Chasing Lucky

I generally really enjoy Jenn Bennett’s books. This one misses the mark for me. I like some of the themes in the book, like the fact that Josie’s family is plagued by communication issues and how Josie’s own struggles with that show up in the way that she only likes taking photos of signs, not people. I think the plot was intriguing, but then in the end, not so much. Nothing surprised me (unlike The Anatomical Shape of a Heart, my favorite book of the author’s, which did have some mild plot surprises in it). I don’t *need* to be surprised all the time while reading, but without spoiling anything in Chasing Lucky, there are way too many things that happen that Josie seems surprised by that most readers will have seen coming from a mile away.

Usually, I like the way the author writes female characters. I was not a fan this time around. It’s clear that the book is trying to take a stance against shaming women and girls, but the way it’s done seems bizarre to me. There’s sooo much shaming from so many directions that many of the female characters seemed to have few traits other than the fact that they’d been shamed for their sexuality and/or were completely at the mercy of a man or boy. Evie’s (Josie’s cousin) dad died. And she was dating the town rich boy. That’s that, end of character. I think an opportunity was missed to make even the briefest comment on the fact that Evie’s dad was African American. That makes Evie biracial in a town that seems small, gossipy, and judgmental about sexuality, socioeconomics…but apparently not race? To not even have this sarcastic character make the smallest offhanded comment about what it would be like living in Beauty as a POC seems like a missed opportunity to me. Evie’s barely even shown as grieving her father.

Finally, it bugs me that at one point Lucky says something about how Ivy League schools don’t give out scholarships. What?! I know this seems nitpicky, but it felt like an odd detail because 1) it’s not true, and 2) it’s unnecessary. Lucky doesn’t want to go to college, fine. He already has enough of a sob story; we don’t need this throwaway detail implying that he can’t afford college…

“No one looks at my like Lucky does. It’s disarming and way too intimate.”

I enjoy Jenn Bennett’s work quite a bit and, while this was certainly charming, it lacked the spark that I loved so much in “Starry Eyes” and “Serious Moonlight.” I read this a couple of months ago now, so it’s on me for not posting a review earlier. That said, while the characters were enjoyable, the story hasn’t stuck with me the way some of Bennett’s other work has and I honestly don’t remember the plot at all.

That said, if you’re looking for a sweet, swoony, easy read I don’t think this will disappoint!

I love all of Jenn Bennett’s books and Chasing Lucky did not disappoint. You fall in love with with the characters every time. I cann’t wait for her next book.

While I haven’t read every published book by Jenn Bennett, I have read most of them. She’s not an auto-buy author for me because she tends to touch on the politically correct in a way that throws messages into her books that I don’t always agree with. But she is an auto-look-into author for me. This basically means I’m going to at least look into every book she publishes and will plan to read them as long as the major storylines don’t fall into any of my deal breakers categories. That being said, I was beyond excited to get a review copy of Chasing Lucky. I was beginning to think I was on Simon and Schuster’s blackball list or something. Regardless, I pretty much started Chasing Lucky immediately.

Josie is a typical good girl. She’s been the adult more often than not in her relationship with her mother who has dragged her from city to city over the years since they originally left Beauty after a falling out between her mother and grandmother. Because she doesn’t live long in one place, she never makes friends or connections. And after several years of this, she decides that she can’t do it anymore. She comes up with a plan for when she turns 18 and can step away from her mom. She assumed her time in Beauty will be short, probably only a year while her grandmother is away. But Josie has connections in Beauty from her past… family and old friends. Her cousin fills her best friend roles and she reconnects with her childhood best friend, Lucky, even though things don’t just click back into place.

Lucky was affected deeply by Josie leaving town when she did. He was going through a difficult time and needed his best friend. Since then, he’s struggled a little with his self-worth which has resulted in the bad boy reputation that he’s since acquired. He’s a good guy at heart, and I was rooting for him every step of the way… even when his motivations were not clear.

Josie had a lot to work through beyond her relationship with Lucky and I really enjoyed the family aspects of Chasing Lucky. The dynamics between Josie and her mother. Josie’s mother and her relationship with her own mom. Evie, Josie’s older cousin, had a big role to play. As I mentioned earlier, she filled the role of Josie’s best friend. Yet she has quite a lot on her own plate.

As I mentioned earlier, I have found that Jenn Bennett’s books often have what I call Mountain Out of Molehills moments. There’s usually some message thrown in–often in only a sentence or two–that if I mention seems like I’m making a big deal out of nothing, but I feel compelled to address regardless. In the case of Chasing Lucky one of these messages is that women can have as many meaningless sexual encounters as they want. Quoting from Chasing Lucky: “I know women can and should have whatever sex life they want.” The idea is that there’s often a discrepancy between what society expects of men and women. It isn’t unusual to hear about men having multiple partners but it’s hypocritical to expect different of women. For me, instead of bringing women to the same promiscuous level as men, why don’t we bring men back to the level as women in what we expect of them. Instead of being more permissive for both, perhaps the way God designed things (one man and one woman–married) is the direction we need to go. I know my opinion is likely not popular. This isn’t new to me. That’s not to even mention the two gay possibilities briefly mentioned nor the short mention of abortion.

Favorite quote:
-People aren’t disposable.

Chasing Lucky was everything I’ve come to expect from Jenn Bennett. Characters and a story that will suck me in and have me not wanting to put it down. A relationship I can root for and am dying to see play out. And a few politically correct statements thrown in whether big or small. Chasing Lucky gets 4 Stars. Have you read Chasing Lucky? What did you think? Let me know!

I only need to see Jenns name on a book and I will pick it up. I didnt even read the synopsis beforehand.

I loved Josie. Shes a looking for stability and maybe a bit lost. Lucky is all crunchy exterior and a gooey inside. I loved reading these two together. Their history is great and it really made every interaction supercharged. I also loved all of the other Saint-Martin women.

Plot wise, it was a bit more angsty than I was expecting. A lot of this story is about a family finding its way back to each other and the secrets that have kept them apart. It was fantastic reading so many strong women supporting, even if it didnt seem that way at times. Be prepared for wanting to shake everyone into having a 5 minute conversation.

Overall, I could have easily read another 100 pages of these characters and definitely wanted just a bit more from the epilogue, but Im guessing thats just me being greedy.

FYI: talks of stalking and several scenes of something similar to revenge porn

**Huge thanks to Simon Pulse for providing the arc free of charge**

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