Finding Grace by Loretta Rothschild
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of Finding Grace in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
The Gist
The longer I think about Finding Grace, the angrier I get. Seriously, this book wasted my time like no other. From start to finish, it felt like a huge, sloppy joke disguised as a novel. I can’t believe I fell for it.
First off, the characters. Or should I say, the empty shells pretending to be people. None of them had any depth. None of them felt real. The protagonist, who supposedly has some kind of big life change, just happens to own a hedge fund. He casually sells it and becomes a stay-at-home dad. No struggle; or financial stress. No messy reality of parenting a kid alone. Just a perfect, neat little setup that screams “too good to be true.”
And don’t get me started on the other characters. They all live in inherited houses, have flawless bedtime routines complete with movies, hide-and-seek games, and multiple bedtime stories. Like, what universe does this take place in? Parenting doesn’t look like a cozy Pinterest board. It looks like chaos, exhaustion, and constant juggling of impossible tasks. This book pretends none of that exists.
It felt like the author was more interested in name-dropping designer brands and showing off a glossy lifestyle than telling a believable story. Instead of feeling connected or emotionally invested, I felt alienated. The characters felt like props in some shallow display of wealth and privilege, not real people with real problems.
Then there’s the plot. What plot? Every time something even remotely interesting starts to happen, it gets pulled back like some cruel tease. The story flirts with conflict or development and then snatches it away. I kept waiting for the narrative to actually move forward, but nope. It just circles around, wasting the reader’s time.
And when the story finally does shift, it takes a weird, icky turn that made me want to put the book down forever. The tone became uncomfortable and strange, not in a good, thought-provoking way, but in a way that made me question why I even kept reading. It felt like the author lost control and the story spiraled into something unpleasant.
Honestly, Finding Grace had so much potential. It could have explored the real struggles of single parenthood, the fight to balance work, home, and personal identity. Instead, it delivered a fantasy where everyone has too much time, money, and patience. The emotional core never showed up because the story never earned it.
The Verdict
In the end, this book felt like a huge letdown. It wasted my time with fake characters, a non-existent plot, and a story that pretended to be deep but was just empty. If you want a real story about parenting, struggle, and growth, look elsewhere. This one only offers a shiny facade that falls apart the moment you look closer.
Do yourself a favour and skip Finding Grace. It’s not worth the frustration or the wasted hours.
