Kim Liggett’s novel The Grace Year is centered around a dystopian society where men are seen as the superior gender and women are treated and owned like cattle.  From a young age, girls are told they have dangerous magic that stems from evil.  To purge them of this magic, all girls are sent to a camp in the wilderness during their sixteenth year, the grace year, so they can release this evil.  No person is allowed to speak of what occurs during the grace year, and not everyone makes it home in one piece.  Throughout the book, the reader follows the journey of Tierney James, a tomboy with a rebellious spirit.  Through her pursuit of truth, she uncovers what the grace year is truly about and discovers the horrors that her home so desperately hides from them.  

If you are interested in mysteries and dystopian horror with a dash of romance, this book is for you.  When I picked up The Grace Year, I did not want to put it down.  The twists and mysteries in the story were gripping and kept me hooked.  The book explores themes of feminism, truth, the power of kindness, and how everything you put into the world comes back to you.  Also, The Grace Year focuses on the complex and sometimes twisted relationships between girls and the difficult decisions they make to survive.  Throughout the book, the author takes a deep dive into human nature and shows how evil can lurk in the friendliest faces.  

I loved how the plot was unpredictable, and the mysteries were very well planned.  While reading the book, I could tell that the author put a lot of thought into each situation and event, and I noticed that she scattered clues about the grace year from the very beginning of the novel.  The author includes a compelling plot and simultaneously embeds important messages that demand your attention.  Moreover, there was a perfect balance of conflict and tension, which kept me on the edge of my seat and craving to read one more page.  Every disturbing secret revealed only added to the mystery.  

Additionally, I loved how Tierney developed throughout the novel.  At the beginning of the story, she is blind to everything around her and is quick to judge, believing she is better than the other girls.  She fell into the cliché of being “not like other girls,” which was frustrating and annoying to read at times.  However, her character changes so much by the end of the book that I ended up loving her personality, and her eyes become wide open.  

Finally, I thought that the ending was very satisfying and neatly tied up most loose ends.  My only qualm with the ending was that the final events seemed slightly rushed, and the pace sped up substantially during the conclusion.  Additionally, I was left wondering about the fate of Tierney as the ending is very ambiguous and leaves the reader to decide how they interpret the messages of the book.  Nevertheless, I still immensely enjoyed the book and the themes it imparted.  

If you love horror and mysteries, I highly recommend that you pick up this book!  It’s a thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat the entire time. 

Check out The Grace Year from the Newport Beach Public Library.