A Life Worth Living

A Life Worth Living by Lorrie Kraus

Dev Rating: ****
(Although, it didn't get super devy for me until the last third of the book)

I really enjoyed this book.

The first thing that really impressed me was how accurate all the details were. This is an author who definitely knows a lot about SCI (and when I interview her, I’m going to ask her about that!) From how the insurance works to ordering a wheelchair to the physical changes in how a paralyzed person knows when he needs to use the bathroom, it is all accurate. I really appreciate that real life issues of paraplegia were not glossed over.

I love the message that sometimes the best thing in your life comes from your plan for your life getting completely screwed up. Good is born from bad. I think that’s so true.

Ordinarily I don’t read new injury stories, as they tend to bore me. I’ve read so, so many books with disabled characters and that right-after-the-accident time tends to be all the same. I prefer a hero who has adjusted to his disability and has moved on with his life. Here, however, the little bit of a mystery about what really happened that night was enough to keep me engaged and moving forward.

I feel like the time Matt spent with the girl who was CLEARLY all wrong for him what too long. I was getting frustrated and fed up that he couldn't see that she wasn't the right person for him until page 300. Now, at page 300 the book became great, in my opinion. That's when it really became romantic and sexy and completely enjoyable. Basically it's when he begins the process of courting the girl that we all know is perfect for him.

 My only real criticism is a tiny one. There's talk about how he needs to order his own chair and he resists that for a long time. When he finally agrees to do it, we never see him actually get a new chair. So it didn't become clear to me that he was no longer using the hospital chair until there's a mention of him taking the wheels off when he gets in a car. It pulled me from the story a little to be wondering about that and I would have liked to see a scene with him getting the new chair, seeing how different it was from the hospital chair and how much easier it was to maneuver.

I would cry foul on how easy it was for Matt to get and maintain an erection, but because all the details of his injury were so very accurate it was easy for me to buy that he was lucky in his particular injury. Overall I really enjoyed this book, particularly, as I said, the last third of it. I'd highly recommend this to any dev. It's what a love story should be, I think!

 Read a longer review at my site: ruthmadison.com And an interview with the author will be up soon!