This YA book is a sequel of sorts to Instant Karma, though it can be read as a standalone, and just like that one it’s realistic fiction but with a little bit of magic realism/fantasy mixed in. The main character of this book, Jude, is a high school student and the twin brother of the main character from Instant Karma, Pru. He finds a special 20 sided red dice, and suddenly he finds himself EXTREMELY lucky - indeed, so lucky he decides he can even ask out Maya, the girl he’s had a crush on for ages. Interspersed throughout the book are also panels from the D&D fantasy comic Jude draws

This one was cute, but also SO obvious where it was going and yet took til the very very end of the book to get there. Maybe it didn’t help that I read it slowly, but I also read it slowly because it was so obvious and not super compelling to pick up as a result.

I absolutely adored Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicle series and her Gilded duology, both of which are much more genre-oriented (fairy tale retellings, one sorta dystopian and one more typical fantasy), so maybe I should stick to those rather than her books set in the real world?

This was a lovely little ya rom-com with a magical twist. I enjoy Meyer's writing and found this to be a read that was both age appropriate and filled with some fun romantic moments. This will definitly be a book my students will enjoy. Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

I loved this story. I hadn't read Instant Karma yet and didn't know they were connected, but I didn't have any trouble with this book as a result. I loved the story with the little bits of magic, and the characters were well written and likable. I felt like the story was fairly realistic (minus, of course, the magic), and I really enjoyed all the different scenarios and emotions the characters experienced.

I plan to include a copy of this book in my classroom library.

This was fun, easy, and light! Definitely a great vacation book or road trip audiobook because it’s in the cute little CA beach town of Fortuna Beach and features MCs that love vintage music and records. So sweet!

listened to the audiobook and really enjoyed it - I thought Stacy Carolan was great!! It was fun to listen to a YA romance with a dude protagonist. Jude was sweet and quirky and kind, even when he made the wrong choices.

Meyer shines brighter in her harder science fiction stuff, but this Fortunata Beach series is fun. I assume we get to spend time with the rest of the siblings as time goes by. I will be here for it.

I love her other works and this was no different! Such a different story then other books I’ve read from her but it was cute and easy to read. Would recommend 100%!

What a sweet story of friends to love! Teenagers that have been best friends since middle school, work together, and ate very artistically gifted, have what they think is unrequited feelings, and chaos ensures. Love the"magic" aspect of it, too.

While I love Meyer’s writing, I think I prefer the complexity of her fairytales over this. I liked a lot about it but in the end, it wasn’t for me.

When I read Instant Karma by Marissa Meyer, I have to say I didn't really enjoy it very much. I love so many of her books, such as the Lunar Chronicles and Renegades, so I instantly selected Instand Karma as soon as I saw it. It isn't that the story line or the writing itself was poor, it was more Pru as a character. She really got on my nerves! I do so enjoy Meyer, though, so when I saw With a Little Luck on NetGalley, I decided I needed to give it a chance, especially when I saw that the main chracter was Jude, Pru's twin. I really liked Jude's personality in Instant Karma, He was such a kind and gentle guy, and his nerdiness just gave him more depth. In With a Little Luck, I enjoyed getting to know him more. (warning: spoiler alert ahead) From the first chapter, I figured out that Ari was going to be the one for him, and that she already had feelings for him, They just fit together so well! I knew that it wasn't going to be easy to get his lifelong crush with Maya out of the way, though.

I liked that Meyer makes Maya a character that you can like, even when she's not who I was rooting for Jude ending up with. She goes from a pretty one-dimensional character in the first book to being fleshed out more in this one, and I learned to like her more. I still didn't feel like I really knew her well by the end, but it's not really her story, so that was okay. I loved getting to know Ari more, though. She is sweet and funny, with a fiery spirit, and she and Jude fit together very well. I feel that Meyer did a wonderful job showing how well the two connected. Another thing I enjoyed about this book was the use of graphic panels in sections to keep telling the story. It was creative and broke up the main text, and readers who enjoy D&D will get a kick out of those sections, as will the use of the dice and campaigns in the plot.

Once again, Meyer has a creative novel on her hands, and I'm glad I gave it a try. It was a fun and clever read that left me feeling a little lighter. Thank you to NetGalley and Feiwel & Friends for letting me read it.

This book was really fun and cute. I'm used to reading Marissa Meyer fantasies, so it was cool to read a different type of story from her. Overall it's a story about learning how to make our own luck and take chances for what we want, and I liked Jude's journey to getting there. I think what makes the story fun is the whole cast of characters: Jude has a big family and I love his interactions with his sisters. It's sweet and also funny and a very realistic picture of what big families can look like. I like his D&D group and his school friends, and the mix of personalities makes for many fun moments. One of the things I didn't like was how towards the beginning, so many people in Jude's circle seemed to be pushing him to change things about himself to impress a girl, and while the story obviously gets to the message of be yourself, I do wish more stories had friends and families who encourage the MC to stay true to themselves from the very beginning. This story is also heavily about music and songwriting, and I did find the lyrics used sometimes a little on the edge of corny. But I still liked the overall idea and the story was cute. We also get a little comic being created throughout the book, which is a cool and unique thing added. I did like that one a lot. Overall if you want a cute romance that embraces nerdiness and music and family, I think this is a good read.

This is the classic story of a nerdy boy’s love for a popular girl he seemingly cannot have but (this being fiction) is suddenly very much within reach. The over-used plotline is written in first person. The author did a tremendous job of expressing real emotions (as if the author herself has experienced such) and the tempo of an anxious teen dealing with puberty. Supporting characters are well introduced. There is a sense of camaraderie between reader and characters, an impressive feat given the main focus is the main character.

The only downside for me, I guess, is the story’s length. I understand that authors strive to be unique in this kind of genre, but there are subplots I thought should have been shortened or omitted. Nevertheless, the book was a joy to read. There is a right blend of humor, drama and adventure and a touch of music and arts. I highly recommend it for teens who love romance and a feel-good story.

In With a Little Luck, Jude, an introverted artist whose parents own Vinyl Ventures music store, spends his time drawing comics, working at his parents' store, hosting D&D nights with his friends, and pining after Maya, a girl he has had a crush on since elementary school. One night Jude finds a red 20-sided die, and he begins experiencing an uncanny bout of good luck. His comic book art is chosen for publication, his best friend Ari's song becomes a finalist in a song competition, and he wins tickets to a concert, which he asks Maya to, and she accepts. The concert date goes incredibly well, and Maya joins his D&D group, but then he misplaces the red die and his good luck turns bad. He discovers that his crush on Maya was more about the unattainable, and he's really in love with Ari, but wonders if it's too late to let her know how he feels. Jude's comics, which are based on the games he creates as dungeon master for his D&D group, penned by Chuck Gonzalez, are included in the text. As Ari makes it to the last round of finals in the song writing competition, Jude wonders if the song about unrequited love is actually about them. Jude's narration, which includes breaking the fourth wall, is engaging and the chemistry between Ari and Jude is palpable. Readers will enjoy his journey of realization.

Disappointed I didn’t enjoy this one more. Instant Karma surprised me with the emotional journey it took me on, and while Prudence took me a while to warm up to, she became a much more likable protagonist by the time the book ended. Jude was not as dynamic as his sister and felt very static through this book; he wasn't the most interesting to follow around and I found myself wanting the focus shifted on the side characters. I was also wanting more from his and Ari’s relationship, the little hints planted that they were endgame felt shoehorned in and not as natural as they could be. Overall, I enjoyed returning to Fortuna Beach, if only because it’s such a cozy setting and Marissa Meyer knows how to world build expertly.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: it doesn't matter what Marissa writes, everything she writes is exceptional. This book was so much fun! I loved all the little puns, and I loved how a touch of magic was woven into the story. The writing style was very easy to get into, and if I had the time I would have read this in one sitting. Can only highly recommend this!

Cute read!

16yo Jude is shy and doesn’t have much self confidence. He’s had a crush on Maya since middle school but is afraid to ask her out. He’s afraid until he finds a lucky charm that gives him successes and confidence. When he finally gets to take Maya on a date everything seems fine until he loses the lucky charm. The luck changes not just for him but for his family too.

Likes/dislikes: I enjoyed the humor. The story is sweet. It’s a fun read that inspires the reader to work towards their dreams.
Mature Content: G for kissing
Language: R for 40 swears and no f-words
Violence: G
Ethnicity: The ethnicity includes white, Asian, Mexican American, and Korean American.

Jude found a mysterious ruby dice on his parents' record store, and suddenly he always got lucky. Another thing about him is that he’s been hopelessly enamored to a popular girl in his school, Maya, for years. The lucky strikes he’s been getting made him have the courage to finally ask Maya out. But is she really the girl of his dreams, the one who’s right for him?

Amazing characters as usual, since this is a Marissa Meyer book so I expected nothing less. It’s rare to see contemporary YA romance using a boy’s 1st person POV. He’s a nerd and also tends to be dramatic sometimes, that makes his character developments even more interesting.

There’s a fantasy side-story in this book since Jude is a Dungeon Master and he’s also making their new D&D campaign into a comic. Not only that, the excerpts of that said comic is included throughout the book, with a total of 23 pages.

This isn’t a swoony-kinda romance but more like… an internal journey of defining Jude’s feelings and to discover what he truly desires. I slightly prefer Instant Karma to this, plot-wise. And it was fun witnessing Pru & Quint’s relationship through Jude’s eyes. TBH now I want to reread Instant Karma lmao.

A big thanks to NetGalley and MacMillian for providing both an eARC and advance audio book in exchange for an honest review.

Screaming. Crying. Throwing up because I got a Marissa Meyer arc!

With a Little Luck by Marissa Meyer is a YA contemporary novel about Jude, who is determined to fly under the radar. He just wants to draw comics, host D&D night with his friends, work at his parents’ vinyl record store, and escape high school as unscathed as possible. That is, until the night he finds himself inexplicably gifted with a bout of supernatural good luck. Suddenly, everything Jude has ever wanted is within reach. His art is being published. He helps his friend’s song become a finalist in a songwriting competition. And he wins a pair of coveted concert tickets, which he can use to ask out the popular girl he’s been crushing on since elementary school. But how long can Jude’s good fortune last? And why does he find himself thinking about Ari, his best friend since forever? If Jude has been dreaming of the wrong girl this whole time, does that mean he's doomed to be unlucky in love forever?

I'm not the biggest fan of Meyer's contemporary novels, as I am a fantasy reader. But I really liked how we got an expansion on Instant Karma's story. I did also enjoy the splash of the nerdiness when it comes to contemporaries, as it's always love drawn. Overall, I liked this book and can't wait to have it as a physical copy to add it my ever-growing collection.

Ahhh! I love Jude do happy he got his own book! He's such a nerd and I would have 100% loved to be be his friend. I loved seeing characters from Instant Karma and getting to know them more in depth

I wasn’t quite in the mood for YA romance but wanted to read this near the publication date, and Marissa Meyer is one of my favorite authors, so I kind of pushed through the first part and then got completely sucked into the rest—I’m so glad I persevered!
This book follows Jude, twin brother to Pru, whose romantic journey can be found in the preceding book, Instant Karma. Jude has a big crush on Maya, and finally gets the opportunity to take her out when a lucky streak comes his way. But is Maya the girl for him, or does he actually have feelings for someone else? Of course I knew how the book would end, and it was as satisfying as any romance, but I didn’t know how much I would love the character development, the family dynamics, the D&D campaigns, and the heartwarming moments. Any book by this author is worth reading—I hope to one day read them all.
This can be read as a standalone, but Instant Karma is so good, you should look it up as well if you’re interested in YA romance, especially with realistic characters.
Thanks to the publisher for the advance copy!

'With a Little Luck' by Marissa Meyer is an incidental sequel to 'Instant Karma' - meaning we're in the same world but focused on different characters. If you enjoyed the first or anything my Marissa Meyer this will be a winner too!