Book Review: Planning to Live

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?

–From Goodreads

Cover Inspection:
At first glance I was a bit confused about the snow and the cookie. However after reading the book, oh wow. This cover is fantastic.

First Thoughts:
Rhiannon sounds just like me. Exactly. This is kind of weird.

***

My Review:
I have been trying to type up a review of this book for about the last two hours. As I sit here, having erased what I wrote yet again, I realize that I can’t write this like a normal review. Wiping the tears in my eyes as I try to figure out exactly what to say has made me realize that I’m just going to have to write exactly what I feel. I hope you don’t mind, dear readers. Try to keep up, and I’ll promise not to ramble too much.

From the moment that I opened Planning to Live, I was at one with Rhiannon. In fact, I’m fairly sure that all of us out there can find at least a bit of us who is just like her. Always working. Setting goals. Never feeling like what you do is good enough. Down on yourself for one reason or another. Truly I saw so much of myself in Rhiannon that it scared me a bit. I wondered how on Earth someone out there could mirror me so perfectly.  What I liked is that she isn’t written like an “every woman” though. Rhiannon has her own personality, her own self, she just happens to be going through a life that is similar to most of us out there.

This book is all about living life for the journey, not for the destination. It reminds us, rather jarringly, that you need to focus on the little successes and be proud of those. It’s easy to forget that in the normal hustle and bustle of life, especially when you live in a world that pushes success as the norm. Rhiannon’s story struck me most of all because I am slowly pulling myself out of the same hole that she was trapped in. It made me realize that I’m not alone, and that it is important to try no matter how hard it hurts. Am I rambling? I’m quite sure I am, it’s hard not to, but I’ll wrap it up.

Once in a blue moon I stumble upon a book that touches me so deeply it alters my thinking. This book did that for me. I can’t say for certain how it will touch any of the rest of you, since I don’t know what parts of your life you are currently in, but I can say for certain that no matter what this is a fabulous read. Rhiannon is amazing, her story is touching, and you’ll be moved. Make sure you have a big box of tissues though. I recommend this book 200%!

A huge thanks to Heather Wardell for allowing me to read this amazing book. I’m a whole hearted fan and I can’t wait to see what she writes next!

Book Details
Title: Planning to Live
Author: Heather Wardell
Publisher: CreateSpace
Pages: Paperback; 238
Source: Received from author
FTC Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Final Rating: 5 Keys to My Heart
[+/-] Click to see rating.