Nick and Jenny have been having an affair over 6 years but are staying overnight together for the first time at a fancy new hotel. In the beginning of the evening, the fire alarm intermittently goes off, though they are assured it is a glitch in a new system. As the night progresses, they learn more about each other. I was excited for this novel after reading several favorable reviews, but unfortunately it did not work for me. I need to feel something for the characters but I just did not care about these 2. I often prefer characters I do not like and though they are quite unlikeable, they were boring to me. We get to hear from both of them, though I found myself skimming a lot of their dialogue, especially Nick's. I liked the second half much better as the tension, honesty, emotions, and stakes were a lot higher. I typically enjoy character driven stories like this one, and I do appreciate the uniqueness of the set up, so will read what Eliza Kennedy writes next. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced digital copy. 3.25 stars

The no quotation marks really threw me for a loop. Definitely had a unique premise and was somewhat interesting. Not sure I would recommend to many people. Feel like this is for a very specific reader.

A few years ago, I was on a 1970s movie kick. One of the movies I watched was the burning skyscraper flick Towering Inferno. Among its plotlines was the story of the building’s PR director and his secretary, who were too caught up in their night of romance to realize the tower was in flames. I’m not sure whether author Eliza Kennedy was inspired by this movie when she wrote Lucky Night (she does reference it), but she has definitely made the scenario her own.

For six years, neighbors Nick Holloway and Jenny Parrish have been engaged in an extramarital affair, stealing hours here and there in hotels around and near Manhattan. But tonight is special: It’s the first time the two will spend the whole night together, and Nick has gone big, booking a suite on the 42nd floor of a new luxurious midtown hotel. But as Nick and Jenny love, banter, argue, and drink, a smoke alarm quietly beeps from many floors down. Although the front desk assures them nothing is wrong, the unit in their room starts to crackle with static. Jenny wants to leave. But Nick has been looking forward to this night for so long, he convinces Jenny to stay. It’s a decision that could come back to haunt them.

Lucky Night isn’t structured like Towering Inferno, but it’s just as compelling. The story takes place almost entirely in that hotel room and in Nick and Jenny’s heads. Kennedy moves seamlessly from Nick’s words to his thoughts to Jenny’s thoughts and her words. Their relationship is based on sex, and neither of them are willing to be completely vulnerable with each other. But as the stakes get higher, they’re forced to admit things they never thought they would. Kennedy’s writing style gives readers a deep dive into both characters, showing how and why they ended up in an affair. They’re both believable, likeable, unlikeable, funny, sad, guilty, loving, and very scared. (The only detail I found unbelievable was Jenny’s trajectory as a writer: She’s motivated by love for Nick to write a YA novel, then its sequel—both books become bestsellers and now a movie’s being made while the third is about to come out. All in five years, in a publishing industry where it can take a year for an editor to even read a manuscript…)

Even in the earlier chapters, the pacing is swift and the chapter breaks are well-timed. I read Lucky Night in a single day. And while I was completely caught up in Nick and Jenny’s relationship and their fate, I also saw the book as a metaphor for something bigger. When are the early warning signs an aberration, and when do they signal it’s time to evacuate? These are the questions Jewish people asked themselves in 1930s Germany, and they’re the questions that many Americans today are grappling with. In a way, we are all Nick and Jenny, listening to the weak sound of an alarm many floors below us while we’re caught up in our own emotional drama, and wondering if we should stay or go.

I knew immediately that this writing style was not for me after reading the first paragraph. It was filled with incessant dialogue and just left me annoyed. Characters were not great. Thank you, NetGalley

Lucky Night was a bit slow to hook me in the beginning but ended up being a funny and claustrophobic page-turner with a wonderfully unique premise. The entire story takes place in a single evening inside an exclusive hotel room in Manhattan. Nick and Jenny, two sometimes lovers, are enjoying a rendezvous when a fire threatens to reveal their secret affair. If you enjoy dialogue heavy stream-of-consciousness style writing with shifting perspectives, this existential thriller is perfect for you!

I don't normally read or like books like this, but there's something about what Kennedy does here that just WORKED. There are so many complicated situations handled with nuance that will make you question characters and yourself.

The premise sounded promising, but I couldn't get into the writing style of Lucky Night - it was a bit too choppy.

It was an interesting glimpse into an affair between two married adults that has been ongoing for six years. As they meet again in a hotel room, we see both characters question their affair and whether it is more profound than they initially believed. Towards the end, both characters become pretty annoying.

Thanks to the publisher and net galley for the e-arc!

Lucky Night is the kind of literary fiction I absolutely love to read. After six years engaged in an affair, Jenny and Nick are spending the night together for the first time in a brand new luxury hotel in Manhattan. But then the fire alarm goes off, and it becomes clear that their night of passion isn’t going to proceed the way they’d hoped.

The plot sounds straightforward on the surface, but the execution is anything but simple. Lucky Night is an emotionally resonant character study, set against a backdrop of mortal peril, and it’s astoundingly insightful. The narrative switches seamlessly between Nick’s and Jenny’s perspectives, so we get to read their thoughts about each other’s words and actions in real time. The dialogue is fantastic, and Nick and Jenny are so richly-realized – two imperfect people who are trying to connect and be present in their lives in whatever way they can, however self-destructive their choices may be. I grew to care so much for these two idiots, despite how aggravating they were, and I was so invested in their fate. Eliza Kennedy has so much love for these ridiculous, flawed humans, and she made me love them too.

All of this magnificent character work is happening within a tense, high-stakes narrative, as Nick and Jenny are forced to confront some hard truths about each other and themselves while their lives are quite literally in danger. Lucky Night reminded me of books like Nightwatching and Fierce Kingdom – both about mothers and children, so not exactly the same, but where deep musings about life and love are occurring at the same time the characters are facing unimaginable danger and their own mortality. This book actually made me feel physically stressed while I was reading it because the circumstances were so intense and claustrophobic.

I knew very early on that Lucky Night would be a five-star read for me, but then…that ending solidified it. It was perfection and actually brought me to tears. I just absolutely loved it. Thank you to Crown for the early reading opportunity.

When I started the book, I went in with one idea on how it was going to but actually turned out to be different. It was an okay book, and I am well versed in this genre and style of book, but this really didn't do it for me.

Nick and Jenny have been having an affair for six years but the night that there's a fire at the hotel, they discover there's a lot they don't know about each other- or themselves. Know that these are not especially likable people. Know also that this is written with a lot of stream of consciousness (which can become annoying). That said. it's an interesting look at how we view ourselves and how we cope when confronted with peril. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. For fans of literary fiction.

I always appreciate writing that feels like being inside the characters’ brains— showing their human complexity and nuance, even if they are quite unlikeable. If you also love books like this, that leave you feeling like you really *know* the characters, then LUCKY NIGHT will likely be a winner for you, too!

This was highly interior, but also a total barn-burner of a book (no pun intended). Nick and Jenny each have full lives, successful careers, and lovable children. And for the past six years they’ve been meeting monthly for a clandestine affair. On a snowy February night, they meet at a luxury Manhattan hotel, breaking one of their rules, to spend the night together for the first time. The night starts off as a typical romantic rendezvous, until a fire at the hotel threatens their safety and tenuously balanced relationship.

I’m especially loving books that feel fresh and unique this year, and I’ve truly never read anything like LUCKY NIGHT before. The plot was beyond propulsive, keeping me up past my bedtime to find out what would happen, but I was equally drawn in by the characters’ thoughts and conversations. The writing is sharp and smart, full of top-notch banter, dark humor, and deep reflections on mid-life. Things felt a smidge repetitive at times, but I do think this mirrors the characters’ circular thinking.

This definitely won’t be for everyone—for sure skip if you hate reading about infidelity or books without quotation marks—but it’s one of my 2025 favorites so far. It’s fresh, memorable, and HIGHLY discussable.

4.5/5 stars

This book was too all over the place for me. I didn't like either one of the characters or their relationship with one another. I had a hard time keeping up with what was happening and what was being said in their heads. Not the book for me, thanks NetGalley for the ARC!

Set over the course of one night, Lucky Night is the story of a long-running affair and all of the truths that have never been spoken. Nick and Jenny have been having an affair for the last six years. They've booked a room in a fancy new hotel where they will be ACTUALLY spending the night together for the first time. Jenny is worried about her husband and kids, Nick is only worried about blowjobs and his own sexual release. They both have used these brief meetings for breaks from their ordinary life, and it's much needed.

But not everything goes according to plan.

A smoke alarm goes off in the hotel and the two delve deeper than they ever have, opening up to each other about the last six years, their anxieties and their feelings.

This is a book that's going to be hit or miss for the common reader. It's fairly existential; the writing is full of internal and external thoughts and run on sentences. The first part of the book sets up the pair to be fairly annoying, arrogant, and unlikeable. As time progresses over the night, and the reader learns more about each individual person, it's hard not to root for them...for whatever they decide and what they take away.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Thank you to @netgalley and @crownpublishing for this gifted copy for my review. I really tried to like this book, but this is the type of writing style that I just do not like. It was a whole lot of stream of consciousness from these two characters that I did not like, and my number one pet peeve is no quotation marks so that you know who is speaking and when. Especially when there are two people talking. I tried to power through but I did not care enough about these annoying characters and what would become of them. They were both not likeable to me at all. I was also tired of being trapped in this hotel room with them, and from what I understand the whole book takes place here. I had to DNF at 29%. If this style of writing doesn't bother you, then maybe give it a try.

Nick and Jenny have snuck an hour here or there with each other for their six year long affair. Now they have an entire night, for sex and banter, in a hotel. When the smoke alarm goes off, their night does not go as planned.

This is definitely a unique and interesting premise. It took a bit for me to get into it, as the writing it unique without quotation marks but I settled once I got to know the characters and didn’t even notice. Anyone with infidelity triggers should not read this one. I loved their back and forth and how we were privy to inner thoughts that evolved into the conversations. It was pretty steamy as well!

Lucky Night comes out 3/25.

Jenny and Nick are two people that have been having an affair for six years. One fateful night they are together in a brand new high rise hotel that catches fire. The entire novel is spent diving into the fire, but mostly these two imperfect people. The lack of quotation marks drove me crazy, but the story and characters were enough to keep me going.

Nick Holloway is forty-six. A successful partner at a law firm, he has a gorgeous wife, a precious daughter, and a big house. If he also has gnawing disappointments, secret yearnings, and a creeping sense of opportunities wasted, well, that's nobody's fault but his own. Jenny Parrish is forty. She has two lovely sons, a devoted if somewhat hapless husband, and recently is hugely successful in her dream vocation. It's a perfect life! So perfect, she can't help but wonder sometimes whether it's all going to come crashing down. For the past six years, Nick and Jenny have been meeting at least once a month and having sex. Lots of sex. Great sex. They do not discuss their spouses, they never spend the night, and they never ever talk about what their relationship means. Because this thing they have? It's casual. Uncomplicated. When Nick books a night at a fancy new hotel, the two decide to break one of their rules and spend the whole night together. It's business as usual-until a fire alarm goes off. At first they think it's a false alarm. But as the fire closes in, fear strips away their defenses and justifications, forcing Jenny and Nick to be honest, with each other and with themselves, about how they ended up in this room, and what these six years have really meant. A meditation on whether it's possible to live an authentic life, and whether we can ever show our true selves, Lucky Night is a literary triumph.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. This book! Set over one fateful night in a new NYC luxury hotel- we get to watch Nick and Jenny talk and talk and have sex and talk some more. The writing here reminded me of Sally Rooney and takes a little time to get used to. Once I was used the cadence of Kennedy's writing I was completely immersed and could not stop reading. The exquisite dialog occurs while the world is literally burning down around them. This book is perfect for book club discussions and I cannot wait to talk about it. I loved this book. The only thing I can say is - when does the sequel come out?

I could not stand how this book was written. It was like, a random stream of consciousness, no real cohesiveness and I read about 5 pages before giving up. Others in my book club said it was boring for the first like, 50% but they did become invested in knowing how it ended. A very divisive ending.