The Audacity of Sara Grayson

After acclaimed author Charlotte Bond dies, her will states that she wants her daughter Sara, a greeting card/coupon writer, to finish her long-awaited final book in her popular series. No one is more shocked than Charlotte with this audacious request.

Much of the first half of the book is spent with Sara dealing with her loss, her struggling writing process, and her rampant feelings of self-doubt about whether she's up to the task of writing the book. Initially, I liked the behind-the-scenes look at the life of an author and the editing process, but the repetitive day-to-day writing struggles took their toll on the pacing of the story. I think 32-year-old Sara was supposed to induce sympathy with the reader, but I found she was a hard character to like due to her incessant insecurities and immaturity with her whining and lack of basic life skills.

Things pick up around halfway when a family mystery is introduced (and a mild romance). The build-up for the mystery kept me turning pages but I thought the reveal of the family secret was overly complicated and had too many forced, serendipitous connections. What will stand out for me with this book was the positive and supportive bond between Sara, her sister Anna-Kath (who for some reason also goes by Ann) and their mother, who was the most fascinating character of the bunch.

I expected a different book based on the cover and the blurb and I think this is an impressive debut, but I had hoped to like this book more. Some parts were quite well written and if I step back, I liked the premise of the story and getting a glimpse into the life of a new author. But when you're in the thick of things, I think this book may have been a bit too audacious for its own good as it tried to be too many things. 

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to Post Hill Books for my complimentary digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

My Rating: 3 stars

Author: Joani Elliott

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Type and Source: eBook from GoodReads

Publisher: Post Hill Press

First Published: May 25, 2021

Opening Line: She refused to be triggered by breakfast food, 

so she went straight for the waffles.

Book Description from GoodReads: What happens when your mother’s dying wish becomes your worst nightmare?

What happens when the world’s greatest literary icon dies before she finishes the final book in her best-selling series?
 
And what happens when she leaves that book in the hands of her unstable, neurotic daughter, who swears she’s not a real writer?

Sara Grayson is a thirty-two-year-old greeting card writer about to land the toughest assignment of her life. Three weeks after the death of her mother—a world-famous suspense novelist—Sara learns that her mother’s dying wish is for her to write the final book in her bestselling series.

Sara has lived alone with her dog, Gatsby, ever since her husband walked out with their Pro Double Waffle Maker and her last shred of confidence. She can’t fathom writing a book for thirty million fans—not when last week’s big win was resetting the microwave clock.
 
But in a bold move that surprises even herself, Sara takes it on. Against an impossible deadline and a publisher intent on sabotaging her every move, Sara discovers that stepping into her mother’s shoes means stumbling on family secrets she was never meant to find—secrets that threaten her mother’s legacy and the very book she’s trying to create.