A Touch of Grace is the second book in the "The Brothers' Bond" series. This story focuses on the baby of the Grace family, Ian. After recovering from a serious childhood illness, Ian was adopted by the Carpenters, a childless couple in Louisiana. Now working as a street preacher and shelter manager in New Orleans, Ian has no memories of his two older siblings.
Like with The Heart of Grace, A Touch of Grace suffers from the main characters inability to actually talk to each other. Both Ian and Gretchen, a New Orleans reporter, never really discuss why they don't trust each other even as they seem to be falling in love. Brought together by the death of Gretchen's sister, much of the story hinges on Gretchen's determination to prove that Ian's up to something shady - that his shelter is a front for some nefarious cult or other shady operation - not a real homeless shelter. When they do finally sit down and properly discuss their problems with each other, the reasons for Gretchen's distrust of Ian made it extremely hard for me to see them as a happily ever after couple. He was far too forgiving and she needed some more serious counseling before a true commitment could be made. Like the other books in the serious, the idea was great, but the execution wasn't there.
Overall Grade: C
