Finding Grace

Grace is seventeen. She is bold, intelligent...and unmarried. In the eyes of her family and her mountain born neighbors, she is hopelessly willful. But she is determined to forge her own path, come what may. When her parents try to force her hand in marriage, she flees, seeking out her brother and his wife, who once watched over her. Settling down with them, she finds a new life...and possible romance with a handsome neighbor. But the past will come back to haunt her, possibly destroying the happiness she has worked so hard to find.

Set in the days of the prohibition, 1927 to be precise, Grace Langdon lives with her brothers and extremely strict parents in rural Virginia. It's not a happy life. Her older brother Jack, her only friend, is shunned by the family after leaving with a girl the parents didn't approve of, and Grace wants out as well. One of her favourite books is Jane Eyre, and she doesn't just want to marry because it's what you're supposed to do. Like Jane, she wants to marry for love, and be strong and independent.

One day, Charlie - a boy she remembers from her childhood - comes back, and he seems really sweet. At first. Getting to know him better, she soon realises that he's not her Mr. Rochester, and eventually has to flee to avoid being married off to him by her parents. Grace goes to find her brother and his wife in Chicago. By chance, she happens upon Henry Shaw at the train station, a man who knows her brother. A man with a reputation for being a womaniser, but who is darn attractive, and who also can't seem to stop thinking about Grace ...
Two things that immediately stand out as reasons to love this novel: 1) Jane Eyre, which is quoted every now and again, and 2) Richard Armitage.

Knowing Sarah Pawley is a fan of Richard Armitage (her participation in this year's FanstRAvaganza gave that one away! ;)), there is no way I can read the description of Henry and the frequent mentions of his voice and not picture/hear that man.