Aster, the protector
Violet, the favorite
Tansy, the medic
Mallow, the fighter
Clementine, the catalyst

THE GOOD LUCK GIRLS

The country of Arketta calls them Good Luck Girls--they know their luck is anything but. Sold to a "welcome house" as children and branded with cursed markings. Trapped in a life they would never have chosen.

When Clementine accidentally murders a man, the girls risk a dangerous escape and harrowing journey to find freedom, justice, and revenge in a country that wants them to have none of those things. Pursued by Arketta's most vicious and powerful forces, both human and inhuman, their only hope lies in a bedtime story passed from one Good Luck Girl to another, a story that only the youngest or most desperate would ever believe.- Goodreads

There is a lot of hype for this read and it is well warranted. I loved the cowboy aspect of this book because all I thought of was that movie Gang of Rose with Monica Calhoun. This may have been an unintentional reference but it was all my mind was on and I freaking loved it.

Beyond this image I had, there is something about the writing that kept me sucked in even when I wasn't really feeling some of the characters. I was not necessarily on the edge of my seat but I was invested in the book and refused to read anything else until this was done. 

I had a love hate relationship with the characters. Not just one but all of them. Nothing in me felt that they were fully written. What I mean by this is that it felt as if the author had a thought but didn't complete it; Aster especially. She was just pure rage, indecisiveness and I would say reckless. Yes, there were decisions that had to be made on the fly but she allowed her emotions to take a lot out of her, throughout the entire book and as the book is told through her point of view that is all you see and here. 

I felt that her sister, Clementine was a brat and that was purely Aster's fault for continuously babying her. I also believe that Clementine was not as remorseful as she should have been. I would have like the author to have explored their relationship a bit more as it would have added depth to the story. 

I really enjoyed the flow of the story but felt that the characters were not developed enough, there wasn't enough history or richness in the environment and the conflict didn't bring the girls together or develop them as a group. 

The ending wasn't what I was expecting and that isn't necessarily a good thing. It ended too easily and although there is a book two, it left me wondering what book two is about. 

Overall, I did enjoy this book because it gave me a nostalgic feel and it was written pretty well. There is a lot of potential for this to develop into an amazing series.  

3 Pickles

This book hovers between 3.5-4 stars for me. It is very strong for a debut author! The main character Aster, in particular, is very well drawn. She is strong-willed and courageous but not perfect -- she doubts herself, she screws up (more than once!), makes mistakes and apologizes for them, then tries to correct them. Her character arc involves figuring out who she is and what she wants from her new life, and coming to terms with her past; refreshingly, it has nothing to do with romance. There are secondary romances (one F/F) among the cast of characters but Aster is not involved. The background characters are not as vibrant as Aster but are detailed enough to stand apart from each other.

The worldbuilding is complex and fascinating, but at times feels like an info-dump. There are also customs and cultural norms mentioned that are not explained. A couple of things I kept expecting to come back at the end never did; it felt like there were dangling threads that should have been woven in.

The action is non-stop and might be triggering for some readers -- sexual violence is common and casual. There is no rape on the page but Aster's memories of being forced into prostitution are traumatic. This is handled quite well considering the subject matter, but readers should be aware that it's there. Likewise, there is a clear allegory to slavery here and an underclass of society thrown into slavery, subservience, and extreme poverty based on appearance and origin. There are characters of varied skin tone and ethnic origin, although it's not entirely clear the societal significance of skin color in the world Davis has built. The plot is fast-moving and keeps the reader interested to find out what happens; near the end it seems to wrap up a little bit quickly and conveniently.

Overall, this is a great fantasy debut with a few minor flaws that don't have a huge overall impact on the quality of the tale.

If "The Good Luck Girls" isn't on your TBR, add it now. If you love Westworld, add it to your TBR. If you enjoy feminist novels like "The Handmaid's Tale, add it to your TBR. If you are into the idea of ladies robbing banks as revenge against terrible men, add it to your TBR. If Netflix, Hulu, [fill in streaming service] are looking for a feminist fantasy Western to produce, it needs to be "The Good Luck Girls."
In Arketta, a land filled with multiple types of spirits - some benevolent, others deadly - where "dustbloods" (people who don't have shadows) are oppressed and used solely for manual labor, girls often get sold to "welcome houses." These elaborate houses are brothels and the girls get sold to men hoping they'll find luck before heading into the dangerous Arkettan interior. The house strip girls of their identities, renaming and branding them with flowers.
On her first night, Clementine kills her brag in self-defense. With her sister Aster and peers (two friends, one frenemy), they escape the welcome house to find a mythical figure who can remove their tattoo brands. "The Good Luck Girls" features brave young women who believe in freedom and decide to take their chances against evils - human and supernatural - instead of remaining changed.
Despite misinformed commentary, fantasy is political. While our contemporary reality might not have spectral beings (that we know of), Clementine and Aster's story resonates with present-day misogyny, racism, structural inequalities, lies that are told for generations to placate fragile egos, and the shackles of capitalist imperialism. Despite these horrors, "The Good Luck Girls" presents optimism through resistance and solidarity amongst women and those who are committed to fighting these evils. Read this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Teen for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Different books appeal to different readers. I have to say for me this book didn't have great appeal - I just didn't have a much attachment to the characters. It was solidly written and definitely tried to build the world in which these girls lived but that was that for me. I'm sure the adventure and the personalities of the characters will be of interest to those who enjoy a gritty fantasy. Just wasn't the novel for me as a reader. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Charlotte Davis brings to life the indomitable strength of women in her debut novel, "The Good Luck Girls." Set in a Wild-West-esque landscape, the plot beautifully moves between a gritty, live fast or die young adventure and poignant coming of age storylines. Themes of self-worth and reliance, trust and redemption are prevalent throughout the story, culminating in the ultimate tale of sacrifice and sisterhood.

Sisters Aster and Clementine grew up in a "Good Luck House," after being sold into prostitution. When Clementine accidentally kills a man, the sisters and their closest friends, and an enemy, escape the house and begin a desperate flea towards a new life. On the run, they will need to support each other and find the will to survive -- but can they outrun the powerful men and supernatural forces who want them dead?

Aster and Clementine are sisters and good luck girls. Sold to a brothel when they were just young, Aster has been working for a year and Clem's first night of work is here. When Clem accidentally kills her john in self-defense, the two go on the run. Joined by several others, including a good luck girl who swears she knows where a mysterious figure purported to help young women like them hangs her hat. Thus begins an epic journey across a Weird West landscape full of dangers, both human and inhuman-- where Aster and the others learn how to become dangerous to others too.

I cannot believe this is a first novel. It is that good. We have a dark world, parallel to our own in how it uses and abuses young women and people of color. Malevolent spirits literally haunt the plains. The plight of Aster and your companions-- sold in desperation by family members in the hopes of a better life-- feels real and heart-rending. Their journey to reclaim their own destinies had me cheering along. There's lots of pathos at work, and the best one is Aster's role as big sister protector-but-also-violent-plan-instigator.

The ending wraps up perhaps a bit too neatly , but it's quite satisfying. And cheers to another book that is quite light on the romance. Not every novel needs a heavy-handed romantic subplot to soar!

The author has produced a marvelous story that addresses dark themes in a subversive way. These elements kept me questioning who I could and could not trust as well as how society influenced the people.

Everyone thinks the Good Luck Girls should be thankful for their time in the "welcome" house. They have food, protection, fine clothes to wear--much more than they would have living in the Scab. And spending their nights with the Brags who pay for their time is a little price to pay for all those benefits.

Aster has been a Good Luck Girl for about a year, and has done everything she can to look out for her sister Clem. On Clem's first Good Luck night, she accidentally kills her Brag, and the girls go on the run. Joined by three other Good Luck Girls, they leave the Welcome House in the hopes of finally finding freedom.

I loved the premise of the Good Luck Girls, but I never fully got into it. There's a lot of action to keep the story moving, and the characters are good, but there was just something missing for me.

Overall I enjoyed this one! Although there was a bit of episodic choppiness, some lack of completion or depth to the world-building, and an ending I wished had been a bit more of a real finale rather than a quieter conclusion, the plot was compelling, it had a great fantasy wild west setting, I liked the examination of oppressive systems of gender, class, and wealth, and I was rooting for the characters the whole way.

Coming back from BookExpo 2019, I knew that I had to read this one.

Aster, Violet, Clementine, Mallow and Tansy journey across the bleak rough country of Arketta following a legend that will hopefully make them free women. As they travel, the reader witnesses them come to grow as individuals and as friends, learning that working together is sometimes the best means for survival. In a bleak landscape and a world that controls women, the five women are rays of hope for a better tomorrow.

After tackling this book, readers may want to pick up The Grace Year by Kim Liggett and The Handmaid's Tale.

The irony of the title and the message of others deciding for girls what is in their best interest is one of great importance today. I would put this along side Moxie, The Grace Year, and The Power on my "New Feminist" shelf.

I absolutely devoured this book. Perfect for lovers of the Handmaid's Tale and The Hunger Games, The Good Luck Girls posits a dystopian world where girls are sold into sexual slavery to reduce their family debts. The characters are rich and well developed, and the plot keeps you guessing all the way through. My only wish was to know more about the world as a whole, which I'm hoping will be addressed in future books. I can't wait for the next installment!

THIS BOOK!

Okay, so I don’t know what I was expecting from this book, but it completely destroyed all my expectations and showed me everything that I was missing in the world.

Right off the bat, we are thrown into the action. A man is murdered by one of our ‘good luck girls’ and they know that if they don’t run, it means one of their deaths. They come up with this crazy plan to escape this horrible world that they are sold into and risk their lives in the wild where there are monstrous creatures that could literally tear them apart, all in hopes of freedom. Also they have the law chasing them down.

Our main characters are a group of girls that are all so completely different from each other that they work perfectly as a group that requires them to survive. Aster is our main character and one of the oldest girls. She's already a ‘working girl’ sort of speak and knows the horrors that away her younger sister Clementine, as well as the other two younger girls Mallow and Tansy. Then we also have Violet, a girl born in one of these welcome houses and seemed to always be held at a higher level then the rest, but they all want freedom. When Clementine murders one of the customers, it's the perfect time for the girls to run.

Everything from there happens so quickly since it's only a matter of time before someone checks up on her. The girls form a plan and manage to get out, but there troubles aren’t over yet. Each good luck girl has a marking that shows just what she is and it can't be covered up. Nothing at all is easy for these girls. The suffering they have gone through yet they manage to somehow find brightness in their days on the run is amazing. The writing is really well done and this world that Davis built is fascinating and amazing.

(Be warned that there are some triggering scenes and dark subject matter)

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. It will be spoiler free and unaffected by the free copy.

This book was so awesome! I requested it because it gave off a very western vibe to it, and I love westerns. And though it's not fully western, I think it kept enough elements of the society and world of a western to be enjoyable. That said, this is a western fantasy, so there are a lot of made-up places and words, and the world has to be built up. I think all of this was done well, even though honestly I think this would've been just as good, if not better, if it'd been a more traditional western. Beings like the ravengers and the vengeants were frightening elements but maybe too much on top of everything else the girls were facing.

I liked all the girls, though I don't think they were all developed as fully as they could've been. Aster is a good protagonist to follow: I love her determination and desire to protect her sister; I liked her anger and how she reacted to everything; I liked her relationship with her sister, Violet and Zee, and how that all developed over the course of the story. But with that said, I would've loved more development from everyone. Especially Mallow and Tansy-- they were around, but they didn't feel as fleshed-out as everyone else. It would've been cool to go into the perspective of Violet and Clementine, since they were interesting characters and how they viewed the world contrasted so sharply with Aster.

I'll admit I was annoyed at first when Zee joined the group, because I had a feeling a love story was soon to follow. Thankfully, the love story is so much in the background it's barely there. In fact, there's another love story going on that's also given limited focus. The story is more about these girls taking a journey across harsh lands and doing what they had to in order to survive. They made morally questionable choices along the way and there were a lot of head-butts between Violet and Aster in particular, but that was the core of the story.

I liked how harsh and unforgiving the world was. Things did not come easily to the girls, and people had different viewpoints on who they were and what they did. After a while I got used to the slang, and the sort-of-swears. How things concluded felt right for each of the girls. Do yourself a favor and pick up this book when it comes out!

2 out of 5 stars.

Not my jam. Stars slow and only gets slower - don't love the love story where two characters meet and instantly fall in love, and was underwhelmed by the magic.

The Good Luck Girls
(The Good Luck Girls #1)
by Charlotte Nicole Davis

Good start to a promising series. Dystopian YA of girls on the run, great world building, bad ass heroines, and finding their path makes this a terrific read.

There was a lot to like about this - the subject matter was handled delicately, awesome sister bonds and female friendship, no insta-love with the protagonist, and and an imaginative, interesting world.

I would have LOVED this if it were just fleshed out more! It's rare for me to say I wish a book were longer, but in this case, it truly would have done it justice. I had so much trouble picturing the world. Was it in the future? The past? An alternate reality? What's the point of raveners? How did this world and the veil etc happen? I don't get the vengeants at all.

It's like I got a tiny taste of something interesting and delicious, but then it was snatched away, just leaving the flavor lingering in my mouth. I want the whole meal!

Violet turned out to be my favorite, and I love that the author didn't fall for mean girl tropes - or YA tropes in general, for that matter. I just wish I knew more about how this world worked.

A strong 4.5 stars for me. I feel like every single book I read as a preteen prepared me to extremely love this storyline. It has:
☑️ a group of girls against the world
☑️ one (1) soft boy who they love and trust (who has to win them over, realistically, due to their past trauma)
☑️ magical elements woven into an otherwise normal storyline (in this case DESTRUCTIVE MALEVOLENT SPIRITS and MIND ALTERING MEN affected by those forces who give them chase)
☑️ GIRL WITH GUN ie ladies learning to shoot for protection and also profit
☑️ FOUND FAMILY amongst the girls who have to learn to trust each other after a lifetime of being pitted against one another at their ‘Welcome House’
& all set in the WILD WEST as they try to escape [sex] slavery in pursuit of a very nebulous chance at a better life.
I love the way this is written, as it’s clear that actual research of both the old west & history of slavery (and escaping it) was done and serves as a foundation for the story, which still manages to be active in tone instead of tragic. Can’t wait to get a finished copy into other people’s hands!

I loved the premise for this story, and was not disappointed. This was a great title to pick up after The Grace Year, both center on women going through a period of growth amidst many obstacles in a strange kind of dystopia. Highly recommend!

Aster and her sister Clementine are "good luck girls" at a "welcome house" in a fantasy western setting. On Clementine's "lucky night," the first time she is auctioned off and sold to a man, she accidentally kills the winner in self-defense, and she, her sister, and three other girls escape the house and go on the run from the law and the terrifying raveners that want to drag them back to the welcome house for punishment.

This was the kind of book that I know is objectively good but that I just didn't enjoy. Some of the world-building was fascinating, but I didn't end up attached to any of the characters, and I found that the book dragged at certain points. Unfortunately, I had to force myself to finish it. In my experience, it's hard to sell westerns (even fantasy or sci-fi westerns) to teens right now, and I love that the publisher took a risk on this kind of story, but it just fell flat for me. Unless it gets some massive publicity and great professional reviews, I don't foresee myself purchasing the book.