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3.5k reviews for:
How to Walk Away: A heartbreaking, joyful story of learning to live and love again
Katherine Center
4.02 AVERAGE
3.5k reviews for:
How to Walk Away: A heartbreaking, joyful story of learning to live and love again
Katherine Center
4.02 AVERAGE
emotional
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I’m feeling torn about this one. There were parts in this book I really enjoyed. But I also feel like it was - at least in part - a bit too perky. I mean in the last chapter the author went into a full-on motivational speech. It was a bit much.
In so many ways I could not connect with the main character at all. I also felt there was very little chemistry between the main characters. Maybe that was due to the fact that the author heavily relied on “telling” and not so much “showing”. I also got the impression that the author wanted to write a strong female MC but couldn't quite manage because apparently always being well behaved and nice were more important. The author wrote about her character's strength and yet Margaret often behaved like a complete doormat. She never got angry and let people treat her horribly and hardly ever stood up for herself. She just let people walk all over her and accepted bad treatment without a fight - it was so frustrating. And if she ever got angry, she apologized.
Also: why were no legal charges brought against Chip? In a situation like this, shouldn’t there have been some sort of consequences? This, I feel, was a huge oversight by the author, which made the story and the whole relationship with Chip and his family so unrealistic. The question was never even brought up.
And lastly, there were too may side story-lines IMO. The story with her sister and parents could have been left out and it still would have been a good story. Every character seemed to get their very own tragic backstory. All in all, it was an interesting book but didn't really draw me in.
In so many ways I could not connect with the main character at all. I also felt there was very little chemistry between the main characters. Maybe that was due to the fact that the author heavily relied on “telling” and not so much “showing”. I also got the impression that the author wanted to write a strong female MC but couldn't quite manage because apparently always being well behaved and nice were more important. The author wrote about her character's strength and yet Margaret often behaved like a complete doormat. She never got angry and let people treat her horribly and hardly ever stood up for herself. She just let people walk all over her and accepted bad treatment without a fight - it was so frustrating. And if she ever got angry, she apologized.
Also: why were no legal charges brought against Chip? In a situation like this, shouldn’t there have been some sort of consequences? This, I feel, was a huge oversight by the author, which made the story and the whole relationship with Chip and his family so unrealistic. The question was never even brought up.
And lastly, there were too may side story-lines IMO. The story with her sister and parents could have been left out and it still would have been a good story. Every character seemed to get their very own tragic backstory. All in all, it was an interesting book but didn't really draw me in.
While well-written, the storyline was too predictable and soap opera-esque for my taste. Good life lessons but not very deep or enthralling.
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Margaret Jacobsen is on the verge of having it all: the perfect job, fancy condo, gorgeous fiance. But seconds after her boyfriend, Chip, proposes, her life is changed forever.
Her whole life, Margaret has been afraid of flying. Those fears are realized when Chip crashes the small plane he was flying, leaving her paralyzed and badly burned.
Margaret now has to learn to rebuild her entire life. She has six weeks in the hospital to pull herself together and no idea where to begin.
With most of the book taking place in one setting: a hospital room, it would be easy for "How to Walk Away" to feel claustrophobic, but it never does. Margaret's injuries are horrific, from a major spinal cord injury that prevents anything below her knee from moving to second and third degree burns across her upper body.
As she deals with her altered life, a whole cast of characters moves through her hospital room, both helping and hindering her. Her overbearing mother, guilt-ridden fiance, cheerful father and bad-sheep sister all descend upon her, with advice, hope, take out meals and their own baggage.
She also ends up saddled with a gorgeous, surly Scottish physical therapist named Ian who refuses to engage with her at all beyond PT work, leaving her feeling adrift.
Margaret has always tried to be perfect but with her life suddenly far from where she ever imagined it would be, she has to learn to give up what she thinks her life should be and accept what it is now.
I really enjoyed this book. Margaret is a traumatized, broken character who keeps getting hit after hit, but she manages to learn how to trust herself and figure out what will make her happy in her new life. Her relationship with her sister, Kitty, is so realistic, it had me yearning to see my own bad-sheep sister. I liked how her parents and sister had their own dramas too, which opened the story up beyond what was happening in the hospital room.
Some of this story focuses on romance. Romance lost and romance found, but I didn't think it was overly cheesy. At one point, early on, I groaned to myself, thinking this was going to veer off into Nora Roberts territory, but it really didn't. I ended up rooting for two of the characters to find their way to one another.
Two gripes: I would have loved to see Margaret interact more with people in the hospital. At one point, she mentions saying goodbye to fellow patients, but we never saw her interact with anyone beyond her own family, Ian and a few other members of the hospital staff.
Also, eventually Margaret does find a purpose, which is a very worthy one, but I wish the seeds for that had been planted earlier. When she comes up with her big idea, she comments that she had told her sister about it a couple of days earlier, but we never saw that scene, which I think would have been a nice touch.
I got close to the end last night and tore through the final pages this morning while trying to do the dishes. I know I'm completely engrossed in a book when I risk getting my kindle wet!
Margaret was a character I could really root for as she learned to handle her new future. Her experience, though tragic, was portrayed realistically (author Katherine Center really did her homework on spinal injuries and paralysis). This is a great summer read, the perfect book to devour on the beach one day. Don't miss it!
Her whole life, Margaret has been afraid of flying. Those fears are realized when Chip crashes the small plane he was flying, leaving her paralyzed and badly burned.
Margaret now has to learn to rebuild her entire life. She has six weeks in the hospital to pull herself together and no idea where to begin.
With most of the book taking place in one setting: a hospital room, it would be easy for "How to Walk Away" to feel claustrophobic, but it never does. Margaret's injuries are horrific, from a major spinal cord injury that prevents anything below her knee from moving to second and third degree burns across her upper body.
As she deals with her altered life, a whole cast of characters moves through her hospital room, both helping and hindering her. Her overbearing mother, guilt-ridden fiance, cheerful father and bad-sheep sister all descend upon her, with advice, hope, take out meals and their own baggage.
She also ends up saddled with a gorgeous, surly Scottish physical therapist named Ian who refuses to engage with her at all beyond PT work, leaving her feeling adrift.
Margaret has always tried to be perfect but with her life suddenly far from where she ever imagined it would be, she has to learn to give up what she thinks her life should be and accept what it is now.
I really enjoyed this book. Margaret is a traumatized, broken character who keeps getting hit after hit, but she manages to learn how to trust herself and figure out what will make her happy in her new life. Her relationship with her sister, Kitty, is so realistic, it had me yearning to see my own bad-sheep sister. I liked how her parents and sister had their own dramas too, which opened the story up beyond what was happening in the hospital room.
Some of this story focuses on romance. Romance lost and romance found, but I didn't think it was overly cheesy. At one point, early on, I groaned to myself, thinking this was going to veer off into Nora Roberts territory, but it really didn't. I ended up rooting for two of the characters to find their way to one another.
Two gripes: I would have loved to see Margaret interact more with people in the hospital. At one point, she mentions saying goodbye to fellow patients, but we never saw her interact with anyone beyond her own family, Ian and a few other members of the hospital staff.
Also, eventually Margaret does find a purpose, which is a very worthy one, but I wish the seeds for that had been planted earlier. When she comes up with her big idea, she comments that she had told her sister about it a couple of days earlier, but we never saw that scene, which I think would have been a nice touch.
I got close to the end last night and tore through the final pages this morning while trying to do the dishes. I know I'm completely engrossed in a book when I risk getting my kindle wet!
Margaret was a character I could really root for as she learned to handle her new future. Her experience, though tragic, was portrayed realistically (author Katherine Center really did her homework on spinal injuries and paralysis). This is a great summer read, the perfect book to devour on the beach one day. Don't miss it!
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
I really liked the bonus chapter at the end. Would've liked it included in the actual story cause it was cute and gave good context. However, the romance seemed rushed and unrealistic. The ending felt rushed and the epilogue was just a lot of info at once it felt like. Overall, the story was really good and i enjoyed Maggie’s character development
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma
Trauma story in hospital - not in head space for that now
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes