I read this book the instant I was sent it - and I've struggled to put my thoughts into words ever since.

With the benefit of time and distance, ultimately where I land is this: If You're Lucky stays with the reader in a way few YA Contemporaries do for me. Part mystery, part coming-of-age, part romance, it manages to establish an atmosphere unlike what its contemporaries were doing at the time of its release - and unlike what they're doing to this very day. The mellow gathering of free spirits to celebrate a life of their friend rather than wallow in his loss is such a poignant image that stays with anyone who has ever struggled with grief and its immediate aftermath. I would know - I first read this book almost seven years ago and I can picture it as clearl as if I finished it yesterday. I've had occasion to reflect on this atmosphere since, and my takeaway remains that in atmosphere this book accomplished what it failed to do in other aspects.

Having said this, the mental health aspect of the story was tackled poorly, in a way that's difficult to parse. It feels like it was done with the right intentions - the author merely wanted to shine a light on the ongoing and very pertinent mental health crisis, especially among the youth. But If You're Lucky suffers from having been penned at a time when the concept of sensitivity readers was in its infancy. As such, the author Yvonne Prinz had no one to tell her how many times she missed the mark - particularly when it comes to schizophrenia, but also when it comes to broader mental health challenges in the wake of complex grief.

I always to my utmost to manage my expectations when it comes to these kinds of topics. But the one expectation that I feel should not be a lofty goal is for an author to do a lot of research and proceed with a lot of care when it comes to mental health, especially in YA literature that's intended for teens..

This book is actually interesting. Trust me. It’s got the mystery and some creeps that I was expecting when I first read the synopsis. The only thing that made me rate this lower is the character development, or the lack thereof.

So I guess the plot was the only thing I liked about the book. The story was really good. It’s gripping and edgy and it actually made me stay up late. It’s mysterious and predictable at the same time.

The other aspects fell short unfortunately. The characters were flat and it has absolutely zero character development. I didn’t even feel like cheering on for any of the characters. The way the author presented the MC’s mental illness was a little problematic. I think minimal research was put into effort for the book. What made me even more sad was the way Georgia’s parents treat her like they couldn’t support her at all.

Like what I said earlier, the plot was the only thing keeping me together as I was reading the book. I only kept on reading because like Georgia, I wanted to know the truth abot Lucky. Honestly, it had a lot of potential but the execution failed.

So this one I remember loving a lot. I have a review of it somewhere but it has been about 6 years since I read it. Will have to reread later.

I unfortunately was not able to read this book. I was excited when ever I had chosen to download or pick this book up on Netgalley. However, time moves by so quickly and I never got to read it.

For some reason this title didn't load to my kindle when I sent the file, which is why I forgot I had it on Netgalley. Since it's archived, I can longer access the ARC and am unable to review. So sorry!

I stopped reading this one about 20% into it. It wasn't holding my interest as much as I'd hoped based on the summary. I'd give the author another try, but this one just wasn't for me.

If You're Lucky has one heck of a story line. It was so easy to get caught up in the main characters' thought process, which made the book that much more spooky in my opinion. In the end though, the way the book is set up just made the plot line predictable. Very entertaining though.

If You’re Lucky by Yvonne Prinz

1.5 stars

If You’re Lucky follows Georgia after her brother, Lucky, drowns in an accident. But it couldn’t have been just bad luck, Lucky was lucky in life. He was smart and a well-versed surfer who knew better than to tackle dangerous waters. Then Fin comes to town and he seems to be taking over Lucky’s life. Did he kill Lucky? When I first got this novel from Netgalley months before it was released I quickly read and planned to write a review before October 2015. It’s now March 2017 and this review is so overdue. I had several problems with this novel. This review may seem a little ranty, but I have a lot to rant about. I originally thought this was going to be a contemporary novel and it is, but it’s also a mystery novel that deals with mental illness. Sounds intriguing, right? NO. No. Nope. Definitely not. This novel completely portrays mental illness in a very problematic way that could potentially harm other young readers who suffer from schizophrenia.


This plot is obvious. The atmosphere is supposed to feel mysterious, but it felt contrived and absolutely underwhelming. I rolled my eyes four times in seven pages because this is just that kind of book. This writing inspires an intense feeling of mockery within me. I can’t stand writers who write mysterious plots that try so hard. Don’t believe me?
"I adore gloomy." He grinned. "Me too."
The author has to tell us that the tone is gloomy and that the characters love gloomy things because life is gloomy and boo-fucking-hoo. Gloomy gloom and doom.



Whimsical Writing Scale: 1.5

The main character is Georgia aka George. I absolutely couldn’t stand her. She was a spoiled brat with an overwhelming sense of entitlement. She felt that everything had to be handed to her or that some great injustice was being done to her. At the beginning of the novel, George is focused on painting her parents out to be parents that ignore her and could care less about her. That’s so far away from the truth. Her parents worry about her constantly and for good reason.


Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 2

Here’s my biggest problem with George, this novel, and the writer: she stops taking her prescribed medication. This is a horrible concept to portray in YA. Young adults are incredibly susceptible to peer persuasion, especially in the form of literature (I have a theory that’s why abusive relationships have escalated because young children read Twilight and 50 Shades and develop unhealthy perceptions of romance). It’s not a far stretch to say that a child who takes medication may read this and decide that they, like George, don’t need their medication because it makes them cloudy, gloomy, and not their true self. That is so damaging to a child psychologically as well as to their physical state. If you’re mind isn’t happy then your body isn’t happy. I felt bad for George and how extreme her delusions became because her level of obsession over Fin shows how important it is to take medications because it isn’t for a person when their mind gets the best of them. My biggest problem lies with how the author portrayed it being okay for George to stop taking her meds because she had something to figure out and something to accomplish. A disease like schizophrenia is so debilitating without medications and proper support and I feel like the author didn’t portray this in a way that I can support. I feel very uncomfortable recommending this book to anyone because I don’t want anyone to possibly be swayed into stop taking their medication. I really feel for George because her disease is such a hard disease to live with and the only thing I wanted for in this whole novel was to get help and start to make progress.


George is also obsessed with Fin. She is so stuck up on him and she gets jealous over him. The only thing that could’ve saved this novel was if Fin was a serial killer and that didn’t happen. Thank God, he wasn’t a love interest because I have no patience for that.


Swoon Worthy Scale: NONE

Prinz does incorporate some essence of a love interest towards the end of the novel, but it is once George is getting help and it isn’t used as a plot device to show that love can conquer a mental illness and fix everything. That’s something I’m happy to see.


All of the characters in this novel are disrespectful to one another. They don’t treat each other like humans, but like doormats that get in their way and have bunched up when they are walking through a door. I treat doormats that bunch up better than these people treat each other. At one point Fin writes an email to the family where he says he misses everyone and leaves his sister out. I’m sorry, but why does everyone like this douchebag? He’s supposed to charismatic, but he steps all over people (just like his sister). I just didn’t get why everyone was kissing the kid’s feet because I would’ve hated him if I knew him.


Character Scale: 1

While it is refreshing to see a novel tackle schizophrenia in a positive way instead of making the schizophrenic a murderer, I’m not pleased with the message Prinz provided when it came to stop taking medication to solve the case. I don’t know if I can recommend this novel because I’m very conflicted about this portrayal, but if you are curious to see if you feel the same way, check it out.


Plotastic Scale: 1 (I did enjoy a plot of the plotting provided, but I can’t give this novel anything higher than a 1 because of how problematic I personally found it to be.)

Cover Thougths: Contemporary cover for a contemporary-ish novel. I don’t really care for it. It’s basic and looks boring to me.

Thank you, Netgalley and Algonquin Young Readers for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When Georgia’s brother drowns, she is convinced that it was not an accident. Her brother Lucky was an amazing surfer, and their is no way in her mind that he could have died in the way described by his friend Fin.

Fin soon ingratiates himself with Georgia’s family and friends, even beginning a romantic relationship with Lucky’s girlfriend. Georgia is convinced he is behind Lucky’s death, but no one will believe her because of her diagnosis of schizophrenia.

Is Georgia right, or is this all just a hallucination.

Really thrilling read!