Grace Grows

by Shelle Sumners

[Leah]

Grace Grows is a novel that interested me as soon as I saw it. I loved the cover, most of all, that’s what drew me to it originally – the two dogs with the man and woman holding on to them. I love dogs, so y’know, I loved the cover. I also like novels where characters crash into people’s lives. I live the spontaneity that Tyler and Grace only met because he came to walk her neighbour’s dogs one morning. It’s a brilliant idea for a novel. I loved how Tyler and Grace just seemed to spark off each other immediately and that Tyler, as a man-child, had the spontaneity to write songs about Grace, to hang around with Grace even when Grace didn’t really want him around. For a long time, Tyler had this naivety to him that just totally blew me away. I was as convinced as Grace that he was young, much younger than her, even though he wasn’t.

In parts, this novel took my breath away. Like I said, the spark between Grace and Tyler was something else. The intensity with which Tyler lived his life was just so all-consuming. The way he was just always there. The way he didn’t let Grace’s coldness or hard shell get in the way of telling the truth about his feelings for her, even if she didn’t reciprocate. He was just so honest. And I adored him. He’s the type of character that right from the get go you just love. He was just so sweet-natured. Even when he swore, it just seemed odd coming from Tyler Wilkie’s mouth. The friction between Grace and Tyler was amazing. I was sort of disappointed how that seemed to actually peter out as the novel wore on, strange as it is, and I will get to that in a bit.

As for Grace. I don’t know how to talk about Grace. Grace was… an enigma I suppose. She (understandably) didn’t acknowledge her feelings for Tyler right away, which is fair enough, but at times I found her to be a bit disengaged. A bit cold. She had flashes of warmth, but for the most part I found it hard to engage with her. She was a bit of a cold fish, in truth. Obviously she was scarred from what occurred during her childhood, growing up with just her mom and with an estranged-until-her-teen-years father, but I just wanted Grace to just let go. Be less uptight. To care less. I think it speaks volumes that the first character I chose to talk about was Tyler, and not Grace who is our main character. It was Tyler who kept me reading, not Grace.

The plot of Grace Grows was great, the writing was good (more Emily Giffin than Sophie Kinsella, and yes, Emily and Sophie’s writing styles do differ, believe me) and overall I liked the book. However, instead of going for the big Chick Lit ending we all know and love (I do, anyway), where there’s a big fight or something similar and then a declaration of love and then The End, instead it’s different. Something else occurs during the last third of the novel that just… it sort of petered out. I wanted my shout-y showdown between Tyler and Grace and the big I love you’s and stuff. I like my endings like that. I like the warm feeling it gives and the sense of relief that it’s all worked out. The ending wasn’t bad, don’t get me wrong, and it was kind of satisfying, but it all just felt a bit too perfect. I was, in total honesty, waiting for the ball to drop. I felt certain that it was all just too engineered, if I’m being totally honest. I’d definitely recommend the novel, it was a solid read, I just found the ending to be not to my tastes. It sounds strange to complain about it, really, as I’m usually whinging about there not being enough of an ending most of the time, but well, as it turns out, I like my not-enough endings, clearly. Grace Grows is a great debut novel, and I can’t wait to see what Shelle Sumners brings us next.