Lucky in Love

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Title: Lucky in Love

Author: Kasie West

Series: N/A

Publisher: Point

Release Date: July 25th 2017

Rating:

Can’t buy me love…

Maddie’s not impulsive. She’s all about hard work and planning ahead. But one night, on a whim, she buys a lottery ticket. And then, to her astonishment—

She wins!

In a flash, Maddie’s life is unrecognizable. No more stressing about college scholarships. Suddenly, she’s talking about renting a yacht. And being in the spotlight at school is fun…until rumours start flying, and random people ask her for loans. Now Maddie isn’t sure who she can trust.

Except for Seth Nguyen, her funny, charming co-worker at the local zoo. Seth doesn’t seem aware of Maddie’s big news. And, for some reason, she doesn’t want to tell him. But what will happen if he learns her secret?

– Blurb courtesy of goodreads.com

My Thoughts On…

…The Plot

“I checked them again and then a third time, just to make sure. Was this really happening? Had I just won fifty million dollars? This felt like some sort of joke. I checked the heading of the site again—Powerball. And my ticket heading, same.
I won the lottery. I just won fifty million dollars.”

Maddie doesn’t have a perfect life; her parents are always fighting over money, her dad hasn’t worked in years, and her brother can’t go back to college because of his debt. One night, on impulse after a terrible birthday, Maddie buys a lottery ticket and to her surprise wins the jackpot. Suddenly all of her troubles are over, and all of her families troubles as well; they’re happier than they have been in years and now Maddie doesn’t have to worry about paying for college. The world is her oyster.

When it comes to fluffy, YA contemporary books Kasie West is one of the authors I will always reach for. I wouldn’t say I had high hopes for Lucky in Love but it sounded like a cute read, and lets be honest who hasn’t daydreamed about winning the lottery, so I thought it would be a fun book. While the concept had a lot of promise, and the start was decent, Lucky in Love quickly fell off a cliff and it’s the worst book by Kasie West I’ve read to date.

“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. I’d say when all is said and done, when you learn how to navigate this, you’ll see your life can be anything you want it to be.”

Maddie quickly discovers that money comes with its own problems. While she can rent a yacht to throw a party for all her friends she has plenty of people out there asking for money, and she no longer sure who she can trust. The only person who isn’t treating her any differently is her cute co-worker Seth, who doesn’t seem to know she won the lottery. Maddie becomes more disillusioned with her big win as she’s scammed by relatives and betrayed by friends, and she realises money hasn’t solved any of her problems, it’s just made her life more complicated.

The main issue I had with this book wasn’t actually with the plot. A lot of the things that didn’t make any sense and annoyed me were connected to the characters, so although the plot had potential it was ruined because of their actions. Between By Your Side, which I read last year and wasn’t keen on, and Lucky in Love I’m wondering if Kasie West’s books are still for me . Honestly I was relieved when I got to the end because it meant I didn’t have to spend more time with Maddie than I already had.

…The Characters

“Don’t they tell people when they win? Don’t people register their tickets or something?”
“No. If you win, you have to go to them,” Hunter said.
“To who?”

Maddie is supposed to be a smart character but we never actually see any evidence of that. We’re told that she has a high GPA, but when she buys her lottery ticket she has no clue how it works and how to check if she’s won. We’re told that she’s determined to work hard to reach her goals, and that she’s sure to get accepted into all the colleges she’s applied for, but she’s naive and seems to blindly trust everyone at face value, even long lost relatives she’s never heard of who call out of the blue and ask for $500K.

“This is Maddie’s money. Not ours,” Mom said, still serious. “She gets to choose how to spend it.”
“Yes, of course it is,” Dad said. “And based on all of our answers, I think the right person won this money.”

It wasn’t just Maddie’s character who annoyed me but her parents as well. Maddie is a teenager living at home who won the lottery, and her parents seem to be completely absent from her life. They let her do whatever she wants with her money, and yes Maddie won the lottery so it is her money, but they don’t take her to see a financial advisor (they mention it maybe once and then never bring it up again). They seem more concerned with their own problems than their children’s.

I feel like there are only three decent characters in Lucky in Love; Maddie’s friend Blaire, who we’re told is smart and we actually see evidence of that, and Trina. Both of them genuinely care about Maddie more than her money, Blaire keeps trying to get her to be careful how she spends her winnings, and talks to her about seeing a financial advisor more than her parents do, and although Trina only becomes friends with Maddie after she wins the lottery she seems genuine.

“‘Happy birthday, Madeleine, read that like the French men. (I’m trying to rhyme.) I’ll see you again soon. At that place we call the zoo…n. (Almost worked.)’ I laughed. He was such a dork.”

Seth is the other character I liked; he isn’t aware of Maddie’s big win so he treats her the same way he normally has. The two work together in the zoo, and every scene with him in brought a smile to my face. He’s very happy-go-lucky, and always seems bright and positive with a crazy plan on his mind and a smile on his face, but there are things on his mind he’s worried about. The relationship between Seth and Maddie was cute, but considering I wasn’t a fan of Maddie’s character I couldn’t really root for them.

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Lucky in Love had a decent premise, but it was ruined in this book by the characters. I spent more time rolling my eyes at Maddie’s actions and some of the things she did than I spent enjoying what I was reading. She completely irritated me as a character, and it made it hard to stick with the story and care about the issues she had after winning the lottery when I didn’t care about her.

What did you think of Lucky in Love? Was it a favourite of yours or could you just not get into the story? Let me know.