Faking Grace by Tamara Leigh

Originally Posted at Bibliophile’s Retreat by Melissa Meeks

Multnomah Books (August 19, 2008)
This is the first book by Ms. Leigh I’ve read but not only did it sound appealing it ended up being a winner in person. Maizy Grace works for a TN mainstream newspaper part time hoping it will become full time after her soft heart botched an investigative assignment at the previous paper she’d worked for in Seattle. She was lucky that a former journalism professor was willing to put their neck on the line for her and get her in with the paper in TN. While she is waiting on the paper to decide to give her a full time slot she makes a name for herself writing for the lifestyle section but needs another part time position to pay the bills. Her former prof conveniently directs her to an opening at nearby Steeple Side a religious publications company with a variety of arms to it. This so called friend also encourages her to hide that she writes for the paper and change her name to abet this deception. Unfortunately its a matter of when not if someone will find out and her cover get blown especially as the lies stack up one after the other to maintain this facade. What happens to a sideline believer who doesn’t even bother to join the chants of the crowd rooting for the home team when the first available position she encounters is for a company that requires employees to sign off on a statement agreeing to maintain specific standards of behavior at all times even if not on the clock? How long can she pretend to be something she’s not and how many tacky pieces of religious paraphenalia is she going to plaster in her life to appear more devout? Will these bits of kitschy knickknacks and such provide the cover she expects or will they simply reveal that she is trying too hard to be someone else? Read this book to find out all this and more while getting a good dose of humorous episodes from the DBGC (Dumb Blond’s Guide to Christianity) and Maizy’s attempts to make Grace appear as the “perfect” Christian. (ISBN#9781590529294, 400pp, $12.99)