Book Review: Hadley and Grace

You may not remember this but I called Suzanne Redfearn's last book, In An Instant, my book of 2020 before 2020 even started, and I was not wrong. That book rocked my world and I still think about it often and that is one that will stick with me for a long time, and if you haven't read it yet- you need to.  

Here we are, the beginning of 2021 and Suzanne Redfearn has done it again, this might be my book of the year, certainly the top five. 

Hadley and Grace - Suzanne Redfearn

Needing to escape her abusive marriage, Hadley flees with her two kids, knowing it might be her only chance. A woman who can’t even kill a spider, Hadley soon finds herself pushed to the limits as she fights to protect her family.

Grace, new mother of baby Miles, desperately wants to put her rough past behind her for good, but she finds it impossible when her path crosses with Hadley’s, and her quest for a new start quickly spirals out of control and turns into a terrifying flight for survival.

Stronger together than apart, the two find their fates inextricably entwined, and as the danger closes in, each must decide how much she is willing to risk for the other.

A powerful story of self-discovery, Hadley and Grace is the heart-racing tale of two women facing insurmountable odds, racing to stay one step ahead of the trouble that is chasing them, and discovering new kinds of love and family along the way.

Raise your hand if you loved Thelma and Louise, for all of their faults and terrible choices? That is exactly how I felt about Hadley and Grace. Both of them have their own faults, and they certainly made questionable choices along the way, but their individual back stories are complex and tragic in their own way and dammit, you just root for them. You literally find yourself cheering on both of them through danger, federal crimes, crossing state lines, all with children with them. They were both at really dire crossroads in their lives so what do they have to lose? 

It turns out they had quite a bit, but freedom is always worth the price, isn't it? 

I started this book as an evening, before bed read, which turned out to be terrible because it kept me awake. The book starts outlining the current situation Hadley and Grace are living in, then they realize how they are linked, and we learn that coincidences don't exist for no reason. Immediately they are on the run, both untrusting but they also know they are better off together than apart. Each woman has strengths the other one needs and it works perfectly in this story. 

I loved the character development in this book, I loved them separately but their bond together is perfect, too. I loved the drama and danger in the book, I loved that you feel like you are on this journey with them so when police circle in, your anxiety is as high as theirs is. I loved the secondary characters and how they come in and out, I loved how the book alternates between Hadley and Grace- they are such compliments of each other. By the end of this book I was crying and I just felt like I was emotionally spent in the best way. I feel like there aren't as many books that come across my path that just gut me, but in a good way, that connect with real human emotions and experiences, but all of this is a strong skillset Suzanne Redfearn has and we all benefit from it. 

I know we are all kind of burned out from the news and Covid, but if you are looking for a book to sink totally into and really get an escape? You need to pick this one up. I think this would be a fun book club read but honestly, this might be one just for you. Get cozy in bed, line up your snacks and drinks, and start reading. You will love it. 

A huge thank you to Lake Union Publishing and Suzanne Redfearn for sending me an ARC for review. I feel like I can't possibly start a new year without a new one from this author, who is quickly becoming one of my go-to favorites. 

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Book Review: In An Instant

Of course I can't find it because old Sara never labeled posts super well because she didn't anticipate having a traumatic brain injury and memory loss so I can't find it, but, a long time ago I read the book If I Stay by Gayle Forman and I really loved it. Thought the follow up was absolutely terrible and don't get me started. But the concept of someone being dead, or between worlds is fascinating to me particularly I think that's where I was and I just wish I could remember it.

In An Instant - Suzanne Redfearn

Life is over in an instant for sixteen-year-old Finn Miller when a devastating car accident tumbles her and ten others over the side of a mountain. Suspended between worlds, she watches helplessly as those she loves struggle to survive.

Impossible choices are made, decisions that leave the survivors tormented with grief and regret. Unable to let go, Finn keeps vigil as they struggle to reclaim their shattered lives. Jack, her father, who seeks vengeance against the one person he can blame other than himself; her best friend, Mo, who bravely searches for the truth as the story of their survival is rewritten; her sister Chloe, who knows Finn lingers and yearns to join her; and her mother, Ann, who saved them all but is haunted by her decisions. Finn needs to move on, but how can she with her family still in pieces?

Heartrending yet ultimately redemptive, In an Instant is a story about the power of love, the meaning of family, and carrying on…even when it seems impossible.

I have to tell you I heard about this book online as a "coming soon" quickie thing (it goes on sale January 21, 2020- it's absolutely WORTH IT to pre-order it) and though it's a YA, it is absolutely beautiful and amazing and any adult will love this. With that said, I'm telling you this is 5 stars, it might be very close to the top of my list of favorite books of the year, and if you have been patiently waiting for this, it will be well worth the wait.

In this book we are with Finn and her family (mostly) but also her best friend Mo, and her close-enough-friend-to-be-family Aunt Karen, Uncle Bob, and their daughter Natalie. We have a couple of other characters but this is who we're really following. It's pretty clear that Finn's family is silently fractured but nobody is really coming out to say it so in an attempt to make family memories there is a ski trip planned and all of them are going to ride in this kind of rickety vehicle (there's 10 people, so it's fairly large and enough to move around in a bit). They get there just fine and decide they'll go out to eat and instead of dressing for weather some of them dress to impress, which turns out to be the worst decision because as they leave they realize they are in the middle of a blizzard. One wrong move on the road sends them careening off the side of a mountain and THAT is where the story really starts.

One character dies early on and that's the "voice" we are reading and the story is told from their point of view from the empty space between here and... heaven, I guess. Not only do we see how each character handles the stress and fear of being trapped in a blizzard with little to no resources, but we see how humans make desperate decisions to save ourselves sometimes. We see the true colors of people in stressful situations. (And I have to just add, there is one part where a character goes out into the blizzard and you just know it isn't a good idea and my mama heart absolutely broke, and I fully cried. There were a few parts of this that I cried which only makes me love this more.)

My favorite part of the book was not the accident and survival piece, which I thought it would be, it was how everyone handled it after the accident. Once we learn who made it and who didn't, each character handles it differently and nobody really knows the full story because we all remember things a bit differently and we all look at the actions of a person differently depending on what our recollection of the situation is.

I loved this for a few reasons, as an adult I understood the positions of each adult and I can understand the way they handled it the way they did. I can understand how, as a child, that could all be confusing for you and come off as callous. Sometimes we don't really know the thoughts/feelings of someone, but our narrator does. I absolutely loved having a dead narrator because oddly, it gives me some comfort to think maybe we really do get to see what's going on long after we go. Maybe we don't, but wouldn't it be nice to not really be gone?

I loved all of the moral and ethical questions this book raises and challenges. I love how the author shows us that forgiveness isn't about them, it's about us, that forgiving someone doesn't mean what they did was OK or just, but it means you can move on and its explained in a way that I don't think we're teaching kids. I feel like teens are going to grab onto this book and hold on until the very last page.

Not only would this been an amazing book club pick, but I know some teachers have a book club in their classrooms and I think this would be such a dynamic book choice. The even better part? The author includes an Author's Note at the end that describes why she wrote this book and how some similar events/characters inspired her to write this from her past. (It also has discussion questions to get your book club going.)

Overall?  I have to give this 5 stars. I have to. This book had me staying up WAY past my bedtime and reading at every given minute I had. Such an incredibly harrowing, emotional, and powerful read. If I could buy 100 copies of this and just give them out to every person I saw, I would. Such a great book.

   

An incredibly HUGE thanks to Suzanne Redfearn for finding me on Facebook and then sending me a copy of this- if I could hug you in person and bring you cookies as thanks, I absolutely would. <3 nbsp="" p="">

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