This book is a strange read. The writing style is very disorienting, and while there is actually a good amount of plot it feels disjointed and very much like nothing is really happening. Which to be honest is a shame because the main characters in this novel really deserve so much better!
There is pretty great LGBTQ+ representation, a gender fluid character struggling to comes to terms with their fluidity, Polyamorous relationships and explores platonic love between friends quite well. I found these relationships the strongest part of the story and really wish overall it had just been a little better because this kind of representation is hard to find in YA.
The plot is basically, about a small town that has a deal with a devil to help the village thrive, there is no bad crop season, no illness, etc. Each year in order to keep the deal, this town has to sacrifice a "Saint" basically their best young man to the forest where they run for their life. If they survive or not it doesn't matter the deal is replenished for 7 years.
When one of the main characters is selected as the Saint his two best friends decide to save him by taking his place. Things kind of happen and the 3 of them discovers that the deal has been a lie the whole time. Things kind of happen and then the end??
This one just wasn't for me, but I loved the relationships between the main characters and I hope this is a call to more authors to include more Poly relationships and representation!
Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review,

An enchanting plot with a terrible quick fix ending. The magic building is solid until the conclusion.

This is a really hard book for me to review. I'm going to do my best, but it's a book I think you really need to experience for yourself.

In the village of Three Graces, no one is sick. The village is perfect: crops never die, no one dies unnaturally, people heal from horrific injuries in just days. This is all achieved by a deal with the Devil of the forest made hundreds of years ago. In order to maintain that bargain, the village must send their best boy into the forest every seven years during the Slaughter Moon. That boy becomes a saint will run through the forest and if he can survive until morning, he may live. Most don't.

Mairwen Grace is the daughter of the Grace witch and a saint. She can feel the forest in her, calling her into its' depths. She feels as though the forest itself is in her blood. Rhun Sayer is the younger brother of a saint, and has grown up knowing that he will be a saint himself. Arthur Couch is the son of a woman who wanted to protect him more than anything, and by doing so, made him an outcast.

The story is told in fragments. Parts of it of the past, the present, and of the time that they spent in the forest that they cannot remember. The narration flows between characters and is not limited to the three main protagonists, but it adds to the overall fairytale-like atmosphere of the book. When I say fairytale, I don't mean the Disney adaptations, but the originals with monsters, murder and darkness. This is a dark book, and I don't say that lightly. It's not overtly violent, or have any scenes that are triggering, but it's heavy with atmosphere and there's a overall feeling of inevitability of the fates that you know are awaiting the characters.

Tessa does something a bit different with the romance in this book. There seems to be love just about everywhere, and the relationships between Arthur, Marirwen and Rhun are no exception. They are complex and at times it comes off as a little too much, I think. It's definitely not going to be for everyone, but I think it was pretty well done overall.

Thanks so much to Simon and Schuster Canada for providing me with an eARC of this via NetGalley!

Strange Grace has such a compelling, eerie premise: every seven years, a boy is sent into the Devil's Forest as a sacrifice to allow the village and its occupants to remain safe and prosperous for the next 7 years. Except, one day, this spell is inexplicably interrupted 3 years into the 7 year interval. THE MYSTERY. THE SUSPENSE. And I gotta admit, the first couple of chapters of this book were very exciting. I wanted to find out what would happen and the air of mystery surrounding the whole thing was enticing. I also really appreciated the prominent role that diverse representation played in this story. There's great LGBTQ rep (it's hard to tell what the characters identify as since they don't explicitly use labels, but to me it seemed like the main characters were bi- or pansexual), gender identity rep (again, I can't tell for sure, but one of the main characters read to me as non-binary), and also one of the POV characters is black. Regardless, my initial interest in all of these things--the premise and the rep--waned and I was just left feeling more underwhelmed than anything. About halfway through the book I realized that I wasn't enjoying this story anymore.

I think my issue with this is that the story feels very static. It has plenty of highs and lows, and yet they never really feel all that high or low. Consequently, neither the story nor its characters end up reading as dynamic. Also, something about the writing style made this quite hard to follow. I don't know if this was just me, but I had a lot of trouble visualizing scenes because the logistics were so hazy and the transitions very abrupt.

Strange Grace wasn't a bad story, but the fact is, I didn't particularly enjoy it. I loved the outline of its story, but its characters and writing ultimately fell short for me.