Grounded

Rich and Nicole Gleason are a typical married couple: three kids, a dog, a cat, a home mortgage. They’ve drifted apart, consumed by family, jobs, and the never-ending chore of holding things together. Until a summer holiday when Rich and the kids go camping without cell phones - and without Nicole. She attends a convention in San Francisco and visits Glen, her brother’s oldest, best friend. While her family explores the great outdoors, a cyberattack lames the planet. Nicole’s plan is to reunite with her family in Seattle. But now planes aren’t flying, and she can’t reach Rich and the children. Nicole and Glen have renewed the closeness of childhood friends... and an unplanned, new intimacy as lovers. It’s complicated. They embark on a road trip to Seattle. The miles fall away as Glen reveals the tragic story of his ex-wife and scarred son. Two stories, read aloud on the long drive, frame their tale: a temple in India and a blizzard in northern Sweden. The stories are like Glen and Nicole: hot, and cold, and searching on the road for a place between extremes.How do we heal from an unbearable loss or unfulfilled desires? What happens when you get an unlooked-for chance? Maybe being grounded is when we recognize possibility and responsibility in relationship to each other. Maybe being grounded is facing our lives and choices square on, without flinching. And maybe, just maybe, being grounded is the state between decisions where we experience a non-judgmental, all-encompassing state of grace.

Reviewed by Laura R. Brush for Readers’ Favorite: Grounded, a captivating novel by Jadi Campbell, pulls you into the subtly complex world of Rich and Nicole Gleason, a married couple whose unity is on the brink of collapse despite sharing three children. Their lives, once intertwined, now seem to be diverging. They attempt to maintain the facade of a harmonious family but ultimately choose to embark on separate journeys during a summer break. Rich ventures into an untamed wilderness in the West for a camping trip with their children, while Nicole finds herself in the bustling corporate scene of a convention in San Francisco. As fate would have it, disaster strikes, enveloping their lives in an air of uncertainty and suspense. Nicole is ensnared in a web of unforeseen circumstances that thwart her attempts to reconnect with her family, intensifying the tension of her precarious situation.

Editorial Review: In Jadi Campbell’s intricate narrative, the storyline takes an intriguing turn when Nicole reconnects with Glen, a companion from her early years. Their joint endeavor to find Nicole’s family becomes a journey of self-discovery, leading them to introspectively examine their existence. They are caught in a dilemma and must grapple with the burden of their obligations while acknowledging the fragility of their opportunities and paths. Their story is a poignant portrayal of unattainable desire and the profound grief of irrevocable loss. The story’s title, Grounded, encapsulates the dichotomy that they face: the choice between confronting life’s stark realities or pursuing an alternative course of existence. It is a fascinating exploration of the human condition, a testament to the complexities of choice and consequence.

4 Stars.

Jadi Campbell received a B.A. in English Literature from the Honors College of the University of Oregon, and minored in Women’s Studies. She is a massage therapist licensed in both the US and Europe. Ms. Campbell wrote for a decade as freelance European Correspondent and her work has appeared in bodywork publications. Her books are Broken In: A Novel in Stories, Tsunami Cowboys, and Grounded. She’s plotting the next book and a collection of short stories to follow. Jadi Campbell has lived in Europe for the last two decades. She loves the variety of art and cultures, and has traveled with her husband across four continents. They’ve begun exploring the fifth. She blogs about the arts and our world at jadicampbell.com.