I don’t even know what to say about this. It’s an unfathomable novel and I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to give it the review it deserves.

My face is hot, my throat tight and in desperate need of water, and I need more and I need less of this book.

Holy moly!! This was such a surprise. It's a lot darker than I thought it would be, but wow. It was impactful. I didn't expect to enjoy this one as much as I did. It was so, so good. I highly recommend it!

W-O-W, I was wondering what all the hype around The Grace Year by Kim Liggett was about and now I definitely know. This is one book that lives up to all the hype you have heard plus more, and I cannot BELIEVE I waited so long to read it! This is in the young adult genre, but please don't let that scare you away if you aren't a YA reader. There are so many important themes in this novel and you sure as hell don't need to be a young adult reader to appreciate them. There are so many wild things that happen, and twists that totally blew me away. I loved the strength and resilience that Tierney shows throughout the novel and she is easily one of the heroes of the story. It reminded me a TINY bit of The Hunger Games in the way that these banished girls just completely go after each other. There isn't a ton of gore, but there are enough disturbing and chilling things that happen that I would in no way call this a light read. I loved how dark and gritty it was, and in some ways, it was heartbreaking as well.

I ended up listening to the audio of The Grace Year, and UGH, I loved it SO MUCH. The narrator is Emily Shaffer and she actually interviews Liggett at the end, so clearly if you listen to audiobooks that is how you need to read this book. It was such a pleasant surprise, and I not only loved Shaffer's narration but her interview with the author as well. It made me feel like I was at an author event and post-Covid you know that is a huge thing. This book pubbed before the pandemic hit but somehow still manages to relate a bit to that kind of environment. Above all, it really does speak to the times we live in (not in relation to Covid) and I was in tears listening to the interview with Liggett. Before that though there was the end of the actual novel, and I loved it and it gave me chills. What more do you need!! If you haven't read The Grace Year yet you are missing out and need to do so ASAP.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This book had me gripped from the start. With a depressing dystopian future in which women have no power and can be accused of having magic in them. All girls are sent away for their grace year to rid themselves of magic to return and eith become a wife ir work in one of the labour camps.
This will appeal to those who like The Handmaids Tale or Lord of the Flies.
A good read which leaves you frustrated not only iver the cintrol men have but also at the women who don’t fight back instead betraying one another.

I greatly enjoyed this book. The plot was well thought out and the characters were enjoyable. Highly recommend.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This is my first five star read of the year, and I have to say, @kim2legit2quit
Has written something incredibly powerful and important that I would pair with The Scarlet Letter and The Hand Maiden's Tale as insightful works dissecting the pseudo-puritanical ideals of modern western societies view of girls.

YA tropes used here with almost parody level deconstruction: ✅ "not like other girls" Mary-sue "manic pixie dream girl" protagonist (fuck yeah, be pretty, smart, handy and nice but also incredibly bitter, selfish, and proud; multifaceted protagonists exist?)
✅ token queen-bee bad bitch (feral but ultimately failed by the system she so adeptly manipulates; fear is a powerful motivator and when paired with a cunning egomaniac: all hell breaks loose)
✅ sweet childhood best friend romantic interest (precious boy who didn't deserve this shit, the road to hell was paved with good intentions ... but he honestly was a good friend and I was proud of him)
✅ dangerous, dark, stranger romantic interest (also precious boy who didn't deserve this shit, gotta appreciate someone who would literally let you hurt them rather than hurt you ... also not get mad when you stab him)
✅ presumed sinner who is actually a saint that protagonist befriends in outcast solidarity (precious girl who didn't deserve this shit; #queerrep )
✅ friendzoning: do's and don'ts (DO: accept that the object of your desire wants and needs different things than you, give them time and space to decide for themselves DON'T: confuse kindness as sexual currency DEFINITELY DON'T: braid their hair and watch them while they sleep)

#fridayreads #review #youngadultbook #youngadultfiction #feminist #fivestars #recommendation #rainbowtbr

The book started strong for me. Like many others, I was initially thinking it reminded me of The Handmaid's Tale, a little but of Hunger Games but with an M. Night Shyamalan element - similar to The Village. But the farther I got into the book, the less I liked it. Big gaps of time went by, an odd romance, an ambiguous ending, and a revolution that never came to fruition. Perhaps if I knew that this would become saga, I would have given it 4 stars, knowing that the story isn't over. Sadly, this book didn't wow me like I had hoped.

I really enjoyed this book. I found it interesting plus there was a slight spin on the whole dystopian theme. I found the characters consuming and the storyline took me for a ride.

I enjoyed the first few chapters of this so much that I bought a physical copy! I will be completing my review once I finish reading that.

I couldn’t help absolutely loving this book.
This was a super fun and wild dystopian ride. Recommend this book for anyone who has loves YA dystopia like divergent or hunger games!

Just trying to clear my Netgalley shelf of older content that I read but forgot to or didn't rate/review. One of the books my students have loved the most!

“We hurt each other because it’s the only way we’re permitted to show our anger. When our choices are taken from us, the fire builds within. Sometimes I feel like we might burn down the world to cindery bits, with our love, our rage, and everything in between.” — THE GRACE YEAR, Kim Liggett

I’ve seen this book touted as THE HANDMAID’S TALE meets LORD OF THE FLIES and I always take comparisons like those with a grain of salt. But every so often one of those proclamations turns out to be accurate and that’s exactly what happened with this book. It’s not just a cross between the above-mentioned, I’m wholly convinced that THE GRACE YEAR is actually Margaret Atwood and William Golding’s love child in book form.

Violent and dark and often horrific, this isn’t just a tale of survival. Instead it’s part survival tale mixed with an interesting look at the lives of women and not only how men view them, but also the complicated relationships that women often form with other women. Much of that is explored in this book and while the majority of the story shows girls putting girls against one another or forming cliques to belittle other girls, there are a few instances where girls will band together in support of one another. There are some very powerful and impactful quotes and scenes within these pages and I’m still thinking about it even days after finishing. I don’t want to give much away in terms of plot because you should definitely go in to this one knowing just the bare minimum.

Bottom line — THE GRACE YEAR was a fantastically good feminist tale of survival that provides plenty of food for thought, and I’m so glad I finally read this gem of a book. Kim Liggett’s dark writing style and her inclusion of so many horror elements made this a definite favorite, and I will most certainly be grabbing every book with her name on it.

*eARC received courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher.

Lord of the Flies meets Hunger Games meets Handmaid’s Tale. Don’t get me wrong this book is it’s own creation. The plot is completely unique and had me turning pages all day and well into the night. That said if you enjoyed any of the aforementioned books, Grace Year should be added to your TBR. Beyond a suspenseful plot, the narrative sends a great message regarding the strength of community both for good and evil.

Unique, intelligent, and haunting. The Grace Year is a novel that renewed my interest in dystopia. The story grabbed me and wouldn’t let me go, and the twists kept me on my toes. While I would have preferred a happier ending, it would have been disingenuous to the spirit of the book. Overall, I highly recommend.

That ending blindsided me. And, I was rather sad about it. Why Kim, why?!

Having seen the tagline, "The Handmaid's Tale with some Hunger Games thrown in for good measure," I knew this was going to be a wild ride. And from start to finish, it was.

We follow Tierney and her Grace Year. The females in her county all go through this process, when you turn 16, you are sent to an encampment, a few days journey from the county, in the middle of Poacher territory. During this Grace Year, you are to release your "magic" and become "purified" upon your return to the town. A full year later. And not all survive. Poachers, remember?

Tierney is a pretty badass female protagonist. Smart as a whip, adaptable on the fly, feisty and headstrong, and loyal to those who gain her absolute trust.

Kiersten, another Grace Year in Tierney's year, is a bike human being. I wanted to slap her on so many occasions. She manages to hold the rest of the girls in her captivating snare.

The Grace Year was hauntingly atmospheric. With just enough detail to not be overly gory in certain scenes. The double twist in the last third of the book.

CW: oppression against females, violence against females, death, suicide, brutal attacks, betrayal, teen pregnancy, etc...

Thank you Netgalley and publishers of the Grace Year for allowing me to read this book for my honest review.

I highly enjoyed this book. It had a few flaws, but overall I thought the premise was interesting and had a lot of important things to say about misogyny and feminism, how we treat other women, and rape culture.
“The things we do to girls. Whether we put them on pedestals only to tear them down, or use them for parts and holes, we’re all complicit in this.” ~ my favorite quote from the book and the one I find most poignant.
Some things I wasn’t crazy about were the characters. They weren’t fleshed out very well. They were very stereotypical. You have your tomboy, your mean girl, etc. It didn’t feel like we went below the surface on any of them. I also wasn’t crazy about the romance. It felt very sudden. There was no buildup to the relationship, so later when something happens and we’re supposed to care, I just didn’t. I still ended up giving this book four stars though, because while I had some issues with it, I felt like overall it was an important story to tell.​

This book wasn’t original enough for me to like it. Sure, it had a concept that intrigued me, but when I read it, I couldn’t connect to anything.

It’s taken me a long time to write this review, primarily because I had such mixed feeling while and after reading the book. It was… bittersweet. Not like bittersweet chocolate, rich and complex. Bittersweet like pickles dipped in chocolate. Salty, sweet… but weird and unbalanced. Do I like it? I don’t know, have another bite.

For example, the mysterious portions of the plot are pretty compelling. However, our heroine, Tierney, is also unusually dense about the emotions and complexity of other people. There are several early “surprises” that teen readers will see coming miles away, and that will make adult readers roll their eyes. Is the plot feminist? Kind of… but it’s enrobed in so much “not like other girls” nonsense that many readers will be turned off by the time Tierney finally starts to make actual feminist moves. For too much of the book, Tierney exhibits a feminism that would free her of standard gender roles while also living her whole live in relation to the men and boys around her. She struggles to be both by herself and in the company of only women/girls.

And the worst bite of all—the ending. No spoilers, but the ending has sent many people to the Goodreads questions section to ask what actually happened. It’s incredibly subjective, and not terribly satisfying either way. Pickles and chocolate, man.

This was such a unique story. It was a bit slow to get into but once you got there it was well worth the wait. I think it could've even went into more detail but the story is so unique it doesn't dissapoint!

Well, it’s officially happened. 3 entire months into 2021 and I FINALLY FINALLYYYYY have a 5 star read.

No lie. I put off finishing this cause I didn’t want it to end.

Maybe that’s a little too dark considering the subject….


SYNOPSIS
No one speaks of the grace year. It’s forbidden.

In Garner County, girls are told they have the power to lure grown men from their beds, to drive women mad with jealousy. They believe their very skin emits a powerful aphrodisiac, the potent essence of youth, of a girl on the edge of womanhood. That’s why they’re banished for their sixteenth year, to release their magic into the wild so they can return purified and ready for marriage. But not all of them will make it home alive.

Sixteen-year-old Tierney James dreams of a better life—a society that doesn’t pit friend against friend or woman against woman, but as her own grace year draws near, she quickly realizes that it’s not just the brutal elements they must fear. It’s not even the poachers in the woods, men who are waiting for a chance to grab one of the girls in order to make a fortune on the black market. Their greatest threat may very well be each other.

With sharp prose and gritty realism, The Grace Year examines the complex and sometimes twisted relationships between girls, the women they eventually become, and the difficult decisions they make in-between.


I honestly can’t give this book enough praise. The worldbuilding was excellent and filled with impossible choices with no right or wrong answer but serious possible consequences. The detail that goes into each season of the Grace Year but also what happens before the girls leave to their encampment.

Your eyes are wide open, but you see nothing.

AND OH. MY. The return. The consequences of the Grace year. The domino effect that you can see building.

The things we do to girls. Whether we put them on pedestals only to tear them down, or use them for parts and holes, we’re all complicit in this.

This book was truly amazing. It’s dark. It’s terrifying. You may even forget your are reading a fictional book.

Thank you to the publishers over at NetGalley for the eARC!