When Claire Canton's husband, Chris, loses his job, he becomes distant and frustrated. It only gets worse when he lands a new job that feeds his workaholic tendencies and requires a lot of travel. Their two kids have a hard time adjusting, but Claire finds companionship in her graphic-design work, her neighborhood friends, and handsome police officer Daniel. What starts out as a Kansas City-set Desperate Housewives (rich neighbors living beyond their means, catty observations about an alcoholic mom) turns into a full-blown and emotional page-turner. Claire's type 1 diabetes is deftly woven into the plot, and the kids are cute without being moppets. The fact that the novel reads like a very normal suburban story makes it highly accessible. Although it is Claire's story, occasional chapters about Chris and Daniel make Claire's dilemma more poignant. Chris is no villain, and you hope the couple can save their marriage. But Daniel is so handsome and so good for Claire. Graves also wrote the breakout hit, On the Island (2012).--Maguire, Susan Copyright 2010 Booklist

A lonely housewife befriends a lonely policeman, and the two begin a platonic but emotionally charged relationship. When Claire Canton's husband, Chris, is downsized due to the recession, he becomes angry and depressed, which takes a huge toll on the marriage. After many stressful months of job searching, he finds work, but it is travel-heavy and not nearly as fulfilling as what he had before. Claire reaches out to Chris, but he continually rebuffs her attempts at comfort or empathy, so after a while, she stops trying. Meanwhile, she meets a policeman, Daniel, who connects her with a freelance job for the department, and the project draws them closer together, ultimately leading them into an affair that is sexually platonic but emotionally intimate, and Claire must admit to herself that she has crossed a line. Acknowledging that the only thing that has stopped her from moving into a sexual relationship is Daniel's unwavering honor makes Claire both more ashamed and more attracted, and she knows that soon she will either have to step back into her marriage or abandon it completely. Claire and Chris live in an upscale neighborhood, surrounded by seemingly perfect homes populated by seemingly perfect neighbors, but as Claire comes closer to questionable actions she never thought herself capable of, she learns that all is not what it seems in many of her friends' lives. The book is told mainly in the first person from Claire's perspective, with occasional glimpses of Daniel's and Chris' thoughts and emotions. Perhaps a little too pat an ending, but overall, a satisfying read. A realistic, engaging portrayal of one woman's marriage in crisis and the choices she makes for the sake of love and self.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Graves follows her runaway self-publishing hit, On the Island, with this mostly forgettable tale of a crumbling suburban marriage. Claire Canton, a freelance graphic designer and mother of two, feels disconnected from her husband, Chris. Their marriage has been on a downslide since he was laid off four years earlier, and the antidepressants he still takes have adversely affected their sex life. Enter Daniel-a hot cop who's instantly attracted to Claire. The feeling is mutual and the two begin spending more time together, first under the pretense of Claire redesigning a logo for the police department, and then-against Claire's better judgment-as friends, inevitably causing Claire to examine her marriage and morals. Romance fans will enjoy the few steamy sex scenes, but may be disappointed by the slow pacing and lack of action elsewhere. (Sept. 17) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Graves, who made a best-selling splash with her self-published novel On the Island, takes a different approach in her hardcover debut. Claire's marriage to Chris has been through some rough times as his company downsized and he lost his job during the recession. Finding a new job takes much longer than he expects, and Chris falls into a deep depression, becoming uncommunicative and withdrawing from his family. When he finally takes a job that requires him to travel most of the week, repairing the damage already done is almost impossible. As Chris attempts to give his family the life they deserve, Claire's loneliness and feeling of desertion build. Chris clearly puts his work before his family and in doing so drives Claire to crave the company of handsome police officer Daniel Rush. Soon Claire and Daniel are breaking their promise to keep the relationship purely platonic. VERDICT The effect that the poor economy and job loss has on a marriage is a very relatable topic; unfortunately, the clunky dialog and contrived plot mars Graves's novel. Still, this is an easy read for lovers of women's fiction. [See Prepub Alert, 3/11/13; five-city tour.]-Brooke Bolton, North Manchester P.L., IN (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.