Amazon.ca:Customer reviews: Happiness for Beginners: A Novel

Top positive review

A different twist to a romanic outdoor tale!

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on May 8, 2022

I liked the plot it wasn’t a regular romantic story it had some twists in it to make it more interesting. Her characters were well done. However, the writing could have been more developed, found some places a little thin. On the whole I liked the book.

Top critical review

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MizRen.

Well written novel

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on January 27, 2023

Good book, I liked all the characters, just the story didn't go deep enough for me. Wilderness trip seemed to short.

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224 total ratings, 13 with reviews

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From Canada

MizRen.

Well written novel

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on January 27, 2023

Verified Purchase

Good book, I liked all the characters, just the story didn't go deep enough for me. Wilderness trip seemed to short.

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From other countries

Lydia

Cute

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 7, 2023

Verified Purchase

This was an enjoyable read. I didn’t know this book preceded What You Wish For, and I had already read that one. (The Duncan in this book is no where near recognizable.)

I really liked the characters in this story, and I thought it ended on a nice note.

LorianBrianna

I was hoping for more

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 28, 2023

Verified Purchase

The book has potential and the characters are intriguing. I just needed more depth, deeper self reflective insights, especially given the title.

RSW Kindle Customer

3.5 Star

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 3, 2015

Verified Purchase

Easy to read, spunky book. I realize that it's weird to call a book spunky, but this one is. It's somehow all at once funny, sad, wise, fluffy and never gives up.

Helen could use a serious life- changing experience. She is 32 years old, recently divorced, she has an annoyingly irresponsible younger brother (Duncan) and her best friend is her psychologically cranky dog.

When Helen decides to take an introspective journey in the form of a four week extreme mountain hiking survival course she is less than thrilled to find out that Duncan's equally annoying, irresponsible best friend (Jake) is not only going on the same trip but her brother told Jake that Helen would drive him from Boston to Wyoming (can you guess what ends up happening there?).

When Helen arrives she is not happy to find out that this group is more of a fraternity party than an introspective, soul searching event. It should also be mentioned that Helen is neither an athlete nor an experienced hiker and this tour company is not known for taking good care of the participants. During the course of the trip, Helen is surprised to find out that there is more to Jake, Duncan and herself than she expected.

Although the book tends to be fairly predictable and possibly a bit cliche, it's hard not to be sucked in. I found myself 100% pulling for Helen, Jake and Duncan. I should mention that I just finished reading ' The Mountain Story' by Lori Lansen (which I absolutely loved), also about surviving a rough mountain experience but a much more serious book. I may have been comparing the books too much, they really shouldn't be compared because they are two very different books.

Overall, I liked the book. I would recommend it for anyone who is looking for an easy read that reaches beyond trivial fluff but is not one of those pretentious overly deep books. It had some good wisdom about theories of happiness that I will take with me.

15 people found this helpful

Kindle Customer

Finding Self and Love

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 21, 2020

Verified Purchase

Helen had spent much of her life caring for the needs of her mom and younger brother. This story seems to begin when she accepts the challenge of going on a nature challenge. As she prepares for the challenge, she sees her brother Duncan's long-time friend Jake. The plot is interesting and quick as the events of the 3 week nature challenge unwind. While Jake is 10 years younger than Helen, they begin to fall for each other. This is a thoroughly enjoyable read, but the beginning was somewhat hard to believe. I also am not sure why Ms. Center decided that Jake would have an hereditary eye disease which would eventually result in total blindness. To be honest, Helen's life was one kick in the pants after another. When she finally found love with a good man, another kick would be soon to come. Does any one person ever have so many adversities?

One person found this helpful

Bookworm Janet

Fun story I almost didn't read

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 9, 2018

Verified Purchase

The beginning of this book seemed sophomoric, so I almost didn't go on. Which would have been a shame as this is a fun romance. Speaking of romance, I wasn't expecting the book to be one. Three stars because it isn't literary.

2 people found this helpful

Nancy Carlson

Fun light read

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 20, 2016

Verified Purchase

Interesting characters. Sweet love story. A little hard to believe in parts-like 79 pound back packs for inexperienced hikers, and setting off on a 3 week back country trip in rented hiking boots. But overall a nice romp through the Wyoming wilderness with characters I ended up really liking.

PAS

More romance than adventure

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 2, 2018

Verified Purchase

This was cute story but I was expecting the adventure trip to be a bit more harrowing. Heck, they didn’t even meet a bear!

sbbsaver

Three Stars

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 11, 2015

Verified Purchase

Interesting, but a little too simplistic. This is the epitome of a beach read.

Steve B

An OK novel but with senseless vulgarities

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 5, 2015

Katherine Center is a popular writer with young people, but even at 55 years old I find her books can be enjoyable. Happiness for Beginners has a good plot line and it's well-developed but the unnecessary foul language (which is so much a part of young society today) is still a show-stopper for some. For those who do not object to vulgarity, this is an enjoyable light read that can be enjoyed part-time for about a week. It's an easy read meant for those with limited vocabulary; Katherine is good, and she has kept the prose at a lower level for the age group that would be interested in this material.

9 people found this helpful

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Happiness for Beginners: A Novel

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