The first chapter of this book grabs you—and there's no turning back. It's nearly impossible to describe the plot without giving away key twists, but what I can say is this: the tension only escalates. With each page, the story becomes more intense, drawing you deeper into its layers.

Wow...this one grabbed me right out of the gate! I couldn't put it down. I needed to know where it was going and where it would end up. Can't say a whole lot without giving anything away, so I will just say this one is worth the read. Great debut novel!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for advanced copy, and I give my review freely

This was my first read by Loretta Rothschild. It pulled me in from the first few lines. That twist from the beginning, wow. I went in completely blind and did not read what the story was about and glad I did.

#femalepov
#secrets
#Familydrama

Wowza! Usually, books take time to build but this one sucker punched me in the very beginning! Holy Moly! Talk about being shocked and left with your mouth hanging open! Life can, as they say, change in a moment. I found myself instantly gripped by this book and went through an array of emotions while reading Finding Grace. I had a hard time putting this book down and found myself gripping the pages tighter and tighter while my feelings and thoughts changed multiple times during reading Finding Grace. I cannot believe that this is a debut novel!!!!


Whew! This book is wonderfully written, well thought out, gripping, thought provoking, heartbreaking, shocking and evokes emotion. This book looks at choices, decisions, action, morals, honesty/dishonesty, love, relationships, and being a parent to name a few. There are a few others, but I don't want to give away any spoilers.


There is one character who will remain nameless in my review who had me feeling all kinds of things. I wanted to hug this character, then talk sense into this character, then yell at this character, you get the picture.


This is a great book for book clubs. The subject matter may be hard for some, but there is so much to discuss with this book.


Wonderfully written, gripping, shocking, thought provoking and hard to put down!

Wow. This book started off with a bang. Nothing prepared me for the first chapter’s ending, but my interest was piqued from the start. This book explores loss, grief, and making decisions that alter your life. I was definitely interested in this story and was so curious how it would play out. I wasn’t totally sold on the ending. I feel like it was too simple for how complex the story was. Regardless, this was unique and a well told story. Thanks NetGalley!

Once again I find myself nursing a book hangover. I didn't expect a debut novel to leave such an impact on me. Between the unusual narration and moral dilemmas involving modern-day issues, I was riveted to the pages from beginning to end. It's not surprising that I sought out this book because it was recommended by one of my favorite authors who writes about some pretty heavy topics and makes you think about both sides. I will certainly be watching for the next novel from Loretta Rothschild. Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and the author for an advance copy to read and review,

Anything I say about this debut novel by Loretta Rothschild would be a spoiler. I loved it!

Thank you to Loretta Rothschild, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for this ARC. The book will be published on July 8, 2025.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Loretta Rothschild for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of Finding Grace.
This is a beautifully written debut novel that grabbed me from the first chapter until the final few words. This is a story of love, tragedy, mistakes, and lots of secrets and lies that snowball into complete chaos.
The characters are well developed, definitely filled with good and bad traits. Circumstances force them to make bad decisions which continue to escalate to the breaking point. There is plenty of forgiveness and moving in but the main problems still exist until the entire truth is revealed.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. Did all the pieces fall together too nicely at the end? Maybe. But I definitely love a happy ending.

I'm vacillating between a 3.5-4 star....I think in the end I am at a 3.5 (landing on 3 for review purposes) because the trope was ultimately dragging the book along but somehow the writing kept me interested despite my frustration with the miscommunication.

I was really intrigued by the synopsis of the book and it did not prepare me for what I was about to get into. The first chapter made my jaw drop. I had to skim back because I could not believe I had read what I just read. Then we get the most unusual of narrators for the remainder of the book. There were many holes and backstories that I just couldn't get over or were just too unbelievable. However, I remained curious as to how it would unfold with Grace and Tom but here we have the biggest of big miscommunication tropes for 2/3 of the book and it made me want to throw my kindle down. When we get to the final scene with it all hits the fan, I just couldn't. LOL This man. *facepalm*

It just didn't grip me as much as I thought it would after those first few chapters. I feel like it dragged much longer than it should have and we have a character come out of left field at the end which just didn't fit quite right with me. Tom bugged me so much and we didn't really get as much depth to the characters as I would have liked. I just didn't fee emotionally connected to any of them.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the ARC of this book.

Thank you @stmartinspress @macmillan.audio & @netgalley for my complimentary copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

This debut novel will hook you from the very first page! The story is told through the unique perspective of Honor, Tom’s dead first wife. Honor recounts the challenges in her marriage to Tom, discussing in particular how her desire for another child intensified the strain between them. At the time of Honor’s unexpected death, she and Tom had found an egg donor and soon they would have a baby.

Grief-stricken, Tom raises the baby boy and tries to move on until he accidentally discovers the identity of the egg donor (Grace). Curious he seeks her out, and soon becomes involved with her. But this causes a personal dilemma for Tom. Grace never planned on having children of her own. Should he tell her about his son?

The novel examines themes of love, loss, and redemption, and would be a perfect choice for book club discussions. I combined the audio and print versions for this and loved both formats. The narrator's performance truly brought the story to life, enhancing the emotional depth and contributing to the memorable listening experience. The production quality was outstanding, capturing every nuance of the narration and immersing me in the story seamlessly.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance review copy in return for an honest review. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. What a hilarious plot line. And for grace at the end to say tom didn’t hatch some plan to track her down when he…did? I was rolling my eyes the whole time I was reading this book but man was it at least entertaining.

boy oh boy oh BOY. this story satisfies in a way i didn't think it was going to.

to say that this story starts out with a bang is an understatement (no pun intended). the first chapter is the most unhinged start to a book i've read in a long time, so shocking that i had to put it down. from there it takes a few strange turns and i honestly thought i wasn't going to actually like where this story takes us, but i was wrong.

this story takes the reader on quite the journey, and once it starts to gain speed toward its inevitable conclusion, it leaves you gripping the pages and simply holding on for a wild ride.

This debut novel blew me out of the water with the last line of the first chapter. The beginning of the book was setting the stage for the story of a marriage grown strained and nearing its end...I thought. But I was wrong.

This is a story about deep, sacrificing love. About grief. About second chances. The characters were not perfectly lovable (some not even likable at times), but they were oh so human. It’s hard to say more without giving away too much.

I almost passed on this one because I didn’t like the cover (but I’m the odd woman out here, because most people do!). Just goes to prove the old adage about judging a book… 📔

If you’re a sensitive reader, do your research before picking this one up. There are lots of big events and emotions here. I won’t spell them out because of spoilers.

This book is out July 8th, so get your library requests or pre-orders in now!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, NetGalley, and author Loretta Rothschild for the complimentary advance copy! It was my pleasure to write this candid review.

2025 Favourites Shelf 🏆

“You can’t boycott grief, unless you want to boycott happiness with it.”

Emotional. Poignant. Compelling. Heavy. Insightful. Thought provoking.

A unique, haunting and moving story about motherhood/parenthood, marriage, grief and healing.

This storyline is like no other. I highly recommend going into this book blind, avoiding reading too many (any!) reviews for worry that it will spoil your reading experience as there are some major cliff hangers and shocking moments. You simply need to know this will be a gut wrenching, shocking, unforgettable, sad but hopeful story.

The writing is exquisite! It surprises me over and over again when I think about this being a debut novel. There is a maturity and wisdom to these words that makes me feel as though this author has been writing books for decades and knows the perfect formula for sinking into her readers’ hearts and minds. I connected to her writing from page one and it never lost its grip on me.

Friendships and support systems are a large piece of this plot and I loved the connectivity those aspects brought to the storyline for me. Healing and forgiveness are explored in depth and I found those aspects of the plot very thought provoking.

The narrative is clever and unforgettable. Through the unique narrative, the characters share their vulnerability that had me invested and longing for them to find the answers they yearned for. Searching for happiness after extreme loss is another theme that I strongly connected to.

My one tiny critique is that there was a tad too much drama at the end that prevented me from giving a 5+ but nothing that took away from my overall connection or enjoyment. I just would have preferred a more subtle way to incorporate a piece of the plot.

This book will always hold a very special place in my heart as I read it during an extremely difficult life experience. Through these pages, I was able to find comfort and help process some thoughts and feelings. I am thankful that reading has always provided me a comforting escape.

Thank you to the publisher for my review copy!

Mark your calendars — this publishes on July 8th! You absolutely MUST plan to get your hands on a copy!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ — Emotional, thought-provoking, and some what unsettling.

The story pulled me in right from the start. It begins with a gut punch I did not see coming! Tom looses his wife Honor and daughter Chloe. We learn much about what is going on through the narration by Honor’s ghost. Four years later we find Tom raising his son, Henry on his own with the help of his and Honor’s close friends, Lauren, Annie, & Oliver.

While raising Henry, Tom gets a miss addressed letter in the post from the IVF clinic that Honor and he had used for Henry’s surrogacy. Due to this error he accidentally finds out who the anonymous egg donor is that his wife had chosen - Grace. Tom decides to track Grace down to deliver the letter but when he sees her through a storefront window he sees Honor’s doppelgänger and ends up not telling her the truth. 👀 Tom starts to pursue Grace.

Tom not being honest with Grace or himself creates an emotional rollercoaster of grief, identity, and second chances. He is a morally messy character, which made me super frustrated with him. The unraveling of secrets and the too tidy ending had me removing a star.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and the author Loretta Rothschild for this free ARC. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

3.25 🌟

I'll try to be vague to avoid spoilers. This was a solid 4 for me until the very end. I didn't like the way things were wrapped up, though I can't say I was surprised. I was pretty invested in the story throughout, even though the MMC sucks. Tom, the husband, is just utterly unlikable. He's manipulative, and all his decisions made me shake my head. JUST COMMUNICATE DIRECTLY ALREADY, GEEZE. Again, it's hard to articulate specifics without just spoiling the book. That said, I do recommend it, and plenty of readers will enjoy how it ends. I'm just not one of them.

Recommended for fans of emotional, twisty love stories.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

Bravo to the publishers for not giving away too much in the blurb. Unfortunately, that also meant that I did not read the book I expected to and I really struggled with what this book actually is. I'm going to do some spoilers below, but let me just say that at its heart this is just a really angsty romance that is perhaps trying too hard to erect a unique framework around itself.

<spoiler>Chapter One introduces the reader to Honor, who is so consumed with having another baby via donor egg and surrogate that she totally ignores the child she already has. Then, Honor and her daughter are murdered by a suicide bomber at the end of the chapter. Honor goes on to narrate the rest of the book, while her husband Tom raises the son that came about from the donor egg/surrogate combo. THEN Tom starts dating Grace the egg donor (who could be Honor's doppelgänger), while keeping it a secret from her that his son is also her son. There was just so much ick in this whole situation, especially when there is a "happy ending" of Grace coming back to Tom because she's pregnant with their child and she truly loves him blah blah blah barf. Just ick. There seemed to be no discernible reason to have Honor's ghost narrate the book - her emotions were weirdly muted and she was totally supportive of Tom and Grace falling in love. She had a clinical detachment that was just weird and I didn't understand the point of using her to narrate if Rothschild wasn't actually going to do anything interesting with her character or her narration. Also, it was so clear what was going on with the "friend" Lauren, which was really frustrating. And I just didn't like Tom very much. </spoiler>

So, there you have it. I kept reading! I did not DNF! I actually think Rothschild's writing was pretty compelling, because I certainly wasn't enjoying the plot or the characters. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a digital review copy.

Finding Grace is a book with a really unique premise, told in an equally unique way. There’s a reason the publisher’s synopsis is a bit vague — and I’d recommend going in without reading detailed reviews or searching for spoilers. I began reading not knowing much, and I’d suggest the same to others. You’ll likely know by the end of the first chapter whether this one is for you.

This is a deeply felt character study that dives into grief, loss, obsession, and the weight of regret — especially how a bit of honesty at the right time could have prevented so much pain. The characters are what make the story shine. I loved how they surprised me — sometimes with their wisdom, sometimes with their staggering stupidity, but always in ways that felt fully human.

Finding Grace is an impressive debut. Though I didn’t like the ending much at all and subtracted a whole star because of it, I loved the rest of the book. I’ll definitely be watching for whatever Loretta Rothschild writes next.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book. It will be published on July 8, 2025.

I really liked this book... even though the main character had stalker vibes and his love interest/victim - rather than pressing charges - ended up with him in the end. It was riveting and even though the ending was a bit hard for me to believe, I found myself actually cheering for the bastard half of the time.
Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the review copy.

This is the debut novel from Loretta Rothschild but reads like an author with a ton of experience! I recommend going into this one blind, as there is a hugely impactful and unexpected event in the very first chapter of the novel that will inform the rest of the novel.

While I cannot say much about the plot without giving anything away, I can say that the narrator is unusual, which just adds to the depth of the novel. And while I may not agree with some of the choices made by the main male character, I can see that they made sense to him. If you enjoy your fiction with a dash of romance and drama, you’ll enjoy this original and compelling novel!

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and St, Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.