Illuminating Gracie

by Lisa C Temple

Overview

As an old woman's lifeless body lies on a cold stone floor, her soul stands before an angel who offers her a miraculous opportunity: the chance to do it all again. But that is easier said than done. In order to change the path her life has taken, she must put aside years of self-loathing and pain, so she can help the young girl she once was become the woman she should have been.

At 17 years old, Grace Bennett is a bitter young woman. Though blessed with a loving family, looks and brains to spare, she hides her light under a bushel, spending most of her time in the darkness of her mind with little more than sarcasm and self-pity to keep her company.

But things are about to change for Grace. While delivering food for her family's bed and breakfast, she turns onto a desolate dirt road and drives straight into her destiny.

It's on this isolated country lane that the damaged girl meets a strangely familiar old couple and two mysterious young men. Together the group fights the demons that surround Grace, and they teach her what it means to let her light shine.

"Illuminating Gracie" is, at once, a metaphorical tale of the fight between good and evil and a spiritual saga of one girl's journey from darkness into the light. If you liked "Twilight" and "The Hunger Games," you will love the story of Gracie.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781480257177
Publisher:	CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date:	06/08/2013
Pages:	314
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Lisa Temple is a lifetime resident of Montgomery, Alabama, where she lives with her husband, Dana, with whom she has one son, Temp. She also has two stepchildren, Candice and Chad. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Huntingdon College and a Juris Doctorate from Thomas Goode Jones School of Law. Lisa also shares her life with her beloved animals: Phebe, Flash and Minx.

Editorial Reviews

2013-09-01
In Temple's debut YA fantasy novel, a young woman contends with angels, battles demons, and learns to love herself and others. When 17-year-old Grace Bennett arrives at a mysterious mansion, she doesn't realize that the course of her life is about to change dramatically. The shrewish Mrs. B. and her companion, Willem, offer her summer employment as Mrs. B's assistant. The new job saves her from working for her "goody-two-shoes" brother and "holier-than-thou" sister-in-law, so Grace happily accepts--despite the fact that two elderly strangers mysteriously seem to know everything about her. It soon becomes clear that Grace relies on sarcasm and reckless behavior to push people away and mask her own insecurities; she also displays compulsive behaviors, such as obsessive counting and checking rituals, to calm herself. In spite of her quirks, though, she's a likable character, and in her better moments, her sarcasm turns into creative wit. During her new job, she meets Merc, a bewitching young man, and Locke, who claims to be Willem's grandson. She soon realizes that her new acquaintances are far more than meets the eye and that she needs to learn to trust them. She soon risks losing herself in a literal battle between angels and demons--and each of her new companions will play a crucial role in helping her set things right. As Temple shows Grace begin to mature, she satisfyingly allows her to keep enough of her edge to keep her from becoming a flavorless heroine; Grace's realistic spiritual improvement is neither immediate nor complete. The author also makes sure that the other characters are equally dynamic. The angels, for example, don't always behave angelically, often demonstrating arrogance and other faults, and the demons aren't always as wicked as readers might expect. A well-paced fantasy story of redemption and self-improvement.

Kirkus Reviews