An Unexpected Grace Paperback – December 31, 2013

A great book but didn't like that I had to pay shipping on this one book when I ordered a lot of things with this order that qualified for free shipping.

A well-written story about healing in an unexpected way. Lila is one inordinately stubborn woman who has experienced tragedy and sorrow leaving her resentful and leery of everyone except her best friend, Christina. Circumstances find her housesitting Christina's place along with an abused dog foisted on her. Lila has strong fears of dogs and is even more bitter about having the dog left with her. I had to push through my dislike of Lila and her seemingly never-ending whining about her lot in life. I held on, hoping for an "AHA" moment wherein Lila finally could allow herself to grow and mature. I am glad I held on. Ms. Von Kreisler's writing did it. With strong, loving and forgiving descriptors the story slowly evolves into one of healing despite Lila's proud stubbornness. And none of it was close to being sappy. Thanks for a genuinely caring read.

Kristin von Kreisler's novel delivers the story of healing one is lead to expect. It takes Lila a long time to forgive the man who shot her, and it is the Golden Retreiver Grace who is responsible for her finding peace in her spirit. What is unusual is that Lila has never liked dogs, having been bitten as a young girl. But the loving Grace eventually is more than anyone could resist. Lila also finds human love.What annoyed me about von Kreisler's writing is her absolute overuse of analogy and description. She has such a heavy hand in her descriptions. She feels the need to bring old mythological references and the names of obscure artistic paintings into her writing. And there are too many such allusions, so much so they slow the reader. Readers will not recognize many of these overdone references, and it may not bother many, but it did me. I have never agreed with the sparse Hemingway style of writing, but that sounds good to me now, having just finished An Unexpected Grace.

I read An Unexpected Grace in a day, forcing myself to stay awake so I could read more! Even though it was clear from the outset how the story would end, that's exactly what I wanted to happen, and it was a pleasure watching it unfold. The author clearly wants to make people think about animal welfare, but she does it through the story of one dog, not statistics or a bludgeon. Slowly, a person damaged by situations in her own life is awakened to compassion for a rescued dog named Grace. In the process, the dog is instrumental in her own healing. The reader can just enjoy the tale (and yes, there's a romance) or take the time to think through themes like what forgiveness means and how to break out of the prison of unforgiveness. This is not a "religious" book, but there is spirituality within it. Grace will surely remain in readers' minds after the book is closed.

I love dogs and seem to gravitate toward stories about them. This was a good story as it evoked feelings I hadn't expected. At the beginning it caught your attention right away. It was suspenseful and you couldn't help be sympathetic. As the story evolved I felt anger toward the main character for her feelings and actions toward the dog. At one point I stopped reading only to say there was half a book left and things had to get better. They did. We all react differently to circumstances. If nothing else, this story showed how someone might react when involved in a traumatic event and realize they need some help in the form of woman's best friend.

Good book

It is difficult to read through a book when you loathe the main character. I was drawn to the story by the dog, hoped the author would have developed and cared more for that aspect of this novel. The story was s-l-o-w, the "heroine" tedious and boring. Over and over the same story line was repeated, never really going anywhere. All was quite predictable, which can be alright if spun properly, this was not. The author takes time to try and put in trendy computer shopping hot spots, really, and that was necessary because ? The only part of this drug out tale that I enjoyed was Grace the dog. When she ran away I rooted for her to keep going, find some sensible people and live happily ever after. I ended up skimming rapidly through the pages using my Evelyn Woods reading skills to the end. I am not sure why I finished it, since it was oh so apparent how it would end. This book, like many kindle novels, begged for good editing. If it had been a movie 60% of it would have been cut and edited out. If this author wants to become a serious writer I would suggest taking additional writing classes, participating in writing feedback groups and enlarging her circle of inside reviewers before publishing again.

I found this book very interesting. It was not what I originally thought it would be about. I thought it was about a dog and a person relationship and it eventually got to that point but it was a lot more than that. It was about hurt, abuse and seeking answers and I found myself drawn to the story and wanting to figure things out. I wanted to find the answers as much as the Lila did. It turned out to be very good, well written and I will definitely read more books by this author.

I expected a better story from this book. The book took on a tough topic about a woman being shot in her office. That is a big thing and I get that you can eventually recover from something like this but it was just not well done here. The dog seemed like a lovely character but then that comes naturally for dogs.What I didn't like was that the woman's character was shot and no one helped her understand what happened to her and why. There didn't seem to be a police investigation or a reason why this terrorist shot her and people in the story just wanted her to move on and not think about it. This is not how life works. We need to understand things in a story or in real life. After her dog gets hurt she understands how to move on from bad memories but it was too simplistic.I don't think I would recommend this to my friends because there are many other more worthwhile stories to read. Too bad. It had potential.

A journey to living in the moment with Grace as the guide. A lovely story of the healing journey. I like this story.

My wife and I both loved this book. We have a golden, so this drew me to the book, but any dog or pet lover will empathize with the main, four- legged character. A great summer read for us.

I read this book years ago and knowing that my mother loves books on dogs I sent it to her. She loved it and found it a very good read !!She recommends Kristin von Kreisler books and gave it a 5 star rating !!! Wonder if this was a Christmas hint ????

This book draws you in right from the beginning. It is a very emotional story but one you would not want to miss. I definitely recommend it.