Gracie Mae

A Story of Courage and Love

By: Donna Marie

Narrated by: Theresa Stephens

Length: 6 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

Gracie Mae escapes the madness of an abusive husband when she and her children, Ella, four years of age, and Jacob, only 18 months old, move back to Gracie's home town of Sanford, Illinois, where they take shelter with her sister and fiancé, Greta and Frank. The attraction to Dr. John Azzari was immediate when a visit to the pediatrician office became necessary due to Jacob's ear infections. As a receptive pediatrician, John sensed this family was running from something, or someone. When Gracie Mae confides in the gracious doctor, the magnetism between them is amplified to a new level. Whenever Gracie finally felt she could live a life of happiness with her small children, her feelings of hopeful contentment were crushed by threats from her husband, Rich, which eventually became a horrific reality.

©2016 Donna Marie (P)2016 Donna Marie

Just OK

Gracie Mae is about a woman that is abused by her husband, and after years of abuse, she decides to leave. Going back to her home town, she and her children move in with her sister. When her children get sick, she takes them to the local pediatrician. There is an immediate attraction between them. From then on, everything moves too quickly to be real. The main characters, Gracie and John are too perfect. We get to know them pretty well, but all of the other characters seem to be just floating in the background. As for the narrator, she is a little stilted, but not so bad that I couldn't finish the book.
I was given a copy of this audio book by the author/narrator/publisher in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

Just okay

Any additional comments?

For some reason, the narration of this book involved long pauses between chapters. Unreasonably long pauses. After awhile, it was very distracting. Even without that, the story and narration were just so, so. It wasn't a horrible story. It wasn't even horrible narration. It was...just...missing...something. Even though the story had a happy ending, my emotions were never moved enough to care. It was just okay.

Author had good intentions, but not believable.

I got this audio book free in exchange for an honest review.
This was a story of domestic abuse. Gracie Mae has been living with an abusive husband for quite some time. She finally leaves her husband. Then she falls for another guy about a week later--a doctor, no less. A week later? Really? That just didn't work for me. It just set me up for not being able to get into the book. Some of the dialogue didn't work either. It really was a struggle for me to finish it.
The narration was also just fair. Strange phrasings, etc.