Falls from Grace

Grace Notes, Book 1

By: Ruby Landers

Narrated by: Quinn Riley

GCLS Goldie Award Winner for Best Contemporary Romance 2025

Savannah Grace is a huge star in Nashville. At least, she was.

Her hit band Twice Struck topped the country music charts for almost a decade until her high-profile marriage to her bandmate and co-writer publicly exploded. Now she's fading from the spotlight and her own life, just trying to keep her head above water.

Brynn Marshall is a little lost. Dropping out of med school made her the black sheep of the family and now she's floating around LA trying to find a sense of purpose. When she falls down on her luck, her best friend—indie musician Noah Lyman—refuses to let her wallow. After all, he's just got his big break: co-writing with a megastar!

When Savannah enlists Noah to help her break out of country music and make a name for herself for once and for all, what better way to do it than to spend the Winter in her secluded vacation home in the woods of Vermont? And what better way for Noah to help out a friend than to pretend he's bringing along his wife?

After all, what could possibly go wrong?

Contains mature content. A complete list of content warnings can be found on the author's website.

©2024 Ruby Landers (P)2024 Podium Audio

Beautiful.

My favorite book so supremely well done in this audio performance! The tension between the two main characters is intense, emotional and leaves you longing and praying for a happy ending.
So so so well done!

A rollercoaster ride of emotions!

So happy I decided to try this book, had me totally captivated from the start. So much that I started it one evening and finished the next day ☺️ then I got the next two books !

Wonderful narration for an excellent story

How did I not read this before? Life has a way of getting in the way, I guess. Though I may be late to the party but that allowed me to discover this book through Quinn Riley‘s fabulous narration. I know she’s become my friend and I may seem biased, but I couldn’t listen to a whole audiobook if I didn’t enjoy the narration, no matter how I feel about the narrator. And Quinn Riley, aka Jeremy Carlisle Parker (I’ll always mention her two names so you can find all her work), is an excellent narrator, and to me, this is her best narration so far. Granted, I haven’t listened to all, but I I kept forgetting there was only one narrator, and that I knew her. The range of emotions she manages to convey through Savannah and Brynn is extraordinary.

As wonderful as a narration may be, however, it’s not enough to make an audiobook enjoyable if the story isn’t good. Falls From Grace is my first book by Ruby Landers, and as I mentioned above, I can’t explain why it took me so long to find it. I loved it. Everything about it. I’m a character-driven reader (and a mood reader, more and more, because, again, life), and Landers’s made me incredibly happy. The MCs, of course, superstar Savannah Grace and med-school dropout Brynn Marshall, both so sweet and talented and hurt but also so open to possibilities. Around them are other wonderful characters: Tucker, Savannah’s little boy, is one of the most plausible children I’ve read, and Quinn’s voice for him fits perfectly; Noah, Brynn’s best friend, a talented musician in his own right, the reason our MCs meet (I’m not spoiling this but get ready for some drama), and such a sweet guy; Coral, Savannah’s pushy and supportive best friend, another highly respected artist, and a trans woman; Lane, the youngest—besides Tucker—character in this story, whom I love, and can’t wait to know more about them.

The relationship between Brynn and Savannah develops as a very slow burn, and their coming together—no pun intended but I’m not deleting it—is totally worth the wait. They have a lot of chemistry, and while I wasn’t one hundred per cent convinced about the way some of Brynn’s talents (I don’t mean in the bedroom) were revealed, no effort was needed to believe in the attraction between the two, or any of the relationships, romantic or not.

The overall feeling after listening is one of quiet delight, which doesn’t mean Falls From Grace is all fluff and snowflakes. Landers tackles sensitive topics such as childhood and family trauma, imposter syndrome, sobriety and addiction, trust and betrayals. Through it all, I rooted not only for the MCs but also for everyone around them, the found family whose devotion and gentleness contribute to painting Brynn and Savannah as full, complex, worthy-of-love characters.

Sure, this debut novel isn’t perfect and there are flaws here and there. I, however, didn’t mind any of them. The splendid narration probably helped, but as I wrote above, the narration can only shine if the material it’s based on is outstanding as well. A good narrator can elevate a story, but they can’t make it.

I’ll stop raving now, but I’ll probably get back to it when the audiobook for the second book, Graceless, comes out. 4.5⭐️

Video review: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DDuVzbTARrH/

Checks all

Love the interaction w the kiddo. Well played, enduring and not annoying like many have been. Good balanced read.

Fabulous Story

This book was difficult to put down because of the masterful writing and performance. The depth of the main characters, their lives past and present were woven together with skill, knowing and reality. I was touch by the vulnerability and striving for their truth and authentic life. I felt the triumph and heartbreak through the amazing words and narrative genius performance. Living in Nashville, it was fun to see my city in these lights. Thank you.