Description
Ever since Tori Weston and MamaBear were abandoned by her dad, finances have been tighter than a new pair of skinny jeans. As if keeping her grades up for scholarships and working every spare moment weren’t enough, Tori gets suckered into visiting a retirement home and paired with ancient resident Marigold Williams. After learning she’s the only one to visit Marigold in decades, Tori becomes a regular at Willow Springs. Besides, someone has to help with her history homework.
Corbin Dallas barges into Tori’s life with a prosthetic leg and a dimple, working his way into her hectic schedule. Though she tries to deny it, there’s something beyond his Texan drawl that gets Tori hoping she’s more than his sidekick. Together, they race to find Marigold’s missing family before she fades away. Tori ditches her soul-sucking job, along with her dreams of having a paint-peeled clunker to call her own, in order to help her friend one last time.
Olivia –
Sweet, sassy, and heartwarming, this is a book you don’t want to miss!! I’ve never read any of Clancy’s work before, but Victoria Grace won my heart in a second! Her personality is so vivid (and authentic – felt very accurate to a YA character!), flaws and quirks and all.
A couple other things I loved:
– Real-life, likeable secondary characters! MamaBear, Marigold, and Corbin popped off the page and straight into my heart!
– Tori’s strong voice is unmistakable – she doesn’t sound like anyone else and is instantly recognizable on the page! I could pick her internal monologue out of a lineup, and I loved that! I feel like I really know her.
– Parents aren’t the bad guys!! So often in YA fiction, the parents “get in the way” or are otherwise absent (or downright evil). I loved that Tori and her mom had such a healthy, loving relationship.
– Without giving anything away (no spoilers here) I was deeply satisfied with the ending. It felt right for the story, and I walked away feeling touched.
Can’t wait to see what’s up next for this author-friend of mine!
*I was given an ARC, but no review was required and all opinions are entirely my own!
Adventurous Bookworm (verified owner) –
Hmm, I am a bit conflicted over this book. There were some aspects that I loved and others that were not my favorite.
First thing’s first, I guess. Marigold. How refreshing it was to have an older mentor in a YA novel. Seriously, Marigold is the reason that this stands out from other YA, even Christian YA.
I must say, if you don’t love Corbin, there’s something wrong. He was such a great guy and always treated his girl respectfully (I wish other ya authors wrote guys like this.) Yes, he did have a prosthetic but he did not allow it to control his life. There were no pity parties (yay) and it was nice to see people just accept him for who he is.
Now on to Tori, aka Victoria Grace. Honestly, I have no idea why she is called a jerk face. She has done absolutely nothing to deserve it. Yes, she put her foot in her mouth at times but who hasn’t?
The one thing that I was slightly disappointed by was the humor. Based upon the back cover and author bio, I was expecting a lot more. Maybe my humor is different than the character’s but this was not the laugh-out-read that I was hoping for.
Rating: 4/5
Language: n/a
Romance: a kiss and crushing
Spiritual: the characters are all Christian and regularly attend church and youth group
Violence: discusses the removal of Japanese Americans during WWII and it’s effects
*I received a copy of this book through the publisher’s reward program.