Sophie Reads YA: Chasing Lucky

Waiting On Wednesday: Chasing Lucky by Jenn Bennett

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2020 Contemporary Romance Challenge

ARC Review: Chasing Lucky by Jenn Bennett

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Chasing Lucky
Series: None
Author: Jenn Bennett
Published June 11th 2020 by Simon & Schuster Children's UK

Goodreads Synopsis
Budding photographer Josie Saint-Martin has spent half her life with her single mother, moving from city to city. When they return to her historical New England hometown years later to run the family bookstore, Josie knows it’s not forever. Her dreams are on the opposite coast, and she has a plan to get there.

What she doesn’t plan for is a run-in with the town bad boy, Lucky Karras. Outsider, rebel…and her former childhood best friend. Lucky makes it clear he wants nothing to do with the newly returned Josie. But everything changes after a disastrous pool party, and a poorly executed act of revenge lands Josie in some big-time trouble—with Lucky unexpectedly taking the blame.

Determined to understand why Lucky was so quick to cover for her, Josie discovers that both of them have changed, and that the good boy she once knew now has a dark sense of humor and a smile that makes her heart race. And maybe, just maybe, he’s not quite the brooding bad boy everyone thinks he is…
Goodreads

Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher. This in no way impacted on my view.

I just adore all of Jenn's books, so when my copy of Chasing Lucky arrived, just as the country was going to pot and lock down was looming, I knew it would be something to help get me through this difficult time. Chasing Lucky follows Josie as she returns to her hometown, Beauty, with her flighty mam, after fleeing five years ago in the dead of the night. Her whole family is cursed, and all the women struggle with love, and with being with other Saint-Martin's. With her grandma and auntie off to Nepal backpacking, it's up to Josie and her mam, Winona, to look after the family bookstore, and stay sane in town. When she meets up with her ex-best friend, Lucky, it's awkward and tense, and then a huge todo at a party leads her to smash the window of a local department store, and Lucky takes the blame. Josie doesn't know what to do with this, and she needs to find out who the new Lucky is, and just why he would do it. The more they are together, though, the more their old friendship, and chemistry soon blossoms into something more. Can she over come the Saint-Martin curse, or is her relationship doomed?

I honestly think this book was the perfect read for this time. Whenever I was reading it - and I did have to put it down a lot to help prepare my students for school closures - I forgot what was happening in the real world, and was wholly invested in Josie's story. She was a fantastic main character, and I really felt her pain in how her life had been moving from town to town, and just wanting some stability. Her interactions with everyone in the book, from her mam, to her cousin, Evie, to Lucky, and beyond, was perfect, and she is my favourite of Jenn's heroines, after Bailey from Alex, Approximately. Her mam, Winona, is wacky, and annoying at times, but she really did care about Josie, and their relationship is really explored and starts to fix itself as Josie learns more about what makes Winona tick.

The romance between Josie and Lucky was slow burning, what with the way they left their friendship 5 years ago, and I loved how they dealt with this issue before they moved onto the romantic side of their relationship. They were dead cute together, and I really believed in them together. Yeah, there is some angst that might've been unnecessary, but it's to be expected, and the way it was resolved was really well done. Jenn just can't write a bad book, and I can't wait to read her next one!

Dates Read:
March 18-23, 2020

Rating
4 Stars