Chasing Lucky by Jenn Bennett

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?

Reviewed by Leigha on

4 of 5 stars

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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.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 18 February, 2020: Finished reading
  • 18 February, 2020: Reviewed