Grace has been married for 17 years and has two children. The marriage is “fine.” No big arguments, no infidelity, just comfortable monotony.
When she starts feeling drawn to a colleague, she starts to see that something else is possible. She doesn’t have to settle for “fine.” The fact that this colleague is a woman and reciprocates these feelings awakens a side of Grace that she had never let herself explore before.
I was not a fan of Grace at the beginning of the book. We jumped immediately into the feelings for someone new without getting to know Grace or why we should care about her. It wasn’t until the author drew me into her family life and the dynamics of parenting through major changes that I began to feel any sympathy for the character.
To be completely honest, I might have put the book down before getting to that point if I hadn’t received the book as an advanced reader copy in exchange for a review. I would never review a book I did not finish. In this case, I’m glad I kept going.
This isn’t a love story. Sure, there’s romance, but that is not the primary focus. This is a story of discovering who you are and finally being honest about it to yourself as well as to the world. I think this book does a good job of exploring the anxiety around that transformation as well as the joy and freedom of living your truth for the first time. It’s something everyone can relate to. After all, society tries so hard to lock us into a box of “should,” when so few people actually fit in that box.
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