Book Review: Fall from Grace by Charles Benoit

Fall from Grace
Author: Charles Benoit
Reading Level: YA
Genre: Contemporary
Released: May 8th 2012
Review Source: HarperTEEN
Available: Amazon

Summary: (from goodreads) Grace always has a plan. There’s her plan to get famous, her plan to get rich, and—above all—her plan to have fun.

Sawyer has plenty of plans too. Plans made for him by his mother, his father, his girlfriend. Maybe they aren’t his plans, but they are plans.

When Sawyer meets Grace, he wonders if he should come up with a few plans himself. Plans about what he actually wants to be, plans to speak his own mind for a change, plans to maybe help Grace with a little art theft.

Wait a minute—plans to what?

Fall from Grace is a quick and easy read, waiting to jump into the hand of a young reader, where mystery, a male lead, and a hint of confused emotions is their theme of choice. With a private high school setting, Sawyer, our main character has it all. Two great parents who are pushing him harder and harder each day towards their dream of a certain Ivy league college. A beautiful and popular girlfriend who lacks personality, a dream job at the best eatery in town, and a mysterious girl named Grace, that decides to take Sawyer under her wings. She pulls him in with one interesting and exciting plan that she is ready to put in action, hoping to get the attention that she has always wanted. Little does Sawyer know, that this plan may ruin his currently, clean record, for life.

Charles Benoit has given the arena of young adult fiction an entertaining read, however it truly lacks an in-depth description of the characters presented in the novel. Although the title gives great attention to Grace, unfortunately, there is still something missing. She was more of a character, waiting patiently behind the red curtain, for her cue to enter the stage. By the time she came fully to center stage, the story was over. I felt the ending needed more details to tie up some loose ends, however, the author did put some closure to the storyline in the end.