The Good Luck Girls (Good Luck Girls, #1)

by Charlotte Nicole Davis

The country of Arketta calls them Good Luck Girls - they know their luck is anything but.

Sold to a "welcome house" as children and branded with cursed markings.

Trapped in a life they would never have chosen.

When Clementine accidentally kills a man, the girls risk a dangerous escape and harrowing journey to find freedom, justice, and revenge in a country that wants them to have none of those things. Pursued by Arketta's most vicious and powerful forces, both human and inhuman, their only hope lies in a bedtime story passed from one Good Luck Girl to another, a story that only the youngest or most desperate would ever believe.

It's going to take more than luck for them all to survive.

• ISBN13: 9781250299703
• Publish Date: 4 November 2019
• Publish Status: Transferred
• Out of Print: 27 November 2024
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: St Martin's Press
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 352
• Language: English
• URL: http://melia.co.uk/page/detail/?k=9781250299703

Reviews

[moraa]

Not too sure about this one but I gave it 3 stars anyway because I thought it had potential. I connected with the characters well enough, I just think it's a matter of me diving into the world a little further.

However, the fact of having five girls at the centre of the story could have been one of the things that distracted me immensely from the story itself. It can be quite difficult to remember minuscule details about 5 people. Remembering minuscule details is something I take pleasure in as a reader.

Still, I loved the premise and I loved the groundwork the author laid at the beginning of the story. It never seemed like a word was wasted. I do look forward to reading more from this author soon.

[Quirky Cat]

I received a copy of The Good Luck Girls through a contest on Twitter. There was no obligation to review, but I chose to do so.

The Good Luck Girls is the first novel in a series of the same name by Charlotte Nicole Davis. This series will be perfect for fans of the Handmaid's Tale or Westworld – or ideally, both. It combines a fantasy world with a heavily character driven plot, and is not afraid to show us the darker sides of a world such as this.
The Good Luck Girls have earned their name because of the good luck and comfort they bring to the people who pay for them. They've been sold to their welcome house, and it's not an ideal life. And it's one that they can never be truly free of.
Expect for five Good Luck Girls, who manage to escape and go on the run. Granted, they didn't have much choice but to try and earn their freedom, thanks to a series of intense and disturbing events. But they're going to make the best of it.
Aster hates being a Good Luck Girl. She might have taken a drastic step to get away from it all, if not for her younger sister. She's determined to protect her little sister, Clemintime, no matter what. Even if that means telling her to ignore a rule or two of the welcome house.
Clementine is the newest girl to age into the Good Luck Girl program. And it's nothing like what the other girls have promised. Thankfully, she's got her friends and her sister to keep her safe. And she's not afraid to sacrifice to keep them safe either.
Tansy is a sweet girl, one who hasn't yet turned sixteen and been forced into the nightlife of the Good Luck Girls. Before she was sold into the house, she was training to be a nurse. It's all she wanted in life, before things went poorly for her family.
Mallow is the other girl in this group of runaways who never had to enter the night side of being a Good Luck Girl. And we're ever so thankful for it. She's a fighter though, one who's a pretty decent shot, even with her lack of training.
Finally, there's Violet. She was born and raised in a welcome home, and that came with some benefits. But it also cost her more than most people would realize. Not that she was afraid of taking advantage of the perks granted to her, naturally.

“Good Luck Girls never went hungry, always had a roof over their heads, saw the doctor and the dentist twice a year. Entertaining the brags meant they got to wear the kind of clothes other girls could only dream of, too, and enjoy an endless supply of Sweet Thistle.”

Warnings: The Good Luck Girls covers a lot of heavy and disturbing elements. Basically, all of the elements that are dark and disturbing in The Handmaid's Tale are also in this book. But for those that haven't read it: There's slavery, sexual assault, and abuse (mentioned), abuse, and assault.

The Good Luck Girls was an consuming yet brilliant read, showcasing a character driven plot full of dynamic girls and their determination to live. As you can imagine, it gets quite intense at times, but it's also enchanting and will leave the reader wanting to get their hands on the next novel as soon as possible.
There was so much to love about this novel and everything in it. The world, the characters, the plot itself, and many of the points and tension that Charlotte Nicole Davis created within these pages.
The world in Good Luck Girls seems so expansive, and while we got to see a good amount of it, I still am finding myself hoping that we'll see more in later novels. More specifically, I find myself hoping to see the changes that can be brought to a world such as this one.
Then there are the characters, who are, naturally, quite amazing. They are the main focus of the story. And as such, each girl had their own backstory and reason to want to be free – though I'm sure we can all agree with the basic desire for freedom. I imagine we'll all find our own favorites during the read, though I personally adored both Aster and Tansy, though for very different reasons each.
I'll confess that at first, I was a little bit nervous about some of the subject matter; simply because of the way the novel started. But my fears were quickly assuaged, and instead, I found myself eager to see how our girls would handle the situation. So for those that are hesitant, I would say that it is absolutely worth giving a try.
I'm honestly already looking forward to the next novel in this series, which I don't even think has a name just yet. But I'm looking forward to any and all news on it! So if you hear anything, please do let me know.

For more reviews check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

[layawaydragon]

Content Warning: Sex Slavery, Oppression, Torture, Psychological Warfare, PTSD, Addiction, 

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
There needs to be so much more hype & promo for this. Absolutely stunningly amazing book. Cannot praise it enough. Can barely even form sentences after finishing. Just WOW!!!


>Immediately gripping
>Intense & emotional
>Did not want to stop reading for anything
>Yesss group of girl bandits on the run & taking names.
>The only thing I’d like is pictures of the flowers of their favors since I’m ignorant in this arena.
>Not typically a fan of the wild wild west because colonizers narratives & white washing of history and all that, but damn did I love this.
>Love this world. Nothing about the Veil or how the magic works is explained, but that’s not necessary & might bog down the narrative at this point. The foundation of Arketta, with debtors punishments, the selling of girls, the marks of ownership are built solidly based on the common practices in our world. I really appreciate Davis’s research and sensitive use of these realities. Def. Recommend her recommendations in the end & then some.
>FYI readers & reviewers: these girls are escaped sex slaves, not prostitutes or sex workers. There’s a huuuuuuuge difference between them all.  Google it.
>All the characters are vividly realized, jumping off the page
>Love how each side of an axis is examined re: situation you’re born into & surviving the oppressive structures around you. Yes, it’s a thrilling root for the underdogs on the run action packed ride, but it’s also a nuanced depiction and dissertation worthy. 
>Didn’t see shit coming
>LOVE that ending!
>One confirmed w/w ship & one potential on the horizon I desperately want to set sail in the sequel
>>I NEEDS MORE NOW
Made SO many bookmarks & highlights. Here are a few from the beginning with no spoilers from ARC COPY,

Still, even as she squeezed her sister’s hand in reassurance, all she could think was: Don’t thank me yet.

It was both a uniquely horrifying story and all too common, something that might have happened to anyone she grew up with.

But there was no such thing as a good brag. Every last one of them knew the girls they paid for were prisoners.

“As long as you all will have me, I’ll be happy just to stick with you.”

Everyone deserved to be free, though. Everyone deserved to feel this.

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from BookCon 2019 and Tor Teen in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I was on board with this book as soon as I found out it was a YA fantasy western. I didn’t even need to know the plot – I knew I was there for the aesthetics alone and the rest would come after.

I gotta tell you guys, the world Charlotte Nicole Davis built here is AWESOME. You get hints of a western feeling world in the post-apocalyptic dystopias like LIFEL1K3 and Gunslinger Girl, but The Good Luck Girls isn’t a dystopia and the world stays constant. I grew up watching old-school westerns with John Wayne and Clint Eastwood and while YES these are largely problematic, the genre has so many unique elements to it… I’m really excited to see it come back into modern fiction in a non-problematic way. Charlotte Nicole Davis has all the elements: ghosts, horses, rattlesnakes, saloons, the equivalent of U.S. Marshalls… but there’s the unique element of subtle magic, the vernacular of the world, and the class systems. She really captured the feel of a traditional western and it is ON POINT.

For whatever reason, I thought The Good Luck Girls was going to follow Clementine, but most the story is told from her sister Aster’s POV. Through the five girls and Zee, we learn about five very different backgrounds. Their stories are spread throughout the book, and it’s written really well. I never felt like there was an information dump. Each girl has a unique story that led her to the welcome house, and a unique skillset she offers the outlaw gang. I honestly couldn’t pick a favorite – Aster’s leadership and drive, second guessing Violet, Tansy’s kindness, or Mallow’s ferocity. I felt like Clem was the least developed, and while Zee was interesting, he wouldn’t take the top spot. Regardless, there are a lot of faces to fall in love with here.

Some plots were predictable, but the details never ended up quite the way I expected. For example, I figured out part of Violet’s story early on, and while I was right on the where, I wasn’t right on the what. This is such a wonderful debut and Charlotte Nicole Davis did such a great job of balance. There were exciting scenes, and there were gentler, more touching scenes. There were a lot of little plot twists and everything really felt like it went the way it had to go. This is a concerning world, and for once, I’m going to say that The Handmaid’s Tale x Westworld elevator pitch makes a lot of sense. But it’s a lot more Westworld. I see Delores in Aster for sure.

I had the opportunity to briefly meet and speak to Charlotte Nicole Davis as Book Con at the Fierce Reads Breakfast (which is where I got this ARC) and it was so cool how casual/excited she was about this novel. Each author only had a heartbeat to talk about their novel, and she simply said it had all the things she loved: westerns, girl gangs, ghosts. I am here for all of it. These are also things I love to see in book. I’ve gotta tell you – I had really high expectations for The Good Luck Girls… and I loved it.

I hope to see The Good Luck Girls making a splash across the community – it’s a strong, original book with an exciting storyline, great themes, great characters, great diversity… it’s good all around y’all. I know I’m going to be shouting about it, so I hope others will jump on board and read it, too! If you want that Old American West aesthetic with a fierce girl gang fighting injustice, you HAVE to read The Good Luck Girls.

[Terri M. LeBlanc]

Coming back from BookExpo 2019, I knew that I had to read this one.

Aster, Violet, Clementine, Mallow and Tansy journey across the bleak rough country of Arketta following a legend that will hopefully make them free women. As they travel, the reader witnesses them come to grow as individuals and as friends, learning that working together is sometimes the best means for survival. In a bleak landscape and a world that controls women, the five women are rays of hope for a better tomorrow.

After tackling this book, readers may want to pick up The Grace Year by Kim Liggett and The Handmaid's Tale.