Thursday, January 5, 2012

What Happened in Granite Creek

What Happened in Granite Creek

by Robyn Bradley

****


Koty is an unhappy housewife, married young to a man she thought she loved, but who turned into an abusive alcoholic. Jamie is a wounded Iraqi war vet, a quad amputee. Koty's husband Wayne, in a fit of misplaced patriotism, forces Koty to spend her afternoons "babysitting" Jamie, something neither of them want. But then Jamie and Koty fall for each other, which inevitably sets in motion majors changes for both of them, far beyond what anyone expected.

It's important to note that this is NOT a romance. It's a long meditation on Koty's and Wayne's marriage, and on their three young daughters. The central question is, how did Koty end up in this situation? For this reason, Jamie ends up not being a central character, so the dev factor was a bit low for me, except for the first few scenes of them together. Those are hot. Some of our PD members gave the author some advice, so the descriptions of Jamie's disability are realistic.

Despite the fact that this book isn't really written from a devotee point of view, it's still terrific. The characters are all so realistic and believable, and the quality of the writing is outstanding. It's a heartbreaking story from beginning to end, but utterly compelling. Recommended.

The first section of this book was originally published as the short story, "Support Our Troops."