This book took a roundabout path to me. Mary gave it to Cathy, and Cathy loaned it to relative to read first. That relative deemed it "one of the better ones" when she returned it to Cathy. Cathy read it and then passed it on to me. I agree that it is one of the better ones.

There are two plot lines. One is JJ's and Alex's relationship and the other is JJ's brother, Max's, injury. They intertwine because Alex's company makes the equipment that the reality show used when Max was injured.

I think the book did a decent job of showing the various emotions that someone with a spinal injury can go through. I imagine it must be harder for someone who's used to being active. I think the book also shows that a spinal injury doesn't have to mean the end of one's life. People can and do go on to live productive and sometimes active lives.

I liked the nurse's advice to JJ to call in reinforcements and to let them help when they offer and to view it as a way for them to take the burden off her so that she could focus her energy on helping her brother.

I can understand Alex's frustration with Sam. Sam seems to focus on the bottom line (money) without always seeing the bigger picture. Sam's determination to keep them as the reality show's gear supplier is what pushed him to allow them to use an unthoroughly tested product--without that accident, Adventure Gear probably would have gone on as they'd been going on.

I admire Alex's desire to do the right thing. He repeatedly offers to help the Jones family because he feels it's the right thing to do, not because he's trying to avoid a lawsuit. He chooses to embrace the idea of covering Max's medical care and other equipment needs rather than fight it out in court. At the same time, he tries to salvage as much of his company as he can to try to avoid laying off or firing everybody. Alex and Sam fight about the way to do this. Alex is convinced the company needs to move into the adaptive sports idea while Sam wants to continue on with the Adventure Gear lines and stores.

Another reviewer commented on the verse Alex uses about God working all things for good perhaps not being the best verse the author could have chosen. Perhaps not, but I didn't take it the same way that reviewer did--we are told early in the novel (even before the accident) that Alex is struggling with not being able to see the big picture, of not being able to take all the pieces and put them together into a cohesive whole--something he's had a knack for doing in the past. And at first, after the accident, Alex continues to have this issue. Where I remember Alex using the verse is when he talks to JJ--and I took it as Alex is realizing that there are options he might not have considered in the past and that he can now see how God is working in the situation, tragic as it is. Without the accident, Alex might never have met Max to be able to see how Max's past life of adventure might be a good fit with his company. Without Max's accident, Alex might never have realized that there is a group of people out there who want to be active but can't always be as active as they were due to their physical limitations and that some of these people can be helped by gear developed to meet that need. I don't remember Alex using the verse when he met with Max to try to persuade him to take a job with the new company, but he might have and I might have just glossed over reading that part.

So yes, while Max's accident was tragic and while it did change his life, there was still some good that came out of it eventually. I hope that Max will someday come to realize that too--I think he did since in the epilogue he seems to be working for Alex's pared down company and seems genuinely happy for his sister. ( )