A story that I read in one sitting, but the ending left me a bit dismayed.

As she states in the afterword of her latest novel, K.L Slater decided to tackle the question of when is the right time to give your child(ren) more independence and frame it around a missing child plot . For parents, Lucie and Blake, their nine year old daughter, Grace, finally wears them down and she makes the walk from a friend's house to her own home by herself. Unfortunately Grace never makes it home and a frantic police search ensues.

Similar to other books in this genre, both Lucie and Blake are hiding their share of secrets and Grace's life might be in grave danger, if they don't start talking.

So I felt the majority of the story was engaging , but as the "reveal" occurs and I reached the epilogue, I felt my ready to give 4 star slip into 2.5- 3 territory. To explicitly comment as to why I feel this way would be too massive of a SPOILER. Therefore I might not have enjoyed the outcome of this tale, but I certainly would read another K.L
Slater story.

Blake and Lucie Sullivan agree to let their daughter, Grace walk home from her friend’s house after visiting Altoona Park for her birthday treat. Grace has just turned nine years old and wants to feel like a big girl walking back home by herself. Grace’s friend lives on the same street just around the bend and both sets of parents agree to watch Grace walk home, but just for a few seconds she would be out of their sights as she goes around the bend. A few seconds is all it takes for Grace to go missing. Blake and Lucie face a parent’s worst nightmare when their daughter simply vanishes.But Grace’s disappearance kickstarts a catalyst of events that brings to light secrets that both Blake and Lucie are hiding from each other. Could Blake or Lucie truly be the reason why Grace has gone missing?

Wow! I can now see why K.L. Slater has such a huge following and fan base. Finding Grace is the first book I have read by this author and I can honestly say, it definitely will not be the last. I found myself thoroughly engrossed in the story and wondering what happened to Grace. Is she alive? Kidnapped? Held for ransom? All of these thoughts ran through my mind for the better half of the book and then little by little Slater inserts these little glimpses into the past which only made me squirm to read more. Slater intricately weaves the present and the past with such finesse that it was hard to put this book down. Slater just teases you with twist after twist and I must say, I was completely and utterly shocked. The twists were so brilliantly done and were so unique placed at just the right moments where it forces you to keep reading just so you can find out what happens next. I am now sad that the story has ended, but alas Slater has a nice backlog of books I will be wrapping my greedy little hands on very soon.

Blake and Lucie are such well written flawed characters that seem all too real. They are not portrayed as a picture perfect couple and I found that Slater really gives you a lot of insight to both characters which makes them relatable to where you can feel their pain and suffering. Lucie, I felt, really grows the most during the course of this book and in the processes learns what she is capable of both as a mother and as a woman. Besides Blake and Lucie, Slater has written a mother-in-law, Nadine, who could give Joan Crawford a run for her money. She is just awful! There are also a multitude of other people worked into the story that all seemed to have some kind of motive while partaking in some rather shady and sometimes creepy things. Slater definitely keeps you on your toes with her characters that's for sure.

Finding Grace blends a terrific psychological thriller with a story that could be ripped from the headlines, cleverly placed plot twists, and secrets galore that make this dazzling thriller an absolute gem in the genre. Well played and well deserving of 5 glorious stars!

A political figure and stay-at-home mother rally the public together to help find Grace. While detectives ask routine questions regarding that day their backstories get brought to the surface exposing hidden secrets. When secrets and lies wedge a gap between a loving family.

It begins like any other missing persons story with detectives gathering information. Then the scrutiny comes into play and the family begins to blame each other.
When a backstory was introduced I didn’t know what to make of it at first. I thought it would solidify the solid foundation between Blake and Lucie. Instead more characters were introduced and another story was building from the past.

Overall: Even with the flurry of activity with all these characters it was still dull at times. With all the activity I expected a buzz of excitement. The backstory was a cockamamie story designed for shock value.
There were so many unnecessary scenes designed for an easy distraction.
I had envisioned an entirely different type of circumstances.

I thought this was supposed to be a page turning thriller. It’s not thrilling reading accusation after accusation. Bottom line Grace is gone. This was not a detective story based on collecting evidence. This was understanding the past and putting it to rest before moving forward.

I think my definition of a psychological thriller is completely different than KL Slater’s. To me this was a family issues story about insecurities, trust, and lies.
This is my second attempt at reading a KL Slater story. Her writing style and execution doesn’t appeal to me. Once again I found myself skimming along. There were too many mini plots bogging down the main concept which in my opinion went from finding Grace to digging up old baggage from the past.

Wow! Great story. Started a bit slow but then took off. Lots of red herrings throughout , twists and turns until the end. Not your usual missing child book!

Finding Grace by K. L. Slater is a psychological thriller - one you don't want to miss!

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Bookouture, and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.



My Synopsis:
Lucie and Blake have a good life. Their daughter Grace has Type 1 Diabetes, but with insulin, it is under control. Little Oscar was unexpected, but a joy. They have all they need. They’ve made sacrifices for Blake’s career, but his political dreams are coming true. They have two very close friends down the street, and Bev and Mike’s daughter Olivia is best friends with their daughter Grace. True, Blake seems glued to his phone, and is often out in the community more than he is at home, and Lucie’s anxieties sometimes rear their head, but on the whole they are happy.

9 year old Grace is on her first solitary excursion. She has been allowed to walk home from her best friend’s house all by herself. Mind you Olivia lives straight up the street….although there is a bend in the road. Unknown to Grace, her dad, and Olivia’s dad plan to watch from either end of the street. Grace never makes it home. So what went wrong?

As the search for Grace escalates, so does the anxiety felt by her mother, and the guilt felt by both parents. Add an obnoxious mother-in-law, a creepy neighbour, and an annoyed constituent, and tempers and accusations start to erupt.

But what is really scary is when the past comes back to haunt you. So many secrets...and one of those secrets is the real reason Grace was kidnapped.



My Opinions:
Well, at first I thought this was just another missing child book (I’ve read quite a few the last year or so). But this one had a twist or two. Although I had guessed a few of them, there were still a couple of surprises.  I love surprises - in books.

The story, told from Lucie’s perspective in both the current time and 16 years ago, left me turning the pages anxiously. Her back-story was really good.

So while this was a story about how a missing child can affect a whole community, it also told the story about the future ramifications of the actions of a gullible, naive teenager. It showed how secrets can affect not only the one keeping them, but others as well…even years later.

This was definitely a fast read, the writing clear, and the plot good.

As always, a Kim Slater book well worth reading!

I have read a few books recently on missing children but i have to say that this book was one of the best. Lucie and Blake let their daughter walk home from her friends house on her own on evening and Grace doesn't make it to the house. This is a 2 sided story with the main story focusing on the return of Grace and the story also goes back to Lucie's time at university which all tie up to combine. Really enjoyed the characters in this book with some hiding secrets which keep you guessing throughout. Look forward to the next book by K.L Slater.

Ok, the author has done it again. She made me believe I was going to read a rather straightforward case about Grace's dissapearance. I was wrecking my brain trying to figure out what had happened but I remained in the dark.

Very soon it became more than clear that I had been fooled. There was so much more going on and it all started in the past.

A lot of people are hiding things and when they started to surface, they left me really breathless.

The story that starts like a peaceful little stream soon turns into a white water one full of waterfalls. Once you open the book, you will feel like falling into the river and being swept away by the current. You better keep your life jacket handy!

A very intriguing story that kept me on the edge of my chair. 5 stars.

Thank you, K.L. Slater, Bookouture and Netgalley. (Book received courtesey of publisher/author)

Many thanks to NetGalley, Bookouture, and K.L. Slater for the opportunity to read her latest psychological thriller - 5 stars for a great read that I couldn't put down!

A parent's worst nightmare - you finally give your child a bit of freedom to walk home by herself form a friend's house just a couple minutes away. You even have a plan to have adults watch her between homes. What could go wrong? Everything. When Grace fails to come home, her parents, Lucie and Blake, are horrified and contact the police immediately. Then Lucie makes a surprising discovery that Blake is keeping secrets from her. However, she has been keeping an even bigger secret from Blake - one that may be rearing its ugly head and involving Grace.

Told in present day time as well as in Lucie's past, there are lots of twists in this book to keep you glued to the pages!

Grace, a 9 year old walking home by herself for the very first time, goes missing. I felt like I had read this story before. Finally I realized that I had! Every story about missing children feels about the same. There is the initial difference where we read about the situation that leads to the event and then we get several hundred pages about all the secrets and back stories, etc, etc, that may have contributed to what happened before we get to the conclusion that reveals the difference between this story and the others. It is that middle ground that puts me off. By the time I get to the unique ending I am no longer interested. So, all this isn't Ms. Slater's fault. She had a good plot. There were some nice characters developed. Other than the excessive foreshadowing that Ms. Slater tends to over employ, it was a well written book. It is just a victim of its own genre.

This book by K.L Slater was enjoyable. The storyline was good. It started off very slowly for me and didn't quite pick up until halfway through the book. Sometimes I felt like it was dragging and that nothing would happen. The ending to me felt rushed, since everything happens towards the end. One of the twists was extremely predictable as well. If you enjoy slow paced stories with a twist ending I believe this would be the book for you. You will often find yourself wondering what you would do in that certain situation. Who would you start having doubts about ? Would you react the same way Lucie did ? Overall I enjoyed this book and it will not be my last K.L Slater.

I must say I was thrilled to be approved to read K.L. Slater's newest psychological thriller FINDING GRACE. After the previous two I've read - BLINK and LIAR - I've been a huge fan and enjoy her style of suspense and page-turning intrigue she delivers. However, for me, this one fell a little flat. I'm not sure why; it just didn't have that same compelling tension her other books have had. Don't get me wrong - I still enjoyed it. Just not as much as her others.

I admit I am always drawn to the "missing child" concept and the different ways in which it's delivered. Some may think it is getting a little long in the tooth and has been overdone a little too many times, but I still enjoy the mysteries surrounding each child's disappearance and unravelling the clues that lead us to the end.

But FINDING GRACE is a little different than just your average missing child story. It is fast paced, peppered with hints of some dark secret lurking in Lucie's past. All of which we get sprinkles of throughout.

Grace has just turned 9 years old and is your usual gregarious child of that age, believing they are almost grown up because "I'm nine years old now!" A phrase which has become Grace's favourite since her birthday the day before, constantly using it to emphasise the importance of her age and therefore, the status with which is brings. So when she hounds her parents into letting her walk home from her best friend Olivia's house ON HER OWN the following day, Blake and Lucie are apprehensive. But she's a big girl now and she wants to be treated as such.

So it is against their better judgement that Blake and Lucie agree but, unbeknownst to Grace, with one stipulation. Both fathers will keep watch discreetly from their respective ends so that Grace will never know. But, it all goes wrong when Blake takes his eyes off her for a moment. Just checking his phone, to which he is surgically attached, and then slipping on the moss-covered path and twisting his ankle. He calls out to Lucie who has the music up loud in the house preparing for her daughter's return from her exciting day out. Oblivious, she doesn't hear him. And in that moment, Grace has vanished!

The police are called and a search is underway by locals in the community eager to help. Motives soon come to light and everyone is questioned. At the same time, I felt the police had very little to do with the story. It was more about Lucie and her past secret, the secrets she uncovers regarding her husband Blake and her ultimately intent on finding Grace herself.

Lucie obviously blames herself for saying yes to Grace walking home, which had more to do with putting her mother-in-law in her place than anything else, I felt. She spends much of the time blaming herself and questioning Blake's secrecy. She is sure he is having an affair with her best friend Bev and wonders if that has anything to do with Grace's disappearance. Whilst the police are not discounting anything, they have said that Grace probably just wandered off and lost track of time. But they don't know her like Lucie does. She wouldn't just do that. Lucie is sure someone has taken her. But who?

Then a secret from Lucie's past comes back to haunt her. No, it isn't possible. Is it? Is SHE the reason Grace has been taken?

The story unfolds through Lucie's eyes as she recounts events from the day before, the morning of, the afternoon of and after Grace's disappearance. Every few chapters we are taken sixteen years back to Grace's short time at university, as that story is told from a third person perspective - as if Lucie distances herself from that time and the events that unfolded by not telling it herself. Turning each page, the reader is left wondering what could possibly be so bad to make Lucie run from her studies and back home again. When it is finally revealed, I must admit I was left wondering "Is that it?" and "Why?" Regardless of the threats made towards her I would have gone straight to the police. And to think, if she had, such a secret would never have followed her for sixteen years resulting in Grace's disappearance.

What happened after the said event sixteen years prior was a little more interesting. When Lucie met Blake, when he proposed, when they married, Grace's birth and the horrific car accident at the end of her street where I found myself with baited breath and crossing my fingers - PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! - as I'm sure Lucie did also. But it all began to make a little more sense from then on. Sadly, the end result was a little far fetched I thought, but still had me breathing a sigh of relief.

For fans of K.L. Slater, I think they will discover FINDING GRACE to be an enjoyable read, if not her best. The suspense, the tension, the intrigue are all there to make it a compelling easy read.

I would like to thank #KLSlater, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #FindingGrace in exchange for an honest review.

First off thank you Net Galley for a copy for an honest review.

There are many secrets in this family! The first time Grace walks home alone she disappears. Where has she gone? why? Lucie the mother is hiding a secret and must do everything to find her child

When Lucie finds a secret Blake the father has been hiding who can she trust? Who has taken Grace? this is a fast-paced story and the answers may surprise you. The book is well written, and it kept me reading, the true test of a book!

Another fab page turner by author from I have come to expect nothing less! Finding Grace held my attention from start to finish and I'm already looking forward to reading what KL Slater comes up with next!

Rating: 3.5 stars

Spoilers!

I had very great expectations for this book; which in theory is what kinda let it down for me, since it was actually a good read. I found the story very intriguing and couldn't wait to find out what happened.

The beginning and the middle was very interesting, I didn't want to put it down, thought the ending felt a little rushed, like it was over very quickly. I thought the overall plot was good, and there was a good deal of suspense, and a nice couple of surprises near the end that kept the story alive.

One thing I would say is some elements in the end, like Lucie not going to the police, was very frustrating, though obviously it added to the suspense of the story. And I did manage to predict the 2 main twists, which was Grace's real father, and about Rhonda.

I still would recommend, great story, and the writing was well done too!

A very well written page turner. When Grace goes missing secrets are revealed bit by bit. Lucie and Blake both have secrets they are hiding from each other. The short chapters made this a quick read and most of the plot and the characters were believable. K L Slater is good at writing thrillers and I would definitely recommend anything she has written.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

The first time Grace is allowed to walk home from her friend’s house unaccompanied, she goes missing.
Downloaded from NG and 100 characters required on review!

3.5 stars

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This was a pretty good thriller that kept my attention until the end. The chapters are short and it's a fast read. The book is not without its flaws. The missing child/anxious mother with a secret past storyline has been done a million times and is getting old. That said, I did enjoy the writing and will read more books by this author.

Grace just turned 9 years old and has finally convinced her parents, Blake and Lucie, to let her walk the 5 minutes between her house and her best friend's house by herself. Her friend's father and Blake were supposed to secretly watch Grace the whole time she walked home, but both fathers were distracted and in the short time she was not watched, she vanished.

The rest of the book follows Lucie as she slowly falls apart. Blake is a little one-dimensional and the "secret" that he is hiding is lame and doesn't make a lot of sense. Lucie's secret past is also really weird and not believable. It's hard to believe that someone as allegedly accomplished as her could be so naïve and gullible. The way that her past comes back to haunt her is also really bizarre and weird. It didn't really make a lot of sense and wasn't believable. I don't want to say too much and spoil the story, so you can judge for yourself if it felt forced or not.

Overall, I found the book interesting, I just didn't like the ending and thought it stretched the imagination. But, maybe you'll think differently.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

My thanks to Bookouture for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Finding Grace’, a tense domestic thriller by K.L. Slater.

The premise draws upon any parents’ worse nightmare. On the day after her ninth birthday Lucie and Blake Sullivan agree to their daughter Grace’s request to be allowed to walk home from a friend’s house. However, even though it is only a short distance Grace fails to arrive home. The police are called and they quickly organise a widespread search. Yet it appears that she has just vanished into thin air. In addition Grace has diabetes with only a limited amount of medication with her.

Well things quickly unravel from there especially for Lucie, who has a number of secrets haunting her. The narrative includes flashbacks to sixteen years previously and those secrets are revealed to us.

Certainly a page turner and once started I couldn’t put it down. It proved a satisfying thriller with plenty of twists and revelations. I will be interested in reading more of her books.

The latest book by K.L. Slater did not keep me as enthralled as her previous books, but it was a solidly entertaining book. Although it was touted as a thriller, I would catergorize it as more of a mystery since the thriller part kind of went away early in the story. Lucie and Blake Sullivan give into their nine-year-old daughter’s pleas to be allowed to walk home alone from her friend’s house. Unfortunately, Grace seems to just disappear in her short walk home and no one seems to be able to find her. Lucie and Blake seem to have a good marriage, based on trust and respect. But, as the reader gradually finds out, they may not have so much of either in the reality that they face without Grace. In fact, both parents have devastating secrets and one of them is hiding something that puts Grace in danger. The beginning was very fast-paced but the plot seemed to slow down until I had to admit that this was not the best that I have read from this author. Nevertheless, it was entertaining but a little disappointing in its take on the whole “child is missing” genre, although there was a big twist at the end that made me wonder how that came down the pike. I will look for more books by this author because she is definitely worth reading. Fans of mystery with some suspense will enjoy this book.

A great read that's a tad creepy in places but had me hooked from the first page. Although a sad subject of child abduction it is only to easy to relate to in this day and age. All along i was thinking I knew who the perpetrator was but the twist at the end showed how wrong I was! I will definitely look to read some more by this author. I recommend to anyone who likes this genre of book.