Gracier brings small town Iowa to life. I hope there are still towns out there like that. If so, I want to move there. The book is beautifully written as everything is meticulously described in lovely language. Unfortunately, that flowery prose also slowed the book down a lot. It often came in the middle of some other event or character's internal monologue and I frequently wanted to rush it along to get back to the meat of the problem.

About half way through chapter two I decided I knew where this book was heading and for a long time it looked like I was right. Then there was a twist (making me only half right). For the last couple chapters there was enough occlusion for me to wonder if the book was going to stay the new course or return to the old, so in that sense it maintained enough of a mystery to keep if from being completely predictable. For the most part I really enjoyed it, but I can't say I liked all of it.

The basic premise is that Jessica returns home for her grandfather's funeral and is forced to face someone from her past that she would rather forget. It soon becomes obvious that everyone around her is hiding something and she sets out to find out what. This is all well and good, but despite the whole why of the secret being explained, I didn't buy it. It essentially comes down to a bunch of men deciding to keep some pertinent information from one woman. They do it for all the best reasons of course, but it's still far too paternalistic for my taste. I would have wanted the painful truth and would have a hard time forgiving anyone, let alone everyone important to me, hiding it from me. Who are they to decide what's best for someone else? It would be another matter if she was 12, but she's well into adulthood. Jessica also seems to have a whole sense of crisis about all of this before she has enough information to know that it should and would cause emotional upheaval. I understand that it was supposed to be Michael's presence that put her so on edge, but she seemed disproportionately wound up about the whole thing before having enough clues to put her there.

I also didn't understand Steven's change of heart. I don't want to post a spoiler so suffice it to say that after years of pining after one person he suddenly goes and changes his mind with no obvious impetus. It's great that he did, but why? I also could have done without all the God is great, blah, blah at the end. Luckily it wasn't nauseatingly overt. All-in-all, I enjoyed the read even if I couldn't comfortably put myself in the place of the main characters. ( )

Gracier is an intriguing romantic suspense story of long-held secrets, drama and romance set in the small town of Gracier, Iowa. Jessica McCabe returns home to Gracier to attend her grandfather Jonas McCabe's funeral. Jonas was the town's longtime beloved veterinarian, and it had been his and Jessica's dream to one day share the practice, but his sudden fatal stroke left it up to Jessica to pick up the pieces. Her homecoming brings revelations of long-held secrets that her grandfather had kept hidden from her. Determined to get to the bottom of the secrets and questions of her family's past, Jessica is forced to deal with the one man who had broken her heart, Matthew Cassidy.

In the first book of The Gracier Series, author Milissa R. Bailey weaves a gripping tale of mystery, suspense and romance that easily draws the reader into Jessica's story. Told in the third person narrative, the reader is transported to the small Norman Rockwell like Midwestern farming community of Gracier, Iowa, where long-held secrets and town gossip keeps the reader riveted as the suspenseful twists and turns of the McCabe family's past unfolds. And if that isn't enough to keep you engaged, add in some unrequited love from a best friend and a painful past romantic relationship with the son of an arrogant man who was Jonas' bitter rival, and you have one heck of a page turner!

With a large cast of realistic characters from a small Midwestern town, the author does a great job of bringing them to life in vivid detail and with engaging dialogues and interactions. The small town setting of Gracier is richly described, you could close your eyes and picture the sights, sounds and smells of the farms and the main street of the town and its townspeople. I loved the author's creative style of weaving together the multi-layered plot, the balance of mystery and suspense with the drama of a complicated romance kept me enthralled and guessing what would happen next. Gracier will engage you to revisit this charming small town and its townspeople as each new book in the series is released.

Gracier is the story of living in a small Midwestern town where charm, drama, romance ... and even secrets do abound!

Gracier is the first book in The Gracier Series.

Disclaimer: I purchased a copy of this book for the purpose of reading and providing an honest review. I am participating in a virtual book blast promo event hosted by Book Blasts and Blog Tours.

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