The Fall of Grace by Amy Fellner Dominy

Title: The Fall of Grace

Author: Amy Fellner Dominy

Genre: Young Adult, Fiction

Series: N/A

Hardcover, 304 Pages

Publication: April 10, 2018 by Delacorte Press

Source: I received a review copy from the publisher in exchange for a honest review.

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Grace’s junior year is turning into her best year yet. She’s set to make honor roll, her print from photography class might win a national contest, and her crush just asked her to prom.

Then the bottom falls out. News breaks that the investment fund her mom runs is a scam and her mother is a thief.

Now, instead of friends, the FBI is at her door. Grace is damaged goods.


Millions of dollars are unaccounted for, and everyone wants to know where all the money went. Can she find it and clear her mother’s name?The key to repairing her shattered life seems to lie in a place deep in the wilderness, and Grace sets out, her identity hidden, determined to find it.


But she isn’t alone. 

Sam Rivers, a mysterious loner from school, is on her trail and wants to know exactly what secrets she uncovers. As the pair travels into the wilds, Grace realizes she must risk everything on the dark, twisted path to the truth.

We hear about fraudulent activities all the time in the media but we never really hear about the aftermath or what goes on behind the scenes. How it affects friends and family members. Dominy tackles that issue in her latest novel, The Fall of Grace. Grace lived the posh-life, she had everything...looks, popularity, wealth and recognition being the face of her mom’s company. But she never questioned her lavish lifestyle or how her mother provided for the two of them. Then one day Grace’s life starts to crumble as her mom is accused of a ponzi scheme involving money invested from their own community. Only Grace knows her mom and that what she was being accused of was ludicrous and she’s determined to absolve her mom by finding out the truth.

I’m starting to dig the past and present writing style. The Fall of Grace is narrated in first-person point of view, jumping back and forth, as you can guess, the past and present culminating in the present; days after news about her mother breaks. Readers get to see everything leading up to her mother’s indictment; how she lived before and after.

The plot itself is intriguing but it wasn’t without flaws. I found it perplexing how easily everyone assumed Grace was involved and aided her mom in acquiring 45 million dollars from the investors. What happened to being innocent until proven guilty? I mean, she’s still a kid after all. The verbal and physical attacks Grace endure was disheartening and sad but I could see it from both sides. Grace and Sam were decent leads but at the same time there wasn’t anything that made them standout or memorable. It didn’t help that I wasn’t able to feel any connection to them either…they had their moments.

In my opinion the first half of the book was stronger and better than the second half. I was a bit disappointed in how it ended and wished we had a clear answer such as where did all the money go? I also felt the ending was rushed and too easily resolved, at least in how everything was dealt involving Grace’s mom, Janelle. But overall I thought The Fall of Grace was a solid read with pros and cons and a novel I would still recommend it with reservation.