Planning to Live

by Heather Wardell

From Goodreads:
Determined to lose weight for her best friend's wedding, goal-obsessed Rhiannon flees her parents' Christmas Day feast to avoid overeating but her car skids off the deserted road into a tree. Trapped and bleeding, with her cell phone out of reach, she struggles to escape, and to accept that she's spent her whole life planning but hasn't ever really lived. Will she get the chance to change that?


*potential spoilers ahead*


The Planning to Live is well written. It flows smoothly between the past and present as you might expect if you were examining your life while waiting to be rescued. The characters are very easy to identify with. I was drawn to Rhiannon. I could relate to her struggle with weight and her insecurities about herself. She felt very real to me. The book does have serious, emotional moments, but it is balanced nicely with funny and witty scenes.

Going into this book, I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it. I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be a happy ending and I generally, as a rule, avoid books without happy endings. I am often left feeling like I wasted my time and emotion on the book. In other words, I'm left feeling cheated. Besides, I'm a sucker for a happy ending. I have to say that I was very pleasantly surprised. The ending, while not altogether happy, was fitting. I walked away with tears, a smile and a nice life lesson that I think a lot of people should learn. This is the first book I have read by Ms. Wardell and I look forward to reading more.

4 stars on Goodreads.