Because…we can all use a book about a grieving, grumpy heroine who finds happiness in the most unexpected of places.

Published: March 2015

Categories: Romance / Action Adventure / Comfort Read / Women’s Fiction

Blurb:

Could she change the story of her life?

It was time. Helen Carpenter knew that. Thirty-two and divorced for a year, Helen knew it was time—past time—to pull herself together. She needed to do something wild and adventurous and completely out of character. Which is why she signed up for a wilderness survival course in Wyoming.

Thus begins the strangest adventure of Helen Carpenter’s well-behaved life: three weeks in a remote mountain range where she will survive a summer blizzard, a group of sorority girls, rutting season for the elk, and more than one infuriating man. Yet, despite the hardships and the indignities, the mountains bring their own wisdom to Helen’s life, somehow teaching her the very things she needs to learn. Like how to stand up for yourself. How being scared can make you brave. How the things you hold on to become the story of your life. And, maybe most of all, how sometimes you just have to get really, really lost before you even have a hope of being found.

My Thoughts:

I loved The Bodyguard by Katherine Center. Read my review here. I noticed that they were making one of her early books, Happiness for Beginners, into a Netflix movie and I wanted to read it before I watched it. There is so much to love about this book. The characters, both main and secondary. Oh my gosh, Duncan, the younger brother! The setting. Hello wilderness camping, which I would never do. The healing and the humour. It tugs at the heartstrings and makes you laugh in equal measure. And the older heroine, younger hero is one of my favourite tropes. I’m guessing there are very few us who haven’t felt like we’ve been figuratively lost in the wilderness. Or who’ve found ourselves feeling one step behind or feeling out of step while everyone is marching forward. It’s sweet and funny, but it’s the depth of story that makes it a winner. Highly recommend.

We’ll see if the movie gets it right…

Until next time…

What’s everyone else reading?