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Lucky Girl By Jamie Pacton
Genre: Young Contemporary
Publishing Date: May 11th, 2021
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
Synopsis
A hilarious and poignant reflection on what money can and cannot fix
58,643,129. That’s how many dollars seventeen-year-old Fortuna Jane Belleweather just won in the lotto jackpot. It’s also about how many reasons she has for not coming forward to claim her prize.
Problem #1: Jane is still a minor, and if anyone discovers she bought the ticket underage, she’ll either have to forfeit the ticket, or worse…
Problem #2: Let her hoarder mother cash it. The last thing Jane’s mom needs is millions of dollars to buy more junk. Then…
Problem #3: Jane’s best friend, aspiring journalist Brandon Kim, declares on the news that he’s going to find the lucky winner. It’s one thing to keep her secret from the town, it’s another thing entirely to lie to her best friend. Especially when…
Problem #4: Jane’s ex-boyfriend, Holden, is suddenly back in her life, and he has big ideas about what he’d do with the prize money.
As suspicion and jealousy turn neighbor against neighbor, and no good options for cashing the ticket come forward, Jane begins to wonder: Could this much money actually be a bad thing?
Content Warnings:
deals with parental mental health (hoarding, depression caused by grief) and loss of a parent.
About The Author
Jamie Pacton is a Young Adult and Middle Grade author who grew up minutes away from the National Storytelling Center in the mountains of East Tennessee. She has a BA and MA in English Literature, and currently teaches English at the college level. While pursuing her dream of being an author, she worked as a waitress, pen salesperson, lab assistant, art museum guard, bookseller, pool attendant, nanny, and lots of other weird jobs in between. Her writing has appeared in national and local magazines, and she spent many years blogging for Parents.com. Currently, Jamie lives in Wisconsin with her family and a dog named Lego. The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly is her YA debut novel and her sophomore novel, Lucky Girl, is forthcoming in Spring 2021. She has also published a MG novel, Farfetched, under the pen name Finn Colazo.
Review
It’s really rare these days for me to complete a book all in one sitting, but that’s essentially what I did with Lucky Girl. From the start, I was so invested in the characters and the story. And I always wanted to know what would happen next!
I absolutely loved the setting of this story. While I don’t have the experience of living in a small town, Pacton captured the setting perfectly. Lucky Girl shows what small-town life is like in so many ways, from the social aspects to the imagery of living in a rural area. I really enjoyed how the setting was incorporated into the story and seeing the depth behind this community.
Sometimes contemporaries have a predictable nature to them, but I never felt that way while reading Lucky Girl. In fact, I had a really hard time trying to figure out what Jane was going to do until the very end. From beginning to end, I loved seeing how Jane worked through all of the obstacles she was faced with and the lessons she learned along the way. These parts made it so hard to put the book down because I was so invested in her character and how she worked her way to her final decision.
Overall, Lucky Girl is a really fun, yet heartwarming contemporary that would be a perfect summer read for everybody. I loved the setting of this book and found myself cheering on Jane all the way through – it was my ideal contemporary read!
Journal Spread
If you’ve been to my blog before, you’ll know that I love putting journal spreads together. However, I don’t make ones for individual books too often, so this was really fun! There were so many mixed media opportunities throughout Lucky Girl to include in the journal, it was hard to pick what to include. Here’s how it turned out:
Tour Schedule
Blog Schedule
May 10th
HerBookishObsession – Interview
Rania’s Rambling Reads – Review & Mood Board
Rae’s Reading Lounge – Review & Favourite Quotes
Featherboundbooks – Review
May 11th
Fangirl Pixie Blog – Review
The Mind of a Book Dragon – Review & Journal Spread
Jill’s Book Blog – Review
May 12th
Nine Bookish Lives – Review
Kait Plus Books – Review & Journal Spread
Melancholic Blithe – Review & Playlist
May 13th
Stuck in Fiction – Interview
BookishEnds – Review & Mood Board
Julie Anna’s Books – Review & Journal Spread
May 14th
The Writer’s Alley – Review, Playlist & Mood Board
Pages & Plots – Promo Post
The Clever Reader – Review & Top 5 Reasons to Read Lucky Girl
May 15th
The Book Dutchesses – Review
Confessions of a YA Reader – Review & Favourite Quotes
iambibliomane – Review
May 16th
Shelf Love – Interview
Storme Reads A Lot – Review & Own Experience Post
Midsummer Night’s Read – Review
Bookstagram Schedule
May 10th
jypsynlynn – Review
books_and_dice – Review & Favourite Quotes
herbookish_obsession – Bloggers Choice
featherboundbooks – Bloggers Choice
May 11th
fangirlpixiebooks – Bloggers Choice
mindofabookdragon – Bloggers Choice
jilljemmett – Bloggers Choice
May 12th
ninebookishlives – Bloggers Choice
kaitplusbooks – Bloggers Choice
blithesquesttoread – Bloggers Choice
May 13th
colbywilkens – Review
feliciareads11 – Bloggers Choice
bookishends – Bloggers Choice
julieannasbooks – Bloggers Choice
May 14th
CaitlynIsBooked – Review
jrundy85 – Bloggers Choice
thecleverreader – Bloggers Choice
May 15th
thebookdutchesses – Bloggers Choice
confessionsofayareader – Bloggers Choice
iambibliomane – Bloggers Choice
May 16th
tbrandbeyond – Promo Post
rampant_reading – Review & Costume Design Art
shelflove123 – Bloggers Choice
midsummernightsread – Bloggers Choice
Do you read contemporary novels often? While I love reading them year-round, I’m a bit of a seasonal mood reader and love to read so many more over the summer. What about you?
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Wonderful review! I really like the sound of this one. xx
Thank you!
i love your journal spread, it’s so neat! and fantastic review, short and to the point
Thank you so much!