Grace Unexpected by Gale Martin

Title: Grace Unexpected
 
Author: Gale Martin

Publisher: Booktrope Editions

Published Date: July 2, 2012 

Buy on Amazon: Paperback / Kindle 

Author Website: http://galemartin.me/

Synopsis from Back Cover:

Thirty-something Grace Savage has slogged through crummy jobs and dead-end relationships with men who would rather go bald than say “I do”. In search of respite from her current job, she visits Shaker Village in New Hampshire. Instead of renewal, she’s unnerved to learn that Shaker men and women lived and worked side by side in complete celibacy. 

When her longtime boyfriend dumps her instead of proposing, Grace avows the sexless Shaker ways. Resolved to stick to her new plan – dubbed the Shaker Plan – despite ovaries ticking like time bombs, she returns to her life in Pennsylvania. Almost immediately, she's juggling two eligible bachelors: Addison, a young beat reporter; and True, a venerable anthropology professor. Both men have ample charms and soul mate potential to test her newfound Shaker-style self-control, and Grace appears to be on the fast track to a marriage proposal… until secrets revealed deliver a death rattle to the Shaker Plan.

My Thoughts:

Gale Martin's Grace Unexpected is a quick and hilarious contemporary read that left me wanting more.  Revolving around Grace Savage's love and professional life, Grace Unexpected shows readers what a newly single, 'cougar' goes through when trying to find the perfect man to settle down with.  

Grace's world is turned upside down on her 35th birthday by none other than her love.  Expecting an engagement ring from her boyfriend, she instead gets the boot in a very unconventional way (my mouth was hanging open reading it go down!)  Grace concludes that she has had enough of her doomed love life and sex crazed men.  Drastic times call for drastic measures, and Grace decides that she is going to go on the 'Shaker Plan,' a plan she dreamed up after learning that Shakers were celibate while working side by side with the opposite sex.  No more wild, partying ways; instead Grace swears off men and sex until she finds 'the one.'  She also decides this could help her advance her career where she works in a local college's University Relations office.

As luck would have it, as soon as Grace implements her Shaker Plan she meets two men.  Addison and True are two completely opposite, intelligent, and sexy bachelors that want Grace.  However, both men are out of her normal dating age range.  Addison is a twenty-four year old reporter who is staying at the college Grace works at.  True is a sixty-something Anthropology Professor Grace meets while auditing his class.  As both men romance her, Grace realizes her Shaker Plan may not be all that it is cracked up to be. 

One of my favorite characters in Grace Unexpected is Goody, Grace's assistant.  Young, hip, and witty, Goody lends an ear when Grace needs someone to vent to and is her partner in crime.  I loved that he always had something clever to say and was laugh out loud funny. 

I was happy with how Grace Unexpected ended, yet it left me wanting more.  I wish it would have shown a snippet of Grace's future relationship.  My finger's are crossed for a Grace Unexpected 2...or maybe Grace Expecting!

I absolutely LOVED Gale Martin's, Grace Unexpected and recommend it to anyone who loves chick lit.  Grace Unexpected has it all: sexual frustration, great friendships, witty dialogue, hilarious scenes, and even a shocking twist thrown in that will shock you!  Do yourself a favor and read this great book, you won't be disappointed!

Gale Martin

Gale Martin has provided me with a complimentary copy of her book, Grace Unexpected, for the purpose of review.