After a nasty breakup, Eliza joins the Juneberry Lake Relocation program, leaving her family in San Francisco and moving to the midwest. Once there, she jumps headfirst into the quirky neighborhood she's only dreamed about.

This was a cute one. I really loved the town and the neighborhood. They were what stood out to me the most. They were so kind and welcoming. I wanted to move to this town after one chapter there! I liked all of the characters, including the MCs. I was rooting for Eliza to really find a place. It was nice that she had a romance but I found myself more looking for her to find her way in life without a man. There is also a little mystery in this one. Eliza digs into the woman who used to live in her house. While I loved all of this, I did want to see more of a connection between Eliza and Joel. There is also a backstory that can be very emotional for some so check TW.

All in all, a cute fish out of water romance.
Thank you to the author and publisher for the gifted copy!

This book is so cute and moving. It makes me want to apply to a program like Junelake and move. Jaclyn did an amazing job with this book. I will read another book from her.

After Eliza’s engagement falls apart and life doesn’t go as planned, she decides to move to the small town of Juneberry Lake, Minnesota sight unseen for a fresh start. Juneberry Lake is just as charming as it looked in the pictures, but Eliza soon discovers that her friendly Midwestern neighbors are keeping a secret. One that helps her realize her past wasn’t her fault and allows her to truly embrace a new beginning.

This charming novel blends themes of new beginnings, found family, and small town secrets with a touch of romance.
Set in a picturesque Midwest lakeside town, the story captures the cozy feel of summer days, friendly (and not-so-friendly) neighbors, and the quiet magic of starting over.
With heartfelt exploration of infertility and Hallmark style vibes with a twist, this was a warm, engaging read perfect for late summer or early fall. I really enjoyed it!

Thank you NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for this ARC!

5 stars — Thank you NetGalley & HarperCollins for the ARC!

I absolutely devoured Lucky Break! From the very first chapter, I was hooked—not just by the chemistry and banter (which were top tier), but by the unexpected hint of mystery woven into the story. It added an extra layer of intrigue that kept me flipping pages late into the night.

Jaclyn Westlake nails that perfect blend of heart, humor, and emotional depth. The romance was swoony without being over the top, and the characters felt so real—flawed, funny, and lovable. I especially appreciated how the plot gave space for growth, connection, and a few surprises along the way.

This was more than just a feel-good romance—it had substance, a few twists, and just enough tension to make the payoff that much sweeter. I loved every second and already know I’ll be recommending this one nonstop.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the early copy!

'Lucky Break' had some great moments, but it didn't quite live up to its full potential for me. The story had some interesting twists and turns, and the characters were likable enough. The romance was sweet, and I appreciated the author's attempt to blend genres. However, the pacing felt a bit off, with some parts dragging on while others felt rushed. Some plot points also felt a bit predictable. Overall, it was an enjoyable read, but not without its flaws.

I loved this book so much. The plot was unique in the best of ways and I loved the sleuthing and meddling mom. So many twists and turns on this emotional roller coaster of growth and love.

Eliza and Marco have recently broken their engagement. Now, he wants her to move out of the apartment as it is technically his. She has lived in San Francisco for a long time and her family’s bakery has been there for many generations. Deciding where to move next while faced with astronomical apartment prices, she sees an ad for people willing to relocate to Juneberry Lake, MI with a promise of $10,000 toward the purchase of a lakeside home. The town is trying to get more people to move there. Eliza applies and is pleased to find she has been accepted.

She buys a nice lakeside home that is fully furnished and heads out. The town is small but nice and she meets some of her neighbors and others in town. She’s working remotely and hoping to make more friends. While it’s currently summertime, she learns that the winters can be quite cold and some businesses close for the winter. The woman who lived in the house before her abruptly left and Eliza wants to find out why.

As Eliza gets to know her neighbors better and becomes involved with their lives, they all become good friends but Eliza always feels like they may be holding back some secrets. She still doesn’t understand why the previous owner left abruptly.

We delve into the breakup Eliza faced and the heartache that came with it. However, her new friends all rally around her and a new person she meets becomes more than just a friend. This is a warm read with a bit of a mystery involved. I loved the closeness of these friends and how the author shows the readers that change can be a very good thing. Enjoy!

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

First of all, if this cover doesn't scream summer to you, I don't know what does!
This is a cozy small town book with a little romance and a little mystery.
The mystery is low stakes so don't go into it thinking it will be a Catherine Cowles level mystery/suspense.
Agree with some of the other reviewers that if the mystery plot was going to be low stakes, the romance should have been a large plot point.

I did enjoy reading it, but don't know if I find myself going back and thinking about the book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon for the ARC!

This was a moving friends to lovers slow burn, small town romance that has a recently dumped woman moving from San Francisco to Minnesota after her fiance couldn't come to terms with her infertility. I really liked this one a lot. The whole cast of side characters were equally quirky, welcoming and hiding a surprising secret. The book also has excellent disability and mental health rep as the FMC has to come to terms with her inability to have children and has an autistic brother. There's also a sweet romance with a cinnamon roll MMC. It was good on audio and perfect for fans of authors like Jenny Holiday or Abby Jimenez. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio and digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

(4.5 stars)

Thank you to Avon Books for the free ARC. All opinions are my own.

Lucky Break is the perfect summer read if you are looking for something wholesome, charming, and feel-good but not too fluffy. There’s a dash of romance, but it’s not a full out romance novel. There’s an intriguing mystery, but it’s not sinister. And perhaps most importantly, there is Potato the three-legged dog, who is particular about what she likes to watch on TV and has strong feelings about corn.

Let’s backup to the setup: Eliza Colletti lives in San Francisco not far from her parents and brother, who run the family’s Italian bakery. An eldest daughter, recovering perfectionist (hi it’s me), and planner through and through, Eliza is checking off items on her life plan one by one, until things suddenly take a turn that she definitely didn’t plan for. As she tries to figure out her next move, Eliza spots an ad offering an incentive to move to the small Minnesota town of Juneberry Lake. Figuring she has nothing to lose, she takes a chance and makes a big change.

Let’s talk about Juneberry Lake a little more. I loved spending time with Eliza there, taking in the lake itself and everything else the town had to offer. Who wouldn’t want to check out the Black Bear Brew Cafe or watch a Vikings game at the Common Loon sports bar? I also had fun getting to know characters including Eliza’s new neighbors, cafe owner Trish, and Eliza’s handsome new friend Joel. The book struck the perfect balance between allowing the reader to spend time with the characters in the town but also providing enough intrigue to keep things interesting.

This book also has plenty of representation, which was great to see: a beloved character with autism, a spunky little girl who uses a wheelchair, and more. Top that off with the perfect millennial pop culture references and this was a lovely read! Well done, Jaclyn, and happy pub day!

I almost DNF'd a few times and ultimately, I wish I did.

I am not sure if Eliza is "likable," but she is surely relatable. :)

There were some sweet moments, but I just didn't find anything "swoon worthy" and honestly the MMC felt like a best friend. I didn't really get the romance.

There was also a whole mystery element that was very anticlimactic. I did find myself antsy to figure it out, but it just fell flat for me.

If you look for representation in your reads, you'll like this one. It felt like the author had a checklist and I don't think she missed much.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the eARC!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc

Just like her debut, this was another cute read from Jaclyn Westlake. I can't say which book I liked better -- it's probably about the same. This book is an enjoyable read about a young woman who relocates to a small town from San Francisco. It is a journey about finding oneself and about finding love along the way. Overall, this is a light-hearted read, perfect for your summer beach/book bag. If you enjoy audiobooks, the audiobook is set to be narrated by Amanda Ronconi.

2⭐️ Thank you to NetGalley and Avon And Harper Voyager for an advanced copy of Lucky Break.

Eliza has had her while life planned out forever and everything is going as planned until her fiancé dumps her and she has no where to live. She packs up and moves to the Midwest. The small town idyllic life may not be as it seems since her new neighbors are keeping a shocking secret.

I could not tell if this book wanted to be a romance or a mystery. It just felt like it was going back between both genres. I also feel like I have read this same kind of plot a lot before.

This book was an easy five star read for me. This is the first book I've read from Jaclyn Westlake but it will not be my last. The concept of the book is well executed and flows very easily. I was expecting a cute cozy rom com but the added mystery element makes it so much more.

Lucky Break tells the story of Eliza (the FMC) who has had some bad luck in her life and finds herself lost. She decides to move to a small town where she knows no one and start over. I loved how the story handled the ups and downs of life and the reality of what a relationship looks like when it ends over something that fundamentally cannot be fixed. (Trigger warning for issues of infertility). This is not a topic that I have seen a lot in novels but it was handled extremely well. The cast of characters in the small lake town brought along a great story. I would read a book just based on life in that little neighborhood!

The plot twist and mystery were a fun added bonus. I would have enjoyed it even more if it had a little bit more teeth to it, just because I wanted it to be more central to the plot and there was so much to do with a small town like that. Same with the love story. I loved the chemistry between Eliza and Joel and wanted more scenes between them.

This is the perfect summer read!

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager | Avon for the ARC for this book!

I was expecting a romance book but this was actually a cozy mystery (maybe even more women's fiction?) with a little romance sprinkled in.

Read if you like: found family, Mystery with romance subplot, disability rep! and quirky characters

For me, overall, I liked this book, I just didn't love it. 3.5 stars. *I received a complimentary e-ARC from the author/publishing company via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts & opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed reading the ARC of this one - it comes out Tuesday, July 15.
Eliza lives life according to her carefully laid out plan. But when her fiance dumps her, she starts second guessing everything. Shocking everyone, she decides to move to a small town called Juneberry Lake to completely start over. When she gets to this picture-perfect town, she meets Joel, and the two quickly strike up a friendship. She also realizes that her new neighbors are all keeping a very big secret.

There was much to like about this one: the setting, a winsome main character, the small town vibes. Westlake’s writing style is great!

I liked this one but didn’t love it.

There was just too much going on. I found it unnecessary and frustrating that there were secrets being kept and Eliza would just…not push. She’d get close and then, for no apparent reason, stop asking questions. I was never sure if I should focus on the burgeoning love story, the lottery mystery, the missing woman, the angry neighbor, the box in the basement, the ex fiancé…

And in the end, I didn’t care about much.

I know there will be plenty who enjoy this one. It just wasn’t for me.

Lucky Break was a pleasant surprise much needed from others I had been reading. This was a first by Jaclyn Westlake for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I will admit I had forgotten what this book was about since it had been a few weeks since receiving the ARC. Going in blind was the best choice, and I believe helped me enjoy the FMC more than I thought I would. Liza is everything I am not; she is a Type-A planner, that lives by lists and goals dictating her current and future life. What we did have in common was the strong Italian, Catholic background, and issues with IVF/infertility. While I didn't mesh with her in the beginning, knowing what she went through when tying to have children, and her need for friends, who are like family, made me enjoyed her character more with each page.
I thoroughly respect Ms. Westlake for her approach to infertility/IVF and a women making her choice based on what her body can/can't do, her emotional trial through the process, and the realistic hard conversations had with partners.
The friendships and mystery behind Lucky Break were fun, cozy, and a breath of fresh air. I am going to research whether or not somewhere like June Berry, MN exists because it sounds like somewhere everyone should visit once in their lives.
Thank you Avon (Harper Voyager) and NetGalley for this cozy little summer ARC in exchange for for my honest review.

Lucky Break
by Jaclyn Westlake
Avon (Harper Voyager)
7/15/2025

After a series of bad luck, Eliza makes a wild decision. She decides to buy a lake house on Juneberry Lake and move away from everything and everyone she knows. She begins to settle into her new life but soon finds her neighbors may be hiding a secret. This book was such a lovely surprise. It does have some romance but the main story is Eliza and her fresh start. The romance was nice, it was a slow burn with plenty of chemistry between Eliza and Joel. I enjoyed the bit of mystery too. This was my first Jaclyn Westlake book but I look forward to reading more in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Eliza is a planner, but then her life plans go awry when she and her fiancé break up and he kicks her out of their apartment. Eliza realizes she needs a big change so when she’s offered the chance to move to a cute town in the Midwest, she jumps at it. Now this San Francisco native is in a small town in her own house, but there is mystery as to why the last home owner quickly left (except for her clothes, she left everything else in the house), and Eliza’s neighbors don’t appear to be as warm and inviting as she hoped (there is a weekly BBQ and a monthly book club that she has yet to be invited to), it’s almost as if they are hiding something. Joel, one of her only friends, agrees to help her try to solve the neighborhood mystery (and it’s nice to spend more time with him anyway).

I started this one at night after finishing another book, and by the next afternoon I had finished it because it was just adorable and I wanted to figure out the neighborhood mystery. The audio for this was perfect (loved the narrator) and I happily listened to it while doing some annoying chores around the house. I read about 3/4s of it and listened to the rest since I had the time (and a pedicure), and really you can’t go wrong with either. The neighbors are fun characters, Eliza’s brother was sweet, there’s a dog (always love a dog), and it was simply an enjoyable light read on a summer day (which was exactly what I was looking for). I never got to the author’s book Dear Dotty, I’ll put it on my TBR now.

Thank you to Avon Books and NetGalley for the ARC to review