Emily was a dear, but struggling so, so hard against, life, against, death, against her very sense of self, and all that fighting has wrung her life plum dry. Her friends don't know what to say or do. Her father can't carry on a conversation anytime his wife/her mother is mentioned. To put it simply, her life is spiraling out of control...at least it was until Blake came along. She's the ray of sunshine on a stormy cloud filled day. She's the one you'd want to choose for your ride or die. She's the new kid in town, but also a blast from the past, and while making waves in little ole Huckabee was never her intent, you can't fly under the radar when you come to a small town. Thing is, outside all the exterior pluses, she's got a heart of gold, and it seems she's the one person that will not only listen to Emily, but wants to spend time with her and get her back out there, LIVING again. But sometimes relationships are bigger than they at first seem, and when they grow out of our control, revealing things we weren't certain were hidden in the first place...you can get spooked, start making the wrong decisions, and ultimately break your own heart. Let's hope that Emily is made of stronger stuff, and if by chance she's not, that she at least can pick up the pieces to start again.

Like I said, I really enjoyed this one from start to finish. Meeting Emily in her lost state was refreshingly real. Seeing her navigate life and times after a parent passes was hard, but you could see her honestly trying to struggle through. The unintentional break from her crew wasn't timely, but it did afford her the chance to realign expectations, discover things that were there the whole time, and reconnect with not only her self, but her mom, believe it or not. The whole list concept was a great way to have an impartial catalyst to get things moving, and the bond that it built, or rather solidified between mother and daughter, while bringing everyone else together, was pure magic.

Rachel Lippincott's THE LUCKY LIST is an endearing, big-hearted, breeze of a book. I enjoyed Emily's journey to find herself and the lesson of learning to let go.

Emily and Blake's relationship is soft and sweet, and I highly recommend this text for anyone looking for a book that eases into self-discovery especially while experiencing grief at the same time.

Things I liked:
📝 a summer bucket list filled with adventures
❤️ healing and coming to terms with a loss
✨ a swoony love interest
🐮 a small, charmingly chaotic town in PA
🌈 slowburn f/f romance

Summary:
From the #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of Five Feet Apart comes a gripping new romance, perfect for fans of The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda.

Emily and her mum were always lucky.

But Emily’s mum’s luck ran out three years ago when she succumbed to cancer, and nothing has felt right since.

Now, the summer before her senior year, things are worse than ever – Emily has wrecked things with her boyfriend, Matt, and her dad is selling the house she grew up in and giving her mum’s belongings away. The only person she has to talk to is Blake, a girl she barely knows since she and her dad moved back to town five seconds ago.

But that’s when Emily finds the list – her mum’s senior year summer bucket list – buried in the back of her closet. When Blake suggests that Emily take it on as a challenge, the two set off on a journey to tick each box and help Emily face her fears over losing her connection to her mum. As she starts to feel closer to her mother, so too does Emily’s bond with Blake deepen into something she wasn't expecting.

And suddenly Emily must face another fear: accepting the secret part of herself she never got a chance to share with the person who knew her best.

A captivating, heartfelt love story about learning who you are, and who you love, when the person you’ve always shared yourself with is gone.

This is the debut solo book by one of the authors of Five Feet Apart (one of my favorite books EVER) and one of the tenderest, most endearing of her books. I went into this book almost completely blind. I didn't read any reviews and only scanned the synopsis. The thing is, I didn't need to know everything. Ifive-star knew I was going to love this book on the cover and the author alone.

Emily's mother died from cancer three years ago and since then, she hasn't been the same. She's been pushing and pulling her boyfriend until junior prom took their relationship plummeting. Now a social pariah, Emily has to spend the summer alone while her father picks up the pieces of their broken family. Faced with moving from her home, and her father's best friend moving back along with his daughter, Blake, Emily discovers things about herself that she had kept locked away. When she finds her mother's old bucket list, she vows to recreate it as a way to feel closer to her mom.

This is a story of self-discovery. Emily is a girl whose life has been upended because of that, she doesn't take the time to really know herself and come to grips with her sexuality. Blake was an amazing character and exactly what Em needed to continue her journey and opening herself up to new ideas and experiences. Em comes off as a very real character with real fears for a young woman her age.

This is a solid five-star read and perfect for anyone looking for a light YA contemporary read for the summer..

I enjoyed reading this book. This book is about a girl name Emily who has always been lucky with her mom until the luck ran out when her mom dies. In the summer, Blake moves to the town where she helps Emily achieve her mom’s challenges to feel connected to her. This was a heartfelt love story that really made you feel connected to the characters and the whole story. I thought the writing was well done and in the past I have enjoyed Rachael’s past books. They have always been kind of comforting and also a learning experience of how you should overcome your past. I thought the story was well written with a great plot structure and also had great pacing. I enjoyed the family connection throughout the story as it shows your family is not just your parents but also your friends and the people who you are close with.

I enjoyed Emily especially because she has development so much throughout the story. You can see a lot of her changing from the beginning of the story to the end. I think she is a brave character who had to keep her feelings inside herself but sharing it to those she is closets to. I also enjoyed Blake as she has a kind of similar past as Emily. I loved seeing how she tried getting Emily to live her life and being a calm, caring person. I also enjoyed the side characters in this book as some played great roles but was sad they weren’t featured a lot in the story. Also this book has LGBTQ romance which I kind of didn’t expect but totally shipped the couple together.

The ending was well done for this book and I thought it was very cute. I was surprised now the author explained so much in less then 300 pages as this was a great contemporary read! I had minor to no problems at all with this book. I totally recommend this read to fans of Simon vs Homo Sapiens Agenda and Rachael’s past books!

What’s The Lucky List About?
In this YA novel, Rachael Lippincott explores some heavy themes, many of which are coated in joy. We initially meet an Emily who has shut herself off from the world (and feelings) after having lost her mother. She can’t explain—or doesn’t want to—why her relationship with her boyfriend Matt doesn’t feel right. Emily used to be adventurous, but now she calculates risks down to the percentile. Her friends miss the person she was before her mom died; so does Emily. This is a book about how the people we meet can be catalysts for growth and change in our lives but reminds us that ultimately, we transform ourselves.

The Great, the Meh and the Oh No!
What I liked most about The Lucky List was watching Emma get to know her mother again and reconnect with her in a new light. So often, when we lose someone, especially unexpectedly, it throws everything in our life off course. For example, the fear that Emily feels about leaving her dad alone overnight was viscerally real. I connected so hard. I remember being terrified just answering the phone after losing loved ones in the past, lest I be about to receive bad news again.



In fact, Emily’s relationship with her mother is what made the book for me. Positive depictions of grief and healing get me every time. I especially love the detail of Emily seeking comfort in the “lucky” coin she and her mom shared. While I don’t have a specific talisman from my mother, I definitely wore her jewelry almost exclusively for a while thereafter she passed.

However, I was less enchanted by the other aspects of The Lucky List. The romance was cute and sweet, but it was nothing earth-shattering. Blake and Emily have nice, solid chemistry and bond over common losses. While it is lovely to watch Emily grow into her sexuality, I did find myself missing true friendship moments. Also, less lovely is Emily’s gay panic that leads her to be pretty mean to Blake, but such is life sometimes. I do have one major problem with this book. There’s a scene where a character is essentially outed and it’s not made clear whether their sexuality is information they wanted to be made public.

Final Verdict
All in all, though, I was able to roll along with the ebbs and flows of the book (much like the lazy summer days the book is set in). The book is worth a read just for how it deals with moving on from bereavement, so I’d especially recommend it for anyone who’s lost a loved one. Or just to anyone who wants a mildly angsty summer romance read.

The Lucky List is out June 1, 2021! Pick up a copy at your local independent bookstore (or library) or online at Bookshop.org.

Content warning: loss of a parent, grief, bullying, needles.

This novel explores grief, friendship, growth, and so much more - and yet somehow remains uncomplicated and not overwhelming in the slightest. This quick, fun read approaches difficult topics in a positive way. Emily's mom died three years ago, and since then, she has kept herself in a box, worried about all the terrible things that could go wrong. Now it's the summer before her senior year and things couldn't seem worse as her best friend is at camp for the summer, her dad sold the house she grew up in, the one that holds some of her best memories of her mom, and her friend group is mad at her ever since she kissed another guy. Things start to look up when Blake gets to town. While looking through one of her mom's yearbooks, Blake & Emily discover Emily's mom's list "Julie Miller's Senior Summer Year List." From here, Emily sets out to complete this list. Along the way, Emily learns about love, loss, and acceptance.

Thank you Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely adored this book. It was full of sadness and grief and teenage angst, but it was also full of hope and the joy that comes with finally coming into your own, as well as a swoon-worthy f/f romance. I have so many students that love books like this -- summer romances that will make them laugh and swoon and cry all at the same time -- and I can't wait to recommend this one to them!

Thank you to Simon & Schuster for the review copy.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very cute and fun book that also touched a lot on issues of grief and loss of a parent. I thought this issue was handled well and discussed those themes while still having some lighter fun moments. I liked both Emily and Blake and it was fun to see them grow closer to one another. If you like books where the main character is challenged to complete tasks on a bucket list, you will likely enjoy this book. This would be a great summer read.

The summer before her senior year, Emily finds herself alone. She messed things up with her boyfriend and now their entire friend group has turned their backs on her. On top of that, her father is selling the house she grew up in - the one that holds all the memories of her mother who passed away three years earlier.

When her dad's high school friend and his daughter, Blake, move to Emily's hometown, the two girls become instant friends and are determined to make this the best summer ever as they work together to help Emily duplicate her mom's pre-senior year bucket list.

I loved this book! As I read it on my swing in my backyard, I had tears streaming down my face. It's definitely a huggable book!

This book contains LGBTQ+ themes.

Trigger warnings: cancer, grief and loss

Huge thanks to Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this delightful book!

The Lucky List follows our main character Emily as she struggles with gaining closure from her mother's untimely death after her fight with cancer, friendships, and her sexuality. Emily is on very rocky terms with her friend group after cheating on her ex-boyfriend, so when she meets the new girl in town, Blake, they spend the summer together, checking off activities that were on her deceased mother's high school summer bucket list.

The most prominent theme of this book is grief. After losing her mother, Emily has been desperate to find ways to be close to her. When her dad decided to sell the family house, Emily yearns more than ever for a way to stay connected to her mom. When she stumbles across her mom's high school summer bucket list, she feels as though her mom is guiding her through her summer. What better way to feel an extension to her mom than to do everything she did when she was her age? And it certainly doesn't hurt that she has a gorgeous girl to do it with her...

Blake is one of my favorite YA love interests ever. She's charming, she takes charge, and she has a natural swagger that I find super compelling, as well typically only see these traits in male characters. I found it a bit weird that the author kept describing her as tan. Like, over and over. No other descriptor was used quite as often. Given that Black is a Japanese character, the lack of descriptor words that the author could come up with to describe her other than "tan" struck me as a bit odd, especially because it's not necessary to bring up Blakes skin tone nearly as often as the author does.

In terms of her sexuality, Emily clearly struggles with comp-het throughout the book. Her on-again-off-again boyfriend was one of her childhood best friends, and while it never felt completely right to her, she stuck with him because she didn't think she would ever find a man better. This is VERRRY common for lesbians. My only issue with the portrayal of her sexuality is that the word lesbian is never used. The word lesbian has become SUPER demonized, to the point where we hardly even see lesbian characters use it for themselves in literature. In this book the main characters uses "gay" and "I like girls in the way I should like boys" multiple times, but never uses the word lesbian.

Overall, this is a super quick yet unremarkable read. I found it to be very average as far as plot, depth, and writing style. Scrolling through reviews most people seem to be between 4 and 5 stars, which is higher than my rating, so don't take my "this is average" as God because I might just be super burnt out from reading right now. But personally, there just wasn't anything about this novel that was particularly striking, but it wasn't by any means bad either, which is why I'm rating it 3 stars.

This fun and quick read broaches difficult topics in a positive way. Since her mom died three years ago Emily has kept herself in a box, worried about all the terrible things that could go wrong. Now it's the summer before her senior year and things couldn't seem worse: Her best friend is off to camp for the summer. Her dad sold the house she grew up in, the one that holds some of her best memories of her mom, and her friend group is mad at her ever since she kissed another guy at Junior Prom. Things start to look up when Blake gets to town. While looking through one of her mom's yearbooks she and Blake discover Emily's mom's list "Julie Miller's Senior Summer Year List." With Bake's encouragement Emily sets out to complete "Julie Miller's Senior Summer Year List." Along the way Emily learns about love, loss and acceptance.

A fun, lighthearted read with some backbone. One I will highly recommend to many of my High School students.

Thank you Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely adored this beautifully written book. This impressively strong solo debut from Rachael Lippincott will remind readers of summer favorites from Sarah Dessen, Emery Lord, and Morgan Matson with familiar themes of family, grief, and personal growth presented in a fresh new way. The swoony f/f romance sits at the heart of this book and will stay with you long after you finish the book, I am confident that teens will find courage, love, and healing within the pages of this story.

This book made me feel things. It wasn’t even the main plot of the book. This is the first book that has really got me in my feelings having lost a parent myself at the age Emily lost her mom.
Emily’s life has changed since her mom passed away. Blake comes back in her life after what seems like a decade. Emily and Blake are going through her mom's things when they find a list of stuff her mom wanted to do before her senior year. Emily decides she is going to take on the list and do it herself to feel closer to her mom and find herself. Blake is on this wild ride with her. Emily thinks she knows what her mom wanted for her and what she wants for herself, but does she really know? Emily doesn’t want to accept the one thing she knows is true because she never got the chance to tell her mom about it.
I would 100% recommend this book if you like a good YA contemporary book. If you want to have moments you smile and laugh and moments of sadness and tears. It was a rollercoaster. I would definitely pick up a second part of this book if there was one and I’ll definitely pick up more from this author.

Three years ago Emily was a daredevil, happy-go-lucky kid, but then her mom died of cancer. Mom was the person she could talk to who shared her dreams. It is now the summer of her junior year in high school. Emily did something disastrous at her prom and feels on the outs with all her friends. She is no longer a risk taker, and more major changes are happening. Emily’s dad’s best friend from high school is moving to town with his daughter Blake. Her dad is selling their house, leaving Emily bereft. She has clung to her mom’s things, but now they’re about to be gone forever. When Emily finds her mom’s high school summer bucket list, she begins a journey to her true identity and an understanding of who she really wants to be.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this arc in exchange for an honest review. It will make a great summer read!

Ever since losing her mom to cancer Emily’s life hasn’t been the same. The two of them were attached at the hip and considered themselves to be pretty lucky. They even had a lucky coin that they would take with them to the monthly town bingo where they also had a lucky bingo card. Sadly, however, once her mom passed away the luck seemed to pass with her. Now thanks to a huge mistake that Emily made at junior prom she has no boyfriend no friend group and no idea how to spend her summer.

Another piece of bad luck coming Emily’s way is that she and her father have to move. Though they do have some help on that front thanks to her father’s High School best friend moving back to town along with his daughter. While cleaning out her parent’s closet Emily and Blake come across a summer before senior year bucket list that her mother came up with. After some discussion, they decide to tackle a list of their own. Most of the things are from her mom’s list with a couple of exceptions.

I really enjoyed this book! What started for Emily as an excuse to get to know who her mother was, as well as have something to do over the summer actually turned into so much more than that. Whether you have experienced grief yourself or not I suggest you read this book! You will not be sorry!

I read and reviewed Rachael’s book ALL THIS TIME, co-authored with Mikki Daughtry, for a blog tour last year and really liked it, so I was excited to check out her solo debut. I have to say, I loved THE LUCKY LIST even more! This was a delightful, touching book from beginning to end that I read in two sittings. It flowed perfectly, and I was eager to follow along as Emily checked off each of the items on her mother’s senior year bucket list. The moments of grief were artfully interspersed with the moments of exhilaration and new experiences, and it was fun to watch Emily come out of the bubble she’d been using to protect herself since her mother died. Emily had a lot to learn about herself, and she ended up learning more about her parents in the process too, which was great. There was one sort of reveal at the end about that which totally surprised me! Anyway, I loved Emily and Blake both, and I loved watching their relationship blossom. This was just a beautiful read, and I would encourage any lover of contemporary YA to snatch this one up asap.

Rating: 5 bright stars!

**Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher for purposes of this blog tour. This review is voluntary on my part and reflects my honest rating and review of the book.

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Things haven't felt right since Emily lost her mother three years ago. She had changed and retreated inside herself. While packing up her mother's things, she found a bucket list of sorts from her mother's senior year of high school. With the encouragement and assistance of her friend Blake, Emily set out to complete this list, the Lucky List. What started out as a way to connect with her mother became a way to connect with and discover herself.

My heart filled to bursting as I read this book. There's some drama that leads off the story, but it's all the parts in-between, where Emily was coming to terms with her grief, completing the list, and building her friendship with Blake that I really loved.

I think I cried almost every time Emily shared a recollection about her mother, but those tears were often accompanied with a big smile, because they were very sweet memories. I really sensed Emily's pain and how lost she felt without her mother to guide her, but there was so much love and affection to balance those emotions.

Then there was "the list". The beauty of the list was that it gave her an opportunity to get to know her mother in a new way. Emily learned things about her that she had never known, and it also bridged a gap to her father. The list was a lot of fun too. Some laugh out loud moments happened right along with some sweet and tender ones as they checked off those boxes.

The most wonderful thing was seeing Emily come into her own as she completed each task. She began to heal a bit and tore down those barriers she had thrown up to protect herself. While she was opening her heart, she reconciled with some self-truths she had buried upon her mother's death. She figured out why her relationship with Matt wasn't working (sorry Matt) and was honest with herself about her sexual orientation.

This was such a sweet and touching story. It was really satisfying and feel-good. The "lucky list" was a such a beautiful way to help Emily connect with her mother's memory, while also allowing her to find her way back to herself.

NetGalley and the publisher kindly granted me the chance to read an ARC of this book in exchange for my review.
There's a lot to like here, even with the Trigger of parental death that I usually avoid. But the premise is smart, opening the door for a lot of dynamics here, introducing chances for great sentiment and growth. I think the story loses a little bit of its great appeal by trying to do so much, and also by gliding past being direct in some instances, but the author has admirably taken on a multifaceted story, building it with great characters, and that's more than good enough for my reading time. The premise of taking on her mom's bucket list is so stellar. This great center and heart of the book pulls so much else in. Enjoyed it.

DNF.

Once again I should have checked the formats available before requesting.

* Thank you to the publisher for this eARC.

This is exactly the kind of book I needed to read right now. It was so heartwarming and heartbreaking and sweet and adorable and light but also had heavy topics in it.
3 years after Emily's mom passed away suddenly from cancer, she finds herself living in a little box, always thinking worst case scenarios, scared to take the next step in her (now broken up) relationship, stuck in her little town of Huckabee, Pennsylvania. Until her dad's best friend moves back to town with his daughter Blake and they find Em's mom's "summer before senior year to-do list." To try to feel closer to her mom, Blake convinces Em to do that same bucket list before their senior year starts.
I absolutely loved Em and loved the journey she took throughout this book. She was so caring and you could tell that family and friends meant so much to her. I also loved Blake's carefree, open, accepting attitude. It was so good for Em to have someone outside Huckabee to come into her life and show her that she can be more than the girl who's mom died. All the side characters were great too. Em's dad, Blake's dad, Nina and Keira.
The whole bucket list plot was so much fun. It was so great to see Em open up and really become someone new in the "after" part of her life and really accept what happened to her family. And Em also has to accept a part of her sexuality she felt nudging right when her mom got sick and she was never able to talk to her about it. There were a few things coming I saw from SUPER early on, but that really didn't take away anything when they finally happened.
Em's journey throughout this book felt absolutely real for a 17 year old who has lost her mom. It just absolutely warmed my heart and I absolutely loved it.