Many thanks to NetGalley, Henry Holt & Company, and Macmillan Audio for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of the debut novel by Fran Littlewood and wonderfully narrated by Claire Skinner - 4 stars!

Grace Adams gave birth, blinked, and now suddenly she is forty-five, perimenopausal and invisible. Today of all days, when her estranged daughter, Lotte, is turning 16 and she is desperate to make things better between them, everything is going wrong. Grace is so worried about Lotte's recent behavior and is at a loss to make things better. Because things used to be so good. Ben and Grace, both polygots, seemed perfect together and Lotte made them a family. Grace just needs to prove to them and herself that they can work.

Told between three different timelines, we see Grace then and now. While I found myself sometimes yelling at Grace's behavior, I also felt her pain. Life interferes for all of us and it all becomes too much sometimes. I really enjoyed the language factor in this book - how Grace was so easily able to express herself in so many languages, until her words failed her when she needed them the most. It's a story of growing older and missing our younger selves and lives, while hoping to change the future for the better. Grace was a funny, fierce, emotional character and I enjoyed this debut novel fully!

4.5 stars. Grace Adams is awesome. But it seems a few people closest to her have forgotten this fact. And as Grace struggles w/ all kinds of failures, grief, separation, teenage angst, she just seems to snap. And the day she snaps happens to be her daughter’s 16th birthday.
Full of humor and with a fantastic character we can all relate to, this book shows how we can lose ourselves and find ourselves all over agin.

* Special thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this audio e-arc.*

Grace Adams is having a very bad day. All she wants to do is deliver a birthday cake to her teen daughter. She is thwarted at every turn. Grace has a strained relationship with both her daughter and her husband. Her daughter is acting out and Grace seems helpless to stop her. As the mom of a teen girl, I could SO relate to Grace's situation on that front. However, the story was told with many, many flashbacks that were difficult to keep straight on audio. Maybe it would be easier to follow in print. I also struggled with all the things that Grace, who is brilliant, had to give up in order to be a mother. The story is set in the present day, but that part felt like it was from a thankfully bygone era. This was a 3.5 star book for me.

Thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for a review copy of this audiobook.

Amazing Grace Adams by Fran Littlewood. I usually love books like this - humor plus some drama mixed in. This book was a bit slow though. There were definite parts I enjoyed but other parts seems to drag on. Thanks Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the ARC.

The Amazing Grace Adams follows Grace, a British, middle-aged mother on one of the worst days of her life. She’s a mess both physically and emotionally, and just wants to deliver a cake to her teenage daughter’s birthday party. We see her efforts thwarted again and again as we live the day with her. The current timeline is interspersed with flashbacks as we find out what happened between Grace and her daughter, and how Grace became the mess she is today.

I have very mixed feelings about this book. I was hoping for a stronger lead character throughout the story. Grace was such a confounding mess at the beginning that I nearly stopping listening. Though I am a woman in my 40s, Grace was painfully insecure and not relatable to me. I pushed through, and at around 50%, we really start to get into the meat of the story. There were some uncomfortable but moving moments tucked into this book, and though the ending was strong, it took way too long to get there and the storytelling was uneven. I did enjoy the narration.

Readers looking for a maternal, heavier version of Bridget Jones’ Diary might enjoy this book but it did not strike the right note for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

The Amazing Grace Adams released on September 5, 2023.

Thanks to Macmillan Audio for the ALC.
If you're looking for a character driven novel about a woman in the middle of menopause and trying to figure out her life, look no further. The reader meets Grace as she's having a hard time and kind of a mess. But through chapters that flashback to different memories, I started to understand why she was having such a terrible day and why she chose to do what she did. This is a novel of being a flawed parent, a not so great all the time partner, and a story of what happens when a family fractures. It is packed full of emotion that kept me engaged in this storytelling. I had no problem wanting to continue because I came to care deeply and quickly about this dysfunctional family. It's also a story of resilience and strength. There's so much here, and I think it will resonate with women in so many different life stages - I'm in my early parenthood journey, yet still felt so connected with the struggles of parenting a teenager. I highly recommend this one.
The narration was such a lovely performance. The narrator captured the characters, emotions, and different scenes so well.

3.5 Stars. This audiobook was quite the adventure. The different timelines going on in the book were a bit confusing at times, but probably essential to the story.

The story is about a woman who's past was quite amazing. She speaks five languages fluently, won an award for Polyglot of the Year and was on TV. Now, however, her life has imploded. She lost her job, she's getting divorced and her daughter doesn't want anything to do with her. It all reaches a boiling point on her daughter's sixteenth birthday. Grace is determined to deliver the awesome birthday cake she ordered to her daughter. The universe has decided to put obstacle after obstacle in her way and Grace has the worst day in the history of mankind. Grace Adams will persevere and show the world that she IS still awesome.

There were lots of different issues tackled by the author in this family drama. There is perimenopause (and all the accompanying glories), separation and divorce, death, grief, sexual predators and mental health. It was a lot to take in.

At times, this audiobook seemed overly long, but I did enjoy it.

Thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the gifted audiobook. All thoughts are my own.

I gave the book a 5 star review, but the audiobook version didn’t work for me. The story moves back and forth through time and that’s too confusing for this listener. Others may find that they also prefer to read this novel instead of attempting to listen.

Whew wasn’t expecting this to be as difficult emotionally as it was.
I'll put the trigger warnings behind a spoiler because they are spoilers, but if you have some you might want to check them out before embarking on this book. I thought from the cover and the description that this would be lighthearted and it is definitely a lot heavier than anticipated.
Trigger Warnings:(view spoiler)

Told in three timelines, the book takes on a frantic, chaotic feel, but I honestly think that is what the author was going for. Grace's life is frantic and chaotic, it felt so frustrating to me as a reader to see Grace letting things fall by the wayside, picking some of them up at random times, not caring about things that seemed very important. I honestly almost threw in the towel on the book because I just could not identify at all with the way she was thinking and behaving.

And then...we find out about a major thing that happened, and my heart just broke into a billion pieces and 100% understood why Grace, Ben, and Lottie acted and kept acting the way they did. I understand because I have lived it and everything is so realistically portrayed I had tears running down my face.

I listened to this as an audiobook and Claire Skinner does a fantastic job at capturing Grace and all she is going through.

This is a very powerful book, but you can't have any preconceived expectations about it and you have to let it come together without being frustrated. It is certainly not going to connect with every reader but it certainly did with me.

Thank you MacMillan Audio and Henry Holt for review copies! this is an effective book in terms of themes covered and discussion points about women's lives at midlife, the sandwich generation (caring up, caring down but who is caring for us?) and feelings of invisibility despite all of the mental load, emotional and other labor done as a caregiver, spouse, etc. These are important themes and I am glad to have had a chance to engage with many feelings and experiences myself and my friends navigate.
At times though being so much internal to Grace's dialogue and some of the continued chaos/falling apart vibes got a little too much for me to listen to (not because the audiobook wasn't well done but because it was a lot to listen to), this might be a book better as a physical book, that is what I found anyway.

This is a good one for discussion as it allows for a bigger examination of a lot of sociocultural themes even as I suspect not all readers will fully engage with Grace's story and her falling apart. Great plot, great character ideas, somewhat limited execution.

Amazing Grace Adams started out amazing, but then all but fizzled out from there...
We open up with Grace being awarded a top prize for her translation/literary skills...and meeting Ben (at the awards), and them hooking up for a weekend. She comes across as a young, badass woman with a lot of grit...
She gets a surprise a few months later, and they meet up again...and seem to be in a blissful relationship.
Then the book starts to go back and forth between 2002 and now. We see Grace literally grow up...and now she is in her mid 40's and has a daughter who is turning 16.
AND...her life is literally FALLING APART.
Yes, I feel for her.
Yes, I feel for her daughter and her husband.
No...I cannot believe all the crazy stuff that was part of this book.
Great premise. Great buildup. Big let down though...IMO.
2 1/2 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me...rounded up to 3.
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC of this audiobook which will be released on September 5th. If it's something you think you'd like, please keep an eye out for it.

Poor Grace Adams may be amazing, but she’s having a very rough day, and her current life is challenging beyond belief. As a linguist, she’s had some ups and downs, but it’s her love life and family life that sting the most.

You can’t help but feel for quirky Grace who encounters one ludicrous event after another. Yes, she had a hand in creating many of these events, but it’s her emotional reactions that sink her into a crater I couldn’t imagine her climbing out of.

In truth, I felt a bit overwhelmed sometimes by all of Grace’s predicaments. Can’t this woman get a break? And why so much hysteria? And then, toward the end, it all begins to make sense, and my exasperation with her melted.

An amusing read with multiple timelines that are sometimes difficult to follow, especially on audio. For this reason, I preferred reading my print copy. But if you stick it out, you will be rewarded, and, I hope that like me, your heart will be at peace.

Grace Adams did exactly what we all want to do at some point....just walk away from it all. When you've had enough, just get out of the car and keep going. I listened to this novel, and the narrator is awesome. Given that there are three different timelines, I sometimes had to go back and make sure of where I was; I think, for me, reading the book would have been better, but again the narrator was great.

Burnt out and fed up, Grace abandons her car in gridlock and starts walking. She has to pick up a cake and deliver it to her estranged daughter’s 16th birthday party, and in her muddled mind, walking would be faster. This is only her first questionable decision in what turns out to be a long, sweaty, and bloody walk. During the journey, Grace flashes back to events that led her to today. (By “journey,” I mean a trek that brings to mind Cersei Lannister’s walk of atonement across King's Landing.)

A former award-winning linguist and television personality, Grace was once amazing. Now, she’s just sweaty, irritable, and invisible. Step by step, we learn about what changed in her life and why. Her heartbreak and misery are justified (check the TWs), but as a culmination of a decade of repressed anger, frustration, and anxiety erupt in Grace, her behavior becomes increasingly bizarre. My heart broke for her, but it was uncomfortable to be in her headspace.

Thanks, NetGalley and Macmillan Audio, for the ALC. US Pub Date: 5 Sep 23

I personally did not connect with the narrator. I did not finish this one, but I can see it being a great read for fans of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. It also had Bridget Jones vibes with the humor.

The plot, while filled with just enough everyday intrigue to keep the pages turning, for me was overshadowed by a main character I personally found annoying, perhaps because I am not a 45 year old mother. A little too much woe-is-me and hasn’t life been unfair (which to be fair it had been to her). Sped through this in a day though, just could’ve done with less of Grace’s whining

When I began the book, I was curious about the plot revelation. What happened to cause Grace to act this way? Overall, when the plot was finally revealed, I had sympathy for the main character.

It may be because I was listening to an audio version, but the jumping time lines quickly became tedious. Also, I did not find the father's response to the daughter's crisis believable.

Just a 2 out of 5 stars for me.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this adio.

I wanted so badly to like this book. I really didn’t at all. It did have a somewhat good storyline but the characters annoyed me. It took everything in me to finish this audio. I am not one to usually DNFing a book especially an audio but I really wanted to on this book. The narrator was great it’s just not the book for me.

This was a fun, feel good story with a lot of heart. Audio narration was great! I think this will have a wide appeal and will recommend it to lots of different types of readers.

Grace is having a day from H-E-Double Hockey Sticks. All she wants to do is pick up the Love Island cake she has ordered for her daughter Lotte's 16th birthday and deliver said cake before the party begins. But there is traffic and people are making assumptions and the past is playing in Grace's head in endless loops. Fran Littlewood sets up this debut with the current day as one timeline. The other two date from 2002--the beginning of her relationship with her husband (Lotte's father Ben) and a pivotal series of events beginning four months ago. Don't worry, the chapters are clearly marked. I found that pairing the audio with a digital copy helped me keep my ducks in a row. My star rating is a smidge higher than the average so far.
Here are four reasons why I gave it four stars:
🌟Grace's day reminds me of a recurring dream I have where a goal is before me, but as I work toward it the things I have done unravel. I could relate to how her day stretched on and on with the prize seeming to be further and further away.
🌟The book reminded me of the 1993 Michael Douglas movie "Falling Down." Sure enough, the author mentioned that movie specifically in her acknowledgments. High five!
🌟Themes like motherhood, loss, menopause, infidelity, grooming are all contributing to the family crisis. Fran Littlewood actually gives us a happy ending in the midst of all that angst.
🌟I have actually watched a couple of episodes of "Love Island" with my kids. I had high hopes for this epic cake that Grace had ordered from the bakery.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an audio review copy in exchange for an honest review.