How to Walk Away is one of those books that will have you crying, laughing and cheering at the same time. This book showcases how a perfect life can go off the rails. It also shows that true love isn’t always with the person you thought it would be. It also shows that people are stronger than what they are given credit for. I would recommend reading this book with tissues. You are going to be needing them.

Margaret was terrified of flying. Had been ever since she was a little girl. But she wasn’t one to let her fears dictate her life. When Chip, her boyfriend, asks her to go flying with him, she goes. Her worse fears come to life when the plane crashes during landing. Chip is not hurt but Margaret suffered a devastating spinal cord injury and burns. With the help of a grumpy (but cute) Scottish PT, Margaret starts to put her life in order. But it isn’t easy. There is heartbreak that will set her back. There is also the emergence of a deep dark family secret that will shake the foundation of her family. But there is also good, but only if Margaret is willing to go to any lengths to get it.

I liked Margaret. Her attitude was what I expected someone who suffered a traumatic injury to be. One of disbelief and grief. I wouldn’t go as far to say that she accepted what happened to her. It was more like she came to terms with it. Of course, everything hits the fan in the weeks afterward. She definitely wasn’t likable in the first half of the book. I actually liked that. I liked that I had to learn to like her. I liked that her true personality came out while in the hospital. It was refreshing.

I wanted to smack both Chip and Margaret’s mother. Chip, I could kind of understand why he acted the way he acted….up to a certain point. What ticked me off is that he didn’t even bother to defend Margaret when his mother commented on her face. That is when I wanted to reach through my Kindle and smack him upside his head. Don’t get me started on Margaret’s mother. She was a witch with a capital B!! I couldn’t believe the fuss she made over Margaret’s face. The things that were said was unbelievable. When Kitty arrived, she acted like such a jerk. Of course, there was a reason for it but didn’t change that she acted like a class A jerk for most of the book.

I thought that the romance part of the book was a bit slow to start. So slow that there was one point in the book where I thought it fizzled out. Of course, I enjoyed that Ian was Scottish. I read all his dialogue in a Scottish brogue. I did think that his back story was tragic. I could understand why he was so grumpy all the time.

I do think that the whole Kitty/mother storyline was a bit overplayed. While there needed to be an explanation for them not talking for 3 years, it felt drawn out. Like I stated above, it made Margaret’s mother look bad when everything was revealed.

The end of the book made me laugh. The lengths that Margaret went to do what she did made me cheer and laugh. Of course, I liked the epilogue. Who doesn’t like a happy ending?

Pros of How to Walk Away:

A) Great storylines

B) Realistic characters

C) Ian and Margaret’s romance

Cons of How to Walk Away:

A) Chip

B) Margaret’s mother

C) Kitty/mother’s storyline (the strife that went along with it)

I would give How to Walk Away an Adult rating. There are sexual situations, language, and mild violence in it. I would recommend that no one under the age of 20 read this book.

There are some triggers in this book. They would be: traumatic injuries, plane crash, long-term hospitalization, family/work strife, and talk of murder. I would recommend if any of these trigger you then to please not read the book.

I would recommend this book to family and friends but I would add a warning about the triggers. I would reread this book.

I would like to thank St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review How to Walk Away.

All opinions stated in this review of How to Walk Away are mine.

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy*

This was an excellent book. The writing was refreshing, and I was sucked into the story right from the start. It was poignant, funny, and real, all at the same time. Without giving spoilers, you knew Margaret (Maggie's) story could not end the way you hoped it would, but it was a happy ending for her. And it makes you think, what if? What if that fateful Valentine's Day had not ended the way it did? Would she still have had a happy ending? Would she be as strong a person as she is now?

Read this book and decide for yourself. It will make you think.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Gripping from the first paragraph, Katherine Center's latest novel is a survival story with heart. This isn't man vs. mountain (or woman vs. mountain), but a realistic account of the hope and humor needed to deal with tragedies that blind-side us. Margaret survives the crash of a private plane piloted by her fiance, but her life will never be quite the same. What makes "How to Walk Away" extraordinary is that it never becomes maudlin or melodramatic. Instead, in fits and starts, through highs and lows, Margaret and her family stagger forward, learning again how to appreciate a life entirely different from what they had envisioned. Center explores the range of emotions in the journey, from boredom to bravado, fear to fury. Characters are complex and multi-dimensional (especially Margaret's mother), and the plot is a page-turner, only becoming far-fetched in a final scene in which too many coincidences strain to be believed. Despite the final misstep, it's one of the best novels I've read this year -- and a strong candidate for both book clubs and a film option.

Margaret has a great fear of flying, but her boyfriend convinces her to go up with him on Valentine's Day so that he can surprise her. The flight ends up cartwheeling down the runway and Margaret's life is forever changed. The story follows Margaret through her recovery - both physical and emotional. It's a pleasant story with some good laughs at her quirky family. I could just see her sister at her side, her parents visiting for lunch, and her interactions with her physical therapist. It was easy to connect with the characters and follow Margaret on her journey.

I was looking forward to and was excited to be offered this book to review. You see, I was hospitalized with a life changing event and broken up with by my boyfriend while in the hospital, so I thought that I'd really connect. This is a quick read that did not bring one close to any of the characters. I didn't feel any struggle, really anything. I really wanted to like it.

I love Katherine Center's writing style.

I fall into her books and characters so effortlessly and find reading her books just a pleasure.

This book was just as enjoyable as her others. Not every moment was believable but honestly, I don't care. I don't mind suspending belief at times. Not every character was likable. In fact, a couple were outright detestable. I don't care about that either.

Reading a book by Katherine Center is pulling on your favorite pair of jeans, or wrapping up in your softest blanket. It is comfort and happiness. It is knowing that things will be all right, and you might learn a little something along the way.

And also, just as an aside.. Ian was definitely a yummy character! ;)

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for permission to read a galley edition of How to Walk Away and thank you to Netgalley as well. All opinions are my own.

Sometimes life blindsides us and we feel completely overwhelmed. So it is with Margaret Jacobsen, a woman with a promising career in a dream job and a fiancé, Chip, who appears to be the perfect man.

Margaret has always had a fear of flying but Chip, a pilot in training convinces her to take a Valentine’s Day ride with him in the pilot’s seat. When the unexpected occurs and the plane crashes it is Margaret who is burned and battered while Chip walks away with nary a scratch.

Now, Margaret is forced to confront the reality of spending the rest of her life tied to a wheel chair. What she needs is a “community” of caring family and friends to stand by her as she heals both physically and emotionally. What she has is a controlling mother adept at hiding secrets, a mostly absent fiancé and a future mother-in-law full of excuses and requests. Needless to say, things are not looking good and Margaret attempts at keeping a positive attitude are slowly evaporating.

Enter Kitty, Margaret’s prodigal sister who abandoned the family years earlier and Ian, the sullen Scottish born physical therapist assigned to her case. Now the plot thickens, as these relationships evolve.

Author Katherine Center never becomes preachy or maudlin as she provides readers with a story that is equal parts lessons in love, acceptance, and humor featuring three dimensional characters who are believable because they are both flawed and heroic in the same small ways that most of us are.

I loved this book! It seems it would be a sad book about a young woman's life altering plane crash, but there is humor, love, strength, and hope. Margaret is a character I won't soon forget. She is strong, feisty, and resilient.

I enjoyed the dynamic between Margaret and Kitty. They were so good for each other.

Ian the Scotsman and PT was one of the best parts of this book. His tragic past harden him. I really enjoyed seeing the role he played in Margaret's recovery.

Margaret and Kitty's parents were an interesting part of this book. Linda (Margaret's mother) was a force and not one that wasn't use to getting her way. Cliff was gentle and kind and could contain Linda. I loved watching how the family came together during Margaret's recovery was wonderful.

I can't recommend this book enough. It is sad, sweet, hopeful, and beautiful. I received an ARC from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press. Thank you to both.

3.5/5 I think there should be a new subset of women's fiction (or perhaps there is already one?) for books like these because I feel like I've read several of these in the past couple of years. Basically, the premise is that the protagonist is perfect. Perfect hair, body, boyfriend, job, the whole nine yards. But then something happens that throws that perfect life out of order. Then, oh no! What's our perfect protagonist supposed to do? Well, it turns out she never liked being perfect and finds out that imperfection is just far more interesting- who would have thought?

You know from the get go that things are going to turn out A-OK because that's just the type of book this is. It's still a fun read though it's kind of like cotton candy- fun to have every now and then, but not really filling.

I am probably going to be the exception on this book but it did not land with me. I think most readers will really enjoy it because they’ll be able to overlook the ethical issues that drove me crazy. (They shouldn't but I think most readers will not realize the ethical violations in the first place.) That said, if you do decide to read it, don’t read the first few chapters if you’re on a plane. Trust me.

What I liked:
1. The author doesn’t shy away from depicting how staying hopeful can be exhausting. Everyone wants Margaret to put on a happy face and simply BELIEVE all will be well. But that takes its own energy and it’s not always as helpful as we might think.

2. Ian the grumpy physical therapist. I can’t resist a good grump or a Scotsman.

3. The exploration of Margaret taking more ownership of her life over time. The accident serves as a catalyst for her becoming a more active participant in what happens to her and there is no streamlined trajectory. This was the most realistic part of the book and I was glad for it.

I loved Center’s novel Happiness For Beginners and I was super excited to see what she’d give us next. I’m so disappointed by this one, unfortunately.

There are some spoilers ahead, most of which are events that happen early on, so don’t read any further if you want to go in completely blind. I’ll hide the biggest spoilers on Goodreads because my biggest reason for not ultimately liking the book centers around those plot developments.


What I didn't like:
1. The depiction of medical staff without bedside manner. Yes, this does happen but the overtness in this particular scenario did not come across as believable to me. I used to work in healthcare and I never encountered any doctors or social workers like this, particularly in urgent and intensive care situations.

2. Margaret has a spinal cord injury but no one tells her her diagnosis. She is able to surmise a few things based on what she overhears from medical staff. Then an entire week goes by and her fiance yells at her that she’s paralyzed and will never walk again. There is no way that kind of diagnosis would be withheld from a stable, cognitively-aware patient for a whole week! I wondered at first if it was just her level of denial but no. Her family purposefully withheld the news and no doctor ever told her.

3. Also no one really addresses her depression and no professionals offer counseling, which I would think would be standard in such situations. Content warning: she does contemplate suicide at one point but it’s not really dwelled upon.

4. Margaret’s lifelong ability to just do what everyone else tells her really irked me, especially because many of the people in her life were awful. And yet she idealizes most of them, especially her fiance. I really wanted her to kick him to the curb, especially after his terrible behavior after the accident that he caused. But she didn’t and that’s where I lost my patience.

5. My biggest issue with the book is the most problematic and one most readers will overlook but shouldn’t: we’re supposed to root for a romantic relationship, which is completely ethically wrong. I couldn’t do it in The Prince Of Tides and I can’t do it here either. Having ethical relationships in a medical setting is extremely important because of the power dynamics and because of the patient’s inherent vulnerability making it easy for them to be manipulated or abused. We already romanticize provider-client relationships more than we should and I fear stories like this normalize what is actually super unhealthy at best, predatory at worst, behavior. While this is addressed a little, it’s also rationalized BECAUSE LOVE.

6. Romance/love is not more powerful than losing your PT license and therefore being kicked out of the country because of losing your visa. NO. If there really is something between them, they can wait to explore it until she’s post-treatment and a reasonable amount of time has gone by. (When I was a social worker, I had a 2 year limit because patients always wanted to set me up with their sons and grandsons.) Incidentally, I would have been all over Ian laying this out for Margaret and seeking supervision for potential boundary issues, laying his own interest aside and putting her best interests first by no longer acting as her PT, etc. So many more interesting ways this could have gone!

7. This was especially bothersome because Ian wouldn’t even admit he had feelings for Margaret, which made his actions all the more confusing and problematic.

8. The logistics of traveling as a paraplegic were never addressed.

9. A side character is referred to as Fat Benjamin and when Margaret questions this, the other person says, “oh, he doesn’t mind being called fat. He likes it!” Um, no. That’s so problematic and completely unnecessary! There was no need for so much commentary on how much he weighed and whether he was now attractive.

A phenomenally beautiful story of a tragic accident leaving a beautiful young woman paralyzed. Her fiance who caused the accident is incapable of standing by her. So Margaret Jacobsen must find the strength leave the past behind and summon the courage to move on and create a new life for herself. I found myself so deeply rooting for certain characters and equally as angry at a few other characters. You will laugh. You will cry. This is a book that truly tugs at your heart, but handles a difficult subject quite realistically. The entire book is fabulous. The ending is very satisfying! Well done, Katherine Center!

“You have to live the life you have. You have to find inspiration in the struggle, and pull joy out of the hardship”.

This wasn't an easy book to read.It's a poignant,emotional and intense story!The story line was different from what I have used to read and this make me not to want to put it down!This is Margaret's story,who was in a plane crash and must find a way to adjust her life now with her injuries.What a roller coaster I had to stop reading sometimes because I needed time to think about this.A great story!

True love and purpose after a tragedy. . Maggie who at first blush was the perceived victim, when in fact she was triumphant in finding love and a true purpose for a meaningful life. Chip was the real tragic character.
Will leave a review on Amazon under name of Connie

How to Walk Away has it all: disaster, love, love lost, love found, questionable paternity, children-parent relationships, overcoming odds, courage, and more. While not atypical of the genre, the novel is set apart by good plot writing. Character development seems more cutout than original, but the fast moving plot puts this a cut above the average. It will appeal to Center’s many fans and win her some new ones.

This is a sweet book that falls squarely into the chick-lit genre, in a good way.

When Margaret’s carefully planned wonderful life with the perfect boy next store, Chris, literally crashes to a fiery halt, she learns how to find her true self and move forward in the face of what most people would call tragedy. One evening, Chris convinced her to fly with him in the Cessna that he’s all but certified to fly solo, Margaret, who has a fear of flying to begin with, reluctantly goes with him. While in the air, he proposes, which is just what she’s been hoping for. As they begin their descent, however, an unexpected storm with severe crosswinds, results in an inexperienced pilot crashing his own plane. He walks away without a scratch.

Margaret, however, is not so lucky. She sustains second and third degree burns on her face and neck, and breaks her back, which results in paralysis. In the weeks she spends in in-hospital rehabilitation, she discovers that Chris is a bum, her estranged sister is one of her staunchest supporters, and her physical therapist, who has the reputation of being a grim, no-nonsense guy, is actually pretty cool.

I received this book as an ARC from the publisher via from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

How to Walk Away: A Novel by Katherine Center
Story starts out with Margaret and she's excited about her date with Chip.
Things are going really well for her-a new job prospect and she thinks he's going to pop the question on the date.
The day starts out well, even the date til they arrive at the airplane hanger=he's a pilot, just gotten his hours in and he wants to share it all with her.
She's skeptical and terrified of going in the pane but she goes anyways and things don't all go according to plan. He takes her near the beach where he's done some prior work down there and then head back and is told a surprise is in the glove box-the family ring-for her!
Problem is bad weather plays a bad trick on them. The story follows what happens after the accident and how she struggles everyday to do everything. She's got a determined PT and she does succeed. She is also brought back in touch with her sister Kitty and she even comes to visit and she learns so many secrets from the past.
Troubling times are still arising from others around her circle and she's taken on a vacation to the cabin and Ian the PT comes to her resuce and things get out of hand.
She has a solution but he heads back to Europe without her. Kit has a plan and the girls and their mom head overseas to the wedding of Chip. She remembers him visitng her at the hosptial...
Loved reading this story, all the medical terms made easy for us to understand and it all falls into place. Twists and turns along the way and a lot of surprises.
Love the locations and so descriptive details. Didn't see this ending, very surprising! Would like to read other works by this new author to me.
Received this review copy via St. Martins Press via Netgalley and this is my honest opinion.

Loved this book. It was nice to read about a tragic accident story that seems real without the victim taking on victimhood.

Beautiful, heartbreaking, romantic.... A fantastic book. I loved it!

If you are tired of the regular boy-meets-girl romances, then this one is for you! Funny, magical, inspirational, and so moving, I couldn’t put it down. I loved the family dynamics, Margaret’s new start after a freak accident that nearly destroyed her life, and of course, the tall and handsome hero with a big heart. The writing was so perfect that I could picture the characters clearly in my mind. I’m praying someone will make a movie on this book. Fingers crossed! Till then, Katherine Center’s other novels are going on my to-read list.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I loved Happiness for Beginners and was excited to read this book. It definitely didn't disappoint. The book had a lot of funny parts for being about such a sad subject.

Margaret had a picture perfect life with a new dream job and a fiance. Then it came all crashing down around her, literally. Waking up in the hospital, Margaret's whole life had changed. Her overbearing mother wants her to be fixed, Chip loves the old Margaret and Margaret's sister, Kitty, shows up back into her life after being out of touch for three years. Throw into the mix a sexy Scottish physical therapist.

I absolutely loved the characters. Maybe I didn't love Chip or his mother, but they were necessary for the plot. But I loved Kitty and Margaret. The way they talked and the stuff that came out of their mouths was hilarious. I found myself smiling and laughing with them. How can you not love Kitty, Margaret thought she looked like a bull with her nose ring and she had a boyfriend called The Mustache and loved a guy she called Fat Benjamin. Along with the characters, I loved the story line and writing style.

I definitely recommend the book and look forward to reading the next.

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and the author, Katherine Center, for a free electronic ARC of this novel.