A loving family of 3 with the plans for an addition. A tragedy, a misaddressed envelop, the search for the intended receiver, memories and secrets fill the pages of this romantic and suspenful novel.

Though I don’t normally read romance books, I did enjoy this story.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press

This will be an unpopular opinion - and it may quite possibly just be me - but I didn't really care for this book. I truly like the beginning and thought there was great promise for this to be something special. But as the book progressed, I found that none of the characters were at all likable.. Not just that, the direction that the storyline went in really bothered me. I had some intense opinions about who the narrator was and the subject matter of the story. There are parts that just felt completely disgusting and icky to me.

Overall, I believe this author has talent. I just didn't like the storyline that she chose to use in this book. It was one that I personally did not connect with and truly felt wasn't at all realistic in many sections. I do hope that this author puts more books out. I will definitely give another one a try in the hope that this was a one-time fluke for me.

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: The narration was solid for the audiobook. However, given I didn't really like the subject matter and the storyline, it brings the rating down a bit.

Thank you to NetGalley for the early copies of both the ebook and audiobook.

Despite the publisher’s description, this book is neither twisty nor gripping. This books starts with a huge dramatic turn… and then nothing really happens after that. The thing that should have happened around 25% didn’t happen until around 85%. Unfortunately, that thing didn’t create enough tension to keep me interested.

This book also has an unusual narrative perspective starting in chapter two. I thought this could be interesting, but I ended up disliking her voice and how each chapter began with a piece of her own personal history that predates the main timeline of the book. The effect was intrusive, creepy, and depressing, all at the same time.

The author does a lovely job of describing settings and writes dialogue well. I liked the protagonist’s friends. If you’re in the mood for a book that is a very slow burn and that explores grief and life after loss in a different way than usual, this is the book for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Disclosure: Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing this book for advance reading and review consideration.] This book's beginning goads the reader into a false sense of security, revealed when a tragic event occurs and upends the life of one of the novel's core characters. In this way, Rothschild cleverly plays with the reader's expectations, subverting them around every turn. It is difficult to discuss the book without spoiling the plot's main shock factor, but I will note the narrator is a unique one: a deceased person watching the lives of their loved ones continue on without them. This is not only unique, but provides for ample emotional investment on the reader's part. The only aspect I disliked about this deceased narrator was the logistic of such observation; I feel there was never a clear explanation as to how this person could observe their family after death, though this observation itself stands as a genre-defying, courageous creative act. At its heart, this novel analyzes motherhood, grief, persistence, and the saving grace of found family. With a cast of compelling, relatable characters and frequent bursts of humor to lighten the grief, the book accurately portrays the lives of ordinary people continuing on in the face of insurmountable loss. What's more, the novel is well-written with eloquent, fresh prose and elegantly crafted imagery. The novel is not simply something to witness, but rather, to experience. Rothschild is surely a literary talent to keep watching.

DNFed at 60% I just didn’t care about the characters and it felt like nothing was happening. Tom is creepy in his obsession with Grace and it wasn’t fleshed out enough to know if that was the point or not.

One woman is desperate for another child while still dealing with previous heartbreaks. One woman is wrapped in her own grief makes a decision thinking it will help her process. Their lives are soon intertwined even though they will never actually meet. One man, the first woman’s husband, wanted nothing to do with the plan for another child because he was too busy with work and of course had no idea the other woman existed. But then the unimaginable happens and his world is shattered into a million pieces and then put back together into one unexpected one.
One day a letter comes in the mail that changes his whole life and despite it not being meant for him, he opens it amd reads it and now he can’t let go of what it contains. But now he’s on a mission and can’t stop what he’s begun.
There was a lot to unpack with this one but I got invested early and stayed that way throughout. There were some point that it dragged some and the MMC made some questionable decisions that made me go huh? But overall this one will put your feelings all over the map.
Thanks to St. Martins Press and NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for my review.

What a debut novel! If I knew the synopsis before reading this arc, I forgot it once I picked it up, which wound up being for the best. I think this book is good to go into blind because the premise is so unique and unlike anything else I’ve read before.

It’s also a book I really need to talk through with someone, so I need you to read it and talk with me about it! I have so many feelings about this book and can’t even begin to process them on my own. Because of the dramatic irony, it is a bit like watching a car crash happen in slow morion. The reader knows things that make the events of the novel cringey at times, which I usually hate, but it was tolerable and worked here. Rothschild is skilled at creating a tense mood; I had a hard time setting this book down. I think it would make for a great book club discussion because, regardless of whether readers love it or hate it, there will be plenty to discuss.

TW: multiple miscarriages, egg donor and surrogacy, terror attack

I struggle to give this a rating, but I think Finding Grace is a strong debut that is sure to get people talking. Many thanks to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for an advanced digital copy of this novel. I can’t wait until others get to enjoy it.

4 stars. To keep this short and spoiler free; -this is a truly unique debut (you’ll just have to read to find out) that explores parenthood, love, loss, grief and tragedy. You’ll feel all the feels, good and bad, while reading as it’s a slower, character-driven novel that follows how these individuals attempt to work through crisis after the fact. Really enjoyed and is fantastic on audio!

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was such an impressive debut novel. I was shocked after reading the first two chapters and couldn’t wait to see what would happen. Overall, I enjoyed the story so much, although Tom did get off pretty easily for all his lies to Grace.

The heart wrenching beginning immediately drew me into the story. This story is a mixture of romance, grief, secrets, and second chances. It also addresses a moral dilemma that can occur with modern technology (cannot say more to avoid spoilers). This thought-provoking debut novel will stick with me for a long time to come.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

"Finding Grace" by Loretta Rothschild is an emotional and suspenseful novel that intertwines the past and present lives of two women, exploring themes of motherhood, grief, secrets, and the complexities of love. The story begins with Honor, who seemingly has it all—a loving husband, Tom, and a beautiful daughter, Chloe—yet is consumed by an intense desire for another baby. This longing creates friction in her marriage, culminating in a shocking tragedy that shatters their family. Years later, a decision Tom makes, driven by grief and a desire for a new beginning, sets off a chain of events that irrevocably links his life, his son's, and the path of another woman named Grace. The novel is praised for its unexpected narrative voice and its deep dive into the emotional landscape of loss, healing, and the moral dilemmas that arise when trying to rebuild a life after profound devastation. It promises a blend of romance, mystery, and profound emotional depth, with twists and turns that keep readers engrossed until the satisfying, albeit sometimes morally complex, conclusion.

On my streak of bad books. This one did not do it for me. The whole plot/idea of the lies and Grace looking identical to Honor, it all seems weird. It's a tale of good people who do bad things but without any kind of redemption. The reader doesn't even really get to know Grace enough to like her or not, it's just sort of implied she is a good person and Tom is increasingly becoming an asshole. The writing was good though. I could have used more character development overall from everyone. Tom did a horrible thing and I feel Grace came back too easy. Justice for Grace. Justice for Honor.

This begins with a couple, and an unforgettable event, one that leaves a family shattered. A woman who is determined to add another child to their family, despite having a daughter, and so she decides to find a surrogate, hoping for the right person. But ultimately, a catastrophic event interrupts her dreams, and her life, leaving her husband, Tom, to fulfill those dreams.

This is a story of family, of loss and love, and coming to terms with grief, as well as finding your way back to a life with a degree of acceptance of what has been lost, and what remains to be found.


Pub Date: Jul 08 2025

Many thanks for the ARC provided by St. Martin’s Press

Finding Grace is a general fiction about love, loss, grief, infertility, and secrets, and it was the emotional roller coaster of a book that I didn't see coming. At the end of the first chapter, I audibly gasped and quickly moved to the next chapter.

The main male lead, Tom has his life thrown into a tailspin as he tries to figure out how to grieve so much sudden loss while moving forward with a new purpose. We see Tom's post-tragedy life through a voice from the past which adds an emotional perspective. The plot includes intriguing secrets, unexpected twists, and heartwarming friendship. It is a book that makes you ask, how do you move on after loss? And how do you redefine life when the one you are living is so different now that everything has changed?

Overall, this story was about starting over, defining life, finding purpose, being honest (with yourself and others), and you really are never prepared for the curveballs that life throws at you.

Solid 4 out of 5 stars read for me. Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for an advanced copy.

Finding Grace

Many thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s for the opportunity to review this novel.

This is a beautifully written debut novel, imaginatively structured, with an omniscient narrator of a very memorable kind. It’s difficult to review precisely for that reason. What happens in the first few pages of the first chapter introduces the narrator and her place in the story in such a way that commenting on that here threatens a major spoiler. I don’t think it is, but stories aren’t easily spoiled for me. I’m the kind of reader who will read to the end even if I know it in advance. Besides, this isn’t even that kind of spoiler. Tempted though I am, I will concentrate on what happens after the opening chapter.

What happens is that Tom, now an affable, affluent young widower, has sold off a substantial portion of his investments in order to stay home with his young son Henry and his dog Duke. He immerses himself in Henry’s life, making healthy meals, ensuring he’s appropriately dressed, driving him in time for the start of preschool. He dutifully keeps up the friendships he and his wife had enjoyed before her death, specifically with the divorced single mother Lauren, who lives on his street, and the childless couple Oliver and Annie. They loved his wife Honor, love him and Henry as much, and they look out for him. He gets along with his French mother in law Colette, though she and her own daughter did not.

Honor had wanted a child to the point of obsession, even after multiple miscarriages, failed IVFs, and the loss of her ovaries. Tom was ambivalent, at times fed up with Honor’s unrelenting pressure, despite the challenge and expense of lining everything up just right. After much research to find the right candidate—Honor was especially keen to find one that resembled her—the couple accepted donor eggs to be carried by a surrogate mother. The donor is, and will remain, secret by her own choice. But Honor has a CD with her baby photo and interview, based on questions she provided to the agency.

Convinced that Honor was his one true love, Tom refuses, for years after her death, to allow himself to ´move on,´ as his friends encourage him, with a new love. He receives a misdirected letter concerning Grace, an traces her to a cute little wine shop. She is grieving the recent sudden death of her husband. They fall in love, Grace and Henry fall in love, even Colette accepts Grace. Only the friends who had actively tried to find him someone are wary. Because Tom is hiding a very big secret and refuses to come clean with Grace for fear of how it will damage, perhaps destroy, his ‘second chance. ‘

None of these characters is especially likeable, coming off as the kind of lucky rich folks who can seemingly buy anything they want, the way they want to. Tom and Oliver are the perfect modern husbands, good at everything. Honor, a children’s book writer, spouts bits of Baudelaire from her Oxford undergrad days to prove her intellectual merit, and is so whiny and self-absorbed it’s hard to feel real sympathy about her infertility or her tragic demise. Her friendAnnie is all high moralism and Lauren is a twisted opportunist so focused on nabbing Tom that she does some truly awful things to him, Grace, and ultimately Henry. Some of the secondary characters, like the women in Grace’s Blue Sunday group, Zara the potential set-up for Tom, even Colette who gets some tragic secrets of her own, don’t seem that relevant. Grace doesn’t seem real; it’s almost farcical that she is the last to know, especially given the clues dropped all over and the fact that everyone is always whispering about the big secret when she’s in the vicinity. Meanwhile the guilt-stricken Tom knows what he has to do, and has a veritable Greek chorus reminding him about it. When the blow-up comes, in spectacular fashion, he acts as though he is the true victim and waits until the resolution literally shows up at its door. The resolution has a certain fairy tale quality that also made it seem a bit fantastical.

This book is definitely thought-provoking, and the matter of the moral dilemma at its heart is a complicated one. Some will see Tom as an absolute fiend, others may be more convinced, as he is, that he deserves that second chance and only by having Grace in his life. Although the plot goes up and down the same paths after the high drama of the opening chapter and the accidental letter, it still kept me reading.

The first chapter took my breath away and then, within the next few pages, I figured out the plot (which is a bummer). I thought, overall, the book was fine. It became too sappy for my taste and followed a predictable plot line. I appreciated and enjoyed the author's choice for the "narrator" and her POV throughout the book. I think this book would be a good one for a beach read - doesn't take heavy lifting to read and follow the plot. Thanks to the publisher for the advanced copy!

What a powerful debut—I’m so glad I didn’t overlook this one. I nearly passed it by, but the cover caught my eye and I’m thankful it did. From the first few pages, I was completely drawn in. The emotional depth took me by surprise; I actually found myself tearing up as early as Chapter Two.

It’s hard to describe this book without giving too much away, but part of its magic lies in going in without knowing too much. Just start reading—you’ll quickly connect with Honor, Tom, and Grace, and feel every bit of their heartbreak, love, and transformation alongside them.

This story stood out to me as truly original. It explores grief and healing in a way I haven’t quite encountered before, and I came away not only moved, but also unexpectedly enlightened—I even discovered a new favorite poem: Hymn to Beauty by Baudelaire.

At its heart, this is a story of loss, love, and starting over. I loved every minute of it. Add this one to your list—it’s absolutely worth it.

Finding Grace is a book you will want to pick up knowing as little as possible. The first chapter sets the tone for the rest of the novel, showing the reader that it is about grief, trauma, forgiveness, and love. I was captivated by the first chapter, reeling from what I just read, with a pit in my stomach. From then on, you are given a story about what a life looks like when it's trapped in immense grief, learning how to take care of oneself and those around you. Simultaneously as much as this book is about grief and loss, it's also about infertility and the somewhat/sometimes debilitating desire to have children. This book depicts a woman's struggle with infertility as well as surrogacy in an educational, empathetic, and raw way. After reading Rothschild's debut, I cannot wait to read what she writes next.

4.5 stars (seriously, don’t read this review, go in blind)


. . .

What a stunner of a debut. Finding Grace caught me out and had me shook from the very beginning. I went in blind, and when that first twist hit—my jaw dropped. It’s shocking, to say the least, and completely changed the trajectory of the story in a way I absolutely didn’t see coming.

The tension in this book gave me massive anxiety (in the best way possible). The lies, the secrets, the constant shifting of truth—it was all so claustrophobic and intense, I couldn’t look away. I read it in a single day, completely consumed. If you’re planning to read it, I highly recommend going in blind to get the full impact of the initial twist.

Honor's life seems nearly perfect—she has a bright, beautiful daughter, a husband she loves (even if he’s rarely home), and the dream of expanding their family. But one shocking event changes everything. Years later, a decision Tom makes sends lasting ripples through all their lives, entwining the fates of two women in ways neither could have foreseen.

I’m not even sure how to classify this book—it doesn't fit neatly into one genre. It blends a gripping moral dilemma with a sweeping, emotionally charged story of love, loss, and what we’re willing to sacrifice for a new beginning. The ending felt a tiny bit rushed, but it was still satisfying and, honestly, the only way it could have ended.

Twisty, emotional, and impossible to put down—Finding Grace is one of those books that stays with you. A bold, unforgettable debut.

Thank you St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC. This is my new favorite romance novel.

Plot: I am SO GLAD that the publisher chose to keep the blurb vague - I will as well, as it is partially why this book was so impactful. Honor, Tom, and their daughter Chloe are spending Christmas in France to see Honor’s mom, awaiting the results from their surrogate to find out if Chloe will become a big sister. When tragedy strikes, their lives are changed forever. Many years later, an unexpected letter shows up, once again changing everything.

Review: The first chapter of this book had my jaw on the floor, and the second had me sobbing… I didn’t even know the characters yet. What I loved about this so much was that the characters were not so clearly good or bad… much like real life, they were somewhere in between. The conflicts felt understandable, raw, painful, and compelling. I fell in love with the side characters. I couldn’t put this down and had to know what would happen next.

I just loved this. I’ll be thinking of this book for a long time. I don’t know if a romance novel will ever hit me like this again!

5⭐️