*I received a copy from the author in exchange for an honest review*
Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance...
When facing death a mourning period is to be expected. But what if it's not a person but a relationship that dies? Grace and her boyfriend Jon have been together for three years. They live together and have shared many beautiful memories. Those memories are what keep Grace from admitting Jon has changed and is no longer the man she fell in love with.
Afraid of being alone and holding on to something that no longer exists Grace is a shadow of her former self. Her daily objective is to hide her pain from the world. Then, an unexpected letter sets off a whirlwind of potential life changes. In life sometimes the hardest thing to do is let go.
Review:
Once in a while you read a book and when you finish it you wonder what have I just read? Not that it's a complete absurd story, it's just the opposite. It's nice and mellow. There are some sad parts, but there also fun and happy parts. A nearly perfect balance between everything. No extreme highs or lows."I cry quietly, curious if the man I love will ever come back to me."Stages Of Grace is a couple of months taken out of a woman's life. She could have been anybody, at any point in her life, so wet get Grace. She is living together with her boyfriend Jon, but she's not sure she still loves him and wonders if he feels the same about her. First she is in denial and still hoping everything can get back to the way it used to be. After denial comes anger, she's sick and tired of it all etc. During the whole story Grace has to go through the stages of grieve, to mourn her relationship and to be able to be happy again.
I do like that idea. Indeed when a relationship ends you can be in denial, then you often get mad, depressed, acceptance and eventually moving on. No matter what you loose, a relative, a friend, a pet or even a relationship, these are the stages we go through and Carey Heywood did an excellent job of describing everything. Some stages were more subtle played out than others, but I really liked it.
"He had not even followed me knowing I was upset. He is lost to me."Now this all happens when Grace receives a letter, that makes her put everything in action and she has a decision to make. Will she stay with Jon? Or will she let him go? Will she keep fighting for them? Or will she choose her own happiness?...
This is a book you're either going to love or hate. It's not filled with extreme conflicts. It's rather a peek in someone else life, see what's on the other side of the picket fence or what happens behind closed doors. Excellent if you want to escape your own life for a while.
Connect with Carey Heywood:
Character Bio of Grace
(I imagined her as Brittany Snow)
- Grace is 25 years old.
- Dark, shoulder length blonde hair.
- Blue eyes.
- Slim, average height.
- Lives in a one bedroom apartment in Cleveland, Ohio.
- Born and raised in Cleveland.
- Long term relationship with Jon.
- Parents deceased in an auto accident, no siblings.
- Works to front desk of a busy Dr's office.
Her relationship with Jon is currently strained. He is unemployed and her attempts to cheer him up or find employment backfire. She is isolated and unwilling to admit his behavior toward her is toxic, borderline mentally abusive. She believes that if they can get past this rough patch everything will go back to how they were when they were happy. She doesn't have giant aspirations, she wants to get married someday, have children. She wants to feel loved and valued in her relationships. The recent, tragic deaths of her parents make her cling to her relationship with Jon.
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