Finding Grace

By Rhea Rhodan

Kidnapped by human monsters, Grace Thorne was ripped from her quiet intellectual life and left deeply scarred. She’s hidden herself for five years, but there’s no escape from the nightmares of the past, or visions of the future. When one foretells tragedy, she gambles her fragile defenses on a haunted man to prevent it—only to discover love is the biggest risk of all.

Jack Daggery doesn’t need a mirror to know why people avoid him, but he doesn’t really care. After years working deep undercover, immersed in betrayal and death, all he wants is some peace and the quiet security company he co-owns.

Dagger has no idea why the foul-mouthed little server of questionable gender bothers him. But he does know that living with the ghosts of his past was hard enough without being tormented by the mysterious thorn in his side—or finding how much he needs her.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Musa Publishing
• Release date: Jun 12, 2012
• ISBN: 9781619371613

Rhea Rhodan

Award-winning author Rhea Rhodan resides in Minnetonka, Minnesota. She’s been telling herself stories since long before she learned to write. She attended the University of Minnesota with a focus on Journalism, then Brown Institute for Broadcast Journalism. After many adventures, misadventures, and a couple of short marriages, she found the love of her life in Regensburg, Germany, and has been living happily ever after since.  She journaled those adventures extensively (some might say rabidly) beginning in middle school, but didn't combine her writing and story-telling until several years ago, when one of the stories grabbed her by the throat and shook her like a rag doll until she gave in and wrote it. Having tasted freedom, her muse refuses to return to the confines of her head, and has successfully turned the tables, keeping her at the keyboard to appease it.  She welcomes feedback and fan mail :>) ([e-mail]). You can join her on Facebook and Goodreads, too. Rhea is always happy to meet new friends. http://www.rhearhodan.com http://www.facebook.com/rhearhodan https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6152084.Rhea_Rhodan For (very) occasional updates with great contests, subscribe to Rhea's newsletter: [e-mail] with the word "newsletter" in the subject line. 

Reviews for Finding Grace

[sweetpeasuzie · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Damaged goods, that’s how protagonists Jack Daggery and Grace Thorne would describe themselves in Rhea Rhodan’s action adventure/crime thriller Finding Grace. From the start readers are aware that both characters have deeply burrowed secrets, which keep them from experiencing happiness, or at least from believing that any happiness which comes into their lives will stay. The language is crass and biting. The expressions are loaded with urban slang and expletives, and the tenacity of the characters reveal an inner human strength that’s inspiring.Tough and sharp-tongued, Grace Thorne is recruited by Paul Weston, the head of Blackridge, a type of security agency comprised of former members of the elite forces: Navy Seals, Rangers, Green Beret, NSA, Delta Force, and Special Tactics. She catches Paul’s attention when she saves the life of the Tierney heiress. As Thorne, she’s an androgynous figure dressed as a boy making Paul think he’s hiring another guy on his team. After researching Thorne’s background, Paul discovers that he is really a she and had been brutally tortured by three guys who had kidnapped her several years ago.Now at twenty-six, Grace Thorne is an expert at tracing the elusive carbon footprints of embezzlers, kidnappers, and other criminals who use computers in the course of their illicit activities. It’s a valuable talent for Blackridge because what makes Grace and the goals of Paul’s organization compatible is that they’re on the same side wanting to catch criminals and right injustices.What Grace didn’t expect is being disarmed by the unhandsome man on the team Jack Daggery. Rhodan takes her time building their romance and having the two feel safe enough to let down their guard around each other. Grace runs hot and cold with Dagger, which evokes agitation with the reader, but Dagger’s rock solid persona keeps audiences desiring to see where this goes. It’s a gratifying moment when Dagger realizes Thorne is a woman and there is nothing to stop them from pursuing an intimate relationship. The references to them go from damn kid and Georgia Peach to Beauty and the Beast.It’s a pivotal moment when Grace facilitates the reconciliation between Dagger and his estranged older brother Joe. She even shows Joe the manacle scars on her back and shoulders which garner sympathy from Jack’s brother.One shortcoming in the book is a quality which Grace exhibits at the start of the story, but takes a backseat during the course of the events. She has a sixth sense, an ability to see visions which helps her to solve crimes. Her talent for premonitions or visions gives her a supernatural trait which Rhodan ties in with the torture that Grace endured at the hands of the kidnappers. She is a compassionate character which comes through in the care she renders to Jefferson, a homeless man who once served in the US Armed Forces.Finding Grace, like the main character Grace Thorne, runs hot and cold with moments that reel readers into the plot and others that push them away such as when Grace throws herself through a glass window to avoid exposure in front of Dagger. There is a cat and mouse play between the two which at times turns the reader off to Grace’s situation, but in a reversal of stereotypical roles, it is the Beast who transforms the girl into Beauty.