For Love of Gracie (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798227000859)

Mary never knew why her eighteen-year-old daughter ran away over a decade ago, but she thought it had to be something she did wrong as a mother. She never stopped hoping and praying that her daughter would come home to her and give her another chance. But these hopes and prayers would only be partly answered.

At only eight years old, Gracie only wants to please the people around her, but it is her mother she wants to please more than anyone. To become the thing her mother loves and not an afterthought. Only after a kind neighbor steps in to save Gracie from her mom's boyfriend does her mother realize she is no longer capable of keeping her daughter safe.

Gracie finds herself with a grandmother she has never known, and Mary finds her prayers having been partly answered in the form of a granddaughter to care for. The two find themselves in a family that neither expected, but both needed.

As Gracie navigates through her teenage life, she never stops looking for her mom in the faces of strangers and never stops wondering how her mother could have let her life go so wrong. Until it becomes clear how easy mistakes can happen when one tiny choice derails all of Gracie's life plans.

This doesn't stop her from doing the best she can; it just means new plans as Gracie finds friendships in new places and a start for an entirely new life. Follow along as this little girl grows up to take on whatever comes at her, armed only with the knowledge of her grandmother, the old man next door... and his Army MP tactics.