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Saving Grace
When Grace Harridge turns fifty years old on New Year's Day in the year 2000 she expects the upcoming new year to be as uneventful and lonely as those that preceded it but there are some unexpected surprises in store as she is about to meet the love of her life and face a terrifying threat from a convicted murderer.
338 pages, Paperback
First published April 30, 2015
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March 17, 2017
"Technically, the new millennium wouldn’t begin until 2001 but most of the world considered December 31, 1999 to be the last day of the century and the dawning of the next thousand years. While celebrations were beginning on the other side of the planet, Grace sat peacefully with a latte and contemplated the possibilities of Y2K catastrophes and what life would be like when the year
started with a two instead of a one." (5)
This New Year's also marked Grace's 50th birthday. With loved ones long gone, Grace has come to accept her solitary existence with no husband or children in the foreseeable future.
During a routine jog on the start of a new year, Grace encounters a middle-aged man named Levi. Like Grace, Levi was also lonely with the divorce from his ex-wife and the death of his only daughter. The two find an instant connection through their grief and hope. As the two get to know each other, they come to realize they have much in common, including the struggle to make it and trying to make the world a better place. Even though each have their own skeletons in the closet, both Grace and Levi find peace in running and passion in their profession (Grace as head ER nurse and Levi as a high school English teacher.)
Meanwhile, Laura, a convicted woman who killed someone near and dear to Grace, was due for a parole hearing and executed a plan for release and revenge.
Story was simple and well-written. I enjoyed the bond between Grace and Levi--two dark souls that found a light in each other. Graney did a wonderful job developing characters with true depth and raw emotion. As the story is written in the POV of these characters, we feel the torrent of emotions that swirl through, like Levi's overwhelming love for Grace and Grace's cautious optimism for a man that has re-awakened her spirits. We also feel Laura's poisonous and methodical mind as she manipulates her cohorts and plots to kill our sweet Grace.
Of course, the pace was languid and the story tended to wander. Laura's cold-hearted revenge was a very compelling angle in the story, but the premise was too drawn out, trudging along insipidly and going almost nowhere. All we hear about is her time in the halfway house and her sweet thoughts of revenge. Okay, so where does that take her? I was rooting for a final showdown concerning Laura, but the whole thing was rather anti-climactic. The bulk of the book was mostly on the new couples (Grace/Levi and Michelle/Robbie,) which was okay, I guess.
Still, the story was, for the most part, interesting, but not quite up to my tastes.
started with a two instead of a one." (5)
This New Year's also marked Grace's 50th birthday. With loved ones long gone, Grace has come to accept her solitary existence with no husband or children in the foreseeable future.
During a routine jog on the start of a new year, Grace encounters a middle-aged man named Levi. Like Grace, Levi was also lonely with the divorce from his ex-wife and the death of his only daughter. The two find an instant connection through their grief and hope. As the two get to know each other, they come to realize they have much in common, including the struggle to make it and trying to make the world a better place. Even though each have their own skeletons in the closet, both Grace and Levi find peace in running and passion in their profession (Grace as head ER nurse and Levi as a high school English teacher.)
Meanwhile, Laura, a convicted woman who killed someone near and dear to Grace, was due for a parole hearing and executed a plan for release and revenge.
Story was simple and well-written. I enjoyed the bond between Grace and Levi--two dark souls that found a light in each other. Graney did a wonderful job developing characters with true depth and raw emotion. As the story is written in the POV of these characters, we feel the torrent of emotions that swirl through, like Levi's overwhelming love for Grace and Grace's cautious optimism for a man that has re-awakened her spirits. We also feel Laura's poisonous and methodical mind as she manipulates her cohorts and plots to kill our sweet Grace.
Of course, the pace was languid and the story tended to wander. Laura's cold-hearted revenge was a very compelling angle in the story, but the premise was too drawn out, trudging along insipidly and going almost nowhere. All we hear about is her time in the halfway house and her sweet thoughts of revenge. Okay, so where does that take her? I was rooting for a final showdown concerning Laura, but the whole thing was rather anti-climactic. The bulk of the book was mostly on the new couples (Grace/Levi and Michelle/Robbie,) which was okay, I guess.
Still, the story was, for the most part, interesting, but not quite up to my tastes.
January 26, 2016
Though William Graney’s Saving Grace is a sequel of ‘Mirrors in the Dark’, but the book is credible of being a standalone novel. With several references from Mountaintop USA, this final book acts as the perfect ending tying all the loose strings and drawing the final conclusion.
The book begins with Grace Harridge’s 50th birthday and the beginning of a new millennium. After the murder of Randy Monroe, Grace had settled as a nurse in Seattle, and her life has been quite uneventful thereafter. As she turns 50, without a single birthday wish from any family or friends, she predicts a lonely future ahead. But things began to take a drastic turn when Randy’s murderer, mentally unstable Laura, is released on parole.
In Mountaintop USA, we were introduced to lovers Michelle and Robbie who had to end their relationship. While Michelle saw a career ahead, Robbie wanted to settle down and their wide age difference forced them to let go of each other. In Saving Grace, Michelle is a friend of Grace’s and the two women share their past experiences with each other.
William has beautifully brought love into the picture. Grace finds a companion in Levi, another character from Mountaintop USA, and their relation begins to bloom from friendship and gradually becomes more. As her father passes away, Michelle too has to go back to Mountaintop to reclaim her assets and soon she reunites with Robbie. Once again William has creatively evolved relationships and shaped up the characters beautifully.
As I was reading the book, I had a feeling that the Michelle and Robbie chapter was far from over and as the old lovers meet it kind of rekindles hope and joy even in the readers. There’s a thing about love that leaves even the mature readers feeling like a teenager.
But Saving Grace is more than a love story, it’s a story about vengeance. Laura fantasized a romantic relation with Randy and blamed Grace for coming in the way of their relation. After she was released, she couldn’t let go of her grudge. She soon turns up in Seattle to take her revenge on Grace but is mysteriously murdered.
It is not until the very end that we realize who murders Laura. But for her crimes, maybe death was her true justice. I found the ending more of an irony. On one hand, we had Grace and Levi, moving towards a safer life and on the other it was Laura’s father shedding tears on her grave. I will credit William for making a reader contradict with her own thoughts. Despite feeling relieved that Laura would not harm anybody, I couldn’t help feeling a little sympathetic for the old man crying on his daughter’s grave.
In the end, Saving Grace is a beautifully written story, one that is simple yet engaging. I enjoyed the lucid writing style portraying all details with twists and turns and leaving a lasting impression on the readers.
The book begins with Grace Harridge’s 50th birthday and the beginning of a new millennium. After the murder of Randy Monroe, Grace had settled as a nurse in Seattle, and her life has been quite uneventful thereafter. As she turns 50, without a single birthday wish from any family or friends, she predicts a lonely future ahead. But things began to take a drastic turn when Randy’s murderer, mentally unstable Laura, is released on parole.
In Mountaintop USA, we were introduced to lovers Michelle and Robbie who had to end their relationship. While Michelle saw a career ahead, Robbie wanted to settle down and their wide age difference forced them to let go of each other. In Saving Grace, Michelle is a friend of Grace’s and the two women share their past experiences with each other.
William has beautifully brought love into the picture. Grace finds a companion in Levi, another character from Mountaintop USA, and their relation begins to bloom from friendship and gradually becomes more. As her father passes away, Michelle too has to go back to Mountaintop to reclaim her assets and soon she reunites with Robbie. Once again William has creatively evolved relationships and shaped up the characters beautifully.
As I was reading the book, I had a feeling that the Michelle and Robbie chapter was far from over and as the old lovers meet it kind of rekindles hope and joy even in the readers. There’s a thing about love that leaves even the mature readers feeling like a teenager.
But Saving Grace is more than a love story, it’s a story about vengeance. Laura fantasized a romantic relation with Randy and blamed Grace for coming in the way of their relation. After she was released, she couldn’t let go of her grudge. She soon turns up in Seattle to take her revenge on Grace but is mysteriously murdered.
It is not until the very end that we realize who murders Laura. But for her crimes, maybe death was her true justice. I found the ending more of an irony. On one hand, we had Grace and Levi, moving towards a safer life and on the other it was Laura’s father shedding tears on her grave. I will credit William for making a reader contradict with her own thoughts. Despite feeling relieved that Laura would not harm anybody, I couldn’t help feeling a little sympathetic for the old man crying on his daughter’s grave.
In the end, Saving Grace is a beautifully written story, one that is simple yet engaging. I enjoyed the lucid writing style portraying all details with twists and turns and leaving a lasting impression on the readers.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews