Living under an incredibly oppressive patriarchy means every look, gesture, and symbol means much more than what meets the eye.

I also found a lot of enjoyment in decoding the ways of life of women in Garner County. Watching Tierney, watching the entire cohort of girls. We follow our main character Tierney through her grace year, and there is a constant feeling that someone is watching. Though this title is a young adult fantasy, it has a horror element in how scenes are written and the feelings they convey in readers. What I loved most about my time with this book was its dark and ominous mood. I have mixed thoughts about The Grace Year, but let’s begin with the positives. Welcome to a novel that is not afraid to make you horribly uncomfortable and angry with all of its displeasures. With sharp prose and gritty realism, The Grace Year examines the complex and sometimes twisted relationships between girls, the women they eventually become, and the difficult decisions they make in-between. Their greatest threat may very well be each other. It’s not even the poachers in the woods, men who are waiting for a chance to grab one of the girls in order to make a fortune on the black market. Sixteen-year-old Tierney James dreams of a better life-a society that doesn’t pit friend against friend or woman against woman, but as her own grace year draws near, she quickly realizes that it’s not just the brutal elements they must fear. But not all of them will make it home alive. That’s why they’re banished for their sixteenth year, to release their magic into the wild so they can return purified and ready for marriage. They believe their very skin emits a powerful aphrodisiac, the potent essence of youth, of a girl on the edge of womanhood. In Garner County, girls are told they have the power to lure grown men from their beds, to drive women mad with jealousy.

The grace year book cover