Choosing Grace by Regina JamisonChoosing Grace by Regina Jamison is a story about learning to feel comfortable in your own skin and accepting who you are.

Sky Valentine is a young, African American woman from Durham, North Carolina. She’s tired of pretending she’s straight to fit in with the small minds and expectations of her family and friends. She escaped these repressive confines to attend college in Rhode Island where she worked on shedding the trappings of being obviously Southern. She also allowed herself to fall in love.

Sky’s sexy roommate, Zenobia captures her affection and confirms what her heart has felt for a long time – she loves women. Their relationship is cut short when Zenobia’s parents catch wind of their romance. They send Zenobia off to a strict all girls college leaving Sky to wonder, “What if?”

Sky returns home after completing her degree to find her mother just as domineering as ever. Even worse, her mother has promised Sky’s hand in marriage to an arrogant man who thinks he’s a gift to all women. Standing at the altar, she realizes this marriage isn’t going to happen.

It’s 1986 and Sky’s determined to start living her best life. She moves to New York to accept a teaching position with a public school. Soon after her arrival, she meets Grace Webster, and she falls head over heels for her. Grace has been out and proud for years. She introduces Sky to her close-knit community of friends and the lesbian club scene in New York.

When Zenobia resurfaces, Sky is faced with an impossible choice. Does she pick up where she left off with her first love, or does she stay with Grace to see where their budding relationship takes them?

Pros And My Favourite Parts

I really enjoyed getting to know Sky and see her come into her own. Her character arch isn’t overly complicated. Dealing with coming out in the 1980’s and facing a family who’s not accepting of who she is, is a story that’s personal for some and inspirational for others. Jamison portrays her growing confidence in situations that feel very relatable. I loved being ensconced in Sky and Grace’s group of friends and acquaintances. The support found in their community is joyous and the 80’s pop culture references are a perfect backdrop for the story.

Cons And Heads Up

As a head up, there’s a very brief description of a sexual encounter between and man and the main character at the beginning of the book and, she is caught cheating by her current girlfriend later in the story. Neither of these were issues for me because they were integral in Sky’s character arc.

The Conclusion

Choosing Grace is a lovely romance. It has the feel of an autobiography with it’s relaxed, first person narrative. Despite being set in the 1980’s it’s very relatable and Jamison does an excellent job making Sky feel like an old friend. The two women in love with Sky couldn’t be more different from each other so watching her sort out her feelings for each of them had a hint of suspense to it. The entire book is populated with strong female supporting characters and it makes for a delightful read.

TLDR (too long didn’t read)

Choosing Grace by Regina Jamison is about Sky Valentine’s search for an authentic life and true love. Leaving the confines of a family and hometown that won’t accept her sexuality, she finds freedom in New York. Just as her relationship with Grace is blossoming, her first love, Zenobia materializes to pick up where they left off. Will Sky choose to pursue an uncertain future with a woman she loves, or will she be tempted to return to the comfortable relationship from her past?

Excerpt from Choosing Grace by Regina Jamison

True lesbians would ask how I could believe in or fight for lesbian rights when I had shared my bed with a man? Women who knew that they were gay when they were three, four years old have little patience for us late bloomers. If you weren’t toting a rainbow flag by the time you were five, you were questionable, suspect. You were a constant reminder of all the girls who turned them down. Who kissed them, then later proclaimed, “Sorry, I’m not like that” or “I was just having fun” or “I really like boys.” You were a constant reminder of their pain, their frustration, their embarrassment. I understood it all because it had happened to me too—rejection from girls who just wanted to see what it was like to kiss another girl. Girls who had strung me along while I fell deeper and deeper in love, only to eventually be told they had boyfriends or they weren’t “funny,” so please leave them alone. I understood. I got it. It’s what had happened with Siobhan and, although I vowed never to put myself out there again, I ended up falling for Lisa. She was gorgeous beyond belief. She attended North Carolina Central as an English major, but she worked at Piggly Wiggly as a cashier to make some change. She strung me along just like Siobhan did, then hung me out to dry. I was angry and embarrassed, but I never held it against either of them. Never felt like I needed to banish them to the outer rims of existence, nor felt the need to punish them. But could I have? The world was on their side, so in the end, whatever I had felt was on me. I chose to let go of the anger. To let go of the categories. To let go of measuring out someone’s life in order to slap a label on them and put them in a box. I didn’t want someone measuring me, labeling me, packaging me. I just wanted to be me, not a fill-in-the-dots rendition of me. But, maybe, that’s not possible. Maybe that’s too scary for the real world.

All that thinking made my head hurt even more. I crawled out of bed again, popped one more shiny blue pill into my mouth, chased it with a sip of cold water I collected in the palm of my hand from the faucet, dragged myself back into bed, put the comforter over my head, and focused on sleeping.

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Bits and Bobs

  • ISBN number: 9781642472264
  • Publisher: Bella Books

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Note: I received a free review copy of Choosing Grace by Regina Jamison. No money was exchanged for this review. When you use our links to buy we get a small commission which supports the running of this site