Lean On Me by Jill Shalvis

I have a great fondness for romances about disabled heroes and heroines - which probably has some deep psychological meaning, but I think the main reason is that it often gives the story more depth, and a chance to deal with issues beyond the usual "boy meets girl" (or more likely these days "boy tries to bite girl".)

Lean On Me by Jill Shalvis (LS 912)
(1998, Contemporary Series) 9/10/08
Grade: 4

Clarissa Woods is relieved to finally be free of her abusive father, and starting a new life as a physical therapist. But she didn’t expect to be so attracted to the center’s founder, Bo Tyler. Bo has rebuilt his life after an accident left him in a wheelchair, but there’s something about Clarissa that makes him reconsider his bachelor life.

This book had interesting characters and a lot of compelling issues, but it just felt too short to properly deal with all of them. I found Clarissa particularly well drawn - her fear and relief at escaping her past, her difficulties in dealing with her new co-workers, etc. However, I thought she got over her problems very quickly, which was probably dictated by the length of the book. Bo was also an interesting character, especially in his interactions with Clarissa, but I was disappointed at his insistence that he couldn’t be a “real man” unless he could walk - it seemed particularly odd considering his work at the therapy center, working with children in wheelchairs. Perhaps this would have been more believable in a longer story, but in this one, it just felt like a romance cliche. Overall, there were a lot of good things in this story, but it just felt rushed and a little too short.

I went back and forth several times, trying to decide how to grade this book. It was good, but flawed. I decided to give it a boost, mainly because it dealt with some interesting issues, but books like this are definitely the hardest ones to grade!