Review: Lucky Caller by Emma Mills

Synopsis from Goodreads:

When Nina decides to take a radio broadcasting class her senior year, she expects it to be a walk in the park. Instead, it’s a complete disaster.

The members of Nina’s haphazardly formed radio team have approximately nothing in common. And to maximize the awkwardness her group includes Jamie, a childhood friend she’d hoped to basically avoid for the rest of her life.

The show is a mess, internet rumors threaten to bring the wrath of two fandoms down on their heads, and to top it all off Nina’s family is on the brink of some major upheaval.

Everything feels like it’s spiraling out of control―but maybe control is overrated?

With the warmth, wit, intimate friendships, and heart-melting romance she brings to all her books, Emma Mills crafts a story about believing in yourself, owning your mistakes, and trusting in human connection in Lucky Caller.

Emma Mills is one of my top YA authors and I have been really looking forward to Lucky Caller for awhile. It did take me much longer to get into the story than I was expecting, but I did end up really enjoying it.

There were a lot of things present that I expect in an Emma Mills book – a sarcastic main character, witty banter, a close – if somewhat odd/dysfunctional – family, and a group of friends you wish you were a part of. For some reason, things just didn’t really click for me, though, until I was about half way through the story. The friend group wasn’t quite as close and all consuming as it’s been in other books. The four of them only really hang out at school for class related things, though they do have a group text going on. I don’t really feel like we got to know Sasah or Joydeep very well, but that’s not to say that I didn’t like them. Joydeep was completely there for comic relief, but I loved him. He was probably my favorite part of the book.

I did like Jamie and the awkward, slow burn romance with Nina, as well. He was very sweet. I wish we would’ve gotten a little more information about him, though. We never find out what the deal is with his parents and why he lives with his grandparents.

I had some problems with Nina, too. I’m not exactly a talkative person comfortable with discussing feelings and all that, but there were so many times where I just wanted to yell at her to spit it out already. There were also a couple of times that she didn’t necessarily lie, but kept quiet about things that really impacted the people around her, that I just couldn’t understand. I found her behavior often very frustrating and it took me a long while to like her.

I know it sounds like I had a lot of problems with this – and, admittedly, I did – but after I got around half way through I really began to enjoy it. The radio show group started to gel a little more and Nina didn’t frustrate me quite as much. I enjoyed the relationship she had with her sisters and I loved how her future step-dad, Dan, really stepped up for her towards the end. Things ended pretty cutely and I was glad that I made myself push through the beginning chapters to get to it.

Overall, I enjoyed Lucky Caller. While it wasn’t my favorite Emma Mills book (that will forever be This Adventure Ends), it was still cute with some fun banter and a sweet, slow burn romance. Fans of Mills will definitely want to check it out.

Overall Rating (out of 5): 4 Stars