October Book Spotlight: The Thrilling Feminist Dystopian I Didn’t Know I Needed

It’s no secret that years ago I STOPPED writing full length book reviews in favor of roundups of mini reviews and book lists (among other things) to showcase book recommendations. I did it for a couple reasons but mostly because I fell out of love with doing book reviews (because I never was the most eloquent or in depth reviewer anyways) and when I analyzed what people were reading and interacting with on my site….book reviews were a big fat loser compared to my other content.

That was FINE. I was sick of writing them because I never DID love doing reviews in the first place — even though mine were just always very casual and conversational vs literary analysis and smart.

BUT LATELY…..I found that I missed singling out a book and being like “HEY YOU STOP RIGHT THERE….you need to come over here and listen to me go on and on about this book!”

But I knew I didn’t want to go back to writing book review-y type posts for every book I read (I do talk a lot about what I’m reading on my Instagram @perpetualpageturner though) so I’m like HMMMMM….how can I figure out how to make this work for me?

So I decided WHAT IF I took time once a month to spotlight a book that I’ve read and really, really wanna talk about and recommend.

*high fives self*

So I decided I would talk about a new book once a month that I’m really excited about…something I wanna make sure you’ve really got on your radar! One of those books I feel like I just NEED to talk about at length.

And then, because my brain was REALLY firing on all cylinders, I decided that I would also send my bff newsletter subscribers a BONUS book spotlight per month (backlist, frontlist, WHATEVER I want) that I won’t be publishing anywhere else.

So that’s two in-depth book spotlights per month I’m going to be writing and I’m actually REALLY EXCITED. I think that’s exactly what I can handle in terms of writing something “review” adjacent.

Pssst….if you aren’t signed up for my newsletter and wanna get that bonus SPOTLIGHT, do that here:

So let’s get to this October book spotlight because I AM SO READY TO SPOTLIGHT THE CRAP OUT OF THIS BOOK.

[Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links which means that if you click on a link and purchase something I’ve talked about or recommended, I’ll receive a very small percentage of the sale. Please see my disclosure policy for more info.

October Book Spotlight & Review:
The Grace Year by Kim Liggett

The Grace Year by Kim Liggett

Genre: Dystopian thriller
Release Date: October 8, 2019
Thank you to the publisher Wednesday Books and LibroFM for providing me with an audio copy of The Grace Year for review consideration.
Where To Find It: Amazon // Barnes & Noble // Indiebound (you can purchase online from an indie bookstore) // LibroFM

Summary + Plot Of The Grace Year by Kim Liggett

So what is The Grace Year about? When girls turn 16 they must leave their community and be banished together for a year in what is called the grace year — something that NOBODY speaks about when they return….if they return. A BIG “IF” THERE. And I mean, sometimes people return like missing fingers or mangled in other ways so….imagine all the feelings one might feel embarking on this year long banishment that nobody talks about??

All they know is that they have MAGIC. Magic that can lure a man from his bed, make wives jealous and just make boys go wild. So they have to go do the grace year thing to RELEASE this wild magic from them so they can come back and be proper wives and purified from this magic.

We follow a character named Tierney who, on the cusp of her grace year, is NOT HERE FOR ALL THIS. She doesn’t want to come home and become a wifey. She just wants better than some of the things she sees in her community — especially how all the women are pitted against each other. She just really wants no part in it.

So we follow her as she goes on her grace year and she learns that all the things she knew to fear, like the poachers who could catch her and skin her for money out in the woods, aren’t the ONLY things she should be most afraid of.

My Review & Thoughts About The Grace Year

WOW WOW WOW The Grace Year WAS THRILLING. I listened to this audiobook (via my fave LibroFM) obsessively. 50% of the time on the treadmill where I was huffing and puffing but thoroughly entranced by it so much so that I didn’t want to get off the treadmill and 50% of the time TRYING TO SNEAK IT IN WHEN I COULD. I’m talking while unloading the dishwasher, while making Riley lunch, while putting my makeup on, while sitting outside watching Riley play.

I could not step away from it because it was so thrilling and I was so invested. The pacing was fantastic and I was always like “oh man I can’t press pause right NOW…things are happening.”

The Grace Year was action-packed and thrilling because there was so much unknown and things happening that made my heart race. Also at the heart of it, mixed in with the dystopian horror aspect, it’s a survival story too. Add some well placed twists. And BOOOM. Can’t put it down.

And the characters? Even the “villains” are SO, SO compelling and catapult the story forward. I felt so intertwined with these young girls. Tierney is a brilliantly flawed and strong heroine to tell the tale but the young women around her are equally as important.

The mystery and secrecy of the grace year really hooked me immediately. My brain was going wild with theories — do they have magic? Is it all a bunch of BS concocted by the men (where I was leaning)? Is there more to this setting? Is this going to be like the movie The Village (this was also one of my bigger theories that it would be akin to this)? Is this some experiment? Does this happen everywhere in this world? Also what the heck year is this set in and like WHERE are we talking? I kept just thinking a lot of things.

And then as they arrived into the grace year I had a million more conspiracies and theories I was floating around that I’m not going to get into because NO SPOILERS HERE. But I was RIGHT about one thing that Tierney realizes so I patted myself on the back for that.

It was the feisty and fierce feminist dystopian I needed. It’s set in a completely misogynistic society and that’s clear from the beginnings of the story. I could already feel my blood pressure rising at an early encounter with a man in the story.

There’s so much in The Grace Year that reminds me, and reflects in the story, of how much society pits women against each other and how we are ingrained with it from early on and especially in our descent into womanhood. How much pressure is on young girls and how much society uses them….and disposes of them when they are older. How so often we don’t speak about things because we are expected to stay silent and those lies are what keeps us down in one way or another.

The threads of resistance were so hopeful to me — to see the little ways we can start to overthrow all the BS and speak out about oppression especially by sticking together and sticking up for one another.

You may also like, if you are looking for feminist YA: Girls With Sharp Sticks

To sum up my thoughts on The Grace Year:

The Grace Year was a thrilling and brutal book that is part dystopian horror and survival story all with a strong feminist element bubbling to the surface. It’s raw and downright violent at times — some pretty dark and explicit gruesome elements. But it’s sharp and smart and, despite so much bleakness, feels really hopeful. By far one of the best reads of the year for me — emotional, explosive and important!

I’ve also gotta shout out the audiobook narrator Emily Shaffer as she did a fantastic job and I HIGHLY recommend listening to this on audio! AND at the end of the audiobook there is an incredibly moving, emotional and in-depth interview with the author.

BUY IT: AMAZON // B&N // INDIEBOUND

The Grace Year movie info + thoughts

The Grace Year is going to be a movie and I cannot wait!!! It’s going to translate so well into a movie and it’s got Elizabeth Banks at its helm so I feel really good about that. Will update when we learn more.

Have you read The Grace Year? What did you think if you did? If you haven’t, do you think you might pick it up?? Also, I want all the books in this vein, so recommendations please!!