Review: Chasing Lucky by Jenn Bennett

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Budding photographer Josie Saint-Martin has spent half her life with her single mother, moving from city to city. When they return to her historical New England hometown years later to run the family bookstore, Josie knows it’s not forever. Her dreams are on the opposite coast, and she has a plan to get there.

What she doesn’t plan for is a run-in with the town bad boy, Lucky Karras. Outsider, rebel…and her former childhood best friend. Lucky makes it clear he wants nothing to do with the newly returned Josie. But everything changes after a disastrous pool party, and a poorly executed act of revenge lands Josie in some big-time trouble—with Lucky unexpectedly taking the blame.

Determined to understand why Lucky was so quick to cover for her, Josie discovers that both of them have changed, and that the good boy she once knew now has a dark sense of humor and a smile that makes her heart race. And maybe, just maybe, he’s not quite the brooding bad boy everyone thinks he is…

I received a copy of this title via NetGalley. It does not impact my review. 

Updated Publishing Date for Chasing Lucky: November 10, 2020. 

When I pick up a Jenn Bennett book, I expect a cute and quirky story with fun banter and lots of drama. Chasing Lucky was all those things.

What I Liked

-I’ve read some so-so reviews of this book, so I went in with lowered expectations and I think that worked out for me. I enjoyed Chasing Lucky. While it felt a little too long at times, I did fly through this 400+ page book in about 24 hours.

-While Josie did frustrate me (more on that later), she was mostly pretty likable.

-I adored Lucky! He was so precious. He put on a front for awhile, but once he and Josie started spending more time together, he kind of wore his heart on his sleeve and was just so sweet. He pretty much made this book for me.

-I definitely shipped Josie and Lucky together. I loved watching their friendship grow into more. I thought they went really well together. And I loved their banter!

What Didn’t Work for Me

-I felt like there were too many storylines that were just enough to add some drama, but lacked any real substance. Josie has a cousin in a horribly toxic relationship and it’s not really given the attention such a serious topic deserves. There’s a lot of stuff Josie says about her mother’s actions and possible depression that aren’t really explored. Lucky’s behavior is attributed to an event that is explained in about a paragraph and barely addressed again, even though it’s pretty obvious the boy would benefit from some mental health counseling. I just wish some of these would have been either cut out or addressed more fully. I didn’t feel closure with any of them. It just added a lot of unnecessary drama and made this book much longer than it needed to be.

-Bennett went to a lot of trouble of describing the cute and quirky town and while it sounded like it should be charming, I felt like we weren’t supposed to like it. While the town is cute, basically every person in it sucks. Except for Luck’s family.

-One of my biggest pet peeves is when all the drama is caused by lack of communication and that was basically the whole plot of this book. Josie’s family is famous for their inability to communicate and it drove me nuts. They did eventually get better by the end of the book, but it didn’t lessen my frustration with them.

-Josie does something she shouldn’t and Lucky ends up taking all the blame for it and it really made me mad that Josie just let him. Even when it became obvious that he could get in serious trouble for it, she just kept her mouth shut. I had a hard time respecting her at all for awhile.

Overall

Overall, I enjoyed Chasing Lucky. I loved Lucky and shipped Josie with him. I liked their banter and the romance. There was a little too much drama and lack of communication for me, though. I think some of it could have easily been cut out to make the book a little shorter and more focused. I think fans of Bennett will still enjoy this one, though.

Overall Rating (out of 5): 3.5 Stars