Chasing Lucky - Review

Chasing Lucky

By: Jenn Bennett

Expected Publication: May 5th 2020 by Simon Pulse *Update: November 10, 2020

416 pages

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Source: Publisher via NetGalley (Thank you!!)

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Goodreads description--In this coming-of-age romance perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Sarah Dessen, scandal and romance collide when an ambitious teen returns to her hometown only to have her plans interrupted after falling for the town’s “bad boy”—a.k.a. her childhood best friend.

Sometimes to find the good, you have to embrace the bad.

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…

While I haven't read every published book by Jenn Bennett, I have read most of them. She's not an auto-buy author for me because she tends to touch on the politically correct in a way that throws messages into her books that I don't always agree with. But she is an auto-look-into author for me. This basically means I'm going to at least look into every book she publishes and will plan to read them as long as the major storylines don't fall into any of my deal breakers categories. That being said, I was beyond excited to get a review copy of Chasing Lucky. I was beginning to think I was on Simon and Schuster's blackball list or something. Regardless, I pretty much started Chasing Lucky immediately.

Josie is a typical good girl. She's been the adult more often than not in her relationship with her mother who has dragged her from city to city over the years since they originally left Beauty after a falling out between her mother and grandmother. Because she doesn't live long in one place, she never makes friends or connections. And after several years of this, she decides that she can't do it anymore. She comes up with a plan for when she turns 18 and can step away from her mom. She assumed her time in Beauty will be short, probably only a year while her grandmother is away. But Josie has connections in Beauty from her past... family and old friends. Her cousin fills her best friend roles and she reconnects with her childhood best friend, Lucky, even though things don't just click back into place.

Lucky was affected deeply by Josie leaving town when she did. He was going through a difficult time and needed his best friend. Since then, he's struggled a little with his self-worth which has resulted in the bad boy reputation that he's since acquired. He's a good guy at heart, and I was rooting for him every step of the way... even when his motivations were not clear.

Josie had a lot to work through beyond her relationship with Lucky and I really enjoyed the family aspects of Chasing Lucky. The dynamics between Josie and her mother. Josie's mother and her relationship with her own mom. Evie, Josie's older cousin, had a big role to play. As I mentioned earlier, she filled the role of Josie's best friend. Yet she has quite a lot on her own plate.

As I mentioned earlier, I have found that Jenn Bennett's books often have what I call Mountain Out of Molehills moments. There's usually some message thrown in--often in only a sentence or two--that if I mention seems like I'm making a big deal out of nothing, but I feel compelled to address regardless. In the case of Chasing Lucky one of these messages is that women can have as many meaningless sexual encounters as they want. Quoting from Chasing Lucky: "I know women can and should have whatever sex life they want." The idea is that there's often a discrepancy between what society expects of men and women. It isn't unusual to hear about men having multiple partners but it's hypocritical to expect different of women. For me, instead of bringing women to the same promiscuous level as men, why don't we bring men back to the level as women in what we expect of them. Instead of being more permissive for both, perhaps the way God designed things (one man and one woman--married) is the direction we need to go. I know my opinion is likely not popular. This isn't new to me. That's not to even mention the two gay possibilities briefly mentioned nor the short mention of abortion.

Favorite quote:

-People aren't disposable.

Chasing Lucky was everything I've come to expect from Jenn Bennett. Characters and a story that will suck me in and have me not wanting to put it down. A relationship I can root for and am dying to see play out. And a few politically correct statements thrown in whether big or small. Chasing Lucky gets 4 Stars. Have you read Chasing Lucky? What did you think? Let me know!