Saving Graces: Grace Notes, Book 3

I have never once written a review where I hoped with a bit of desperation that the author would read it. I have in fact stopped writing reviews somewhat disenchanted with the genre I love. I have those authors I follow who write perhaps a book a year and they don’t disappoint. That leaves a hole with little to fill it often which brings me to this author. I was hesitant to read the first book in the series. In full transparency, I’m not a fan of country music. I immediately thought it was going to be something like much of what I read in this genre devoid of diversity and tepid or outlandish in its approach to lesbian sexuality. Yes there are people that write lesbian romance as if they were not queer or have little to no understanding of the heat that can be generated in a lesbian and/or queer bedroom. This author suffers from no such fallacy. The first book didn’t disappoint and yet there is still such seismic growth in this third installment. The standout is the ferocity of the characters, three dimensional, beautifully flawed, and lovable beyond measure. It’s the natural humor the author possesses never trying too hard, but leaving the ready laughing out loud. The second book, I was more of a student, learning and loving the journey. Even for those of us that identify as queer, many of the identities today, we are learning along with everyone else. It was a sweet revelation, and still I thought longingly of Savannah and Brynn wishing they had more of a central role.…

I danced around reading the Grace Notes books for a while, thinking from the description “nah, the whole white country music star thing wouldn’t appeal to me”. How wrong I was. All three books were incredibly satisfying, moving (I choked up even in the last paragraph of the last page of Saving Graces), and full of heart. I read all 3 books in the span of 4 days, unable to put them down. These are beautiful romances, with insights about healthy love, being willing to risk the life you’ve known for the life of your dreams, the importance of communication, and what “happily ever after” could look like in the real world. They’re also about friendship (especially Saving Graces), about family (especially Graceless), and about how we honor what we’ve lost while living here and now. They’re also about the world we live in today - what it means to be queer, how we share ourselves, what we stand for, the difference we make for others. They’re also incredibly hot. BTW - for anyone thinking “I don’t want to read another story about cis white lesbians” - while the main characters of Falls From Grace are cis and white, these are pretty diverse stories that center an array of queer and BIPOC voices, and I still recommend them.