Amazing Grace Adams: A Read with Jenna Pick

Great book! Read it in a little over a day. Goes to show that if you put your mind to something and don’t give up….. you’ll get there!

Incredibly interesting and sad read. A twist that you might or might not see comingLoved it

This book didn’t really get interesting until the last 80%. Before that I was just slogging through. Of course, after all of that it wrapped up in a minute. I do not recommend.

Grace Adam’s made me weep, laugh and experience great sadness. It’s a raw emotional read. Some surprising twists along the way.

For a short book, this felt a bit long. There was a lot of back and forth between timelines which made it feel disjointed at times. Grace was relatable.

Really liked this original story about a fierce, independent young woman and the phases in her life and their impacte: some wonderful, some gutting and some life-changing.

Found myself bored and wanting to skim too much. Took entirely too long to get to the root of their family’s issues.

Really enjoyed the beginning of this book but as the story went on, that courageous, smart woman devolved. The story of her physical journey started well but grew ridiculous and unbelievable, downright whining in parts. Many readers thought the ending was uplifting but I did not. The ending was not supported by the story and felt unnatural and false.

Although there were some light moments, overall, this is a depressing look into a woman’s mind. It took a while to learn why she was so depressed, then you wonder why she didn’t get some help. This left me feeling sad.

If you’re a mum and you don’t feel that you did that perfect job you set out to do- Read This BOOK. Oh my God, we all try/tried so hard and then we were and continue to be ambushed by social forces, media shocks, medical studies that have only recently begun on The Change, and now changing laws on how we may have control of our own bodies as well. We are challenged! Hang on - The best part of this book is that midst all the present day reality, I could feel the love of a mother for her daughter and a daughter for her mother. That love never goes away - no matter what!Thank you, Fran Littlewood! I hope my favorite daughter reads this and feels that love too❤️

the story held my interest the whole way through. A surprise toward the end ramped up the emotional investment in the whole thing. but I did not like the open-ended finale. I like a firm closure at the end of the novel and this was left open for the reader's interpretation. I guess if part 2 comes along I'll be glad it was left open but for now, I wish I knew the final outcome of the main characters' relationship with each other and I just don't.

This book was incredible for language nerds. I had wondered what the breaking point was in the marriage. Mother daughter relationships are complex, as was this novel. New favorite writer here, to be honest!I'd read a short story of hers and found this book next. Be prepared to laugh and cry. Especially if you are a perimenopausal woman having daughter issues. I was not at all shocked at the mini crime spree; Every woman of a certain age has had the urge, especially, especially when our children are involved.

If the author wanted the reader to experience the main character’s confusion, she did well to constantly shift between “6 months ago” and “2008” and “2 months ago,” etc. If jumping back & forth, she would have done well to stick with months or years ago rather than throwing in the random exact year. What would have been wrong with just telling the story?

Overall I thought the book was a good read and touched on many topics such as grief, marriage and menopause in a creative way. The book was an interesting read but definitely not funny! I kind of disliked Grace throughout much of the book until I found out three quarters of the way in the tragedy that made her go off the rails. Then I got it. The menopause part was overdone in my opinion. The grief was raw and real and in fact breaks up many a marriage. I dislike the bouncing back and forth in time, which many authors seem to do these days. Can a story not simply be told in a linear fashion please?! I would recommend this book.

The beginning was boring, the constantly changing timeline very confusing, and the ending rather flat and abrupt. I can look past some of that because the book was interesting for most of the second half. However, the author fell prey to what others lately seem to do...use a "hot topic" as background or filler for the story, sort of like a cheap trick. In this case, the topic is perimenopause.With peri/post-menopausal women a HUGE and growing population world-wide, menopause is a subject that many can relate to, and one that can draw them in (can you say book club?) However, in this case, while SO much time was spent on Grace's exaggerated symptoms, the author completely dropped the ball on any sort of education and/or resolution. By the end of the book, the hot flashes, mental fog and rage were seemingly gone once Grace acknowledged her grief. We all know what BS that is. Symptoms that severe don't just resolve themselves, seemingly overnight.I read this for my book club. With as much going on as the world as there is, plus kids/grandkid obligations, I'm picky about how I spend my time. If I'm going to read a book...and forego something educational...it better be good. If given the choice, I'd skip this. That said, the author shows promise, and maybe will fix some of these issues on her next attempt.

“But what Torschlusspanik is intended to describe is that anxious, claustrophobic feeling that avenues and opportunities are shutting down. The notion that you haven’t done very much with your life, that you’ve missed the boat, that you’ve left it too late. Probably the closest term we have in English is mid-life crisis.” And that, in a nutshell, is Grace’s situation. In the beginning we learn that Grace is a polyglot (multilingual), fluent in 5 of languages. When we first meet Grace she is single, happy, spontaneous and fun. She has a no child policy, as in - she doesn’t want to have children.Later we learn that too much spontaneity without enough protection has left her “with child” and she is delighted. Happy to marry the father and become a close-knit family of three. In present day she is surprised to realize that she is perimenopausal and 45 years old. On top of that she is the mother of a 16 year old. "It’s as though her life has shot forward while she was looking the other way, and there’s a grief in it that wrenches her soul.”She and her husband have separated and Lotte has gone to live with her father. Lotte is at that age where she is constantly judging her mother, where nothing Grace does is good enough or right. The family has been through a lot and Grace knows that she has made a lot of mistakes. She also knows that she loves Lotte more than anything and they belong together.Grace has ordered a spectacular cake for Lotte’s birthday and is convinced that if she can deliver the cake to Lotte all will be right between them. Unfortunately, the world conspires against Grace on that day... Grace gets struck in traffic - so she makes a hasty decision to abandon her car in the road and walk, the bakery’s fee for the cake is exorbitant and the cake itself is tiny, Grace has worn the wrong shoes for walking across London, and so on and so on. As she walks Grace has flashbacks to moments of her own childhood the challenges she faced and the challenges of being a wife and mother.The book may be a bit extreme in some of her actions and expectations but Grace’s determination and broken heart are believable. This was an enjoyable read. It is both compelling and heartbreaking, but always there is hope. At time, there is some confusion following along as the book is written in three different timelines. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I hate to write reviews on books because they are the author’s baby and who am I to judge? I liked the book, but it was a difficult read. Every chapter changes the time reference of the character…from years ago, to months ago, to present. It took at least 7/8s of the book to get to why Grace is having issues and the author leads you down the path that doesn’t correspond with the real issue. I like the author’s style of writing, but not the structure of the book.

The reviews I’ve seen of this book people were saying it was humorous, funny. It’s not at all. It’s dark,sad, frustrating and disappointing. Had there been honest reviews I wouldn’t have read it in the 1st place. I cannot recommend this book. Having said that, its well written & honest about the difficulties being a woman going through menopause so that is why I gave it 3 stars instead of less.

I hated this book until nearly the end. I am okay with going back in time and the forward and back and forward but the snippets of time are too short to settle in one time period, and there are multiple time periods. Also I hated not knowing the characters early on and only being allowed to find out more about them later. Almost the entire book felt awful to read and I could hardly wait to get it over with. Painful to read and to see the characters do awful or stupid things for no apparent reason. I hated it. And I didn’t like them. Finally some things make sense but the structure of the book makes it horribly unpleasant to go through. And didn’t really add anything in my view. Yuck! So glad it’s over so quickly

I found the alternation in time stressful. But , appreciated it more towards the end. The difficulty of communicating, even if you have been able to master five languages and the inability to function after tragedy and the difficulty of negotiating family dynamics are the driving force of this novel . The juxtaposition of love , angst , deception, and mental anguish embodied in Grace’s story shin s a light on our own. Thought provoking , I recommend it.