Book Review: Chasing Lucky

Chasing Lucky by Jenn Bennett ~ 416 pages ~ to be published 11/10/2020 by Simon Pulse

Goodreads Synopsis:

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…

What I Thought:

*I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.*

I love a good contemporary YA romance, and Chasing Lucky really delivered! This was such a fun, cute story and I loved Josie and Lucky. I really liked how they started out as friends, and it developed from there. It gave the romance some depth, which is sometimes missing from YA romance in general.

I really enjoyed how Josie’s love of photography was woven into the fabric of the book. It was such a huge part of who she was, and it was really fun to see her grow and evolve as the story went along. I also liked how her character did the same. She had beliefs at the beginning of the story that definitely changed over time. I love a well constructed character arc 🙂

I addition to her relationship with Lucky, which I really enjoyed, I also really loved watching Josie’s relationship with her mother change over the course of the novel. Even though Josie has a small family, and she wishes she had a bigger, more traditional family, it was such a great thing to see her relationship with her mother. Again, often in YA romance you don’t really see much of the family, who are often on the periphery of the story but not really part of it. Josie’s mom, Winona, was very present in the story. It was a welcome change of pace.

I really enjoyed this book. It was well done and highly entertaining. Once I got started I didn’t want to put it down. If you are looking for a contemporary YA romance that has a little more depth to it, this is a great pick!