Carefully, she had to wrap her brother's present.

[kachibibb]

Is "carefully" awkward in the following sentence? If yes, what is the reason?

Carefully, she had to wrap her brother's present.

 

[tedmc]

"Carefully" doesn't go with "had to", which implies an obligation.

I would write:
Carefully she wrapped her brother's present.

 

[Tarheel]

Try putting it at the end, thus:

She wrapped her brother's present carefully.

 

[emsr2d2]

Using "Carefully" at the start isn't really natural in that situation. You can use "carefully" with "had to" but with a different word order and probably some more information.

She had to wrap her brother's present carefully because it was very fragile.

 

[tedmc]

kachibibb
What did you have in mind when you wrote the sentence? Is it part of a narrative? It is difficult to comment without context, since the possibilities are infinite.