Title: State Of Grace

Author: Rachael Lucas

Publisher: MacMillan Children’s Books

Publication Date: 6th April 2017

Format: ARC eBook

Note: This book was received from the publisher in return for an honest review

About the book:

Sometimes I feel like everyone else was handed a copy of the rules for life and mine got lost.

Grace has Asperger’s and her own way of looking at the world. She’s got a horse and a best friend who understand her, and that’s pretty much all she needs. But when Grace kisses Gabe and things start to change at home, the world doesn’t make much sense to her any more.

Suddenly everything threatens to fall apart, and it’s up to Grace to fix it on her own.

Whip-smart, hilarious and unapologetically honest, The State of Grace by Rachael Lucas is a heart-warming story of one girl trying to work out where she fits in, and whether she even wants to.

What I Thought:

The State of Grace tells the story of a teenage girl, Grace, who is dealing with the everyday difficulties of growing up, the popular girls at school, her first crush and a father who is often away for work, but is also on the autism spectrum.

I found this book to be really charming and heartwarming. Not being on the spectrum myself I can’t really comment on how accurate a portrayal this is – however Rachael Lucas herself is diagnosed so this is an own voices book! What I will say is that I felt the book provides a wonderful perspective on what some people who are dealing with life somewhere on the spectrum.

Rachael creates a wonderful cast of characters. Grace herself is so easy to identify with, Rachael does a wonderful job of conveying how Grace experiences the world, I think teens across the country, as well as people who were once teens like me, will identify with some of the difficulties Grace experiences as a teenager, whether it’s dealing with the popular girls at school or the difficulties of family life with her father working away from home for long periods. More than once I would have appreciated some sort of rule book for life, if anyone has one I’ll still take it! I also think it must be amazing for a teenager who is on the spectrum to be able to have such a positive character like Grace to identify with in a book.

Anna! I adore Anna and the incredible relationship that she shares with Grace. She’s someone who is always there for Grace, even if Grace occasionally worries that at some point Anna is going to tire of dealing with her. The book demonstrates such a positive strong female friendship free of the bitching that seems to so often accompany a female friendship and I loved it!

I won’t go into detail about too many of the other characters because I don’t want to give too much away about the plot. I will say Gabe, Polly yay! Eve boo! Also special mention to Grandma who had these amazing words of wisdom that I posted on the blog at the time.

The day you stop learning, my love, is the day you stop living.

Would I recommend it?

Absolutely! The book is a wonderful insight into what someone on the autism spectrum may face on a day-to-day basis.  I fully appreciate that not everyone on the spectrum will necessarily experience life in the same way, I’m certainly no expert but I felt this was written in such a way that it would allow teenagers to understand a little more about how their friend or classmate experiences the world  I definitely think this should be on reading lists for all secondary schools.

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