The Graces

by Laure Eve

Overview

Everyone loves the Graces. Fenrin, Thalia, and Summer Grace are attractive, rich, and glamorous, and they’ve cast a spell over their high school—and their entire town. They’re also rumored to have powerful connections all over the world. If you’re not in love with one of them, you want to be one of them. This is especially true for River: the new girl at school. River’s different from the rest of the horde that both revere and fear the Grace family. She’s dark, aloof, and just maybe . . . magical. And she wants to be a Grace more than anything. But what the Graces don’t know is that River’s presence in their town is no accident. The first rule of witchcraft is that if you want something bad enough, you can get it . . . no matter who has to pay.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781419727221
Publisher:	ABRAMS
Publication date:	10/02/2018
Series:	A Graces Novel Series
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	357,391
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 7.80(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

Laure Eve was born in Paris and currently lives in London, where she works in book publishing. She is also the author of The Curses—the forthcoming sequel to The Graces. Find out more on Twitter, @LaureEve, and on her website, laureeve.co.uk.

Editorial Reviews

The Graces demands to be read twice: The first time for the suspense; the second for the subtleties you missed initially. Eve's rich story is about the kind of magic that comes from spells and the kind that comes from those moments when the present feels right and the future full of possibility.

The New York Times Book Review - Chelsey Philpot

06/27/2016
In British author Eve’s U.S. debut, a teenage loner becomes fixated on the most powerful family in town, gradually insinuating herself into their inner circle in an attempt to gain popularity and acceptance. Like everyone else, 15-year-old River Page knows that the beautiful, enigmatic Graces are rumored to be witches; craving power, she works carefully to gain the friendship of Summer and her older sister, Thalia, even as she falls for their brother, Fenrin. River can’t figure out why the siblings are so insular and mercurial, even after joining them in several magical rituals. The mystery deepens after one of their close friends drowns, and River’s efforts to become part of the Graces’ world backfire. Eve conjures up an intriguing vision of small-town mystique, with the Grace family depicted as unknowable and otherworldly—the mystery of whether magic is at play hangs over much of the story—and self-involved, obsessive River’s less-than-trustworthy narration adds to the air of uncertainty. But while Eve keeps the story’s speculative elements satisfyingly ambiguous, last-minute revelations and developments feel ill-established, resulting in a dissonant conclusion. Ages 13–up. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"I was immediately enchanted by The Graces. Laure Eve's novel weaves together an intoxicating blend of magic and mystery that had me daydreaming about life as a Grace even when I wasn't reading the book."

Author of THE MERCILESS and SURVIVE THE NIGHT Danielle Vega

"Powerful, deadly, chilling, and compelling. It's a masterpiece."

Author of THE SIN EATER'S DAUGHTER Melinda Salisbury

"Even putting the magic aside, this will still ring true to the many teenagers who have tried desperately to shape their identities around others."

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

This just might be the novel to cure your post Harry Potter blues...Laure’s newest adventure features stellar characters, a page-turning plot and a twist you WON’T see coming.

Brit + Co

The Graces is highly readable, something that a writer deserves praise for, especially when dealing with coming of age stories and the over-wrought, emotional lives of teenagers. The witchcraft angle is deftly dealt with, without too much detail or explanation being provided and so without a risk of cheesiness. The comparisons to the film The Craft are valid—The Graces too, is an examination of story about friendship between young women, magic, witchcraft, power, and everything a young girl would do to belong in exactly the way she wanted. It’s a creepy little story, told deceptively easily, one that will leave many young readers wanting to go back to the start, or wanting another novel to soon follow.

Tor.Com

"A realistic but dark take on magic. It draws readers into its unsettling narrative."

Booklist

"What is myth for the new millennium? In The Graces, Laure Eve confronts what’s left of the old with something that might take its place."

Locus

This well-paced, beautifully written book is about flawed characters trying to understand themselves.

RT Book Reviews

"The Graces demands to be read twice: The first time for the suspense; the second for the subtleties you missed initially."

New York Times Book Review

"Mysterious, beautiful, and unnerving, The Graces, like its titular family, will keep you enthralled from beginning to end."

New York Times- Bestselling Author of THE BONE SEA Samantha Shannon

"Readers will sense that River isn’t who she claims to be (River isn’t even her real name), and for that reason, they’ll anxiously flip through pages, trying to pinpoint her angle and motives."

Bookpage

"A realistic but dark take on magic. It draws readers into its unsettling narrative."

Booklist

06/01/2016
Gr 9 Up—Local legend says that the Grace family are witches—able to bend the world around them to suit their purposes. River wants desperately to believe in their magic, to believe that Summer Grace could really become her best friend, that handsome Fenrin Grace might be attracted to her, and even that she could learn to control such gifts in herself. But as she comes to learn the family's secrets (and admit her own), unexpected death is the result, and now there's no way back. Or is there? Can the Graces be relied on to help her, or will they simply retreat, leaving her alone and desperate again? Although lacking the lush prose and historical backing of Maggie Stiefvater's work, this story will appeal to the same group of urban fantasy lovers. River's coming-of-age story as she learns she can't rely on others but must accept responsibility for her own actions will resonate with teens. Explicit language, multiple underage drinking scenes, and a short love scene make this title more appropriate for more mature readers. VERDICT Purchase where urban fantasies, particularly novels by Maggie Stiefvater, are popular.—Elizabeth Friend, Wester Middle School, TX

School Library Journal

★ 2016-05-18
A teenage girl becomes obsessed with a family of reputed witches in this British author's North American debut. The unreliable narrator, of never-mentioned race so likely white, approximate age 15, has recently moved from a city that might be London to an unnamed town on the sea with her emotionally absent mother after her father disappears. She never reveals her name, instead choosing to go by her "secret name," River, once she manages to insinuate herself with the mysterious, reclusive Graces. (The Graces are also white; many of the minor characters seem by brief description to be either black or Indian.) Like everyone else in her school, River has a crush on glamour-boy Fenrin Grace, 17. Fenrin's twin, Thalia, frightens her, but it's their younger sister, River's classmate Summer, with whom she forms the strongest bond. Over and over River molds herself into a person who could be best friends with Summer Grace. River's desperate to be part of the Graces' world, for reasons that gradually, horrifyingly, become crystal clear despite River's repeated deceptions, both within the story and in the narration. The ending will make readers want to read the entire novel again, immediately, to admire the clues they missed before. Though the facts may be slippery, the prose never is; it's precise, vivid, and immediate. Powerful. (Fantasy. 14 & up)

Kirkus Reviews