Book Review: Grace Summit

Grace Summit. Denise Roma, Windy City Publishers, 12 September 2022, Paperback and eBook, 258 pages.

Reviewed by Christine Cacciatore.

Full disclosure: This is not a book I would normally pick up and read, simply because I would have thought reading about three women at a bible college would be uninteresting. How wrong I was and how happy I am that I had the chance to read it.

Grace Summit is a book that reminds me of the writing of Alice Hoffman. The author doesn’t spend time with flowery descriptions but instead writes sparingly, giving the reader the duty of using their imagination to envision scenes. It works very well.

The book is centered around three main characters: Ann, Amelia, and Jackie. All three have rich backstories that you learn about a little at a time, doled out like little treats that help you understand why they are the way they are. The writing has an old-fashioned, rather dreamy structure. 

This book is told over many years, past and present, jumping around a bit. This can get confusing, but I could center myself quickly to see who was “narrating.” One thing I loved about this book is that it mentions the type of music the characters are listening to, and that really helps center you right in the middle of the action.

Another thing I really enjoyed was the fact that there was romance in the story, but it is definitely not a cut-and-dry normal romance. Roma makes her characters struggle, ache, experience loneliness, and go through trial by fire before she lets them have any type of happily ever after. I was surprised at how much I cared whether certain characters lived or died or had any type of happiness or closure at all.

The way the author develops her characters is masterful. I felt bereft when happiness seemed just out of reach for a character. You just want to say, “Tell them how you feel already!” She writes the good, the bad, and the ugly for each character and puts you right in the middle so that you can know why they did what they did. 

I felt the pacing was good, but the reader does have to pay attention to follow where (and when) the characters are in their lives they are so you can stay with the story.

I believe readers will enjoy this book mostly because we’ve all been sad, lonely, or depressed at times, but thankfully (hopefully?), we’ve had friends in our lives to help us through it. That’s what this book emphasizes —their lives and the friendships and relationships they’ve had helping them through. 

I recommend you read this book. It really made me feel attached to the characters, and I can see that this author is writing from a place where she can clearly show what her characters are going through and make you FEEL what they’re going through. I look forward to more from her.