SOLVED. Romance. Man with one leg, somewhat curmudgeonly. (language warning for post) [s]

[Snail in Danger (Sid)]

The main thing that sticks out is this bit of text:

"Can a man with one leg ---- in a snowdrift?"
As it turned out, he could.

I don't think I have the wording exactly correct, but it was something like that.

The man's name may have been Dennis. The narrator/viewpoint character was a woman. I believe the author was female too. I think it was a romance novel, but not a bodice ripper. More down to earth, if that makes any sense?

This part is fuzzy, but the guy lost his leg (car accident?) and so he moved into the narrator's community. (It may have been his hometown?) He had a reputation for being cranky/grouchy/curmudgeonly. The narrator may have been a divorcée.

I might have read it any time between 15 and 5 years ago. I think it was new or at least not terribly old when I read it. Sorry I can't supply more detail.

EDIT: Forgot one thing. As you may have guessed from the snowdrift part, this was set someplace in the winter. It may have been set in a New England state.

[Amy]

Seems like there was a book (possibly Nicolas Sparks) where a divorce moved to a town, on a lake in winter, and there was a man, with one leg, who lived on the other side of the lake and rarely came into town. It involved snowmobiles, too. . . It was also a mystery type of book, as well as a romance . . .

[Snail in Danger (Sid)]

If you can recollect any more details (author, title) let me know.

I took a look at some descriptions for Nicholas Sparks books written during the right time period, and none of them seem to match the details I recall.

Thanks for the suggestion, though.

[Mir]

The snow drift part totally wouldn't work for this one, but Frisco's Kid is a romance where the guy is a former Navy Seal who damaged his leg on a mission. It isn't amputated, but he can hardly walk and is bitter and unfriendly to his new neighbors. One of the neighbors is a teacher who falls in love with him.

[Snail in Danger (Sid)]

I decided to vary my search terms slightly and found it -- it's Up Island by Anne Rivers Siddons. Thanks to everyone else who tried!