Customer Reviews

Grace and Favor

The book started out fairly well. Interesting style of writing even though the premise was a tad thin. But then it got to be just too contrived with too many coincidences and episodes that were just not real. I mean, how many times could the sisters just happen to "miss" bumping into each other, on both sides of the Atlantic?

The only reason I gave "Grace and Favor" as many as three stars was because I finished it. And I only finished it because I bought it. If it had been a library book, I would have stopped reading by page 100.

Grace is an author of romance novels. When she was younger, her mother got pregnant for the second time and then died after the baby (Favor/Pat) was born. Grace does not have a relationship with her father, as she was abandoned when her mother died.

Pat is the daughter who grew up with her father. In my opinion, she is a wet blanket. She is married and has 2 kids, a son & daughter. She is over protective of her son, and doesn't know her daughter.

The story is as much about two long-lost sisters coming together as it is about Pat's marital problems. Both sisters know about the other, but Grace doesn't want to be found. Once Favor/Pat shows up on her doorstep, she is forced to confront the past and what she has always believed to be true.

This book is filled with many different characters who float in and out of Grace and Pat's lives. I would recommend this story to anyone.

The book started out fairly well. Interesting style of writing even though the premise was a tad thin. But then it got to be just too contrived with too many coincidences and episodes that were just not real. I mean, how many times could the sisters just happen to "miss" bumping into each other, on both sides of the Atlantic?

The only reason I gave "Grace and Favor" as many as three stars was because I finished it. And I only finished it because I bought it. If it had been a library book, I would have stopped reading by page 100.

Grace and Favor are sisters, although they never met though each one is aware that they have a sibling. Grace and Favor believe that they know what happened to split the family years ago, but each one has a different spin on the tragic events.

Grace is a writer living on Long Island. She feels her father rejected her by giving her away. To this day she never knew why. Perhaps that is why her relationships with men always fail.

Favor lives near London. She is married to a locksmith and has two teenage children who know everything. Her father raised her.

Grace comes to England on a book tour. She and Favor come to the family farm, but just miss meeting one another. That near miss serves as the final impetus for Favor to seek out her sister. Grace learns a woman is stalking her. Favor wants to introduce herself, but cannot take the final step. She is afraid that Grace will reject her. Surprisingly, Grace wants to meet Favor, but fears the reception from her younger sister.

GRACE & FAVOR is an exciting relationship drama that alternates first person chapters between the two siblings. This allows the reader to observe the thoughts and feelings of each sister as they take one baby step at a time closer to meeting each other. Caroline Upcher has written a powerful character study that hooks readers because the plot concentrates on the emotions of the sisters and the impact on other family members while limiting the melodrama of the events that separated them over three decades ago.

Harriet Klausner