Reviewed by Leah on
Beyond Grace’s Rainbow introduces us to Grace who at the beginning of the book is diagnosed with cancer. Trouble is, she’s also got a 3 year old son to take care of so anything other than survival is not an option. With all of her friends rallying round, Grace is determined to beat this thing, but her best hope of winning is a bone marrow transfusion and since Grace is adopted and has a very rare blood type it means she will have to get in touch with her biological mother after all these years. Also back on the scene is Grace’s ex Luke, who is determined to show he’s changed and to prove he can be the partner Grace needs and the son his father wants.
When I started Beyond Grace’s Rainbow, I was initially very intrigued by the book. But I could tell straight away that I wasn’t a fan of the writing style. It was too simplistic, very dumbed down – or so it seemed. There was an overuse of exclamation points – at least 5 or so to a page which made everything seem falsely happy and cheery. Everyone laughed when they spoke and I became desperate for it to end. It just didn’t work for me at all. It pains me to type that, but I have to be honest. I just couldn’t get on with it at all.
The premise is great, and I loved the idea of friends being family, and I thought Luke seemed very genuine (although I would have liked if we had got to see him before because how do we know how he acted? We’re only ever told…) but I felt the writing let it down somewhat. If it had just had a bit better structure and maybe a bit of tighter editing and less exclamation marks I would have probably enjoyed it more, but as it was, I was overwhelmingly disappointed.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 12 January, 2014: Finished reading
- 12 January, 2014: Reviewed