TEST
Grace Notes starts out at a very leisurely pace and never quite gets beyond that. As I read I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. It was a book-long wait.
Grace Loring is a successful writer with domestic abuse in her past. That abuse prompted her to write her own story in order to exorcise the pain. That book became an instant hit and Grace has always tried to use that success to help other women. Her celebrity allowed her to make public an often shameful secret and she put that ability to good use. Now it’s twenty years later and though she has long since pulled back from public appearances, she still maintains her website and responds to emails from the troubled women who seek her out.
One of those women is Stephanie Baine, a young women in the midst of a horrendous marriage. Or that’s the impression Grace begins to get after responding to Stephanie’s first tentative email. Because Grace is facing writer’s block brought on by the stress in her own life, she’s almost glad for the distraction of trying to help Stephanie. As Stephanie’s emails become ever more detailed about the abuse of her husband and family, Grace finds herself drawn in.
A mysterious person on the other end of the computer can make for edge-of-the-seat storytelling. That’s not what happens here. Too much of Grace’s home life – though it is peopled with very interesting characters – intrudes and Stephanie never comes through as a very real presence despite all the time Grace spends worrying about her.
Another problem with the setup is Grace’s very deep involvement from the moment Stephanie contacts her. She’s never met this woman and yet she begins to give her very specific and potentially dangerous advice after receiving a couple of emails. Grace has supposedly been helping abused women for years, but she jumps in like a neophyte. I never believed in her behavior. If this had been her first ever contact of this type, then maybe it might have made sense, but it isn’t. Her doling out of suggestions makes her come across as not only foolish but dangerous too.
The complexities of Grace’s own life were plenty interesting without the non-mystery of Stephanie being thrown in. Grace’s daughter is about to head off into full-fledged adult life, her older brother suffers from debilitating rheumatoid arthritis (making Grace into a life-long caretaker), and her lover of a number of years wants more from their relationship. All of those complications were intriguing and made me want to keep reading. The mystery did not. A disappointment, since Ms. Vale Allen’s Mood Indigo was one of my favorite books of 1998. I’d advise potential readers to try that one, and give Grace Notes a pass.
Grade: C-
Book Type: Suspense
Sensuality: N/A
Review Date: 26/04/02
Publication Date: 2003
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.