Wherever Grace Is Needed

April 25, 2011
In Bass's well-intentioned but bland second novel (after Miss You Most of All), Grace Oliver must overcome the complicated relationship she's always had with her family. After her parents divorced, Grace went to Oregon with her mother, but yearned to live with her father and half-brothers in Austin, Tex. After her father is injured in an accident, Grace, now 30, finally gets the chance. She goes to Texas to care for him and discovers, to her horror, that this once brilliant college professor is deteriorating from Alzheimer's. Soon entering the picture are her father's neighbors, grieving widower Ray West and his three children: the recalcitrant teen Jordan, the awkwardly blossoming Lily, and the sweet-tempered Dominic. They're a handful, to say the least, and their disparate personalities will draw readers in. Mild conflict arises when Grace's brothers (a journalist and a doctor, both very busy) want to hire a nurse, but Grace would prefer to handle the care herself. Though the tale lacks tension, Bass draws her characters, particularly the adolescents, very well. With so many young people involved, it's good she's good at it.

June 1, 2011

Grace Oliver is a product of a broken home, but she never quit loving the father and half brothers she left years ago when her mother took her to Oregon. Grace's boyfriend has just moved in, and her music store needs attention, but when her father, Lou, breaks his leg, she returns to Austin, TX, to care for him. There, problems pile up. Lou is in the early stages of Alzheimer's, and two of the West kids next door, whose mother and sister died in an accident the previous year, depend on Lou's house as a refuge. Jordan, the oldest, blames herself for the tragedy, while Jordan's father uses Grace as a sounding board. Grace may have been the odd one out in both of her families, but she's finally found a place where she's needed. VERDICT Bass (Miss You Most of All) introduces wonderful needy characters who discover their untapped strength. The teens and their relationships are particularly well developed. Kristin Hannah fans and readers attracted to Lisa Genova's novels about Alzheimer's and other brain disorders (Still Alice; Left Neglected) will appreciate this novel. Definitely buy for readers who demand character growth and relationships in their fiction.--Lesa Holstine, Glendale P.L., AZ

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