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Tough Love at Mystic Bay
Grace Haddonfield is a four-star chef with a bitter past. At 14, Grace finds herself at odds with her controlling mother who has her kidnapped in the middle of the night and taken to a boarding school for troubled teens. Grace spends several months at Epiphany Lake Academy where she must rise through the ranks of a cult-like program. When she realizes that the program has set her up to fail, she attempts to escape from Epiphany Lake and winds up somewhere even Mystic Bay, a barbed-wire facility in the Dominican Republic. Grace's defiance against her captors lands her in solitary confinement, where she gets through the long hours by indulging in vivid fantasies about food.As an adult, Grace is successful but lonely and struggles to reconcile her triumphs with the injustices she has endured. When she meets a woman named Jess in a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class, she has the chance to make the kind of connection that's been missing from her life. Tough Love at Mystic Bay follows Grace as she unlearns harsh lessons and rediscovers friendship.
294 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 1, 2020
17 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Sowden
1 book4 followersElizabeth Sowden grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree from Sarah Lawrence College in 2006. She spent several years working as a marketing copywriter and social media strategist. Her martial arts experience includes Krav Maga and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Her short stories have appeared in a wide range of publications, including VerbSap, Paper Darts, Revolver, Whole Beast Rag and Contrary. She lives in Minneapolis.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
August 31, 2020
This engrossing novel moves between adult Grace, a talented and self-sabotaging chef, and the abuse she endured at two boarding schools for "troubled teens." In a book like this, my focus is ordinarily on the backstory, where most authors concentrate the narrative momentum. But Sowden's writing invested me equally in adult Grace's life.
The book is makes its impact with rich descriptions, even in its quieter moments. It's easy to picture Grace in the kitchen of her restaurant, improvising a brilliant meal, or training with her Brazilian Jiu Jitsu teammates. If you're familiar with Minneapolis, you'll recognize many places around the city. Sowden uses Grace's awareness of sensory details, particularly her fantasies about food while being starved, to explain adult Grace's knack for assembling unusual ingredients into popular restaurant dishes. I found myself thinking about particularly descriptive passages long after I'd finished the book.
Predictably, there's a lot of violence throughout the story. Sowden's prose is always straightforward, not sensational. Grace's boarding schools are not responsible for her success (as Grace furiously insists when one school touts her as a famous alumna), but Sowden deftly shows how Grace's past echoes through her present without fetishizing the violence she has endured.
The book is makes its impact with rich descriptions, even in its quieter moments. It's easy to picture Grace in the kitchen of her restaurant, improvising a brilliant meal, or training with her Brazilian Jiu Jitsu teammates. If you're familiar with Minneapolis, you'll recognize many places around the city. Sowden uses Grace's awareness of sensory details, particularly her fantasies about food while being starved, to explain adult Grace's knack for assembling unusual ingredients into popular restaurant dishes. I found myself thinking about particularly descriptive passages long after I'd finished the book.
Predictably, there's a lot of violence throughout the story. Sowden's prose is always straightforward, not sensational. Grace's boarding schools are not responsible for her success (as Grace furiously insists when one school touts her as a famous alumna), but Sowden deftly shows how Grace's past echoes through her present without fetishizing the violence she has endured.
August 1, 2020
A deeply moving tale of self-discovery and rediscovering friendship, Sowden’s outstanding debut tells the story of a young woman trying to deal with her past traumas.
At 14, Grace Haddonfield was forcefully sent to Epiphany Lake Academy, a boarding school for troubled teens, by her controlling mother. Designed to help troubled teenagers, the yearlong program which rewarded compliance and punished noncompliance, becomes an endless cycle of physical violence, sexual abuse, and psychological duress for Grace. Now years later, Grace has a rewarding career as a four-star chef, but dealing with her inner demons is entirely another thing. After meeting Jess in a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class, Grace finds courage to revisit her past and a chance at friendship once again.
Sowden writes Grace’s story with compassion and understanding, and her meticulous research makes the various accounts of her characters’ sufferings credible and engaging at once. Sowden’s chatty, captivating storytelling and her knack for getting inside her characters’ teenager minds make the devastation of their world even more wrenching: Grace is teetering on the edge of despair, and while she wants to desperately believe in the academy’s points and level system, she knows there’s something sinister about the whole setup.
Grace’s trial at the Academy is so loaded with grim implications of physical and mental abuse that it’s almost unbelievable. Elegantly written and touching, this deeply excellent tale is as much a story of institutional failure and adolescent abuse as it’s a tale of self-discovery, endurance, and resilience in the face of difficulties.
This is a hard-hitting, poignant tale.
At 14, Grace Haddonfield was forcefully sent to Epiphany Lake Academy, a boarding school for troubled teens, by her controlling mother. Designed to help troubled teenagers, the yearlong program which rewarded compliance and punished noncompliance, becomes an endless cycle of physical violence, sexual abuse, and psychological duress for Grace. Now years later, Grace has a rewarding career as a four-star chef, but dealing with her inner demons is entirely another thing. After meeting Jess in a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class, Grace finds courage to revisit her past and a chance at friendship once again.
Sowden writes Grace’s story with compassion and understanding, and her meticulous research makes the various accounts of her characters’ sufferings credible and engaging at once. Sowden’s chatty, captivating storytelling and her knack for getting inside her characters’ teenager minds make the devastation of their world even more wrenching: Grace is teetering on the edge of despair, and while she wants to desperately believe in the academy’s points and level system, she knows there’s something sinister about the whole setup.
Grace’s trial at the Academy is so loaded with grim implications of physical and mental abuse that it’s almost unbelievable. Elegantly written and touching, this deeply excellent tale is as much a story of institutional failure and adolescent abuse as it’s a tale of self-discovery, endurance, and resilience in the face of difficulties.
This is a hard-hitting, poignant tale.
September 15, 2020
Tough Love at Mystic Bay is a story about self discovery written by the author Elizabeth Sowden. The protagonist of the story is Grace Haddonfield who is a four star chef with a bad past. When Grace was a teenager, she was sent to Epiphany Lake Academy where troubled teens are rehabilitated.
After few months at Epiphany Lake Academy, she escaped from there but landed in the next trouble at Mystic Bay.
As an adult, Grave has a good career as a four star chef. She met Jess in Jiu-Jitsu class and has a chance of friendship. Grab a copy of this book and read the story to know what all happens next.
The story is written well with simple language and clear narrative. The storyline is amazing. Cover is nice. Please be advised that this book contains mature content so it is only recommended to adults.
After few months at Epiphany Lake Academy, she escaped from there but landed in the next trouble at Mystic Bay.
As an adult, Grave has a good career as a four star chef. She met Jess in Jiu-Jitsu class and has a chance of friendship. Grab a copy of this book and read the story to know what all happens next.
The story is written well with simple language and clear narrative. The storyline is amazing. Cover is nice. Please be advised that this book contains mature content so it is only recommended to adults.
April 7, 2022
I really liked this book. The pacing is incredible, and it reads like a thriller. This is a story of the spirit's survival. Grace (the heroine's) body has made it through her ordeal, but her mind is still in peril.
The element of suspense comes from two sources. First: from the reader's fear that present-day Grace might not endure the psychic burden of her past abuse. Second: from the reader knowing from the beginning of the story what she suffered as an teenager, and seeing her, in a later section of the book that takes place years earlier, careen, as an unknowing and innocent child, toward her fate (no spoilers, but this one leads to a gut-punch near the end).
I tore through this book in one day. I couldn't put it down. I don't know why this book isn't more well-known.
The element of suspense comes from two sources. First: from the reader's fear that present-day Grace might not endure the psychic burden of her past abuse. Second: from the reader knowing from the beginning of the story what she suffered as an teenager, and seeing her, in a later section of the book that takes place years earlier, careen, as an unknowing and innocent child, toward her fate (no spoilers, but this one leads to a gut-punch near the end).
I tore through this book in one day. I couldn't put it down. I don't know why this book isn't more well-known.
April 4, 2020
Great read from start to finish, read far into the night to finish it. Fun to follow all the local landmarks listed. Horrifying however to learn of these types of schools that are still in existence. It made me very angry to see how some parents treat their children and how they thought those were important life lessons when these methods would affect them negatively, some for the rest of their lives. Highly recommended read.
September 25, 2020
This book was a nice change from the typical suspense novels we see so much of today. While reading I felt like I was Grace and just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse it definitely does! From the manipulation and torture of the camp employees to the mom’s constant self pity, it’s no wonder Grace is such an emotional mess as an adult. I’d recommend this to all my friends and even have it on my list of must read agains.
October 20, 2025
A harrowing tale of survival, self doubt, generational trauma, and sheer will that's wrapped full-circle around a simple story of a woman who cannot enjoy her adult success because of her adolescent past (through no fault of her own) until she unpacks it all. TL;dr - buckle up for some pretty graphic descriptions of abuse, but know there is a redemptive arc at the end of the trail of tears. Highly recommended!
April 14, 2020
Folks who speak up about abuse are so often not believed. This story touches that terror - that you’re trapped and on one will help - in a captivating way. Very fast read - you won’t want to stop until you see how Grace makes it out. Compelling story with great details. Sowden is a good, good storyteller.
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August 16, 2020I am way senior of the audience this book is written for, but enjoyed it nontheless. Not often you would find recipes for exotic and tasty dishes combined with a story of oppression and actual violence committed against youth. Had no idea such an institution still exists. Something for everyone here. E. Sowden has a gift for realistic dialog as well.
December 27, 2020
Triggering But Satisfying
Exactly as the title says. Based on Island View and Tranquility Bay I believe.
This is a story that that needed to be told. Don't let this happen to your kids
Exactly as the title says. Based on Island View and Tranquility Bay I believe.
This is a story that that needed to be told. Don't let this happen to your kids
February 12, 2022
Brilliantly written. It unravels a sad story about a teen, wrongfully taken to a boarding school, where she gets tortured and raped as well as many others that make one's eyes well with tears. A truly page-turning and is a must read. I highly recommend it.
July 7, 2020
Hard to put down. I knew about cults and scientologists, but had not heard about these teen camps. Scary.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews