Loving. Longing. Shocking...and that's just the first chapter...

"Finding Grace" has an intentionally vague synopsis, but as you read, you'll discover the nuggets along the way. It's edgy and a bit of a nail-biter, but it's also quiet and intense. Very intense, actually, and challenging to put down when life gets in the way.

I loved spending time getting to know these characters, listening to their stories, and learning about each of them. They are diverse, complex, and mostly likable, and all of them hold this story together.

The writing is lyrical and straightforward, and I love how the author chose to narrate the story. It fits just right. I appreciate the touches of humor that help to lighten the atmosphere a bit, as well.

This was an immersion read; the audiobook is narrated by Fiona Button, whose voicing skills brings the story to life. The author's words flow effortlessly through her voice; she doesn't read the story, she becomes the story. She's quickly becoming one of my favorite English narrators.

"Finding Grace" is an impressive debut, and I'll be there for Loretta Rothschild's next novel, too!

4.25⭐

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Macmillan Audio, and Loretta Rothschild for the gifted DRC and ALC through NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Thanks, St. Martin's Press, for the opportunity to read a review copy. Unfortunately, I found the main character grating and couldn't get engaged in the story with her narrating. The big twist at the beginning was jarring and threw me out of the story. I wasn't a good fit as a reader for this one, but I have seen many favorable reviews.

Finding Grace by Loretta Rothschild (book cover is in image) unfortunately was not the book for me. The plot was cringy and the narration by Fiona Button came off as monotone and found myself easily distracted. Since I had the eBook as well, I switched over to that, but still found it hard engage in this book. I am sure that there is an audience for this one, but I am not it.

Thank you to St Martins Press, Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC and listen to the ALC. All opinions are my own.

Rating: 2 Stars
Pub Date: Jun 10 2025

#MacmillanAudio
#StMartinsPress
#Finding Grace
#LorettaRothschild
#FionaButton
#WomensFiction
#yarisbooknook
#NetGalley

Bit of an outlier here. Male main character was very unlikable and it was overall just an odd premise/story.
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for access to this eARC.

Wow, it's so hard to review this book without giving anything away. It's unusual, and so I think it will work best for readers when they don't go in with a lot of expectations. I enjoyed the unconventional structure, narrator, plot choices. Life is messy and this story is messy in a very real way. I think anyone who enjoys family dramas and relationship stories that feel like they are happening between real people will enjoy this.

Title: Finding Grace
Author: Loretta Rothschild
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Rating: Five
Review:
"Finding Grace" by Loretta Rothschild

My Insight:

"Finding Grace" is an enchanting love story that beautifully weaves the lives of Honor, Tom, and Chloe. This novel is brimming with unexpected twists, masterfully exploring themes of love, heartbreak, and family secrets. From the very first page, it grips your attention and pulls you into a whirlwind journey where tragedy strikes and life spirals out of control.

By the time you reach the final chapter, you'll be left in awe of how the narrative unfolds, with shocking revelations that will leave you breathless. It's an absolute must-read that showcases the author's extraordinary talent for crafting a compelling narrative, leaving you yearning for more once the last word is turned.


Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advance reader's copy.

Finding Grace was an emotional debut, a page turner, and thought provoking novel where the main protagonist struggled with a moral conflict. From the first chapter, I was pulled in immediately with a tragic event that sets up the rest of the story. I don’t want to give anything more away but make sure you don’t miss out on this one. Finding Grace would be a perfect book club pick to discuss.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC. All opinions are my own. I give this one 3.5 stars. I know other reviewers were more positive but I struggle a bit with this one. The beginning was unexpected but then I felt like the story lost its way a bit with implausibility. I don’t want to provide any spoilers but I will say I did not care for the choice of the narrator. Made the book feel voyeuristic in a way. Tom the main character, is flawed but I think a lot of that can be because of the grief. I struggle with unlikable characters so this was not the book for me. The writing was well done though.

It’s hard to review Finding Grace without giving anything away, because the best way to read this book is to go in knowing nothing.

Finding Grace by Loretta Rothschild has one of the strongest openings I’ve ever read. The first chapter, then the second, both are incredibly compelling. The choice of narrator is clever, with consistent and meaningful callbacks. The writing throughout the book is beautiful, especially when addressing [redacted] topics.

That said, the powerful beginning sets a high bar. With the reveal hanging over the entire story, I found the ending disappointing. It felt almost like a romance, when I had expected something more in line with literary fiction. The tone of the conclusion didn’t quite match the rest of the book, and it didn’t land for me.

4.25 ish? So strange for me to have enjoyed a literary fiction this much.. such a unique plot. A great debut!

The cover of this book drew my attention. For the most part I went in blind and was pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed the story a lot, it is something that I would normally not pick up. Great debut story from this author.

I was surprised this was Loretta Rothschild debut novel, she was meant to be an author. This story starts out strong, and keeps on going. Her writing style was different, but it held the story together. The synopsis tells you what the book is about, but the story will take you deeper into the complexity, their lives, and into what I thought was the finale, only to see there was more. This story is amazing, honest, and made me feel like being a part of it.
I received an ARC from St. Martin's Press through NetGalley, and I highly recommend this book.

This is a hard book for me to review as I’m trying to keep this spoiler free. The first chapter left my jaw on the floor. The second left my heart broken and encouraged that I’d like the remainder. I had empathy for Honor’s situation, her focus was extreme and took over her life. As we learned more about her background, we got to know and understand her better. Tom was caught in a no win situation with Honor. The couple’s lack of communication frustrated me. When an important turn of events fell into his lap, it led him down an odd path that piled lie upon lie. As I neared the end, I started to enjoy it more, then it all fell flat. I did enjoy the writing, especially Honor’s narrative. I really wanted to like this book, the write-up promised so much and the storyline was original, but I found the majority of the characters so unlikable that I couldn’t get past it.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for this ARC. This is my honest opinion.

This is my book of the year. A fantastic book, beautifully heartbreaking, and a wonderful addition to my bookshelf.

Tom and Honor seem to have it all, but they are dealing with infertility. They’re lucky to Chloe, their beautiful daughter, but Honor will stop at nothing to give her a sibling. She finds an egg donor. Now they must wait. But before the big news reaches them a terrible, horrible thing happens and Tom has to live in the aftermath. Now a single dad, he’s dealing with survivors guilt, as well as, being stuck in a rut.

Then one day, a letter comes, not just any letter, but a letter that sets in motion the most wonderful things to happen to Tom since the Paris incident.

A story to that will leave you in love with the complexity of the human heart and soul. Told by the late Honor, you get to see everything in real time as it unfolds. With her commentary, we get to see Tom grow to be the person he was always meant to be.

Thank you to Netgalley for the chance to read this book, for my honest review.

Finding Grace by Loretta Rothschild weaves together the themes of loss and grief, love and relationships, secrets and lies, and redemption throughout its narrative. The story begins with Honor and her daughter, Chloe. Honor is fixated on having another baby through a surrogate, obsessing over the choice, while her husband Tom believes their family is complete with Chloe and is more focused on his work. This difference in priorities creates much tension between them.

On Christmas Eve, a shocking event occurs that changes their lives forever. Tom is left with deep regret, prompting him to seek normalcy. This journey introduces us to Grace, a key character with a unique connection to Tom and Honor. The novel delves into the inner thoughts of the main characters, providing insight into their motives and emotions, which provide unique depth to the story. As secrets unfold, the story takes unexpected twists, keeping the reader engaged.

Expect to experience a wide range of emotions as you progress through the story. Finding Grace is an exploration of resilience and the complexities of family, love and relationships.

I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

#FindingGrace, #LorettaRothschild, #NetGalley

Tom is left to pick up the pieces of his family’s life after a tragedy. When he meets Grace and falls in love, he keeps some of those pieces from her and it may destroy their relationship.

This was a great story, while not quite a romance, it leaves you with that romantic, heart warming feeling. There’s a lot of sadness , as grief is one of the major components of the story. You can’t help but feel for Tom as his grief leads him down some paths from bad decisions. This is a story of relationships, new and old.

“But love isn’t finite. One doesn’t take from the other. It’s not a number of an equation. It’s an open field, and here he was, charging through it.”

Finding Grace comes out 7/8.

I loved this. May be one of my favorite books of the year. I audibly gasped after the first chapter. Loretta was able to build tension in a way that made this so incredibly fun to read. Really loved it and can't wait to see more from her.

A very strong debut title by Loretta Rothschild, Finding Grace starts out with an absolute mind blowing bang. From there it stays interesting, at times uncomfortable yet also relatable. While there were moments when I wanted to grab Tom by the shirt and shake him, I also know that there have been moments (smaller ones, but still) when I didn't say or do something immediately and then it got exponentially harder to fix.

Very readable and compelling. I will be interested to read what Loretta Rothschild comes up with next!

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for an ARC of Finding Grace in exchange for an honest review. I recommend this book!

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher, for which I thank them.

“Finding Grace” is a debut novel by Loretta Rothschild. I went into this book mostly blind and I think that’s rather the best way to read this book. The first chapter - oh my. While it took me a while to deal with the argy-bargy, the ending of that chapter - wow. The author, I think, did a great job dealing with coping with loss, noting that it affects people differently. This book deals with loss, finding oneself, family, continuing onward, and how in any relationship, lies just aren’t good. I did find this book to be a tad too long - some of the narrator’s reminiscences I felt didn’t add much - and at times I got the two female friends confused. I also found some of the main male character’s actions a bit questionable (bordering on stalking at times maybe). I found the idea of this book very interesting. Although this is tagged as a romance book - but it’s not a typical romance. The first part of the book I found stronger than the second (some of the behaviors start repeating) and while the ending wasn’t unexpected, I wasn’t a fan. Overall, a book I’d recommend - noting that if one is going through grief this might be a hard one to push through.

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.