Saving Grace (The Button Jar #1) in Aussie Readers

Mar 05, 2013 Christy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley

I simply adore feel good books!!! And while this may not be an award winner, it is most certainly a heart warmer. I'm SO glad I read this and am now anxiously awaiting the next book in the series.

I don't get the negative reviews out there, as I found it to be lighthearted and fun read.

Emily has married the IT guy. He's from one of the richest families in town; he's good looking; makes her mother very proud to have her daughter married to the IN family; and he loves her right? Wrong! He's more ...more

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Mar 07, 2013 Brenda rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: own-read, 2013-release, arc, net-galley, read-on-kindle, outback-romance

The marriage of Emily Oliphant to John Stratten was known as a wonderful match. The Stratten name was synonymous with farming in the area, and John was a very eligible bachelor. Emily was thrilled John had chosen her to be his bride. But within hours of leaving the reception, she realized she had made a terrible mistake!

Three years later, Emily’s beloved Gran died, leaving her grief stricken. The day before she died, she gave Emily a large jar filled with buttons. It was a treasured memento fro The marriage of Emily Oliphant to John Stratten was known as a wonderful match. The Stratten name was synonymous with farming in the area, and John was a very eligible bachelor. Emily was thrilled John had chosen her to be his bride. But within hours of leaving the reception, she realized she had made a terrible mistake!

Three years later, Emily’s beloved Gran died, leaving her grief stricken. The day before she died, she gave Emily a large jar filled with buttons. It was a treasured memento from her Gran’s younger days. When John decided to demolish the nearby cottage on their property just so Emily couldn’t turn it into a B&B, which had been her dream for some time, and then shot at her new companion, puppy Grace, just to scare her, she knew it was time to take a stand. Her ties to a man who was cruel, and showed no love whatsoever, just needing her there to serve him meals, which made her realize she was a glorified maid, were over! She needed the courage to walk away, and her new friend Barbara was her major support. Her bitter and disapproving mother, Enid, was only concerned about her own good name, so Emily had no support from her.

After staying with Barbara and her husband David for a few days, Emily was encouraged to move into an old, abandoned farmhouse. The owners, two elderly brothers, were happy for her to live there, and do it up, so with help from her dad Des, Barbara and David, she began turning the house into her home. Discovering much about her father she didn’t know, realizing he was not the brow-beaten man she had previously thought him to be, was a soothing side effect of all their hard work. Emily’s confidence had taken a beating, and puppy Grace was a loving friend who adored her mistress.

But Emily was feeling the effects of what she had done, and though she had done nothing wrong, those friends she thought she had, turned from her, humiliated her and made her doubt her decisions…..

I really enjoyed this book, the interaction between the characters, the love of the Australian bush, which I could ‘see’ in my mind’s eye, and throughout the story, I could feel Emily getting stronger, finding her independence and courage to keep going. I was stunned when the book finished, as it WASN’T finished!! It was then I remembered reading at the beginning of the book that this one is the first in ‘The Button Jar series’…..I can’t wait to read the next episode!

With thanks to NetGalley for this copy to read and review.
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Mar 04, 2013 Bree T rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, series, australian, contemporary, aww2013

Emily Oliphant thought that the rest of her life was going to be so fabulous after she married John Stratten, son of one of the largest wool producers in the district. John had been so charming and Emily saw herself working beside him on the farm, making it a success, sharing their lives together.

But the reality turned out to be much different. Instead Emily found herself little more than a slave, cooking John his meals and cleaning the house and providing him with a willing body each night in h Emily Oliphant thought that the rest of her life was going to be so fabulous after she married John Stratten, son of one of the largest wool producers in the district. John had been so charming and Emily saw herself working beside him on the farm, making it a success, sharing their lives together.

But the reality turned out to be much different. Instead Emily found herself little more than a slave, cooking John his meals and cleaning the house and providing him with a willing body each night in his bed. She was locked out of the farming life, deemed “not for women”, yet John would not let her get a job either and contribute to their somewhat dwindling finances. And to top it off, the loving man she knew before the marriage turned into a selfish and abusive one.

Finally gathering the courage to leave three years later, Emily finds a friend in local woman Barbara who encourages her in every dream that she has. For a while she stays with Barbara and her husband Dave, ignoring her overbearing mother’s pleas to reconsider her actions. Emily has dreamed of opening a little country B&B, collecting a scrapbook filled with ideas. She and Barbara find an abandoned farmhouse, something that would’ve once been grand in its heyday and Emily arranges through the local bachelor owners, two brothers, to rent it for a very cheap fee. As she throws herself into painting, cleaning, sanding and fixing up the old place, she dares to allow herself to dream just a little.

But Emily doesn’t have a job and her foolishness in signing her husband’s financial settlement document to swiftly end things between them means that she has been nicely played out of a much bigger settlement. In order for Emily’s dream to come true, she’s going to need income but the financial crisis is still affecting her small rural town and Emily has found herself the victim of local gossip as well. What she doesn’t know is that she’s in possession of what she needs to make her dream come true…she just needs a little bit of luck to find it, that’s all.

This novel is the first in a series and I read an uncorrected proof copy which didn’t state that either in the title, nor did it have a To Be Continued on the last page. The only reference I found to the fact that it was a series book was one line on the About The Author page, which I often don’t read. I hope that the finished copy does state that it’s the first book in a series because reading this as a stand-alone, you’re waiting for things to happen that quite frankly, never do.

There were parts of this novel I really liked: I’m always a big fan of rural fiction novels that depict women learning to stand on their own two feet and I rather like it when renovations are included. I’m a nerd for ‘do it yourself’ stuff and enjoy fix-up housing shows on TV and I like to read about it as well. But that doesn’t change the fact that the main character is ridiculously stupid and I find it hard to tolerate stupid main characters.

Firstly, she leaves a man who is verbally abusive to her and threatens her new puppy with a shotgun. Good enough reasons to get out in my book but her moping at him not coming after her or displaying emotion at her leaving was irritating. She married a man who expected a slave, not a wife and it was clear he didn’t care about Emily so long as she cooked his meals and warmed his bed. Also, she was given strong, repeated and very smart advice not to sign a financial settlement that her husband drew up for them until she’d had someone look it over. Her ex-husband’s not a lawyer. He’s not an accountant. She chose to ignore this advice and then was bothered when she found out she’d been screwed. What did you expect, Emily? When someone offers you a homemade financial settlement and wants it signed ASAP, you can guaran-damn-tee that they are not out to look after YOU. They are out to look after THEM. She was also, at times crushingly negative and it made me applaud Barbara, who dealt with it all so patiently. I understand that Emily was timid and probably beaten down after her difficult marriage and wanted to sever ties with a man that made her unhappy quickly – but then once you have done that, don’t complain about it! Even if you did get screwed, you chose to take that as a way to speed up the process. The other thing was, Emily told us several times that John was fabulous before they married, but the reader never got to see this. All they got was how he was after and it made it extremely difficult to understand how he’d managed to have a relationship with her and get her to marry him in the first place.

I think that hopefully, this book got a lot of that out of Emily’s character and that the second book might be more positive. I’m really interested in the storyline about her gran and the jar of buttons that she left to Emily (it’s referenced a lot in this book and the reader knows something that Emily does not and waiting for her to discover it when I thought this book was stand alone was somewhat painful). So on that hand, I am looking forward to the next one because I do want to see what happens and how Emily discovers what she needs to, what that will mean for her and what she will do with it. I just hope that she’s a bit more positive. ...more

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Jan 01, 2013 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: arc-are, netgalley-reviews, provided-by-publisher, aussie-author

Saving Grace is the fourth book by Fiona Mccallum set in South Australia and the first in a new series named The Button Jar series. In this contemporary rural fiction novel, Emily Oliphant has endured three years of marriage to John Stratten and, when he destroys her hope of developing a B&B (literally) and threatens her only companion, a puppy named Grace, she decides she can't take his cruelty anymore. Despite her mother's vehement disapproval and her own doubts, Emily leaves and must find a w
Saving Grace is the fourth book by Fiona Mccallum set in South Australia and the first in a new series named The Button Jar series. In this contemporary rural fiction novel, Emily Oliphant has endured three years of marriage to John Stratten and, when he destroys her hope of developing a B&B (literally) and threatens her only companion, a puppy named Grace, she decides she can't take his cruelty anymore. Despite her mother's vehement disapproval and her own doubts, Emily leaves and must find a way to rebuild her life and her dreams.

After struggling with Mccallum's lead protagonist in Wattle Creek, I was hoping to find Emily a more personable character. Unfortunately I quickly grew frustrated with Emily's passive attitude which swings wildly between self pity and bitterness. There were glimpses of strength but too fleeting, and almost immediately undone by semi hysterical rhetoric. To be fair, I was not completely without sympathy for Emily and thought that her thoughts and behaviours were not unrealistic, especially as she wavers, but I found her pessimism wearing.

I often find when I can't relate to the main character of a book it influences how I feel about the story as a whole, and that is certainly the case here especially as very little else happened plot wise. Saving Grace is a character driven novel and without the connection to Emily I care little about what happens to her. This novel feels as it ends abruptly with very little progress or resolution. There is some growth but generally at the instigation of others and I really wanted for Emily to take a more active role.

I did like Barbara quite a lot though, I appreciated how supportive and practical she proved to be, given the newness of her friendship with Emily. I also liked the way in Emily's father extended his quiet support to Emily, especially in the face of her mother's endless criticism and disapproval.

I really wanted to fall in love with Saving Grace, and I am sorry I didn't. I consider my opinion to be the result of a personality conflict with Emily, and not a reflection on the author but I can only describe it as an okay read (hence the 2 stars). ...more

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Sep 17, 2017 Tien rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: australian-author, australia, contemporary

A rather random choice from my borrowbox account which turned out to be an okay audiobook to listen to. I liked the characters and the setting (small town community) but aside from the main event disclosed on the blurb (main character leaving her abusive husband), there really wasn’t much happening. It was a nice easy relaxing pace for the listener though maybe not for someone who’s just left her husband having to re-learn being on her own; not just the loneliness but also finances & relationshi ...more

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Mar 30, 2013 Ceri rated it liked it

After three years in an unhappy marriage Emily Oliphant decides to leave her husband and start over. Not an easy feat when your husband is one of the wealthiest land owners in the district, but with the help of her friend Barbara, Emily slowly begins to reclaim her independence and follows her dream.

Saving Grace is a story of new beginnings and having the strength and courage to move on when the world falls down around you. A nice light read, but the ending is left wide open for the next book in ...more

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Apr 27, 2013 Sheree rated it it was ok

Shelves: reviews, own, aussie-author, read-in-2013, womens-fiction

2.5 stars

I wanted to love Saving Grace, I really did, the cover is gorgeous and I thought Emily would be someone I identified with ... not so.

I've been where Emily's been so I was positive I'd feel empathy for this woman and her situation, be rooting for her. Don't get me wrong I understood her fears, the courage it took to finally leave her abusive, controlling husband, the erosion of self esteem and the self doubt but not the self pity and bitterness or the whiny, poor me attitude. Sarah just ...more

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