I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Lucky in Love by Kasie West Published by Point on July 25, 2017
Genres: YA Contemporary, YA Romance
Pages: 333
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Goodreads
In this new contemporary from YA star Kasie West, a girl who wins the lottery learns that money can cause more problems than it solves, especially when love comes into the picture.
Maddie doesn't believe in luck. She's all about hard work and planning ahead. But one night, on a whim, she buys a lottery ticket. And then, to her astonishment --
She wins!
In a flash, Maddie's life is unrecognizable. No more stressing about college scholarships. Suddenly, she's talking about renting a yacht. And being in the spotlight at school is fun... until rumors start flying, and random people ask her for loans. Now, Maddie isn't sure who she can trust.
Except for Seth Nguyen, her funny, charming coworker at the local zoo. Seth doesn't seem aware of Maddie's big news. And, for some reason, she doesn't want to tell him. But what will happen if he learns her secret?
With tons of humor and heart, Kasie West delivers a million-dollar tale of winning, losing, and falling in love.
Catfairy’s Mixtape
When I think of a Kasie West playlist it is filled with songs that are fun, light, and with a youthful spirit! Here is my millennial-inspired poppy Spotify playlist with some lottery inspired songs peppered in there!
Catfairy’s Thoughts
Kasie West has been an author that I have been hearing about many times lately in the book vlogging community and this is my first introduction to the contemporary queen known as Kasie West!
Now I started out with mixed feelings about this novel. At first, I was expecting this novel to be more of a contemporary young adult novel but I felt that the writing of the novel is more appropriate for middle-grade readers. The writing is very simplistic and the characters were written in a very one-dimensional fashion but I have to say the story is a fun read overall.
Catnopsis
Lucky in Love is about a character named Maddie who is your play by the rules senior in high school who adores Reese Pieces candy, study dates with her best friends Blair and Elise, and most of all her family. She lives in a small town in Tustin, California. Maddie is having problems on the home front. Her parents are facing foreclosure of their home and her mom is the only one working in the family while her father is unemployed. Her brother Beau is also struggling financially because he is facing mounting student loan debt.
Maddie is someone who never believed in the lottery and would always tell people that they have a better chance of being struck by lightning than winning the lottery. Until one day on her birthday, she bought a lottery ticket on a whim because of the coaxing of the gas station clerk Maxine (Who is an extremely annoying and judgmental character btw!) and her world was never the same again…
Meet Maddie (Played by Dove Cameron)
“Was learning a hobby?” –Maddie
Maddie is someone that is always doing what other people expect of her and wants to be in control. She is very focused on getting into a university and winning a scholarship until she wins 50 million dollars and she definitely has no scholarship worries at all!
I feel that Maddie is still a lost soul and she is trying to figure out what she wants in her life. She works for the zoo and she has a passion for animals. She wants to be a vet one day which is amazing but throughout the whole story Maddie is mostly described as someone who loves animals and is extremely (Maybe a little bit too much.) studious. That’s it. The character was very one note for me. I wanted more from the character. I felt that there isn’t many dimensions or much character development to her story. She is always underestimating herself and taking the safe route instead of trying to find herself.
Meet Seth (Played by Ross Butler)
“Magic cannot be explained. It can only be experienced.”
Seth is Maddie’s love interest and co-worker at the zoo. He is a really sweet and genuine guy who has a passion for filmmaking. Although I have to say that he has some terrible filmmaking ideas. Anyone interested in seeing a rabbit thriller? I think not!
Seth is an Asian-American and he lives in Tustin, California where the Asian population is few and far between. He hates it when people try to categorize him and assume that he wasn’t born in the United States. I felt that Seth was an interesting character and that Kasie West should have developed him a bit more. I wanted Seth to have more depth to him but it just wasn’t there.
The chemistry between Seth and Maddie is awkward throughout most of the story, that is until they go on the first date. I felt that the dialogue between Seth and Maddie felt very stilted. It felt like they were reading from a script.
Although Seth gets some huge brownie points for creating the best date ever! I don’t want to give it all away but it involves a carousel ride and an E.T. movie! (And please tell me why Maddie has never seen the movie E.T. Freaking millennials!) Honestly, the date melted my heart and gave me a toothache from eating too many of Maddie’s Reese’s Pieces candy!
Catfairy’s Final Thoughts
Even though, Maddie is described as being a smart girl with a 4.2 something GPA she is definitely lacking in the street smart department. After her lottery win, she was taken advantage of so many times throughout the book that I wanted to shake her silly! For example, what the heck possessed her to give $1,000 to a high school band to play in her yacht party?! And why would she throw away her money on a yacht?! Where are her parents?!?!
Her parents kept telling her to schedule an appointment with a financial advisor and that just dragged on toooo long! I felt that she was just giving away her money to the whole world and it frankly drove me insane!
The way that Maddie was throwing away her money on absolute crap was like a Preston Waters from Blank Check only he was an 11-year old child!
In the story, Maddie is stuck between her choice of two universities. She doesn’t know whether she wants to go to UCLA which is closer to her family or Stanford which is farther away from her family. She is always worried about her family’s financial issues and wants to be with them during their times of crises.
“She tilted her head in a “poor naïve” girl” expression.” –Blair (The only person that calls her out on being naïve and stupid when it comes to giving away her money.)
One of Maddie’s best friends Blair (Who is really the main voice of reason in this book.) tells Maddie that she is being stupid and that she needs to focus on her goals and that she has no control over her family. Not only did Maddie get taken advantage by her friends after winning the lottery, her family took major advantage too! Her family was more excited about her winning the lottery and how it would benefit them instead of herself! Her brother was also a piece of work. I just couldn’t stand that while Maddie was worried about leaving her family to go to college, her family didn’t seem to care too much about her welfare! It’s her money damn it!
One of the things I loved about the story is how they don’t only focus on Maddie winning the lottery. They focus on how it affects the entire family. Throughout the story, her parents face a lot of marital issues and I felt that the dialogue and the way that the parents would interact with one another was very raw and realistic. You can feel the tension and how uncomfortable it was for Maddie and her brother Beau.
Even though there were some really frustrating aspects about this story and the characters were underdeveloped I was entertained by the concept of the story. This story teaches you to let go and learn to live your life for yourself and not for others. When I finished reading Lucky in Love I wanted to initially give the book 2 stars but then I decided on 3 stars because I thoroughly enjoyed the story as a whole and thought it was a cute contemporary novel! This will not be my last Kasie West novel!
3 Meowsweet Stars!
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Now if you won 50 million dollars what would you do with it? Comment below!