Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of Finding Grace by Loretta Rothschild. This was a quiet, reflective read that had some lovely moments but didn’t completely land for me. The writing is gentle and thoughtful, and Grace’s personal journey is relatable, especially in the way it touches on grief and growth. I appreciated the message, but I found the pacing a bit slow at times and wished some of the secondary characters had been more fully developed. That said, there’s a comforting tone to the book, and readers who enjoy character-driven stories about healing and self-discovery will likely connect with it. It’s a solid, heartfelt read, even if it didn’t fully stand out for me.

Rating 3.5.

I feel this story started with a bang, the first chapter made me think I was for a treat and I was for a while till around 30-40% it felt like that. Then I think the story started going flat for me. It then got up again at around 80% and kept me hooked till the end of the story.

This book is messy like how human relationships are, there are grey areas and secrets. This book is about second chances and how sometimes they aren't as easy as they are told to be.

I'm still struggling to figure out how I feel about this read. Though the plot is unique and well written, the MMC had way too many red flags and I found him incredibly problematic. I also couldn't connect with any of the characters. This seems to be an early hit with other readers though. Readers who liked Broken Country and Hello, Beautiful would likely enjoy this.

Wow! This was an insane debut (in a good way!) I don’t think anything can quite prepare you for the first chapter. My jaw dropped and I had to spend sometime processing what I just read. I love the unique story telling and themes around love, loss, grief, and a second chance at love.
This book is truly unique and I think it’s best for readers to dive right in because there are just too many opportunities to spoil this book.
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Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and netgalley for the opportunity to read and rate this book!

The first chapter rocked me. Even then it didn’t prepare me for the rest of the novel either, which while part of the aftermath of chapter 1 really takes a tangent into left field. This is a WILD debut novel! Thank you @macmillan.audio and @stmartinspress for my early reading and listening copies of FINDING GRACE, out July 8th.

If you notice, the publisher’s summary is VERY vague, on purpose, and there isn’t much I can say that won’t give the novel away, honestly, so this will be shorter than normal.

I find the character names (Honor, Tom, Grace) to be very interesting considering the content, and would make a GREAT book club read/discussion. I also had to work as a reader to separate my expectations of Tom vs Tom’s behaviors vs the Golden Girl-esque wine club behaviors vs Tom’s friends’ choices ... .so many whiplash emotions.

Also, SO MANY CONTENT WARNINGS- reach out, DM me, I will tell you if you need to avoid this novel.

What you will find:
Dual Timelines
Unique Narration
Complex Familial Drama
Exploration of Love, Heartbreak, Forgiveness
Parenthood
Grief

A stellar debut novel!

Honor loves her daughter Chloe more than anything and is married to her best friend, Tom, but there’s nothing she wants more than another baby and it’s starting to take over everything in their lives.

This book had some surprising twists and turns and I was here 👏 for 👏 it.👏

From the first chapter, I was hooked. The POV of this book was what really kept it interesting.

This is Loretta Rothschild’s debut novel and it was truly stunning. She will definitely be an author I am on the lookout for future books.

Thanks to #netgalley, the publisher and the author for this e-arc. It’s out 7/8!

The plot description of this book was just up my alley – a domestic mystery with secrets. What I didn’t plan on was reading a romance novel, which is mostly what this was. Honor and Tom have been married for some time and have a daughter named Chloe. Tom likes their life just the way it is, but Honor is determined to have another child – then a shocking, unexpected event happens that changes the whole storyline. From then on, the story kind of dragged for me. I could see where it was going – the situation and the problems to come were fairly obvious. I did enjoy the way the book was narrated – very clever – and I’d probably pick up another book by this author. Thank-you to NetGalley, Ms. Rothschild, and the publisher for the ARC of this title.

This is a first time novel for this author but it will not be her last one. She is a delightful story teller. Told from the point of view of a wife after she and her daughter Chloe suddenly died. She watches her husband find a new life. Tom, her husband, was beyond grief at the double loss and suddenly finds hope. This is a story worth reading and one that will be on your mind for a long, long time. There is so much that I wanted to say about this but in the interest of not creating spoilers I will not. It is an emotional book but one filled with hope, love and finding rainbows at the end of the lane. All of the characters are people you want to get to know. I cheered them on and want more from this author.

I wish to thank Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book. I have voluntarily read and reviewed this advanced copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

What happens when a horrible situation changes one’s family dynamics? Within the first two chapters, one learns about the tragedy that befalls the family. It is from there how one copes with the situation and the past actions intersects with the present actions and lies.

While I did enjoy the book, the number of lies was a bit too much. 3.5 rounded up.

Thank you, NetGalley

Thank you to Macmillan and St. Martin’s Press for the review copies of Finding Grace. This is one I’ve taken some time to sit with, as I think it will land differently for each reader. I highly recommend going in blind—but also with the understanding that this isn’t a book to pick up when you're looking for an escape. Instead, it’s ideal for a book club ready to dive into emotionally complex and layered narratives. While the audiobook is well-produced, I personally found the physical copy easier to process, as the intensity of the themes felt more manageable on the page. Rothschild creates a tense, moody atmosphere and uses dramatic irony effectively, even if the plot occasionally felt repetitive and some character decisions were hard to follow. The unique narration added texture but sometimes pulled me out of the story rather than drawing me in. Still, I couldn’t fully step away. It’s raw, heartbreaking, and messy—and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since finishing.

I requested this book on Net Galley and was excited to receive an eARC of this book.

I was not however expecting the surprise in the first few pages. And that set the tone for the whole book. I feel like it's very hard to share details of this book without completely taking away some of the element of surprise, so plot summary will be scarce.

Honor & Tom have a little girl, and long to have another child. However, they have been unsuccessful and their next steps are to have a surrogate carry a baby with donor eggs. The entire story is intertwined with this.

I thought the perspective from which the book was told was very interesting, and I liked that. Being a debut novel, I did feel like there were some "that was too easy" moments, where if this was in real life, it probably wouldn't have fallen into place quite like so.

However, overall, I did enjoy this book. There's surprise, lies, friendship, love.. a pretty good read.

Thank you Loretta Rothschild, Net Galley & St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read this book! I do look forward to more from this author in the future!

Wow! This book is totally different from anything I have read. I cannot say much without adding a spoiler. Other reviewers have said (and I completely agree) that it is best to start this book completely clueless. At that point, I did not read any more reviews. I was afraid of unintentional spoilers. Because of the vague description by the publisher and the oddly intriguing (but slightly disturbing, to me) cover and the couple of cryptic reviews I did read, I decided to read this book.

There is tragedy, there is love, there is humour. There are interesting characters. And, like every good book: it has a HUGE Secret! Most of the storyline was based around that secret. Lots of drama. The first chapter almost blew me away!

I recommend this book to anyone who wants to read something different. I can't think of another book to compare it to. Excellent and unique plot, writing and characters for a debut novel. I don't think it will be a book for everyone, but, you'll have to find that out for yourself.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the Advance Readers Copy.

I love that the protagonist of this story is a male! I really enjoyed this story and it is hard to review without giving any spoilers. I will say that Tom lost his wife, Honor, and his daughter, Chloe and the narrator is his deceased wife, Honor. Tom and Honor had been trying to have another baby using a surrogate and the day his wife and daughter died, Tom found out that the surrogate was pregnant. Tom quit his job to be a full time dad to Henry. The story gets very interesting and turned out to be a real page turner for me.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this very unique story.

You don't have to wait till the end of Finding Grace for the big twist-it happens early on and it sets the tone for the entire novel. Other books have used the narrative style of Finding Grace, but it feels fresh and new here. And few novels elicit such a wide range of emotions as this one does-while your heart will shatter for Tom, it's also hard not to cringe at his behavior, which is downright creepy at times. The title is both literal and figurative-while Grace is a character, the main theme of the novel is about finding the peace, hope, and grace to go on after an unimaginable tragedy, and it more than succeeds. You may even find your own grace by reading this utterly heartbreaking yet ultimately hopeful novel.

Tom and Honor take their daughter Chloe on a trip to Paris. As mother and daughter wander the Ritz’s foyer, a bomb detonates, and the two die. Tom returns to America and pieces together a semblance of a life. His depression consumes him, but he receives news that his and Conor’s surrogate is pregnant, and Henry becomes his sole reason for continuing. Later, Tom accidentally discovers the supposedly anonymous egg donor’s contact information and seeks her out. As Tom befriends Grace Stone, an owner of a wine bar who also grieves her late husband, he keeps his knowledge of her part in Henry’s life a secret. The secrets swell as the two fall in love, and Tom proposes with Honor’s diamond ring by accident. At their engagement party, a lifelong friend of Tom’s sabotages the merriment because of her unrequited love for Tom. Grace leaves Tom for 6 months but takes him back when he apologizes because she’s pregnant with their child.

After Honor’s death, her ghost narrates Finding Grace, reminding me of Wyld’s The Echoes. Similarly, I did not enjoy the ghost narration, a ghost who sometimes holds all-knowledge and sometimes learns. I try not to read abstracts before starting a book; if I had known the story would center on the idea of romantic love, I likely would’ve tried another title. Moreover, the premise—dating your kid’s egg donor without your partner knowing—gave me icky feelings. This may have been all issues with me rather than Rothschild’s work as such.

My thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an ARC. I shared this review on GoodReads on June 14, 2025 (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7431154464).

I enjoyed this more than I expected! Hard to explain a plot without including spoilers...I read the synopsis when I requested the book, then didn't reread it before I started reading the book and it always works out because it keeps my guard down - ANYTHING could happen at that point. I'm especially glad I did it with this book because I definitely was not expecting that 'shocking event'. I sat with my jaw dropped for what felt like 10 minutes, and I had to go back several times to make sure I knew for sure what I was reading wasn't something I was somehow making up!

Throughout the novel, Tom is pretty annoying first for how he behaves towards Honor and then obviously his behavior towards Grace. But I love the friendship between Tom, Annie and Oliver, and I love that Lauren was so annoying and easy to hate.

I didn't know what to expect going into this book and was pleasantly surprised - you know the secret must be revealed at some point but it kept me on the edge of my seat and wanting to see how it ended. My only complaint is that the ending seemed a little rushed - I would have liked more information from the mother in laws perspective.

The first chapter of this book really had me hooked….i don’t think I’ve ever audibly gasped at a book before, but there I was at the end of Chapter 1. The book really held my interest for the next few chapters, but unfortunately after a while became a bit maddening…repetitive and predictable and I was left scratching my head at many character/plot decisions. While I appreciated the narration choice, it did not personally work for me—it took me out of the story even more. Thank you so much to Netgalley for the ARC!

What a heartbreaking and innovative book.

Honor has a beautiful life, a handsome husband and a sweet four-year-old daughter. But she wants another baby. Exhausted by her constant worrying about the surrogate, Tom asks Honor to stop bringing up whether or not the surrogate is pregnant while they are celebrating Christmas in Paris. When tragedy strikes, the characters must work their way through and prove that love is enduring.

I did not expect this book to be what it is. I recommend going in pretty blind because it emotionally rocked me.

The writing is superb and the story was not what I expected at all.

I highly recommend this book!

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

FINDING GRACE
By Loretta Rothschild

A contemporary fiction read that examines the complexities of love and loss. Honor and Tom appear to have everything—an idyllic home and a happy life with their daughter, Chloe. But Honor’s deep desire for another child threatens to overshadow it all. A life-altering event shatters their world. Years later Tom makes a decision that impacts their families’ lives in ways he never could have anticipated. What happens when secrets refuse to stay hidden?

I’m not going to say more about this book, because going in with just a brief summary is best. This is a deeply character-driven book, with themes of grief, obsession, love, family dynamics, loss, and regret. The novel has a unique narrative perspective that enriched it with thoughtful insight. I was surprised this was Rothchild’s debut and found it to be a compelling and emotionally charged story. I will definitely be checking out her future books.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC