The One Saving Grace: An irresistibly heartwarming summer read from the bestselling author of A Village Affair

Julie Houston

Feb 2019 · Head of Zeus Ltd

About this ebook

Harriet Westmoreland did not expect to go into labour in the Harvey Nichol's men's underwear department!

Nor did she expect that at exactly the moment she does she would set eyes on Alex Hamilton, and mark the start of a year of madness... For her, her family and, at times, it seems most of the West Yorkshire village of Midhope.

Giving birth only two months after Harriet, her lifelong best friend Grace has her own craziness to contend with. As both women hurtle down unexpected and very different paths, they flounder in a maelstrom of passion and confusion, perilously clinging on as the chain of events threatens not only their comfortable, ordinary lives but also their very existence...

Warm, witty and wonderful, the unputdownable bestseller from Julie Houston is perfect for fans of Sophie Kinsella, Milly Johnson, Katie Fforde and Jill Mansell.

Praise for Julie Houston:

'Julie deserves to be up there with all the queens of chick lit' Alison Cremona.

'Superb story, great characters and thought-provoking happenings' Amazon reviewer.

'Reading this long awaited book was like meeting up with old friends' J.M. Jones.

'This sequel I have to say surpasses even the first book' Rani S.

'This is a fantastic book - pacy, sharp, and warmly and cleverly funny' Ysabel.

'A really funny and heartwarming book' Amazon reviewer.

'I could not put this book down, it had me laughing out loud, shouting at the characters and crying' Amazon reviewer.

Ratings and reviews

The continuing adventures of Harriet Westmoreland. I requested this book and its predecessor at the same time on NetGalley, I liked the first book so I was looking forward to reading this one but unfortunately I did not enjoy it as much as the first. Just a short time ago Harriet was a teacher with three children, she and her husband were struggling financially, her mother in law was living with them and she was afraid that her old school nemesis/crush was trying to steal her husband. Now Harriet and Nick are financially secure, she has given up her job, she is about to give birth to twins and she is secure in the knowledge that Nick would never look at another woman. Her best friend Grace is also pregnant with her toy-boy Sebastian's baby, son of the aforementioned nemesis. But things never go according to plan, just as Harriet starts to emerge from the roundabout of children and housework and cooking she falls madly in love with the handsome Alex Hamilton (in Harvey Nicks of all places) and Grace gets a severe case of post-natal depression. This seemed to be almost the opposite of the first book in which Harriet was the poor put-upon, drown-trodden, overworked mother coping single-handedly while her husband is working abroad with a predatory, beautiful woman. In this book Harriet is a woman of, relative, leisure with a godsend housekeeper/babysitter taking all the pressure, she's selfish, reckless and frankly unlikable. I struggled desperately in the middle of the book, forcing myself past the need to DNF the book, I only read on because I was interested to find out what happened with Grace, even then I was disappointed. Although the book picked up towards the end for me the damage was done. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I’ll be honest in that I read this before the ‘introduction’ story to Grace and Harriet, but that didn’t make much difference in the grand scheme- the friendship, the humor and the missteps and mistakes were clearly outlined and the stories didn’t suffer from lack of information. What did come into play here, however, was the portrayal of two women who have lost their way, and perhaps a bit of themselves and good sense along the way. While Grace, with a severe case (and honest descriptions) of her post-natal depression and the hopelessness that came to stand over her making even the simplest tasks too much to bear, had an actual and understandable reason for her behaviors, Harriet’s missteps and deliberate dissembling to act a fool with Alex were not engaging any empathy, nor did she feel like anything more than a teen in a crush. That’s probably a spoiler of sorts – this story contains Harriet’s adultery, her guilt and the actual ‘wager’ that was the impetus for Alex coming on to her so strongly – and her putting everything aside – friends, children, household work – you name it – to enjoy her moments when she thought and believed that Alex wanted her for more – all while her husband Nick is flying hither, thither and yon with the new, growing and very successful business. I don’t see the “hilarious’ comments here – even though moments were funny and the opening scene was hilarious -but this felt more like a tale of all that could go wrong when life throws those curves and you can’t seem to dig out. Or, in Harriet’s case, don’t want to dig out. The story did give a solid sense of post-natal depression with Grace, however, and her wanting a baby for so long only to find herself gripped in that malaise of hopelessness was really well done and her progress did manage to save me from too much of Harriet’s stupidity. If I weren’t being kind I would say, with all the help and support, that Harriet’s leap into another man’s bed was more a fact of her having too much time to herself, far more than a mother of five with new-ish twins should have, and failing to realize what everyone on the face of the earth saw in Nick’s love for her. I’m more than torn with this – as I despise adultery and Harriet didn’t give me any real ‘reason’ why she’d actually stray – (hint – boredom doesn’t cut it), and her part in the book was substantial. I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review. All conclusions are my own responsibility.

A fabulous sequel to Goodness, Grace and Me, I have completely immersed myself in this novel today. Continuing on from where the first book leaves off, we find a very pregnant Harriet going into labour in a department store of all places. With her best friend Grace due to give birth in two months' time, we following their lives, loves and relationships - and that of those surrounding them - in this riveting read. A change of fortunes may make life easier, but with two teenagers, a six year old, newborn twins and a husband who travels a lot - and I mean a LOT - for business, Harriet doesn't really have a lot of spare time; not even for her best friend Grace who seems to have her own worries. Wow .. what a book! There's never a dull moment with the main personalities as well as a non-stop parade of other characters. Whilst this one has it's funnier moments, there are some serious issues covered within the pages and it all adds up to a fabulous, sparkling read! I am so happy to have been able to read both these novels together; I have been completely immersed in the world surround Midhope and have loved every single word. Without rushing anything, all the matters raised were sorted out by the final page. Beautiful writing, well-crafted characters and a flowing writing style has just added to my enjoyment of this author's work and, as well as recommending this novel, I would be happy to endorse all of her novels. Five HUGE sparkling, shiny stars!

About the author

Julie Houston lives in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire where her novels are set, and her only claims to fame are that she teaches part-time at Bridget Jones author Helen Fielding's old junior school and her neighbour is Chocolat author, Joanne Harris. After university, where she studied Education and English Literature, she taught for many years as a junior school teacher. As a newly qualified teacher, broke and paying off her first mortgage, she would spend every long summer holiday working on different Kibbutzim in Israel. After teaching for a few years she decided to go to New Zealand and taught in Auckland for a year before coming back to Britain. Julie now only teaches when the phone rings asking her to go in for supply work, but still loves the buzz of teaching junior-aged children. She has been a magistrate for the past twenty years, and, when not distracted by eBay, Twitter and Ancestry, spends much of her time writing. Julie is married, with two adult children and a ridiculous Cockerpoo called Lincoln. She runs and swims because she's been told it's good for her, but would really prefer a glass of wine, a sun lounger and a jolly good book – preferably with Dev Patel in attendance. You can contact Julie via the contact page, on Twitter or on Facebook.
Twitter: @juliehouston2
Facebook.com/JulieHoustonauthor