know why he pretends to be the other expected guest, except he feels really at peace in Grace's home for the first time in forever and he doesn't want to leave.
Grace knows Jordan isn't the pre-booked guest, he had called and cancelled his stay. But Jordan seems to be wounded and Grace likes strays, so she gives him a room and lets him stay. We have Jordan and Timothy bonding moments, Grace and Jordan attractions to each other and more slug repellent distribution to run Jessie's Slug Son off.
Jordan and Nick don't like each other on sight and Jordan can't figure out what the relationship between Grace and Nick really is. He feels that Nick is a romantic rival, so the tensions in the house start to mount when Jordan and Grace share some roofie kisses. Then Jessie has an accident and has to go to hospital. Jessie's Slug Son tries to interfere and everyone bands together to run him off.
Grace and Jordan are now in love. Timothy looks on Jordan as a dad and Nick is finally coming out of whatever was bothering him. Everyone is cozying up into an happy little family and Christmas is on the way.
Then the truth about who Jordan is comes out. Grace is hurt because she thinks Jordan, who hasn't confessed he loves her yet, is just trying to seduce her to get her to sell him the house. Jordan's sister shows up and stirs the pot some more when she inadvertently betrays Jordan's resort company ties and Grace finds the paperwork making another offer on her house.
There a little mopey moment page or two, where everyone feels bad and rues their behavior. Then Jordan's half brother shows up with a contract for Jordan to sign that prevents him from ever buying the house. We also find out that Nick is Grace's uncle - when Grace's dad died in a car accident, Nick's wife did too. They were both traveling to go see Nick's first big art show. With the loss of his wife and brother in law, Nick kind of went to pieces and locked himself up in the attic to be artistic. Jordan signs the proscribed purchase contract and gives it to Grace while confessing he loves her, she is his Saving Grace.
Grace is overjoyed, cause she loves Jordan back and Nick proclaims that he is ready to come out of the attic and start living again. Slug Son as been banished, Jessie will be moving back in to be part of the family as soon as she leaves hospital and Timothy is happy and hoping that he can have Jordan's old Jaguar when Jordan buys a new one.
Grace and Jordan decide to marry and live in Grace' s house and we have a little bonus epilogue where Grace and Jordan are all lurved up and have a two year old son, Nick seems to have found a new love and Timothy and Jessie are enjoying the happy family vibes with Jordan's siblings happily joining in, for a very Merry Christmas HEA HPlandia super sweet outing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 12, 2022
This one is low key lovely.
The orphan h runs a boarding house from her family home and is raising her little bro and taking care of several waif and stray humans because she is a genuinely kind and caring young lady.
The tycoon H wants to buy her house and turn it into gym spa type place but the h is having none of it. He turns up on her doorstep and in a case of mistaken identity is allocated a room. The h knows he isn't who everyone thinks he is but can see he is sad and lets him stay anyway hoping he can find peace.
Other things happen, his interfering sister turns up and H ends up in the doghouse bigtime. However this is a romance so the HEA is around the corner when the H's big bro and business partner turns up to save him for a fluffy ending complete with new plot moppet.
This is a rather lovely story with low level angst and misunderstandings and its a nice role reversal that the h rescues the H from his depression and sadness. This H definitely needs her and her security more than she needs him even though she loves him to bits. He is a bit of a loner while she has people.
The orphan h runs a boarding house from her family home and is raising her little bro and taking care of several waif and stray humans because she is a genuinely kind and caring young lady.
The tycoon H wants to buy her house and turn it into gym spa type place but the h is having none of it. He turns up on her doorstep and in a case of mistaken identity is allocated a room. The h knows he isn't who everyone thinks he is but can see he is sad and lets him stay anyway hoping he can find peace.
Other things happen, his interfering sister turns up and H ends up in the doghouse bigtime. However this is a romance so the HEA is around the corner when the H's big bro and business partner turns up to save him for a fluffy ending complete with new plot moppet.
This is a rather lovely story with low level angst and misunderstandings and its a nice role reversal that the h rescues the H from his depression and sadness. This H definitely needs her and her security more than she needs him even though she loves him to bits. He is a bit of a loner while she has people.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 21, 2021
3 1/2 Stars! ~ Two years ago Jordan Somerville-Smythe’s whole life had been shaken causing him to question his own identity. Jordan and his partner are interested in purchasing an estate in the country for conversion into a leisure center. Anyone of Jordan’s assistants could have made the trip to coax the woman who owns the estate, now operating as a B & B, but Jordan feels a need to get away. And when he’s greeted at the door by an elderly woman and mistakenly identified as an expected guest, Jordan doesn’t correct her mistake. He’s surprised to learn that the owner is not the elderly woman who opened the door, but a young redheaded beauty barely old enough to be on her own let alone raising her seven year old brother and running the massive household. Grace Brown knows immediately that Jordan is not the expected border, but she doesn’t let on. There’s something about this attractive man that reaches out to Grace and she has the intense urge to hug him and offer comfort. Grace knows that from that moment on her life will be forever changed.
This is a lovely story of healing and the strong loyalties to family. Jordan and Grace share the early loss of their parents and the responsibilities of raising their siblings; Jordan his sister, and Grace her brother. The secondary characters are very well written and add colour and dynamics to the plot. This was a quick and very pleasant read.
This is a lovely story of healing and the strong loyalties to family. Jordan and Grace share the early loss of their parents and the responsibilities of raising their siblings; Jordan his sister, and Grace her brother. The secondary characters are very well written and add colour and dynamics to the plot. This was a quick and very pleasant read.
March 10, 2014
This is the story of Jordan and Grace. Jordan is a cynical business man still lost after finding he is not who he thought he was. Seeking escape, he goes into the country to try and persuade Grace to sell her run down country mansion. He imagines her as a spinster lady of mature years.
Grace is barely grown up but for the last two years has had the responsibility of her home, her younger brother and her two lodgers. For her, family is the most important thing and she would never consider selling the family home.
When Jordan is mistaken for a lodger who didn't turn up, she allows him to stay, despite knowing he isn't the missing visitor. She sees something in him that awakens her though at first she believes it's just her tendency to adopt strays.
The attraction between them is quick and confusing for Grace and Jordan. Especially as Jordan can't place the second lodger's importance in Grace's life.
This is a lovely old fashioned romance, not quite old-school but not quite modern. I thought the romance was sweet and loved Jordan and Grace and the family. It is the second in a series and Jordan's sister is the heroine in the first Quinlan book.
Grace is barely grown up but for the last two years has had the responsibility of her home, her younger brother and her two lodgers. For her, family is the most important thing and she would never consider selling the family home.
When Jordan is mistaken for a lodger who didn't turn up, she allows him to stay, despite knowing he isn't the missing visitor. She sees something in him that awakens her though at first she believes it's just her tendency to adopt strays.
The attraction between them is quick and confusing for Grace and Jordan. Especially as Jordan can't place the second lodger's importance in Grace's life.
This is a lovely old fashioned romance, not quite old-school but not quite modern. I thought the romance was sweet and loved Jordan and Grace and the family. It is the second in a series and Jordan's sister is the heroine in the first Quinlan book.
October 1, 2017
"Saving Grace" is such an lighthearting romantic christmas tale..full of warmth,family-feeling and such an bittersweet love.
I absolutely love both the hero and heroine.The hero Jordan Sommerville-Smythe is a TOTAL different hero of Mortimers.While her heroes always has the sort of male-arrogance with cold-blooded hearts (usually)
But Jordan is a unhappy man and needs to be saved with a lots of love...a love that he will get from the beautiful Grace Brown.
Their relationship is so adorable,i had got used to hate-love relationships and intense angsty from Mortimer,but i was glad for this warm love-story between Jordan and Grace!
I also love the supporting characters,the old lady Jessie,the handsome Nick and the young Timothy.All these characters truly made this book interesting,and i even wanted to read about Nick`s story.
A light warming romance to read on a snowy winter evening!
I absolutely love both the hero and heroine.The hero Jordan Sommerville-Smythe is a TOTAL different hero of Mortimers.While her heroes always has the sort of male-arrogance with cold-blooded hearts (usually)
But Jordan is a unhappy man and needs to be saved with a lots of love...a love that he will get from the beautiful Grace Brown.
Their relationship is so adorable,i had got used to hate-love relationships and intense angsty from Mortimer,but i was glad for this warm love-story between Jordan and Grace!
I also love the supporting characters,the old lady Jessie,the handsome Nick and the young Timothy.All these characters truly made this book interesting,and i even wanted to read about Nick`s story.
A light warming romance to read on a snowy winter evening!
June 26, 2019
IF ANYONE NEEDED SAVING, IT WAS JORDAN!
Charlton House had seen better days, but it's warm, homey embrace was irresistible --- as was its proprietor, Grace Brown. She had no idea her new guest, Jordan Somerville-Smythe, had come to convince her to sell. She knew only that despite his aura of power and success, this man was hurting in a way that made her want to hold him forever.
What was it about Jordan that was so different? The warmth in his dark blue eyes? The pain she saw in unguarded moments? Grace didn't even know what he did or where he came from. She knew only that her life changed the moment he took her in his arms. (
Charlton House had seen better days, but it's warm, homey embrace was irresistible --- as was its proprietor, Grace Brown. She had no idea her new guest, Jordan Somerville-Smythe, had come to convince her to sell. She knew only that despite his aura of power and success, this man was hurting in a way that made her want to hold him forever.
What was it about Jordan that was so different? The warmth in his dark blue eyes? The pain she saw in unguarded moments? Grace didn't even know what he did or where he came from. She knew only that her life changed the moment he took her in his arms. (
September 8, 2017
An author I have always loved.
Finally got round to reading the book.
As usual.....
The twists and turns were good.
Enjoyed visiting the characters from the first book of the series.
Finally got round to reading the book.
As usual.....
The twists and turns were good.
Enjoyed visiting the characters from the first book of the series.
November 5, 2022
I loved the story line and the characters were perfect. There was a lot of wording that just didn’t make sense to me…maybe because the author is from England and they have a different vocabulary than us. I dunno. It’s just that parts of it the grammar seemed off. I also have questions that were never answered during the progression of the novel. Such as…how did Rhea and Raff meet? I wish the author delved more into that aspect. I feel that it was a great start but wasn’t quite finished yet. Plus it needed a better editor.
April 16, 2024
Very mild, rather gentle romance between discombobulated businessman Jordan and too good to be true h Grace who, aged 20 is orphaned and looking after her 7 year old brother and a menagerie of waifs and strays in a decaying rambling Cumbrian boarding house. He turns up looking at buying the place under an assumed name, winds up staying and falls in love super fast. It didn't really float my boat but I finished it so went 3 star rather than 2.
August 13, 2025
This was the most Hallmarky book I’ve read from Harlequin so far. And that’s saying a lot because these scream Hallmark movie. But I liked this one a lot and would definitely read another by Carole Mortimer.
December 28, 2019
No hay mucho que decir. Una novelita entretenida como todas las de esta autora, con la dosis justa de todo, no exagerada, bien llevada. Justo lo que se requiere para una tarde sin internet.
September 1, 2016
Boring.
Read
December 31, 2017IF ANYONE NEEDED SAVING, IT WAS JORDAN!
Charlton House had seen better days, but it's warm, homey embrace was irresistible --- as was its proprietor, Grace Brown. She had no idea her new guest, Jordan Somerville-Smythe, had come to convince her to sell. She knew only that despite his aura of power and success, this man was hurting in a way that made her want to hold him forever.
What was it about Jordan that was so different? The warmth in his dark blue eyes? The pain she saw in unguarded moments? Grace didn't even know what he did or where he came from. She knew only that her life changed the moment he took her in his arms.
Charlton House had seen better days, but it's warm, homey embrace was irresistible --- as was its proprietor, Grace Brown. She had no idea her new guest, Jordan Somerville-Smythe, had come to convince her to sell. She knew only that despite his aura of power and success, this man was hurting in a way that made her want to hold him forever.
What was it about Jordan that was so different? The warmth in his dark blue eyes? The pain she saw in unguarded moments? Grace didn't even know what he did or where he came from. She knew only that her life changed the moment he took her in his arms.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews