Jay Walking by Tracy Krimmer

Chelsea is a 28 year-old single mom of a 2 year-old, and lives in her parents’ home rent-free with built-in child-care from her mother that doesn’t work. Although her parents have made taking care of James a bit easier, she’s still been a trooper on bringing him up without a father in his life. In fact, Chelsea was never really in a relationship with the father, so it’s no surprise that he’s never even met James once.

Chelsea realizes that she needs to start taking better care of herself, not just for her waistline, but for James’s benefit. She decides to start a walking program to begin to get healthy to ensure that she’ll be around to always take care of James and be able to run around and play with him. On her quest to start living a healthier life, Chelsea meets Jay. Not only is Jay cute and in great shape, but he’s funny and…. he likes her! But the path to love isn’t always straight and the two have their ups and downs and a bit of chaos in between.

The relationships that develop throughout the novel are a mixture of Fate, instinct and hard work. It’s important to be  in a relationship with someone that respects and appreciates you and supports your interests and passions, not someone who is indifferent, uncaring and unsupportive. Motivation to be healthier should be for you and a personal decision, not because someone wants you to look a certain way. It’s sad to think that anyone would be in a relationship with someone that doesn’t respect you and that you don’t love, but it’s exhilarating to witness the moment when things turn around and that person finally stands up for themselves and does what their instincts tell them to.

This book was thoroughly entertaining and made me want to get up and exercise! It also made me want to spend the afternoon painting or doing something creative! I loved that Chelsea’s motivation to get healthy was to make a better life for herself and her son, and it led to one of the greatest opportunities and changes of her life. She was able to find new passions through her motivation and her focus was on feeling better and being healthy so that she could run around and take care of her son. The pride that came with her accomplishments was heart warming and her rocky road of relationships was realistic and charming. One of the biggest themes in this novel was the importance of believing in yourself and finding that special someone that believes in you to propel you through life. Another wonderful novel from Tracy Krimmer!