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How to Walk Away by Katherine Center

 

I read Things You Save in a Fire to kick off the new year. I posted about it on Twitter, and the author shared the link to a bridge chapter between that story and this one. I read the bridge last night, and ended up wanting to start How to Walk Away immediately afterward, so I did.

Margaret Jacobsen is on the verge of getting everything she has ever wanted... a great job, the ideal fiancé, and all the other hallmarks of a perfect life. Then, after being talked into doing something she most certainly does not want to do, everything changes. 

Katherine Center writes her characters to perfection, because it is evident Maggie's fiancé Chip is a jerk from the very start. Who forces someone to do something they are terrified of doing, just to show off? Ugh. He was just so smarmy and self-centered. (Side note - why wasn't he charged with some sort of crime for "borrowing" and flying a plane without a license?!) 

Maggie has to rework her whole life, while those around her rise to the occasion or stumble along. Her relationship with her mother is initially infuriating, the one with her sister clearly complicated, and her dad is so likable from the start. Some things stay the same, but many change for the better as Maggie, and the rest of her family, progress and falter towards their new normal. I enjoyed the dynamic between Maggie and Kit immensely, and would love to learn more of Kit's story (hint, hint Ms. Center). Her mom was truly something else, but it was a relief to see her character evolve.

I appreciated the ebb and flow of the dynamic between Maggie and Ian (her physical therapist), and found myself rooting for the (perhaps forgone) conclusion of their complicated relationship. Is the ending sappy? Of course. It is a romance novel after all. I did like the uncertainty of how it all would end, and appreciated the epilogue because I was already composing a tweet in my head to ask the author if she was considering a follow up to let us know what happened next. Isn't wanting to know more often the hallmark of a good story and well-written characters? 

Final rating:
★★★★☆ 4.5 stars

ATY prompt 29: a book that you consider comfort reading

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Location: Maine, USA

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