It seems wrong to use a term like fun to describe this book so I am going to go with lighthearted.  Despite the grim nature of the story, Center manages to keep the story engaging and hold interest throughout.  Margaret Jacobsen is a young woman who has everything she wants basically.  She has a great job offer following college graduation and she has a boyfriend who she thinks is perfect.  Then an accident changes everything for Margaret.  Everything. 

The author was astute in her choice to show that a life changing incident does not just involve person who is the patient but also has a huge impact on the rest of a person's loved ones.  For example, Margaret struggled to accept her new reality.  Her mother took much longer to come to acceptance and stop pushing her daughter past her realistic expectations.  While the novel did have divisiveness in it, there was also reconciliation.  

Overall this novel was a quick and enjoyable read.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this novel

I adored Center's Happiness for Beginners, so I was eagerly anticipating this new novel! I didn't know much about this story before starting (and won't spoil it), but I was surprised by the direction it took. My mom often reminds me that you can't change what happens in life but can control how you react to it. This book exemplified that idea! Despite the heavy story, Center managed to infuse it with a lot of humor (without downplaying the tragedy). I loved the family relationships, the heroine's mindset, and the loveably gruff romantic interest. It felt a bit predictable, but it was engaging and I So Enjoyed It.

What an unexpected little treasure. I had no idea about this book until it popped up on my radar on the rec of a fellow blogger on Instagram. I was in the right mood for an emotional read and from the blurb I could tell this would be that kind of journey. And it delivered exactly what I wanted.

HOW TO WALK AWAY is an emotionally gripping and thought provoking story of a woman’s’ journey in self discovery and reinventing herself after a tragic accident changes everything she knew about her future, her past and her identity. Katherine Center does really a wonderful job at making the reader feel immersed in the story and it was such a fast read for me. It often made me wonder what my reaction would be if in the same situation. I loved how complex the story was as well as we are dealing with more than the physical implications from the accident. There’s the obvious self esteem issues. And also so many family secrets that come to the surface. The relationship between our main heroine and every member of her family was an added treat that added something I really enjoyed to the story.

I don’t want to spoil the story at all so I think with the blurb you know enough to know if you’d like to check it out. If I had to compare this to something else, the obvious choice for me would be ME BEFORE YOU but done in a much happier way. There’s a better outlook on life and relationships, and definitely a lot more romance 😉 So if that sounds like something you’d be into, then give this book a shot. I’m glad I discovered it and will be on the lookout for more books from this author.

Thank you Netgalley, publisher and the author Katherine Center for this beautiful book.
How to Walk Away is one of the best book, absolutely phenomenal. It drew me in from the get go, could not put it down. Beautiful writing , touching story. I loved the main character Margaret and her sister Kitty.
Highly recommend. I will definitely read books from this author.

I loved this! It was a great story and a positive message of overcoming adversity from within one's self and those around you. This was a nice palate cleanser from the thrillers I've been reading. I will definitely read Katherine Center again!

Margaret Jacobsen had her whole life planned out. Who she was going to marry, kids, home and job. Then it all came crashing down. Who will she turn out to be? This is the story of her strength and courage. It is about family coming together. Time for secrets to come out and the family to heal. It is also about falling in love. I didn't like Chip because he didn't respect her fear. I however, did like Ian. Different from everyone she has ever known. He is also her biggest champion. I loved the end of the book. How everything comes together.

This book is more than a love story. It is about courage, strength and overcoming all which life throws your way. And believe me, Margaret has just taken a huge hit. She has just been in a plane crash. And yes she survived, but her back and her life as she knew it, did not.

There is a double meaning in the title of this book. Margaret has been paralyzed, so she can't just "walk" away. But she learns to deal with walking away from all she knew and discovering the new path her life is now headed.

I love this book! I love Margaret and her family, especially her sister, Kitty. Kitty is a straight shooter, rough around the edges and she definitely has her sister's back plus, she has her own little story line through out this read. Then, there is Margaret and Ian, her Scottish physical therapist. These two have a chemistry not to be ignored. I enjoyed the way the author intertwined all these story lines. There are several running through this read and they all intersect to create a sad, courageous, love-filled tale.

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

READ THIS BOOK. That is all.

OK just kidding. That's not all. But really. There is not one bad thing I can say about this book. It's honest, it's painful, it's funny, it's refreshing. I sailed through it and I didn't want it to end. It's one of those uplifting stories that is disguised as a story of pain, and heartbreak. But did I mention it's funny too!?

Margaret seems to have it all. The job, the boyfriend, the apartment, the fiancé.... a super bright future of loads of money, the crazy hot guy to wake up next to, and endless white picket fences. And then everything changes.
Most of her story takes place in some pretty gut-wrenching hospital situations. Her fiancé may not be as great as she thought, the bright future may not be as bright anymore, and her family has some pretty serious skeletons that are about to rock her world.

And then there's Ian {{swoon!}} - who doesn't want a brooding, rock hard, gorgeous man with a Scottish accent in their life? Yes, please! Ian is gruff and salty, and pushes Margaret to extremes that make her hate him but thankful for him all at the same time... who is this guy?! And what is his story?!

It's almost a journey of Margaret becoming Maggie. The so-called picture-perfect life she had all buttoned-up, just may have been buttoned too tight, and a major life-changing event could show a side of her she never imagined possible.

I adored this book. It's so inspiring and the end was not the typical end I imagined it would be. It was refreshing, and honest, and brutal at times, but a definite new favorite. I'm adding this to my top 5 of 2018. Great story, and highly recommend!

**Thanks to NetGalley for the digital copy!**

When I first started this book, it was really hard to read. It triggered some of my abandonment and accident fears. But it was so flawlessly written, engaging, and all that. I just had to see what happened with Margaret.

And she hasn't seen or talked to her sister in over 3 years, what on earth is up with that? Will Margaret walk again, how will she heal? What will happen then? And that title...who is walking away???

Loved it. It made me laugh and cry, and made the security guard at work think I'd lost it because I had a huge grin on my face as I finished this one. Book hangover for sure!

This book. Sigh. It broke me and then made me while again. The writing is phenomenal, the story is amazing. It really is the whole package. I look forward to more from this author, she is a master storyteller.

This was a brilliant book about survival. The main character, Margaret, is a portrait of valor in the face of adversity. This book is inspiring and uplifting!

Margaret was left paralyzed after a plane crash. Her boyfriend took her on a joyride in his company plane on Valentine’s Day. The night fun ride ended in a crash when they landed and strong winds pushed the little plane into a ditch. In a horrible turn of fate, the boyfriend didn’t suffer even a scratch, but Margaret ended up with useless legs.

The beauty of this book is how it portrays the different ways all the characters in the book faced this tragedy. Chip, the boyfriend, broke down under the guilt, turned alcoholic, and went into a downward spiral. Margaret’s parents were very supportive, but her mother turned military sergeant, demanding that Margaret work hard so that she may walk again. Margaret’s big sister Kitty, from whom they were estranged for the past three years, appeared to support her sister. Even though Margaret sent her away from her room, Kitty persisted and gained acceptance to stay during the nights. She turned into Margaret’s best ally.

Margaret herself was floating in a fog for the first weeks. Initially she was so numb from pain meds and the shock from the accident that she didn’t know what was going on. Little by little she started realizing the magnitude of her lesions and her road to acceptance started. She starts Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy and slowly gets her bearings. She went through all the phases when a person suffers such a huge loss; denial, anger, depression, helplessness, hopelessness. However, Margaret is a lot stronger than she thinks and starts to deal. She has a gorgeous Scottish PT by the name of Ian, who also adds a lot of encouragement and motivation to work her booty off.

I loved this book because it felt real. I haven’t met anyone in this situation, but the feelings and family interactions felt real. The road that Margaret took for her rehabilitation felt real with all the obstacles, downfalls, emotional trauma, and determination that is necessary to overcome. It never went into the deep negative end, but it did have some strong abysmal moments for Margaret. I think it’s a measure of a person’ caliber how they react under duress. Based on this, Chip was a wimp, Margaret a champion and Ian a keeper. Great reading, emotional, heartfelt and uplifting. Margaret’s family dysfunction was also an entertaining side plot and added a lot of substance to the main plot.

Katherine Center is a new-to-me author, but I am very happy to have discovered her! In her novel, To Walk Away, we get a story of hope, family, love, and strength.

Margaret Jacobson has it all. Life could not be better! She has an amazing boyfriend and the perfect job. She expects to get engaged soon and begin her happily-ever-after. But as we all know, things can change from one moment to the next when we least expect it. Now everything’s changed. Can life ever be what Margaret wanted and hoped for again?

There is so much I want to say about this book, but it is really one you have to read and experience. What I can say it had amazing characters, a story that kept me engaged from beginning to end. This book was a journey of self-discovery, finding strength and hope again. I am so happy to have found a new-to-me author and one I will continue to read in the future!

Happy reading!

5 stars for How to Walk Away!
This beautiful story is about Margaret Jacobsen and her life that turned out completely different than she ever imagined. Margaret survives a tragic accident and you follow her journey as she puts herself back together....in a new way. Her strength, courage and determination were inspiring. The many other characters in the story were also wonderful, from hating Chip to adoring her sister Kitty, I enjoyed every page!

Margaret Jacobsen is a resourceful individual who works hard to achieve her goals, and generally succeeds. After graduating from business school, she lands a prestigious job in Austin, Texas, and is waiting for her good-looking boyfriend, Chip Dunbar, to propose. When a terrible accident throws Margaret's world into a tailspin, her altered circumstances affect her self-esteem, love life, and family relationships. In "How to Walk Away," Katherine Center relates how the heroine, who is badly injured, learns to cope with new and daunting challenges. She will need a great deal of support, strength, courage, and resilience to get through what will be a harrowing ordeal.

This is a fast-paced novel that incorporates a great deal of jokey dialogue. In addition, we eavesdrop on Margaret's thoughts and feelings concerning her situation. Although she sheds plenty of tears, she is remarkably good-natured and calm as she prepares for an uncertain future. Meanwhile, Margaret's estranged older sister, Kitty, reappears after a long absence to lift Margaret's spirits. Their parents, Linda and Cliff Jacobsen, are with Margaret every step of the way, but Linda is an overbearing and bossy mom who is better at giving orders than providing solace. When her condition stabilizes, Margaret begins physical therapy with Ian Moffat, who drives her relentlessly. Margaret finds Ian intriguing, attractive, and thoroughly exasperating.

Center's heart is in the right place—she believes in the possibility of redemption and reinventing oneself—but she does not quite pull off the balancing act of integrating humor into a story about a devastating crash and its aftermath. The author has done her homework, and she incorporates medical details about spinal cord injuries and severe burns that shed light on the recovery process. Margaret is an appealing narrator, but she is unrealistically stoic most of the time, while Kitty is the stereotypical black sheep who, underneath, is compassionate, funny, and generous. Adding to the angst is a family secret that threatens Linda and Cliff's marriage. Ian, Margaret's PT, is a big, strong, good-looking, and brooding hunk, but we must wait to find out what has made him into such a curmudgeon. To Ms. Center's credit, she has enough respect for our intelligence to avoid wrapping up every element of her seriocomic tale in too tidy a package. "How to Walk Away" is a fast and entertaining read, but it is too calculated and predictable to earn an unqualified recommendation.

Margaret Jacobsen is working on the perfect life she's always dreamed of: ideal job; handsome fiance, Chip; beautiful condo; and more. But that all changes in the blink of an eye, and Margaret wakes up in the ICU. Once there, she realizes how bad things really are. She's assigned a physical therapist, Ian, that even the nurses do not want her to have. He's gruff and unpleasant and barely speaks a word--the exact opposite of Margaret. The crash also brings back her wayward older sister Kitty, who hasn't spoken to the family in three years. However, Margaret recognizes she needs all the help she can get to heal--physically and emotionally-and move on with her life.

This was a fascinating and fun book, despite its serious subject matter. It had the unique ability to draw me in, even when I knew where it would go and wind up from practically the beginning. It reminded me how much I enjoy women's fiction, which I feel like I have pushed to the wayside a bit lately for thrillers and psychological fiction, the "it" genre du jour.

Anyway, it took me some time to warm up to Margaret, whose outgoing and chatty self is the complete opposite of me. However, I could identify with her need for perfection in her life, her unwillingness to fail, and her desperate desire to please those around her, especially her parents. She was a very real character, with her ability and need to fantasize about ideal situations and coming out on top when she wasn't in the best position. She was funny at times, but also serious, and it was so easy to root for her.

The other characters in the novel were dynamic, especially Ian and Kitty, if not a bit polarizing. The mothers (Margaret's and Chip's) are just awful, to the point where I wanted to shake them at times. I know Margaret's probably meant well, but good grief! There's a lot of sideline drama with Margaret's family, most of which proves a good accompaniment to Margaret's issues. It's a very emotional read, making it easy to grow attached to the likeable characters (and to dislike the "bad" ones). I was definitely along for the ride and caught up in Margaret's life, health, and drama.

Overall, this was a touching read with interesting and fun characters that hooked me immediately, even if I could see where it was heading.

How to Walk Away is the first book I have read written by Katherine Center. In fact, this is a new author for me to have even heard of. With that in mind, I looked her other books up. Tragedy, despair, hope and resilient seem to b theme that Ms. Center explores in many of her books.

How to Walk Away is a serious look at all of the above. There is a life changing, almost life ending tragedy and then there is the slow rebirth of the main character, Margaret Jacobsen. Along with her are a cast of hospital workers, family and friends. Like real life some are helpful, and some should have stayed home, which would have been more of a help to Margaret.

Being in a professional field where ethics is a great concern these days, I have some questions about Ian’s behavior. Not so much with the hospital staff since having recently spent several weeks at the hospital in a supportive role for a family member. There I did find that there are many levels of professionalism just as there are in this book.

What stood out to me was the author’s ability to turn a phrase, to give words to feelings that we all have felt but have been unable to explain and to portray a character that is stronger than she thinks she is. Beautifully written even if you know where the story is going you simply want to keep reading.

This is one of the most outstanding books I have read this year. I found myself unable to put it down. I laughed, I cried and i kept turning pages to the end. This story will touch your heart, make you rethink your life and appreciate what you have. it is a poignant journey of starting over with a new reality one day, of family and believing in yourself. I recommend it quite highly .
Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for the ARC. My review opinions are my own.
This book gave me a terrible book hangover from lack of sleep! I truly was unable to put it down.
How to walk away is about surviving and finding meaning after a terrible accident . Margaret , 26 years old , has a life ahead planned that will never happen. Now she must reconstruct life in a wheelchair after a terrible accident caused her to be paralyzed by her reckless boyfriend. She goes through all stages of grieving her ‘before ‘ life . The book describes in a heartwarming thoughtful way how this brave young woman puts her life back together to some semblance of a life she wants as a disabled person.
There are some funny , even hilarious moments where I laughed out loud . She has a dysfunctional family that annoys her to no end and shows up to butt into her new life. They cause her endless anguish as well as humor. The story is very well written and very true to life. We can all relate to dating men that are a disaster and useless as well as dysfunctional family. Being newly handicapped brings those problems to a entirely new level of dysfunction. The beauty of this book is the author makes the reader think, to contemplate and appreciate our lives. I found myself re reading pages and not wanting this books to end.
I would highly recommend this novel as it leaves the reader with a awakening for your own life and appreciating every day that we can walk this earth on our own two feet.
Cross posted to Amazon.
I look forward to further work by this fine author.

Margaret Jacobsen has never liked flying but her boyfriend convinces her to go with him as he takes her for a surprise flight during which he proposes to her. That would be life changing enough but he then loses control of the plane on landing, leaving her with truly life changing injuries . . . . changing what should have been one of the best days of her life to one that is a living nightmare.

Told from Margaret’s point of view, this emotive story explores her hopes, dreams, fears, struggles and victories as she becomes aware of the impact of the crash on her life. It also shows how different people react to the effects of it, some being supportive, others avoiding her and her Mum – well, you’ll have to read about her yourself! It also shows how Margaret’s attitudes and relationships change as she discovers more about herself, her abilities and makes decisions about her future. The hospital team supporting and treating her are brought to life and I particularly liked witnessing how one of her physical therapists, Ian, was changed by their interactions.

Don’t assume the story is doom and gloom, it is anything but! Yes, it does show readers how such injuries make patients go through all the stages of grief whilst mourning the loss of their previous life plans but it also shows how they can move on, learning how to walk away from their old life to move on to a possibly even more fulfilling future, despite their injuries. It has a liberal dosage of humour, too!

The research the author must have done to write this books is tremendous. The emotional rollercoaster of life after severe injuries is portrayed brilliantly, making it easy for the reader to empathise with all the characters – well, all except one of them! It is a thought provoking, poignant story with family secrets and a new love added to the mix making this a story that I suspect will stay with me for years to come. It is a well paced story, a real page turner and one that I have absolutely no hesitation in highly recommending – I’ll definitely be looking out for more by this talented author in future.

I requested and was given a copy of this novel, via NetGalley, with no obligation. This is my honest review of the book after choosing to read it.

I just turned the last page in this very special book and my head and my heart are just so full of all of its loveliness.

This is the reason I read - for books like this, that carry me away to someone else’s world and leave me feeling like a better person for having entered it.

I will never forget Maggie and her life experience. She gave Courage new meaning to me, and I will remember her and this book for a very long time.

I highly recommend this one to lovers of books about personal struggle and triumph in the face of adversity. And to lovers of beautifully written characters who you will just fall head over heels in love with. I adored every page.

Margaret is on the verge of great, exciting things: a new, high profile job, an expensive condo, and a proposal of marriage from her longtime boyfriend Chip. Everything seems to be going well for her, until an airplane crash changes everything. Margaret finds herself in the hospital, burned and paralyzed from the knees down. She is ready to give up now that all of her plans have been taken away from her, but her family and physical therapist Ian refuse to let her give up. As Margaret starts to put the pieces of her life back together, she will learn that there is a life beyond her accident and that she can embrace it with enthusiasm if she chooses to. Along the way, her family and Ian will also learn how to walk away from disaster.
This book made me cry and laugh often, sometimes at the same time. I was cheering for Margaret as she stood up for herself in the face of extreme selfishness (like Chip and his mother, who were absolutely despicable), and as she tried to put the pieces of her life back together. I liked how the book explored different relationships and the effect a life changing incident has on them, as well as the struggles that paralyzed people go through. We can definitely use more books like this! The only thing that bothered me was the frequent use of profanity, especially the f-bomb. I really enjoyed the ending of the story, and I recommend it to anyone looking for a good read.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. A positive review was not required, and all opinions expressed are entirely my own.