The Bracelet

THE BRACELET/Karen Rose Smith/ Harlequin Everlasting Love/ISBN 987-0-373-65416-1
The Bracelet is a love story for grown-ups. It begins when Laura Malone's husband Brady is rushed into hospital for heart surgery. There are reporters outside the door because a story about the past has suddenly become hot news. Laura fears that her insistence that her husband should tell their children the truth about what happened to him in Vietnam has caused his illness. Sitting with their son Sean as Brady fights for life before he undergoes surgery, the past begins to play in Laura's head like a movie. She recalls the way they met, how good it was and how everything changed when the inevitable horror of being in Vietnam began to take its toll.
This story has raw edges as the viewpoint switches between the various characters and we realise what a terrible war did to the lives of so many people. Sometimes told through the charms that were bought for "the bracelet" to mark milestones in their lives, sometimes through the painful memories that even now cause so much pain and distress, this is a passionate story that grips the reader and will not let go. This book tells the pain and passion of a lifetime of love and will remain in the reader's mind long after it is read. Tender, heartbreaking and very real it deserves to be read and appreciated. Award: A bouquet of red roses. This book is special, Anne