I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Just My Luck by Adele Parks Published by MIRA on April 6, 2021
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Psychological Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Thriller
Pages: 350
Format: eBook
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
It was supposed to be the lottery win they’d always dreamed of…
For fifteen years, Lexi and Jake have played the same six numbers with their friends. Over drinks, dinner parties and summer barbecues, the three couples have discussed the important stuff—kids, marriages, careers—and they’ve laughed off their disappointment when they failed to win anything.
But then the unthinkable happens. There’s a rift in the group. Someone is caught in a lie. And soon after, six numbers come up that change everything forever.
Lexi and Jake have a ticket worth millions. And their friends are determined to claim a share.
Adele Parks is back in the United States with her latest release, Just My Luck. I’ve come to know Adele Parks for her use of unreliable narrators, and this one was chock full of them. Lexi and Jake have played the same lottery numbers for years, along with pooling money together for the tickets with two other married couples. Never winning more that a few bucks over the years, the other couples have finally had enough and decide to pull out of their syndicate. Lexi bought the tickets on her own–and those numbers finally came up, to the tune of 17.8 million. Suddenly, the life of her and her family is thrown into bliss, then chaos as the other families demand their share of the win as well as strangers coming out of the woodwork with their hands out.
There are several flashbacks showing the couples and their relationships over the years, as well as Lexi and her social work job helps a man who’s family died of carbon monoxide poisoning years earlier. Told mainly from mother Lexi and daughter Emily’s points of view, the story is mostly linear with those flashbacks sprinkled in. What they thought of as a cozy life of managing compared to their better-off friends blows out of control quickly as husband Jake can’t help but throw their newfound wealth in the other couples faces, pulling his two children with him along for the ride. Lexi has long been the level-headed, money watcher part of the marriage, and she is not comfortable with the big ticket purchases that Jake is making. Nor is she comfortable with her long-time friendships so suddenly coming to an end. They’ve raised their babies together, and Emily was even dating one of their sons.
I found myself skipping through daughter Emily’s point of view passages since I found her insufferable. She was so moody and her thoughts were all over the place, so I just couldn’t relate. Lexi was reliable, smart, and as in control of their life as she can be because husband Jake was listless, ambitious but not wanting to put in the work, and a big dreamer who didn’t want any responsibilities. The other couples are a bit stereotypical for people who are well off, but they were only painted in the light of desperately trying to get their portion of the money.
I give Just My Luck a four out of five. So many of these characters were just bad in a good way, and I never knew what to expect out of them. I found Lexi to be endearing, although she was a bit of a doormat for her husband Jake. The common pitfalls of suddenly being extremely rich happen in this book, from the frivolous spending to people asking for money to some very dangerous situations as well. Lexi and Jake’s fracturing relationship took a while to unravel, but what made the book for me was the final chapter. Fantastic unreliable narrators and twists and turns.
Find JUST MY LUCK
Harlequin | Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble | Powell’s | Goodreads
About Adele Parks
Adele Parks is the #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of twenty novels, including Lies Lies Lies and Just My Luck, as well as I Invited Her In. Just My Luck is currently in development to be made into a movie. Her novels have sold 4 million copies in the UK alone, and her work has also been translated into thirty-one languages.
Connect with Adele Parks
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads
Latest posts by Heather (see all)
- The Book of Thorns by Hester Fox - April 6, 2024
- The Happiness Blueprint by Ally Zetterberg - April 5, 2024
- Maya’s Laws of Love by Alina Khawaja - March 30, 2024
Leave a Reply