Walking Away from Texas tells the story of Katie Mitchell, a teenage girl who develops feelings for her best friend, Alan Thomas. She believes that he might share those feelings, but complications arise from other friends and relationships. College choices also get in the way, as they find themselves in separate states.

Rather than reading like a narrative or a work of fiction, this book sounds like the ramblings of a teenage diary. Just like a daily diary, the plot veers left and right as the protagonist wobbles between conflicting emotions, takes pointless action and tries to sort through her emotional dilemmas.

To hold a reader's interest, books must be more structured, opting for uncluttered storylines and a clear path of action. Most of the action seems fairly arbitrary; there's no real plot development or character development.

Several other characters enter the story, including Alan's ex-girlfriend and true love, Jaclyn; Jaclyn's current boyfriend; and other love interests whom the characters meet in college, all of whom are shallow, pretty, and self-centered.

Author Sharon Bradley, in her note on the back, states that she is a first-time author. This is easy to believe. It's possible this book is based on personal experiences. If so, she needs to step back and write about something in which she's less personally involved. Otherwise, it's easy to fall into directionless personal ponderings.

For her next attempt, she ought to focus on fundamentals of story telling, such as a plotline with rising action, a climax, and denouement. She might take inspiration from authors such as Judy Blume, Robert Cormier and Francesca Lia Block, all of whom write about young adults in a convincing and entertaining way.

While normally, cover art says little about the content of the book, in this case, the cover art is so amateurish that it's truly distracting. It looks as if it was done by an elementary school student using a basic paint program. It doesn't add to the presentation and is, in fact, more likely to inspire readers to walk away from the book.

iUniverse Inc., 2004: ISBN 0-595-32672-2