Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center

Title: Happiness for Beginners

Author: Katherine Center 

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Release Date: March 24, 2015

A year after getting divorced, Helen Carpenter, thirty-two, lets her annoying, ten years younger brother talk her into signing up for a wilderness survival course. It's supposed to be a chance for her to pull herself together again, but when she discovers that her brother's even-more-annoying best friend is also coming on the trip, she can't imagine how it will be anything other than a disaster. Thus begins the strangest adventure of Helen's well-behaved life: three weeks in the remotest wilderness of a mountain range in Wyoming where she will survive mosquito infestations, a surprise summer blizzard, and a group of sorority girls.

Yet, despite everything, the vast wilderness has a way of making Helen's own little life seem bigger, too. And, somehow the people who annoy her the most start teaching her the very things she needs to learn. Like how to stand up for herself. And how being scared can make you brave. And how sometimes you just have to get really, really lost before you can even have a hope of being found.

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I love E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G about Happiness for Beginners! I love the growth of the characters, the theme of the book and the wilderness trip. In my opinion, there was not a single scene that didn’t have a reason to be there. 

I can’t express how in love I’m with Helen and Jake. Their banter was magnificent. Jake was ultra McDreamy in so many ways. From his sense of humor to his nerdiness. From his accomplishments to his fake insecurities. From his confidence to his personal suffering. I LOVE him.

Helen was such an original character. It was easy to identify with her. If she was embarrassed, I felt embarrassed for her. When she was feeling down, I was feeling down. When she learned to look for happiness on a daily basis, it made me think of all the things that made me happy every day. When her heart broke, my heart broke for her. 

What's Happiness for Beginners about?

Helen Carpenter is a 32-year-old teacher. She's had a tough time in the last year since her divorce. As a challenge to improve herself, she has signed up to do a survival trip in the Wyoming mountains. The night before she has to leave, she stops by her brother Duncan's house. He's supposed to petsit for her. She wasn't expecting to find a party going on, her brother nowhere to be found and her brother's best friend, Jake thanking her for driving him to the same survival camp. Here is where I stop telling you more. I would rather you experience this story. I thoroughly enjoy it. I hope this is not the last time we see these characters. Duncan is worth getting his own book.

Having read 3 books by Katherine Center in less than three weeks, I can assure you that I've become a huge fan.

Cliffhanger: No

5/5 Fangs