I admit, I struggled some with Finding Grace. I enjoy reading books about cults, because the social and psychological impact of them fascinates me. Unfortunately, I don't think Finding Grace by Warren Adler quite hit the mark.

When I found Cult and Finding Grace by Warren Adler, I expected stories about the cults themselves, and how people either left them, or found peace, or whatever. I wasn't expecting a story about someone trying to deprogram someone who had been brainwashed by a cult. It just seemed a little more depressing than what I enjoy reading most of the time.

I think what bothered me most, was the lack of hope in the book. I'm a fairly positive person, and I love reading stories with a hopeful tone. While I get that deprogramming someone from a cult isn't always a hopeful experience, it bothered me that the book felt like one negative experience after another.

While I didn't hate Cult or Finding Grace, I doubt I will read anything else by Warren Adler, simply because I prefer stories with more hopeful vibes, and I just didn't find those in the books I've read by this author. That's not to say someone else won't enjoy them, so I won't say unequivocally that I don't recommend this book or others by this author. I will simply say they weren't for me.

Such a debilitating feeling for Harry and Paulie that their beloved daughter Grace has joined Camp Star which is a Cult that has brainwashed her. They have lost all control of their loving daughter.

The story begins when Grace has not shown up for her job in Washington, DC which her mother knows is not like her at all. It’s Paulie’s birthday and Grace does not call her. This is also very unusual. She knows her daughter, and she tells her husband, Julian she is certain something is wrong. She is right, Grace calls a couple of days later and tells her Mom everything is fine. She is staying at a farm in California.

Paulie had divorced Harry fifteen years ago, but they had an intense all encompassing life before that. Grace became part of their insular world until she was 8 and the marriage fell apart. At this point, the plot made sense that both parents would be extremely unnerved and want to do something to try and reach Grace and convince her to leave Camp Star.

However, the way Harry describes different events is always a bit disturbing. He speaks in a crass manner about his current wife. His descriptions of his attraction and sexual liaisons with Paulie are also overdone. This style of writing did not appeal to me. There is also an idea that if you truly love someone, you would be willing to die for them.

Still, it made sense that Harry and Paulie get professional advice on how to get Grace out of the cult. They do fly to California and meet up with Grace to try to talk to reason with you and use techniques they’ve been advised to do to reach her.

Beyond this point, I thought the plot and ending were way off. The story is never really about Grace. Very little information is given about her beyond childhood. So, you don’t get to know Grace at all, except when she is altered by her cults thinking. You never get to understand her or connect with her in any way. Harry and Paulie are obsessed with each other. The decisions they make did not resonate with me in anyway except to say they were very selfish and self-absorbed people. This veers off into a possible reconciliation of them as a family again that would include Grace if they can just get her to come back to them. Even then, she is not too involved in the story. What happens beyond that I just could not absorb as realistic or even moral. This book did not work for me.

Thank you NetGalley, Warren Adler, and Stonehouse Press for a copy of this book. I am always happy to leave a review.

This was an interesting and enjoyable read. I loved the storyline but just felt that it was a little drawn out in places. It was at times fast placed and would then be too slow for me. Overall though an interesting and thought provoking read and its definitely recommended.

Thank you Netgalley.

This was an interesting plot taking us back a few decades to a daughter that has been lost to a cult and the parents who are trying to rescue her. It is fast paced and absorbing as well as thought provoking.
Many thanks to Stonehouse Press and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Warren Adler delivers again in this moving book which explores relationships just as it takes the reader through a traumatic journey of rescue. The end may surprise some but I thought it was perfect.

WOW! I loved this book, what a great writer! I couldnt wait to start each chapter, it had everything to keep me gripped and i didnt expect the sad ending, i expected the typical happy ending! AMAZING!.

This is a book that in some ways is hard to read but in other ways it is so intriguing you can't put it down.

But I must say that I am glad it wasn't an overly long book as it at times can be a bit depressing. Cults, religion, control, these are all things that can and will happen in this world and they have long-lasting and horrendous results on some of those involved.

A good book but not a great book although it is well written it just lacks a little something for me.

Finding Grace gives the reader a glimpse into the nightmare of cult life. It's easy to get caught up in the story line and turning pages is a must. Expect the unexpected. Enjoy!

Thank you NetGalley, author Warren Adler, and Stonehouse Press Publishing for giving me a free arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
4 stars
Trigger warnings: Attempted death by suicide, cheating with an ex
What lengths would you go to go rescue your loved one from a cult?
This book will have you flipping pages late into the night wondering what will be the outcome of two parents trying to rescue their daughter from a cult.
The beginning starts out a little slow but really picks up and remains fast paced until the very end. The author did a great job creating relatable characters that are not all good nor all bad, but in states of gray. The writing flowed well to create a sense of high intensity and hopelessness! The ending wrapped up well but left it open ended about the future. Overall, if you are looking for a creepy book about those who deal with a cult, this book is for you! I can't wait for another new release by this author!

This was a fast read. Grabbed me early and I wanted to find out more. The writing is beautiful and flows nicely. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

A compelling read with page turning suspense.

This book really makes you wonder the what if’s and how’s of cult workings. What if this was me? What would I do?

As a parent I found myself relating to the parents desperately searching for their daughter.

I wish the beginning of this book didn’t drag on so much. If this were not a netgalley I may not have continued. The first 50-70 pages are just dull.

The story of a family, divided for many years, living a good life until......
Warren Adler gives us an engrossing story of two adults who thought their lives were better apart, but find out they should have worked harder. When he is unable to contact his daughter, Harry 's search leads him to a cult where she is living and working. Along with his exwife, Paulie, Harry must find a way to rescue her when she does not want to be rescued. This is the background story for FINDING GRACE.
Harry and Paulie have been divorced for many years, each remarried, living on seperate coasts. The "meat" of the story involves their efforts to find and rescue their daughter, but more so on their journey through their life apart and maybe, a life together. An interesting read that is different than anything Ive read lately.

Review of eBook

After several intense years of marriage, want-to-be scriptwriter Harry and want-to-be fashion designer Pauline [Paulie] decide to divorce. Their daughter, Grace, is eight. In the intervening years, each marries again, Paulie to Julian, an older man, and Harry to Helen, an aspiring actress. Each has met success with their careers; Paulie and Julian remain married while Helen and Harry have separated. Throughout the years, however, both Harry and Paulie have been staunch in their love and support of Grace who, at the age of twenty-three, has earned a degree in political science and now holds a job in the office of a congressman representing California.

But when Grace doesn’t return Harry’s call, he becomes concerned. And her late-in-the-evening birthday call to her mother leaves Paulie worried. Grace, it seems, is in California, staying at a farm called Camp Star. It isn’t long before Harry and Paulie discover that the camp is part of the Shining Star cult . . . and a brainwashed Grace plans to give up everything to do the work of Father Star.

Can Harry and Paulie find a way to rescue their daughter or will she be lost to them forever?

The story, told alternately by Harry and Paulie, wanders back and forth in time to give readers backstories for both parents. Despite their divorce, Harry and Paulie remain obsessed with each other.

Although they each love Grace unreservedly, both Harry and Paulie are completely self-absorbed and are thoroughly unlikable characters. Far less developed, Grace remains an enigma and, as a result, readers are left wondering how this young woman, who in the opening chapters is, to all appearances, thoughtful, capable, and responsible, was so easily pulled into this cult and brainwashed.

With so much of the telling of the tale taken up with the parents’ musings and remembrances, the narrative’s focus returns again and again to the rambling thoughts of Harry and Paulie, leaving Grace’s situation largely an afterthought and the actual telling of the story of the cult and Grace’s involvement with it ultimately takes short shrift.

Although readers find a surprise or two in the rambling narrative, they are likely to be less than satisfied with the denouement in this ultimately disappointing tale that leaves them with far too many unanswered questions about Grace.

I received a free copy of this eBook from Stonehouse Press and NetGalley
#FindingGrace #NetGalley

3/5
This book was promoted as a mystery/thriller. However, it didn't feel like a mystery and I wouldn't market it as a mystery. Putting all that aside, I found it an enjoyable read. Although no mystery, it kept me turning the page to see what would happen next.

For a book about a girl brainwashed by a cult, this contained very little of the actual promised content. If I could draw a pie graph it would be 25% cult related 75% erotica. Not happy Jan.

It is my first book by Warren Adler, and I loved it and read it in one go. The characters pulled me in and emotions were so raw that I could not put it down. Even having no experience of being a parent I could feel their pain, their anguish and the intensity of their despair. I read many different novels of a loss of child but this one hit me hard. Can this really happen?

Such a beautiful love of Harry Paulie. Such a tragic turn in life.

p.s. the book does not concentrate on the cult but more on the marriage and relationship between Harry and Paulie over many decades.

This book was promoted as a mystery/thriller. However it was more of a woman’s bookclub read. Not the type of book I usually read. Also noticed it was out five years ago. Putting all that aside, I found it an enjoyable read. Although no mystery, it kept me page turning to see what was going to happen next. Additionally, I liked that the ending was not ‘fairytale’.