Amazing Grace

by Kim Nash

Amazon US / UK / AU / CA

  Kobo / Apple

She’s taking her life back, one step at a time…

Grace thought she had it all. Living in the beautiful village of Little Ollington, along with headteacher husband Mark and gorgeous son, Archie, she devoted herself to being the perfect mum and the perfect wife, her little family giving her everything she ever wanted.

Until that fateful day when she walked in on Mark kissing his secretary – and her perfect life fell apart.

Now she’s a single mum to Archie, trying to find her way in life and keep things together for his sake. Saturday nights consist of a Chinese takeaway eaten in front of the TV clad in greying pajamas, and she can’t remember the last time she had a kiss from anyone aside from her dog, Becks…

Grace’s life needs a shake up – fast. So when gorgeous gardener Vinnie turns up on her doorstep, his twinkling eyes suggesting that he might be interested in more than just her conifers, she might just have found the answer to her prayers. But as Grace falls deeper for Vinnie, ten-year-old Archie fears that his mum finding love means she’ll never reconcile with the dad he loves.

So when ex-husband Mark begs her for another chance, telling her he’s changed from the man that broke her heart, Grace finds herself with an impossible dilemma. Should she take back Mark and reunite the family that Archie loves? Or risk it all for a new chance of happiness?

A funny, feel-good romance about finding your own path and changing your life for the better – readers of Cathy Bramley, Jill Mansell and Josie Silver will love this uplifting read.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

I’ve been on eighty-seven dates so far but have still not yet found the girl of my dreams. There’s been something wrong with every single one of them.

Derek, here’s a tip from me. On your next first date, treat your lady like a princess. Turn up on time, be nice to her, buy her a drink, ask her about herself and don’t talk about poo.

To be honest, even if David Beckham woke me up saying he wanted to roger me senseless in the middle of the night, I’d slap him and say, David, don’t bloody wake me up.

He treats me with kindness and respect, something that you don’t appear to have for anyone, not even your own family. And I suggest that if you ever want people to like you, go look those words up in a dictionary.

My Review:

Amazing Grace was a fun and lively read and the publishing début for this talented weaver of words. I just love finding new authors to fangirl!   The storylines were creative and eventful, yet easy to follow and fairly well-balanced in emotional tone between periods of angsty indecision and Grace’s gradual personal transformation as she waded through tense encounters and confusing exchanges with her ex-husband, rueful reminiscences of her mother, parenting issues, a thrilling new love interest, and other-worldly influences; until she finally found her own voice and regained her long-lost sparkle.

Ms. Nash’s writing was pleasantly engaging and evocatively detailed with shimmers of delightful humor that occasionally found me barking out a laugh. She has definitely earned a spot on my Ones to Watch For list. And an interesting addition to my Brit Word List was “big girl’s blouse,” which the Urban Dictionary defined as British slang for “a wimpy, emasculated and weak man. In particular, one who complains immoderately.” Hmm, I used to work with one of those… Retirement is oh, so, sweeet!