Review: Lucky in Love by Kasie West

Collaborative feature with Alexa. We read ARCs together and post our reviews on the same date.

Lucky in Love by Kasie West
pub 7/25/17 by Scholastic
YA - Contemporary
Received from pub via Edelweiss

Plot • Winning the lottery seems to be a popular topic this year (the other book to tackle it being Windfall by Jen E. Smith) and it's an interesting fantasy to see play out. I mean I daydream about the winning the lotto all the time! But to win that kind of money as a teenager? I don't know what I'd do. And this is a sentiment clearly shared by Maddie, even though she thinks she knows what she's doing. When she randomly buys a ticket, she never expected to actually win and her life is turned upside down. All she knows is that she doesn't have to stress out over saving money for college anymore and she can provide much-needed help with her family's finances. But there's also people who suddenly want to be her friend and asking for loans. Maddie isn't sure anymore who's genuine or not. The only person who doesn't seem to have a clue of her newfound riches is her sweet coworker at the local zoo, Seth Nguyen. With him, she gets a reprieve from the craziness of her life but she knows eventually she'll have to tell him too. Ultimately the book comes down to trust and whether or not money really will solve all your problems.

Characters • I struggled with a lot of the characters, except for Seth and one of Maddie's best friends. Maddie is obviously overwhelmed. She initially trusts everyone after her big win and follows none of the guidelines given to lottery winners. (Red flag right there.) It surprised me given how smart she seemed at first that she didn't see such big warning signs. But she's young, so I get it. Still, it was hard to sympathize with how she acted, how her family behaves, and even some of her friends. It almost felt like the message of the book was that money makes everyone crazy and not a single person seemed to suffer repercussions for their actions. (I hate that.)

Writing •  Kasie West is a bit of a hit or miss for me. Her books are quick reads but there always seems to be something that prevents me from falling in love with her books. Something is just missing, either in the characters or how the plot plays out and that was the case here as well. My favorite (and most highly rated) book of hers continues to be P.S. I Like You for contemporary and Pivot Point.

Overall feelings • I liked the book but a few weeks later I read Windfall and I have to say, I much preferred Jen E. Smith's interpretation.

What's your favorite animal at the zoo? •  Ah this is such a hard question! The last time I visited a zoo was probably 7 years ago at Central Park. Pandas and penguins are always fun to see but I also like seeing lions/tigers (probably because I used to love Rajah from Aladdin) and I think baby monkeys are really cute too.