I really wanted to enjoy this story, however, the writing was hard for me to fall in to pace with, therefore I had to put down. Thank you for the opportunity.

I received a copy of this book to review from Netgalley. Thank you for the opportunity.
This book reads well and easily, as it's writing is so smooth and really evokes a teenagers life. The characters are fascinating especially as the story goes on and we learn more about their backgrounds.
However, some parts of the story seemed unbelievable and like they were added to heap misery upon misery on Lucky. It made the story line melodramatic and less engaging.
On the whole an OK book.

Highly recommended. An enjoyable story that will linger with you long after the last page. Flawless writing. Characters that seem to leap off the page. A clear story voice. You will be cheering for Lucky from the first page. Happy reading!

I typically don't read fantasy or sci-fi books and the main character in this book has visions so this is not my kind of book, but it was kind of cute.

Lucky is cute. Her real name is Lucy, but every one calls her Lucky because she does seem to be somewhat fortunate. I liked her relationship with her friends and her aunt. And it's a quick, easy read. I finished it in an afternoon. But it's extremely farfetched. Silas is struck by lightning. Her father's murder is ridiculous. The ending is insane.

So very much I could post to after this week's events..AND BELIEVE ME, I'D LIKE TO 🇺🇸, but in the interest of my mental health, for now, I'm going to stick with BOOK REVIEWS!
Two reads that stood out for me this month are “Lucky Brilliant” @sherbondy.maureen and “Queenie” by @candicec_w.

I really enjoy reading YA (young adult) novels from time to time, & "Lucky Brilliant” is a great one that will be released on Sept 10. This story of a high-school aged girl who loses her father in a tragic accident had tremendous pacing that made it hard for me to put the book down (I even dragged my laptop camping because I had a digital copy that I could only access from my computer & I really didn’t want to wait to see how the book ended.) Lucky struggles with an inheirted gift that allows her to see tragic events before they happen but it feels a lot more like a curse when she starts trying to rearrange the present in an attempt to avoid her premontions coming true. This book deals realistically with loss, grief, mental illness & addiction through the eyes of a teenager, and gently reminds us that even when things aren’t perfect, they can still be good.

I'd heard various opinions on “Queenie”, the book that has been called ’”the Black Bridget Jones”, but I really, really loved it. Queenie is a young Brit who struggles to make her way in her career & in her relationships, due in large part to her own-self sabotage. It’s definitely a “modern" tale, complete with text message screen shots & email images as part of the book’s text (which I love), but is also modern in that Queenie’s sexual relationships are explicit, front and center in this book— (if that bothers you, it's not the book for you.) While not all of us have self-sabotauged with dangerous sexual relationships, self-sabotague is real and this book explores it well. It also explores racism, domestic violence and related PTSD, female friendships, & multi-generational family dynamics, but despite its handling of these weighty topics it’s in no way preachy or overly serious. I enjoyed every page!

Read a book- it's good for your mind! 🇺🇸 And a mind is a terrible thing to waste! #NetGalley #luckybrilliant

Lucky Brilliant, also known as Lucy Brilliant, is stressed out, waiting for her dad to come home with the canvas she needs for a school project. However, her father never comes home- leaving Lucky and her mother to be plunged into a nightmare that only seems to get worse.

This was a really engaging and captivating read, once I'd started it I raced through to see what was going to happen next! It was fun and very dramatic, with lots of twists and turns. I also really liked that there was a psychic element that I didn't expect, I think it added a really nice edge to the novel.

On the other hand, there were lots of parts that felt completely unbelieveable. That feels like a weird comment to make when the plot and themes required a suspension of reality that I really enjoyed; I think it's that it tried to blend fantasy with real-world, and whilst the fantasy elements were great, the real-world parts just felt too extraordinary, and untethered to any kind of reality. It often felt quite one-sided and one-dimensional.

There were also some parts that felt pretty dubious, the Silas storyline felt a bit ableist, and there was some fatphobia throughout too. I also feel like the portrayal of Eva was a bit sexist in some ways? Less in the way she herself was written, and more in the way that Lucky viewed her.

Misgivings aside, it was a really fun read!

This book takes you on a wild ride of 15 year old Lucky’s life and the tragic accident that started a downward spiral for her and her family. Lucky asks her dad to pick up canvas for a history project on his way home from work not knowing he would get into a terrible accident. For months afterward Lucky blames herself because she asked for a canvas that she waited last minute to get. Lucky and her mother start to find out more of her fathers secrets as time goes on and they have to decide what to believe and how to move forward with the newly gained knowledge. This was a great mystery with heart break, new beginnings, and a teeny bit of romance thrown in. I throughly enjoyed this quick read that kept me wondering what would be on the next page.

I dd enjoy this book. It is worth noting, this book isnt telling a "tale" per say. It's more like you are a silent observer watching as Lucky deals with the death of her father and the impact it has. There is no real ending where you just know its over. we just kind of watch until Lucky seems to come to grips with this new life. That being said, it was still a very interesting read. I plowed through it in just a few hours. Lucky is super relatable.

Lucky Brilliant is an emotive look at love, loss and friendship. Beautifully written with a strong plot and characters that are flawed but very easy to connect with,

I put this book down at 25%. I was very interested in the description, but the writing itself was very weak and failed to pull me in. I didn't find the main character compelling and wasn't as interested in the mystery as I had hoped. I was also disappointed at the lack of syntax variance. The writing felt very stilted.

“I remember standing at my brother’s grave when no one else was there. I kicked the dirt, found a rock, and threw it at the headstone. It bounced off and hit me in the leg. Anger is a boomerang, Lucky. If you throw it out to the world, it’s what you get back.”

This is such a brilliant story, I was enthralled by the sadness of the poignant plot and likeable main character. Everybody felt three dimensional and worthy of each plot twist and then, nothing felt forced.

The story itself literally had me, an old hand at reading many many books, at the edge of my seat. Such brilliant and emotional narrative, I could feel the love and the time that has gone into this story.