Chasing Lucky

by Jenn Bennett

A swoon-worthy story of first love, making mistakes and finding out who you are, from the author of Night Owls.

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 to run the family bookstore, Josie knows it's not forever, so there's no reason to change her modus operandi-keeping to herself, dreaming of the day she can leave.

But after a disastrous summer party, a poorly executed act of revenge lands her in big-time trouble. As in, jail...alongside the last person with whom she'd want to share a mugshot: the son of the boat mechanic across the street, Lucky Karras. Outsider, rebel...and her former childhood best friend.

Josie and Lucky become the talk of their coastal small town. But during a summer of secrets, everything changes, and the easy friendship they once shared grows into something deeper and more complicated. Can Josie and Lucky swim past obstacles that come with rough waters, or will they both go down together?

• ISBN10: 1534425179
• ISBN13: 9781534425170
• Publish Date: 10 November 2020 (first published 5 May 2020)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Imprint: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 416
• Language: English

Reviews

[Joséphine]

Initial thoughts: The main character’s given name is Josephine, she loves photography, and she moved around a lot as a kid. Seeing how these apply to me as well, I felt hard-pressed not to rate Chasing Lucky 5 stars. Haha. It was an enjoyable read, no doubt but it also was very, very predictable. I had hoped for a more multi-faceted story.

Still, I think Bennett captured the complicated nature of familial ties so well, it’s worth picking up the book just for that alone. And growing up, I had fantasised about moving back to places I’d lived before and reconnecting with childhood friends. This book brought to life something I never got to experience in real life. That makes it really special to me, even if it didn’t turn out to become a favourite of mine. Perhaps if this main character had gone by Jo instead of Josie, I might have reconsidered. (Not really, though.)

[pagingserenity]

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC! I enjoyed this book and my cheeks hurt from grinning so much as I was reading it but ooof, the secondhand embarrassment was tough to bear at times. Overall, I really like Josie and her story, even if she made me want to face palm a few too many times. Full review to come.

[Sam@WLABB]

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Josie is ready to stop living the vagabond life, and ready to start putting her plan for the future into action. One part of that plan is returning to her hometown, but therein lies the biggest challenge. It requires Josie to put up with vicious gossip about her family, and also hope, that her grandmother doesn't return home before the end of the school year, and drive her mother out of town...again. Her homecoming seems to be off to a disastrous start, until she commits a crime, and her former best friend takes the fall. Maybe she would be able to evade the Saint-Martin curse after all.

I don't think I will ever stop looking forward to a Jenn Bennett book. The story and setting might change, but she never fails to gift her readers with wonderfully flawed characters and an adorable romance.

CHASING LUCKY features a heroine, who comes from a long line of strong women, who may not be the best communicators. Her family had plenty of love, but it sometimes got lost in the secrets, half truths, and discussions they avoided having. Not only did Josie yearn for her mother to step up and be more of a parent, she also wanted to experience a "normal" family. She wanted to stay in one place, and put down roots. My heart ached for this young woman, but I also knew she could have exactly what she wanted without ever leaving Beauty.

I actually loved all the Saint-Matin women, and I appreciated the way Bennett worked in the ideas about rumors, secrets, lies, and mistakes, but what I really adored, was the relationship between Lucky and Josie.

Lucky on his own was so lovable. He was slightly wounded and very misunderstood. He was often the topic of the local rumor mill, but he never pushed back. As the story unfolded, and I learned more and more about him, my love for him grew.

I needed him and Josie to rekindle their friendship, because the bond they shared had been something special. Hearing about their past ties put a smile on my face. Their parting and growing apart was a difficult thing, for both Josie and Lucky. I was really rooting for these two to find each other again, and now that they were older, they were seeing each other as way more than friends. Some of my favorite moments in the book were the ones shared between these two. Their excursions and interactions were wonderful, and marked with the fantastic banter I have grown to expect from Bennett. She never fails to make me ship her couples, and it was a pleasure watching these two reconnect, as well as connect on a different level.

Once again, Bennett has delivered a stupendous story featuring family, friendship, and first love, which made me feel a wealth of emotions, and ultimately, left me with a huge smile on my face.


*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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[Leigha]

I received this book for free from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Josie Saint-Martin returns to her hometown to discover it’s not quite like she remembers in this young adult contemporary romance.

Guys, thank god I liked this book. I did not like last year’s Serious Moonlight (much to my disappointment) and I had no interest in reading The Lady Rogue. I waffled on picking up Chasing Lucky on Edelweiss when it became available, but I’m super glad I did. The ARC was not formatted well, which was my issues with the Serious Moonlight ARC last year. Jenn Bennett seems like a well-known and well-loved author – so why are her ARC’s atrociously formatted?

The story focuses more on family than romance. While Josie starts alienated from her family, she slowly comes to understand no family is perfect. I wish more time had been spent building her relationship with her family members, particularly her mom and grandma. She spends the most time with her cousin, but their relationship felt problematic to me as her cousin continued to spend time with the jackass harassing her and Josie. Coming to terms with your family is something we all must do, and this novel resonates with sincerity and honesty.

Josie experiences some pretty shitty things – harassment, isolation, a deadbeat father. You want to give her a hug and yell at everyone for treating her poorly. While I liked Lucky, he felt underdeveloped. He has a lot of issues due to a traumatic experience, but his issues are pretty much swept under the rug. Their romance was cute, if predictable.

tl;dr I liked Josie and the focus on family, but wished more time had been spent exploring Lucky’s issues.