Reviewed by Leigha on
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.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 18 February, 2020: Finished reading
- 18 February, 2020: Reviewed