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    Grace Grows: A Novel
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    Grace Grows: A Novel
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    Grace Grows: A Novel
    Audiobook10 hours

    Grace Grows: A Novel

    Written by Shelle Sumners

    Narrated by Emily Rankin

    3.5/5

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    Currently unavailable

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    About this audiobook

    Grace Barnum's life is precariously balanced on sensible choices and uncomfortable compromise. She dutifully edits textbooks that, she fears, may be more harmful than helpful to kids. She is engaged to a patent attorney who is sturdy and reliable. She has a cautious relationship with her fascinating father, a renowned New York artist. And she prefers her mom slightly drunk.

    Always a planner, Grace feels prepared for most eventualities. Until the responsibility-challenged Tyler Wilkie shows up. Fresh in town from the Poconos, Tyler has warm eyes, a country drawl, and a smile that makes Grace drop things. Worst of all, he writes devastating songs. About her. Tyler reaches something in Grace, something she needs but can't admit to. Something she wants but won't succumb to. Tyler Wilkie loves Grace Barnum and ruins everything. And Grace grows.

    Includes selections from the Grace Grows original soundtrack, written and recorded by Lee Morgan.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateOct 30, 2012
    ISBN9780449807859

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    Reviews for Grace Grows

    3.5/5

    17 ratings2 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      *I won an ARC of this book through a Goodreads First Reads giveaway*

      I have to say that once I started reading this book, I got a bit obsessed with it. I couldn't seem to put it down for long.

      In some ways this book reminds me a lot of YA books I've read, although the characters are a bit older (27 at the beginning of the book.) I say that because it deals a lot with Grace growing up and learning what she wants out of life and facing some of her fears. I found it immensely refreshing to see these themes in a book with characters that aren't teenagers, because for a lot of us, these realizations don't come until we are older.

      Overall, I really liked the characters in this book. Grace is our first person narrator and I liked her right away. She seemed to have a need to be in control of the situations she finds herself in. She likes her life neat and orderly. Then she meets Tyler and her life starts to get much messier than she had ever planned.

      Tyler and all of the side characters in the book are well done and I think they all had their own unique personalities.

      There were times when I wanted to smack Grace because I just felt utterly frustrated with her and some of the decisions she made. Normally that might make me take away a star in the rating, but I found myself so involved in the book, that I'm not sure that it even mattered.

      Overall, I really enjoyed the book. It had flaws, but I was so glued to the story that I had no trouble overlooking them.

      One another note, the music that accompanies this book is absolutely lovely!
    • 3/5
      I won this in a First Reads Giveaway. Summary:I liked this book. It's a good solid romance and coming of age story. It's a fun, romanticized love story that feels glossy . It's a quick read, with a slow build up. It didn't really grip me to keep reading straight through, I could put it down and pick it up with ease, but at the same time I was entertained and wanted to finish it. It obvious how the story is going to go. It wasn't surprising or shocking or different. Like a Jodie Picoult novel without the suspense or tension. It's a slow running story about a couple and their love. If you like romance or contemporary fiction, I'd recommend this book. I'm glad I read it, it was enjoyable. It has it's pros and cons, though if you're a fan of this genre I don't doubt you'll like this book. -------------------------------Good Things:---Grace's voice - It comes through loud and clear. The narration really feels like Grace writing this book and you do get to know her very well through it. It's very convincing. Once you get to the end, you'll wonder about the author really being Grace or not. Lots of pop culture references from songs, books, movies, celebrities. I like how the format varied to tell the story accurately with IM and texts. I like how things are described and talked about in the book. The feel, and tone of the book was well done and fit perfectly. ---Style – Okay it's totally superficial and shallow I know but I love the cover and style of this book. I think that it is important for how the reader looks at a book initially with expectations and set up. You can't judge a book by its cover, but the cover is the first impression of a book and you know what they say about first impressions. I also really liked the separations of seasons with the shading, the chapter titles, style etc. It gives this awesome feel to the book and I think it really matches up with Grace's style and type. After all, wouldn't Grace the copy editor pay attention and care about such things? It's a beautiful book. I also really love the advanced reader's copy cover and am glad I got this copy since I'm not all that in love with the cover on the release book. (Not that it's a bad cover I just really prefer the advanced copy cover and I think that the advanced reader copy cover fits the book better.)---Setting - It's places and people feel authentic. It's set in New York and unlike other books, you do see multiculturalism. There's a varied background of character from different religions, races, and orientations. The characters weren't stereotypes or just thrown in as tokens. It was nice to see a book set in New York, which is so diverse, really show how diverse it is. Too often in books or TV, the only main characters you see are white and there's little interaction with different people. Think how white washed the show Friends was. The only poor characters you see though just moved to New York and don't remain struggling for long. Of course, Grace is very well off with a good support system so it's really unsurprising and works out fine that way. ---Songs - The lyrics for the songs are actually included instead of the common trope of “Take Our Word For It”. There's even recorded versions of the songs on the author's website. That's a nice refreshing change and it does help the story. How else am I supposed to know why everyone is going gaga over the songs Ty is writing for Grace? It does help to understand the story from Ty's blow up, Ty's character in general and Ty's love for Grace. ---Characters – Now I'm a sucker for characters, from character driven stories to character progression. The characters were in general well done, thought out and authentic. For instance, Grace's Mom really makes sense as a character, her personality of staying strictly in control and neat to stay risen above the poverty that they went through before, the way she acts towards love and marriage due to her experiences. ---From my friends in the publishing industry (specifically text books) I can verify those stories in the beginning were true. There's a huge issue with Texas being a huge buyer of textbooks and altering them to be terrible, leaving important things out and being just plain wrong. Cons ---As mentioned above I had some issues with characters, which I put in my review for Goodreads behind spoiler tags, and it being simply how I felt about them with regards to Grace's character progression and Ty's behavior in the beginning especially. Basically, Ty was creepy and Grace was...erratic, childish and spineless. ---The revel of that Grace is in love just felt a bit off, it didn't feel like there was much on Grace's side of the romance besides liking his smile. But liking someone's smile doesn't mean love. Maybe we were suppose to pick up on subtle clues like her lying about things to understand it? ( I don't think this is a spoiler since all the blurbs talk about Grace, Ty and love. I think I kept it general enough to work. )---There were some facts that didn't really add up or make sense to me. Like how does Grace's mom make enough money for the McMansion, and her expense tastes as a county prosecutor in New Jersey?---There are several things very...romanticized, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I just had different expectations due to the quote on the cover saying “ a new take on the whole opposites attract approach to love...and sex.” In reality the book, had standard romanticized idealized perfect sex, the love story had followed the common tropes, and the book in general had implausible moments. It's glossy. It's perfection. It's a happy Lifetime movie. The worst thing in Grace's world, is Grace. The worst thing to happen in Grace's world, is Grace. No financial worries. No employment worries. Just love. Again, not a bad thing when you want to watch a Lifetime movie. -----The only thing I could think of that would qualify for a new approach on sex in this book, but it was a passing mention in only a couple of pages so the quote I read on the front of the book was misleading for me. -----Want to do a new take on sex? What about the About 75 percent of all women never reach orgasm from intercourse alone -- that is without the extra help of sex toys, hands or tongue. Only a percentage of women who can have orgasms, only a percentage can have multiple orgasms. In fact, 10 to 15 percent of women never climax under any circumstances. Why not a story dealing with those kind of troubles, which is the reality for the vast majority of people though hardly ever mentioned in books like this. Can we get a love story that's cute, funny, tender and realistic? Of course, this is a generic complaint about books in this genre I have.