Lucky in Love by Kasie West
“This is your new reality Maddie. I guess you can call it the price you’ll have to pay for the huge blessing you received.”
Maddie is a focused student, who on a whim buys a lottery ticket. Lo and behold, she wins! And now that money is no longer a factor all her worries should magically disappear right?
The Story– I should have listened to Emi when she skeptically asked me if this should really be our first book of 2018. I refuse to let this set the mood of 2018. I don’t know what happened to Kasie West, but it’s sort of like, now that she has all these readers that will read anything she writes her publisher will put anything out, no matter how bland the book is…What I mean to say is, Kasie West, I think we’re dunzo.
So that story? Well, without spoiling anything, let’s just say that after winning the lottery she does what most people do when they have more money than they are used to handling. They blow it. There are so many things about this book that really irked me, but who am I to judge what she spends her millions on. Let’s just face the fact that having the problem in a book that someone has too much money that it causes minor problems in their somewhat simple life doesn’t make a great book, but you know what?
The Hallmark Channel might scoop it up for a nice daytime movie, so long as they add a little bit more drama, and hey a little more actual romance? So what else bothered me besides the fact that this was a glorified receipt. You know fluffing up a story that just lists a bunch of things Maddie spends money on? Like a yacht?
-Yet again, a YA contemporary makes a big deal about not going to a college because their parents can’t afford it and they seem to rely solely on student loans. GIRL this is AMERICA, land of student loans, get one so you can do what you actually want to do.
-Our main character’s personality changes mid book. Suddenly we don’t have a research driven, level headed kid who studies. All of their natural habits are completely gone.
-The climax of the book was so anticlimactic it could hardly pass as a speedbump if it was on a road.
–(view spoiler)
– I guess, our main character somehow managed to get a job before her dad did in three years. No joke, she’s 18 and he has been out of work for 3 years. Let’s look at the logistics here…if she started when she was 16 (the legal working age) she got a job while he sat on his butt the whole time. Why wasn’t HE working at the freaking zoo?
The Characters– I think if the characters were a little more complex it might have saved it a little bit more. Maddie wasn’t even a snowflake, she was an avid student, like really, and had zero other interests besides ant eaters.
I had high expectations for Seth. Like wow! A Vietnamese character! Maybe this YA contemporary will get a little culture. The most culture it had was that he lived in a multi generational home. Thank you for pointing out that little factoid. Also for adding in the “where were you born” bit and how ridiculous it is to ask that.
If fact, watch this short video, it’s so much better than this book.
The Soundtrack– Miley Cyrus – We Can’t Stop
