Reviewed by phyllish on
She was lucky in the lottery. Will she be lucky in love?
Maddie never dreamed that her impulse purchase of a lottery ticket on her 18th birthday would result in her winning $50 million! Now the choices she is making are not always based on the practical things she always based them on before, like how much they cost.
I appreciated the real struggles that Maddie went through once she had all her money. She was generous and trusting and that caused her problems. She wanted to buy some new things and that caused her problems. She wanted to throw a party for the kids at school and that caused her problems, too. Yes, she was super smart, but she was also only 18. While I like to think my life experience means I would have made some better choices, at 18 I would have probably done the same things she did.
I loved Seth! He was cute and funny and sweet. And a little bit shy as well. Some of the stories he related regarding his reactions to his ethnicity were sad and showed the way so many are ignorant about so much. The conversation with the lady at the zoo asking him where he was from. Um. And not in a way that showed she wanted to get to know him. His responses were very clever!
One of the other things I really enjoyed about this is how nerdy Maddie was. She loved facts and had a great memory and thus found herself spouting off strange trivia at random times.
The story takes place in Orange County, California, with many of the events happening in places I’m familiar with. Maddie worked at the Santa Ana Zoo and it was great to learn some of the behind-the-scenes things that go on at there.
I love the way that author Kasie West tells her young adult stories. The voice seems authentic and not immature. The characters deal with real-life issues, yet are lighthearted. Not angsty. While I have liked the other books by her quite a bit, this is my favorite so far.
This review was originally posted on Among the Reads
I would like to thank Pepper Basham for giving me a copy of this book. This gift did not influence my opinion or review.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- Finished reading
- 26 August, 2018: Reviewed