What a wonderful book!

For a large part of this book I felt like I was on a rollercoaster…reeling from one time period to another and trying to piece together the timeline of Grace! After a while I really enjoyed how this chaos reflected Grace’s world.

After a bit longer the story starts to unfold in a coherent way and the pieces fall into place. It is amazing how your view of someone can change entirely when a missing piece is revealed!

I adored this book, the characters, the quirky style of the story that made you feel the chaos of Grace’s world. I loved the current issues as well as the age old issues addressed in the storyline.

A wonderful, heart breaking, life affirming tale of a family coming to terms with tragedy.

I have just spent about three days with Grace Adams. Grace is a Woman of a certain age who is feeling and witnessing the effects of time taking over her body and mind. Grace used to be amazing, her daughter adored her, and her husband thought that she was Superwoman, however, life does not always go to plan, and now neither of them is speaking with her. On her daughters sixteenth birthday Grace decides to take control of her life. Sweating, and a little disoriented she is trying desperately hard to make it across North London, to make peace, to show her love, and to face up to her demons, all with the aid of an artisan 'Love Island' cake, and a golf club!
An emotional tale, filled with characters that are relatable

Fran Littlewood's powerful and moving debut is simply marvellous, a family drama, she writes with depth, humour, wit and insight about the fraught lives, frustrations, and challenging issues women face on a daily basis, trying to hold it all together, as they become more invisible as they age. Grace Adams is in her forties, perimenopausal, a broken woman who used to be amazing, a genius polyglot, with a life seemingly brimful of potential. This story spans a day, detailing how her life fell apart, going back and forth in time, from the time 2 decades ago when she first met her husband, Ben, gave birth to her daughter, Lotte, the loss of career opportunities, right up to the present, where she is facing divorce and an estranged 16 year old daughter who lives with Ben, and refusing to speak to her. It's Lotte's birthday, and Grace is aiming to deliver and give her a birthday cake.

On a hot, sweltering day, Grace is feeling tense, overheating, and desperately uncomfortable as she sits sweating in a traffic jam, when it all becomes too much and she snaps, getting out of the car, abandoning it as she walks away. However, she has every intention of walking back into the life she left behind, back to Lotte who does not want her, and back to Ben. In this emotionally poignant novel of grief and loss, we learn exactly how strong and resilient it is possible for Grace to be, I could not help but feel for her when it becomes clear what she had to face, she is the Amazing Grace Adams. This is beautifully written and raw multilayered storytelling, about the contemporary realities of women's lives, the prevalent and pertinent issues present in our society, marriage, being a mother, the everyday burdens and struggles that weigh heavy.

Littlewood does a stellar job in highlighting just how hard life can be, being a family, for women it is a battle just to survive the daily ordeals, doing what they can to try and keep it together, and just how easy it can be for lives to unravel and become derailed. The character of Grace is an inspiring and memorable creation, as is her daughter Lotte, portraying the impact of modern life on a teen today. A wonderfully compelling read of hope, it made me both laugh and cry, and it touches on issues that will resonate deeply with so many women. Highly recommended. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

Amazing Grace Adams by Fran Littlewood. The story I didn’t know I needed to hear!

One woman’s walk across London to prove to her estranged husband and daughter that family is worth fighting for. With flashbacks to the events leading up to this trek, and a bucket-load of self reflection, this book is brutally honest and very relevant. Well worth a read.

Thanks for this ARC.

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This book is a bit slow going at first until you manage to follow the different threads of the tale. Stick with it, it's worth it.
A very different story about family, love and children.
I enjoyed the book and will look out for other books by Fran Littlewoods

I had no idea what this book would be about, and assumed from the brightly coloured cover and title that it would be a ‘feel good’ book, and yet it was and is SO much more than that. The book follows Grace Adams journey to get to her daughters birthday party and along the way we find out what has happened to mean that she isn’t with her on the day. It’s funny, emotional, sad and covers some really difficult topics with a careful and compassionate touch. I really loved it.

This book was not what I was initially expected but I have to say I loved the book. The story follows Grace as she tries to make her way to her 16 year old daughter’s birthday. We learn quickly that Grace’a life is somewhat falling apart and we have flash backs to the events of a few weeks before and several years ago to help us understand her relationship with her husband and daughter and how this has led to Graces current state of mind.
The characters in this book were raw and honest and most definitely flawed. There is a lot of difficult topics in this book so please do check trigger warnings. However I felt Thea were done in an effective and heartfelt manner. There is also plenty of humour in this book and I really felt myself rooting for Grace and her family. This is a unique and heartfelt book that I really enjoyed and recommend.

BOOK REVIEW

Amazing Grace Adams

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Thank you to Penguin michael Joseph for allowing me to read this book on netgalley for an honest review.

Synopsis:
Grace Adams is determined to make it to her daughter (Lotte) 16th birthday party. However, Lotte is not speaking to Grace, and is currently living with her dad, Ben. Grace is determined to make it up to her daughter regardless of what it costs her.

My thoughts:
WOW! This book! It was a book I was not expecting, and those are the books I love!

I was rooting for Grace throughout the 'now' chapters. I also needed to know what was going to happen along the way.

It is raw and honest about how to tackle the menopause, children and family drama. It felt so real to me (other than maybe the 'now' chapters). I loved learning all about Grace's past and the heartbreak she has suffered along the way.

The reason why I rated it 4.5, is because there were parts where I was frustrated with Grace and Ben in the few months before the now chapters in relation to how they were dealing with Lotte (I'm not saying anymore because of spoilers) and it made me want to slap both Ben and Grace!

I am so glad I was given the opportunity to read this book! It is going to stay with me for a long time.

TRIGGERS (some are spoilers)
- death of a child
- child abuse
- divorce
- violence
- death of family members

Grace Adams is racing to get a birthday cake to her 16 year old daughter, it's frantic, intense and overwhelming for Grace and I also found it stressful for the reader - a testament to the writing.
The present day is interwoven with the past and you learn why Grace is so stressed and on edge. Whilst the book tackles difficult topics it manages to find a lightness and fun with a couple of twists which make everything fall into place so that you really "get" Grace.
4 stars.

So many things to love about this book. Not only a great read but it is SO good and SO refreshing to see menopause take centre stage in a novel (especially one where the protagonist is real and relatable rather than some 'aged' crone buried in a heap of cliches). Bravo Fran Littlewood

I found this a very difficult and sometimes uncomfortable book to read. I didn’t really warm to any of the characters and found Graces unravelling quite disturbing. The book jumps back and forward between timelines which ultimately explains the behaviours. Unfortunately for me Grace was not amazing .

A enjoyable read about marriage and real life dramas set in London. The main character is Grace who is going through mid life crisis one after the other.
I found myself rooting for Grace as she struggles with marriage and her teenage daughter who is being a stroppy teenager who argues about everything with her mum.
Would recommend thanks to NetGalley & Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House for a advanced copy.

Grace’s life is full of problems and disappointments and she has had enough.
A story of a middle aged woman facing a divorce and bringing up a wilful teenager.
I never really connected with the characters in this book but I could sympathise with Grace’s situation.
Thank you to NetGalley and Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

An examination of the complexities of city life from a female perspective. Everything possible eventually unravels in Grace’s life. The flashbacks, interleaved with the present day are far too many and so easy to lose track of the overall arc of the plot. The events set in the current time frame, as Grace starts to unravel, become too far-fetched and unbelievable.

Grace Adams is having a bad time and wants changes. Her husband wants a divorce and her daughter, Lotte, doesn’t want to live with her so damn them all Grace will show them she is the worthy after all.
I am so disappointed in myself for not loving this. I could see so much of Grace in me and my friends but this was my loss. Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked this up, but the blurb sounded interesting - the idea of a woman just wanting to deliver a birthday cake but being stuck in traffic, and the whole book being just about one day. What I got was an emotional rollercoaster and some excellent crafting. Grace Adams is hormonal, her forty-something body is turning against her. Not only that but her husband has left her, her teenage daughter, whose 16th birthday it, is doesn't want to see her, hasn't invited her to her party, and she is stuck in traffic. So what does she do? She abandons her car in the middle of the road and start to walk to the party that she has been banned from, carrying a birthday cake. On this journey, on one of the hottest days, while she walks across London, she remembers all of the events that have led up to this point and this is where the author's excellent craft as she flips us to different time periods and unpeels Grace's layers one by one until I was an emotional mess. I might not have always agreed with some of Grace's actions, but, oh my, there were times when I wished that I had even a speck of her drive and ferocity as she sets out to not only deliver this cake but to put right all of the wrongs that she believes are at the heart of her family's breakdown, wrongs that she believes she is guilty of causing. This is a novel of the trials of motherhood, dealing with a teenage daughter who has her own language that Grace cannot understand - which is ironic because Grace is a linguist, speaking many languages, and it was languages that brought her and her husband, Ben, together. Grace is such a relatable character and she is 'Amazing'. I loved her.

Lovely read full of heart.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me read this book in exchange for my review.

With thanks to Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. We meet Grace Adams as she exits her car in heavy traffic. There is an urgency to get somewhere and we the reader only find out where she is heading as the story goes on. This book was amazing I just couldn't put it down. I think it was the writing style as well as the story that had me hooked. The last 50 pages broke my heart I just felt the words so much. This book was unputdownable and I am so sad to be finshed it now. Trigger warning for some major heavy topics.

I found this book quite difficult to put down - I was really rooting for Grace and also quite worried for her!

We're taken on quite a journey with Grace (literally and figuratively) as she's desperately trying to pick up a cake for her daughter's 16th birthday which she hopes will reconcile their broken relationship.

However it's quite the adventure to get there!

Grace is definitely going through the menopause and is really struggling.

Her marriage is ending, her relationship with her daughter is fractured and it feels like her world is just collapsing in on itself.

This is a really emotive read, with some strong themes of sexual abuse, grief, mental health, adultery and much more.

There's quite a few flashbacks as Grace is trying to come to terms with all the highs and extreme lows of the past eight years.

We get to know who she was when she first met her husband, her TV career, becoming a mother and losing herself along the way.

A really good read.

In addition to being amazing at times, Grace Adam's is a complex character whose life is not going as expected. This is one of those books which have a current day timeline but also many flashbacks to earlier times to provide the background to Grace's behaviour. Grace is going through the perimenopause, separated from her husband and trying to deal with a headstrong teenage daughter. In these circumstances she can be forgiven for going off the rails!

As the background unfolds we get a better understanding of what is driving Grace and, hopefully, can empathise with her. Husband Ben is, in many ways, a much more straightforward character than Grace but he also has his faults. "Amazing Grace Adams" is an engrossing tale of a modern marriage and is highly recommended.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publishers for the opportunity to review this book.