Saving Grace

Saving Grace (2000) is a contemporary romance novel by American author RaeAnne Thayne. Thayne is a three-time RITA (Romance Writers of America) award nominee, and she won the 2012 Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence. Saving Grace follows depressed ex-cop Grace Solarez, who saves a little girl from a car wreck and finds herself falling for the girl’s father, who Grace suspects may be an arms smuggler. Over the course of the novel, Grace works through her crushing grief over the loss of her own daughter and learns to live and love again.

It is the anniversary of her daughter’s death, and Grace plans to commit suicide. She can no longer stand to live with her feelings of grief and guilt. Grace’s eleven-year-old daughter, Marisa, was killed in a drive-by shooting. Blaming herself for not protecting her daughter, Grace regrets that her last words to Marisa were impatient. Had Grace been five minutes earlier to pick her up, Marisa would not have been shot.

As Grace watches the traffic for the right moment to kill herself, she witnesses an accident. A fast-moving, expensive sports car rolls, flips, and catches on fire. Grace doesn’t want to get involved, but her cop instincts kick in and she hurries to help. A seedy-looking man escapes the wreckage and tells Grace there is no one else in the car. He is lying. Grace hears a voice calling for her daddy and finds Emma, a small, blonde-haired, green-eyed girl trapped in the car. Emma has been kidnapped and now left to die in the wreck. Grace pulls Emma out, and, realizing the car is going to explode, covers the girl with her body. Flaming debris hits Grace in the back, but Emma is fine. Not wanting any fuss or any questions, Grace slips away from the accident scene.



Jack Dugan, Emma’s father, tracks Grace down. Jack wants to repay her for saving his daughter’s life, and he wants to know if she had anything to do with Emma’s kidnapping. He finds Grace in a run-down apartment. Grace hates the place; the opposite of the happy cottage she lived in with Marisa, she feels living there is her “penance” for failing her child. Before Jack can explain why he wants to see her, Grace collapses. Jack discovers that her back is badly burned and infected. He takes her to his spacious, waterfront home on Puget Sound to recover. Under the motherly care of Jack’s devoted Hawaiian housekeeper, Lily Kihualani, Grace begins to recover her health. Lily tells Jack, however, that Grace’s heart is still filled with pain.

Grace appreciates their kindness but demands to go home. She finds herself unexpectedly attracted to Jack, with his “sun-streaked” hair and green eyes. Grace also struggles seeing happy, loving Emma who brings back painful memories of Marisa. Grace is angry that Jack and Emma are making her feel again. Jack finds himself attracted to Grace but worries about loving someone new. His own father committed suicide, and Emma’s mother abandoned them when Emma was a baby. He offers Grace a job as a security consultant for his house and company, Global Shipping, Incorporated (GSI). Grace is about to refuse the position and return to her crummy job on the docks, when her ex-partner, detective Beau Riley calls. Beau tells her that Jack may be smuggling assault weapons through GSI. Grace is incensed, knowing an AK-47 killed her daughter. She takes Jack’s job offer to uncover more information on the smuggling operation. Grace meets Jack’s partner, Piper McCall, and his secretary Sydney Benedict.

Jack flies the family to his other home in Hawaii, and Grace accompanies them. There, Lily teaches Grace to make a Hawaiian quilt panel and tells Grace about Jack’s great kindness to her and her husband, Tiny. Grace begins to relax. Together, she and Jack and Emma go snorkeling and enjoy time on the beach. Jack allows himself to be vulnerable and tells her about his parents. He gets Grace to open up about her past and share memories of Marisa. The two become intimate.



When they return from Hawaii, Grace is changed: now she is bright and vital, but Jack worries that even though he loves her, with his broken past, he is not good enough for her. Jack tries to distance himself. Grace also tries to protect herself, planning to leave. Lily thinks she is “running away.” Lily believes that when Grace finishes the quilt panel, Grace can say goodbye to her grief.

Beau informs Grace that they are serving warrants on GSI. Grace goes to Jack’s office to find evidence to clear him. Jack discovers her there and feeling betrayed that Grace has been spying on him, he tells her to leave. At Jack’s house, Grace is packing her bags when Piper McCall arrives carrying a gun: Piper is one of the arms smugglers. He admits that he hadn’t wanted Emma involved in the kidnapping, but the group needed money. He takes Emma and Grace to GSI as hostages. Beau and Jack confront Piper, who surrenders, unwilling to hurt Emma or Grace. However, his smuggling partner, Sydney, has no such compunction and shoots Piper and Beau. Grace sends Emma to safety and overcomes Sydney. When Sydney grabs the gun again and aims for Grace, Piper saves Grace by shooting and killing Sydney.

Four days later, Jack tracks Grace down to Beau’s house, where Grace is helping him recover. Jack brings Grace’s quilt square and Grace realizes that Lily is right: the quilt memorializes Marisa, and helps Grace understand that her own life “had to go on.” Grace says that Emma really saved her on the night of the car wreck. Emma and Jack forced Grace out of her depression and into a “world of joy and light.” Emma and Jack declare their love for each other, and Grace accepts Jack’s marriage proposal.