Rating: 
Summary: Oh so bad, so terribly, terribly, terribly bad
Review: Charlotte Vale Allen cracks me up. She writes books reviews when she should spend more time learning how to write books. That can be the only reason to explain why she continues to write silly, sappy, vapid prose; bland, cardboard characters; weak and often ridiculous plots. She makes Patterson look like Jonathan Franzen.
Rating: 
Summary: An awesome read to cherish!
Review: Charlotte Vale Allen has written another powerful book titled Grace Notes. The characters are believable. Grace is a writer, but it's not a book about writing. The book shows how things can go wrong, awfully wrong, and the ending will shock you. I love suspense and this book has lots of tension. I found myself reading until the wee hours of the morning. It's a modern day story and there's something for everyone, even a gay character shown in proper light.I don't review the plot as that's really cheating. I guarantee you that you'll want to curl up and enjoy Grace Notes from cover to cover. I did. Once, a chill crawled up my spine. I won't tell you what page. That doesn't matter. There's as much love in the book as everything else as well. I found Grace Notes both rewarding and gripping. Once again, Ms. Allen's characters are true to life. If you want the fantasy world, rent a Walt Disney movie. Ms. Allen tells it how it is in real life with all the elements of day-to-day living. It's interesting to note that in the book Grace is a well known writer that welcomes readers to contact her. On her website (www.charlottevaleallen.com), Ms. Allen declares the same thing. Grace Notes involves the internet and emails and love and pain and much more. The emails become another character and it's interesting to see something not really concrete become a major character. It shows how the internet plays a major role in a lot of people's day to day lives. There's as much seriousness to this book as there is tension (gripping tension!). But there's parts that made me laugh and some parts were very, very sad. Charlotte Vale Allen understands life and in Grace Notes has written a book about real people and a dark situation that could easily happen. My only advice is NOT to take this book to bed with you if you have to get up early. You'll find yourself reading "just more chapter" and then another and then another. Grace Notes is a major treat for Charlotte Vale Allen fans. New readers will enjoy how she spins a web and gets the reader caught up from the opening page. Each book she writes is different. I've read many of her books and enjoy them greatly. I highly recommend Grace Notes in all regards.
Rating: 
Summary: E-Mail Trail of Deceit Threatens Successful Author
Review: Grace Loring is a successful novelist whose first novel about her experience as a battered wife brought her great notoriety. She has long been an advocate and has supported many causes for the plight of abused women. But her writing has slowed down considerably since she has become the primary care giver for her older brother who is suffering from acute rheumatoid arthritis. Grace is increasingly bitter and depressed and feeling trapped in their home in Vermont and is somewhat of a martyr because she won't accept much help from others. She starts an e-mail correspondence with a woman who claims to be suffering emotional and physical abuse from a controlling husband and gives the woman advice on defending herself and escaping from the abusive relationship. Grace becomes obsessed with the plight of the woman, and when the correspondence abruptly stops, she fears the worst. She gradually realizes that something about the woman's story didn't ring true, but she is unable to make contact with her. In the meantime, Grace's long-time romance with the inimitable Vinnie is heating up. Vinnie splits his time between remodeling his old barn in Vermont and his New York City apartment. Grace is madly in love with him but won't allow herself to become dependent on him. Grace has a 22-year old daughter Nicky who is quirky, smart and totally loveable. Grace refuses to accept her brother's advice about ending the e-mail relationship, and the violent events that follow are rather contrived and unbelievable. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the characters, and the plot moved along briskly and held my interest.
Rating: 
Summary: Tugs at the heart strings but not hard enough
Review: Grace Loring was once married to someone who abused her. She quickly got herself and her baby girl out of the house and went to her brother's house in Vermont. Her brother Gus looked after them just as Grace would look after him years later when he was sick. Grace and Gus were both adopted. Their adoptive parents are not remembered fondly by either of them. Grace is a successful author but has not written anything in a while, overburdened with the issues of care giving. There are many loving relationships in this book, Grace and her daughter Nicola, Grace and Vinnie, Gus and Jerry, but they're pushed aside to deal with the emotional ramifications of his illness. Grace gets involved with a young abused wife from Virginia who contacted her by e-mail. Her story sounds tragic and Grace is worried. Towards the end, it is somewhat expected that Stephanie is not who she says she is. Grace and Gus finally realize how important their relationships are but by then you are at the last page. The message of this novel is strong but it was over too soon.
Rating:
Summary: Diffucult but entertaining read
Review: Grace Notes is vintage Charlotte Vale Allen. It makes you smile, cringe, and think, all at the same time. Grace Notes spotlights the best and the worst of the "world wide web." The opportunity to reach out and help others is spotlighted, as is the potential to be taken extreme advantage of. As a mother of young children, I would use this book first and foremost to warn people to be careful of revealing too much and being too trusting. At the same time, Ms. Vale Allen's portrait of a family pulling together to help and support each other in the face of a debilitating illness offers lessons of it's own. Bottom line, an entertaining read, sure to spark much discussion.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book-Couldn't Put it Down!
Review: I always enjoy Charlotte Vale Allen's books. This was one of the best.
Grace Loring was a lucky woman when she and her daughter escaped from her abusive husband and went to live with her brother Gus in Vermont.
Grace becomes a successful author later, and has many loyal fans of her writing. She is always one to be sympathetic when she hears others stories like those of her own. However, when one girl, Stephanie Baine e-mails Grace about her abusive husband, and that she must get away, Grace gives her very clear advice. Get away from him as soon as possible.
As weeks pass with many exchanges between the two, the e-mails stop suddenly for no reason. Grace wonders what is going on, and in fact, if this woman is really telling the truth. Grace has the feeling that something far more sinister is going on, and in fact she better watch her back, as this woman could be very dangerous as it turns out.
Rating:
Summary: A very serious book...
Review: I didn't expect the book to be so serious and thought provoking. From the back cover it sounded like a mystery but in reality it was about the life of an abused woman who escaped and ended up taking care of her beloved crippled brother. I actually enjoyed the book very much and it taught me a lot and made me think. The ending was odd and a little abrupt but I'm glad it had a conclusion. I recommend this book to anyone who has had it rough.
Rating:
Summary: Truly a very catching ending!
Review: I have to tell you, as an avid fan of Charlotte Valen Allens', I milked this book the whole way - not wanting it to end, as I do all of her books, but the ending to this book was not even what you think would happen. I think that is what makes Ms. Vale Allen's books so much of a "must" for me. Where she comes up with the surprise endings is beyond me. I think that is why I'm always awaiting her next book after I finish one - one never knows what she has in store us. Charlotte Vale Allen's books do not come fast enough!
Rating:
Summary: Oh so bad, so terribly, terribly, terribly bad
Review: I just finished reading "Grace Notes" and regret wasting my time. What an inane story with the most unbelievable characters. The dialogue was trite and repetitive. How many times do we have to hear the characters telling each other how much they love each other?(all that gooey sentiment -yuck) I have teenage sons and a daughter and we do not talk to each other like that! Rather than have the reader learn about the characters through action and decisions, she keeps giving us laundry lists of all of their qualities, ad nauseum. She didn't flesh out the characters, she just kept telling us about them. The reader never learns anything new about the main characters from page one until the last page (except for Stephanie). If this book is like any of the authors other books, than count me out as a future reader of Vale Allen.
Rating:
Summary: shallow literature
Review: I just finished reading "Grace Notes" and regret wasting my time. What an inane story with the most unbelievable characters. The dialogue was trite and repetitive. How many times do we have to hear the characters telling each other how much they love each other?(all that gooey sentiment -yuck) I have teenage sons and a daughter and we do not talk to each other like that! Rather than have the reader learn about the characters through action and decisions, she keeps giving us laundry lists of all of their qualities, ad nauseum. She didn't flesh out the characters, she just kept telling us about them. The reader never learns anything new about the main characters from page one until the last page (except for Stephanie). If this book is like any of the authors other books, than count me out as a future reader of Vale Allen.
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