A great read - I hadn't realised it was the third in a series. I hadn't read the first two books and I don't think this mattered, but I enjoyed this book so much I do want to go back and read the others. 

Greer is a mature student, just about to graduate and get a job she can't wait to start. Just a last minute problem which means she needs to do one more art course. Her best friend;s brother is a photographer who just happens to be in town - she enlists his help but given his past will he stick around long enough for her to submit her final coursework?
Although an enjoyable read the ook does deal with some serious issues too.

This is the last book in the series of 3 (Chance of a Lifetime) in which Kit, Zoe and Greer won the lottery together (but that is not the main thing!). Those women are best friends and this time it is Greer's book that draws you in.

Greer has decided to use her lottery money to go back to school to become a social worker. Alsmost near graduation she is devastated when she finds she made a mistake and maybe won't graduate unless she takes an (art) course. Fortunately she gets help from Alex (Kit's older brother) who is a photographer and travels the world. Greer has had a crush on Alex for a while now, but she knows he is always leaving. Until he admits to having anxiety attacks and they strike a deal. Their attraction leads to more, but Greer has her own secrets and thinks their lives are too different to mesh.

How I loved Alex, who has raised his sister Kit when he was a boy himself. In his talks to his therapist Patricia, we get to know him so much better and my heart sometimes broke for him.
And Greer, so quiet and strong and also proud of her achievements. They were so well suited.

I think joining Netgalley was the best idea ever! A huge thank you to Kensington Books for allowing me to review this wonderful book!

It was my first time reading Kate Clayborn. I can say for sure it won't be the last! The storyline appealed to me from the very time I came across it on Twitter. Not only is it a favourite trope, but also the various aspects of the book have endeared me to it.

A story about two people - different yet same. It's a wonderful experience embarking on the journey with Alex and Greers as they evolve, overcome obstacles and support and love each other. 

It's not difficult to imagine the characters because they are so real. Alex's anxiety really hits home. You cannot help but cry and laugh through the story. 

The story follows the lives of Alex, a photographer and Greers, a social worker as they recognize the attraction that has been simmering between them. The relationship is not without its ups and downs but it's heartening to see how they get closer because of it. It's a book about feelings, an emotional roller-coaster. 

An amazing read I'd recommend to all romance lovers. Best of Luck to the author and the readers. It will be an amazing experience. 

#BestOfLuck

This damn book. It is sure detrimental to my sleep habits, but so so good for my heart.

I started making a list right around the 30% mark of all the things I wanted to include in the review. I wanted to be prepared, and not have a bunch of nonsense that was all gushy about how good it was. I PROMISED. I'm about to break that promise. (I will shockingly ignore the list, so you're welcome)

First, you must read this series. I've inadequately reviewed all of them.
Kate Clayborn officially writes intense romances that somehow avoid angst-making melodrama. 

The series is done now--once this is released. It's one of my favorite. You deserve this: Go get started.

These are layered romances, layered characters, real development and good jobs. These relationships are real to me too. In fact in my review for Beginner's Luck, I mention how painful and real I thought Kit's relationship to Alex (her brother and hero of this book that I'd like to climb) was fantastically done, as it is here. I love seeing his angle, and while he was all swoony in the prior book, I'm going to tell you that you have seen really nothing yet. Perfect. Heck no. This is Kate Clayborn (this is a thing we get to say now!) but he is compelling, intense, beautiful, and many other things. 

And Greer, well, I think I posted an update that said I don't know who I'm more in love with. I really did love them both. Greer's quiet observations of the world around her to her participation in it were just really beautifully drawn. She's easy to adore. Unassuming yet assertive, brave, caring and appreciative.

Do the goodies stop there? No. That would be a stellar romance though. This is better than that. Because we still have Kit, Greer's family, and of course Zoe. We have a wonderful female-centered novel with subtle feminist touches (as we've seen throughout the series). And of note, neither the heroes nor heroines remotely resemble one another. 

What stops me in my tracks anytime I read a romance is the idea of relatable multi-dimensional characters, in settings I can feel, with relatable problems. Honestly, give me a mundane love story that feels like it could be me or anyone I know any damn day. The magic of Kate Clayborn and authors like her is how the ordinary becomes extraordinary to read. This was fabulous. I was nervous. We were waiting for this couple. It was worth the wait. 


Adding: For a more adequate review (Blackjack is always excellent, adequate doesn't describe her):
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Thanks to netgalley/publisher for an advanced copy of this book

What a beautiful book this was! With every book in the Chance of a Lifetime series, Kate Clayborn's incomparable talent only seems to be growing. Best of Luck was a heartwrenching and beautiful tale of two lovely, but slightly broken, characters finding their way towards each other.

Though I have read many books in my lifetime, there is just a handful that has managed to turn me into a blubbering emotional mess. Best of Luck happens to be part of that handful. Kate Clayborn, through Alex and Greer's POVs, makes their every feeling the center of the book. Both of these characters were so well-written. Growing up, Greer led a rather sheltered life as a result of a life-threatening illness. She has felt caged and over-protected and wants nothing more than to break free and gain her complete independence. One of her first steps in that direction was to gain a college education that she had been deprived of. The only obstacle in her way is a missed fine art course requirement. There was a quiet courage to Greer that I found made her easy to cheer on. You cannot help but want for her to achieve all her goals. Life may have thrown her a curveball in the form of her illness, but that didn't mean Greer gave in without a fight. She was a genuine sweetheart who saw the good in people and went out of her way to help those that struggled. By the end of the book, I was so proud of Greer and the growth and healing she had undergone.

Alex, a man equally as wounded as Greer, was just the perfect complement of her. A renowned photographer, he comes to Greer's rescue by helping her catch up on the photography course she is forced to take to make up the credit to graduate on time. Alex struggled with anxiety and accompanying panic attacks, and struggled to form roots of any kind. His issues were portrayed in a raw and realistic way. There were times when I momentarily forgot that both he and Greer were fictional. I just wanted to reach into the book and give them both a hug. His journey towards healing through therapy and self-care was also brilliantly written. This whole book was an ode to treating and loving yourself with care and asking for help when necessary and that's such an important lesson, in my opinion. The romance between Greer and Alex was just like their characters - quiet, innocent, and full of passion. It was just the sweetest romance and I found it touching how they both found ways to help each other without making the other feel like an invalid. My heart just about melted at how good they were together. The way they made each other happy and the way they shared their feelings had me weeping under my covers. Alex and Greer were special and precious to me.

There is more to love in Best of Luck, including strong themes of friendship, family and mental health. I won't ramble too much longer about this book, but Kate Clayborn has truly outdone herself with Best of Luck. I didn't think it could wreck me as it did and I am so glad to have found another favorite romance author in Kate Clayborn.

I rate books completely on how they make me feel. I am usually on a high at the end of a good romance because the characters are relatable people who found their HEA. Ms. Clayborn smashed that standard to pieces and placed the bar so high it is not in the stratosphere. At the end of this book, the characters still had a lot of issues to deal with, but I knew with absolute certainty that they would work through them and grow as a couple. And that is more realistic and optimistic than any engagement or wedding scene. 

But I should really start at the beginning. The story is told in first person present tense dual point of view. Greer has an amazing imagination and a quiet sense of observation. These really show in the narration. I enjoyed the details she notices and how her mind bounced around, bringing out her sense of humor. 

Each character's personality and job contributes to the narration. Alex is a photographer. So when he narrates, the descriptions are vivid and completely natural, as if he is trying to capture the image. He is helping Greer with a photography project and their conversation shows that he is really good at what he does and that he really observes. And he gives the best compliments:

<i>"You don't seem shy to me. You seem - separate." She winces slightly, and I rush to say it better, what I mean. "You seem strong, in yourself. Comfortable in the quiet. Watchful."</i>

So it's really the story of two people who are working on themselves so they can be together. And it's a beautiful story.

I really enjoyed how fleshed out Greer and Alex were. I very much identified with Alex and his anxiety/panic attacks. I often caught myself silently thinking "Yes, that's exactly how it feels!" whenever he would go through one. It isn't always easy to express exactly what they feel like if you haven't experienced them before, so I thought Kate Clayborn did a good job in doing so. She handled both Alex and Greer's issues very well in my opinion. Greer could sometimes seem extra stubborn and determined to keep her walls up at times, but it still felt understandable considering her past. I think the end showed good character development for both characters. Overall, I thought it was another great book of hers after having read Luck of the Draw.

This beautiful, heart-wrenching story is one that I know will be with me for a long, long time. You know how movie sequels are hardly ever as good as the first? I find that many book series are that way as well. But not this series. Ms. Clayborn defies logic in that these books have each either gotten better or been at least as good as the previous one. Nonetheless, there was a part of me that expected this one to let me down because it had to happen eventually, right? Wrong. Ms. Clayborn worked her voodoo once again and created the most emotional, riveting story yet. I know I'm not doing a good job of describing how great Alex and Greer's story is because I'm blubbering with emotion, so if you still aren't sure about it, try reading a few pages. You'll get sucked right in. And you'll be glad you did.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Kensington Books for providing an ARC for review.

It's exciting to read a book that exceeds expectations, and Greer and Alex's story had many going into it as the final and very anticipated last book in a series that I have overall greatly enjoyed. It's also supremely satisfying but bittersweet too to finish the final pages of one of my favorite books of 2018. I wanted to race through this book and I also did not want it to end. However, it is so beautifully written that to rush the reading is a disservice. Each chapter offers so many ideas I am still pondering and so many emotional moments that I needed to experience slowly. I know without a doubt too that this is a book I will reread. 

While so many books are plot driven and have an almost linear trajectory, Best of Luck feels more like reading a series of vignettes that set out to explore the deepening love between two people who, for the most part, fell in love at first sight in the first book. Though there is a clear story and plot underlying the exploration of love here, what moved me so much more is the character study of two compassionate and sensitive people finding their way to each other despite a range of obstacles, some of which are quite significant. Recovery and self-care are among the most important themes in the book, and it was a brilliant strategy for Clayborn to offset Greer's recovery from a serious illness as a teen with Alex's current recovery of panic attacks. The two characters often mirror each other in their struggles to overcome physical and mental obstacles to happiness and success. From a romance perspective, I would add too that the book succeeded in making me feel how much these two characters love each other. This is ultimately a very optimistic look at how people can recover from trauma as individuals while also a book about the power of love -- romantic love, love among friends, familial love, and even communal love -- to ground a person and give their life meaning. 

The book also feels quietly of-the-moment in its depiction of consent as a foundation of romance and sexual pleasure, and of female autonomy as an underlying principle in a couple's long-term happiness. There are a number of scenes that show us Clayborn's philosophy on equality between women and men that I truly appreciate as a reader. And as with the two previous books in the series, the world created in this series is diversely populated in the most natural and realistic of ways.

I am a little sad to say goodbye to this wonderful book and to the series itself, but I'm also looking forward to what this talented author has in store for us next.

Dammit, she did it again. 

Kate Clayborn has written yet another layered, intimate, complicated story that is delivered in such an immersive and lyrical voice it makes me want to set my own writing on fire. She has such a keen eye for the ways people deliver love and caring and what works (and what really, really doesn't, despite the best of intentions). I just love every little thing about what she does, from the intensely personal tics and mannerisms of her characters, to the way she describes emotion (and holy hell, her descriptions of panic attacks are vivid enough to make my heart race), to the way she lets her characters be messy and complicated and so, so real. 

So, basically this is another "Adele is here to throw the book at you and tell you to read it because she's crap at writing reviews that aren't just 'OH MY GOD, READ THIS BOOK.'" And also the first two in the series, Beginner's Luck and Luck of the Draw.

I was given a free Advance Reader's Copy in exchange for an honest review.