ws24's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 I didn't like the main character and thought that some of the things that she did were so weird and wrong but otherwise, this was entertaining, had great writing and plot development, a good romance and a nice calm read.
fatimareadsbooks's review against another edition
4.0
Wow. Kasie West does it again! I love her books sooo much- they're always so perfect and exactly what I need. <3
thecorioliseffect's review against another edition
3.0
Not my favorite Kasie West book, but it was still cute and mindless, like I expect.
I adored Seth. First, his name is Seth Nguyen. Yes! We have an Asian male love interest in a YA novel. Incredible! But he was honestly just super sweet and pure and lovely and tbh this is the kind of love interest we should be praising in YA books. Just an unproblematic sweetie.
Whenever I read these teen books though, I always wonder. Is this real? Do schools really do this? Are there really teachers at schools who will say to kids, "Oh, another group doctor appointment?" -wink wink nudge nudge- to cool kids at school breaking the rules and going off campus for lunch? Do teachers really let students grade their peers' tests and quizzes? I can see maybe a senior helping a teacher grade 8th grade quizzes. But in what universe is it appropriate for a student to grade her classmate's work, therefore seeing their answers and grade?
But anyway, the story plays out basically as you'd expect. Poor but hardworking and responsible girl wins the lottery. She's too sweet and naive to put her foot down and not be a moron, so she blows a ton of money on stupid things like yacht parties her classmates bully her into having. She goes to the dealership to buy a Jeep and ends up buying a sports car because she could get a "deal" from a classmate's father, but he ends up upcharging her. And this idiot just buys it right then and there without talking to her parents. So yeah, definitely a lot of expected stupidity.
I adored Seth. First, his name is Seth Nguyen. Yes! We have an Asian male love interest in a YA novel. Incredible! But he was honestly just super sweet and pure and lovely and tbh this is the kind of love interest we should be praising in YA books. Just an unproblematic sweetie.
Whenever I read these teen books though, I always wonder. Is this real? Do schools really do this? Are there really teachers at schools who will say to kids, "Oh, another group doctor appointment?" -wink wink nudge nudge- to cool kids at school breaking the rules and going off campus for lunch? Do teachers really let students grade their peers' tests and quizzes? I can see maybe a senior helping a teacher grade 8th grade quizzes. But in what universe is it appropriate for a student to grade her classmate's work, therefore seeing their answers and grade?
But anyway, the story plays out basically as you'd expect. Poor but hardworking and responsible girl wins the lottery. She's too sweet and naive to put her foot down and not be a moron, so she blows a ton of money on stupid things like yacht parties her classmates bully her into having. She goes to the dealership to buy a Jeep and ends up buying a sports car because she could get a "deal" from a classmate's father, but he ends up upcharging her. And this idiot just buys it right then and there without talking to her parents. So yeah, definitely a lot of expected stupidity.
kaeliesreads's review against another edition
5.0
Has some slow parts to the story. It has Some slow parts to the book It's so good Then gets really slow But after that it's Speeds back up.
iphi_kc13's review against another edition
3.0
I can depend on this author to give me a quick and easy read. This doesn't disappoint but I hate having questions after: what happens at Stanford? Why didn't they see the same article and balk at her admittance? How did the author of the article know about the valet? Why didn't her "BFF" who did speak with the reporter not apologize? Will her parents stay together after counseling? Will her brother figure out his drama? Why blame the car salesman when YOU didn't research something as simple as an MSRP on a vehicle purchase? /sigh.
bookishcarli's review against another edition
I dont really feel comfortable rating it bc I feel like I’m not the target audience anymore. I felt like it was much more middle grade than YA to me and I just don’t love middle grade romance so it felt kinda flat and boring to me. I didn’t like the main character and her friends bothered me so much as well
nika_nix's review against another edition
3.0
the positive
Diversity. Seth, the boy love interest, is Asian (more specifically Vietnamese) and I was so happy Kasie West finally added a bit of diversity into her work. It wasn’t much but it was something. Also, Seth talks about how people treat him because he’s Asian and how he feels about that so that was a huge plus to this book. Although I feel like it could’ve been explored a little bit more.
Cute romance. I like the way the relationship between Maddie and Seth progressed through the book. I feel like the romance accidentaly turned out to be a side plot in this book which was not something I expected but it turned out to work perfectly with the story. I think they worked great together and I loved reading about their interactions and all the cute stuff. I read Kasie West for her cute romances and I got a cute romance so I’m happy.
The message. Money can’t buy you happiness and is very likely to make you miserable. That’s what Kasie West was trying to tell us with this book. Also, what I think is even more important: teenagers should not have a lot of money! Very important message.
The zoo. Big part of this book takes place in a zoo because that’s where Maddie works and that’s where she hangs out with Seth. I thoroughly enjoyed reading these parts because the zoo was pretty amazing and I loved seeing what happens in the zoo “behind scenes”.
the negative
Audiobook narrator. I don’t know who narrated Lucky in Love and I’m to lazy to go find out but she was the worst narrator I’ve ever listened to. When she was telling the story, you know, descriptions and all that, it was good (average). However, every single voice she tried to make was an epic failure. I hated Maddie’s voice (when she talked to other charcters), I especially hated the way she did Seth’s voice and I found Blair’s voice unbearable. The rest of the characters’ voices weren’t great either but at least those I could stand. Oh, and another thing that bothered me: in the book we have a few very minor characters like the pizza delivery guy and a shopping assistant and for some reason the narrator decided that they are supposed to have foreign accents although nowhere in the text is indicated that they should (I checked). It was unnecessary and in my opinion, kind of rude. Assuming that they’re foriegn just because they’re doing jobs they do is offensive and not okay.
Maddie. She’s supposed to be the second smartest girl in her school and oh my God, she was so fucking stupid! Every single decision she made throughout the book made me want to yell at her. I was rolling my eyes so many times while reading because she would do something incredibly stupid and naive and a couple chapters later she would be genuinely shocked with the outcome. Use your brains from time to time, girl! You apparently have it, right? She’s the beautiful example for why teenagers should not be given large amounts of money – they will spend it on stupid shit! Now, let me get this straight, if Maddie was rational with her money, this book would have no plot so I don’t really have the problem with that. My problem was that she was portrayed as this super smart girl who always plans everything and has to control everything. They why the hell didn’t she plan how to spend her money?!
overall
Unfortunately, this was my least favorite Kasie West’s book I’ve read so far. I want to love it but I can’t. I’m still glad I’ve read it and appreciate it because it’s definitely a welcome change in Kasie’s work (with important topics and diversity) but I don’t think it was executed well enough. I’m still looking forward to her books and I hope she gets better because her last two releases (this one and By You Side) were quite disappointing.
I would still recommend Lucky in Love if you’re a Kasie West fan because this could be just me and my problem with it – you might love it. But please, don’t listen to the audiobook, it will most likely ruin the story for you.
Diversity. Seth, the boy love interest, is Asian (more specifically Vietnamese) and I was so happy Kasie West finally added a bit of diversity into her work. It wasn’t much but it was something. Also, Seth talks about how people treat him because he’s Asian and how he feels about that so that was a huge plus to this book. Although I feel like it could’ve been explored a little bit more.
Cute romance. I like the way the relationship between Maddie and Seth progressed through the book. I feel like the romance accidentaly turned out to be a side plot in this book which was not something I expected but it turned out to work perfectly with the story. I think they worked great together and I loved reading about their interactions and all the cute stuff. I read Kasie West for her cute romances and I got a cute romance so I’m happy.
The message. Money can’t buy you happiness and is very likely to make you miserable. That’s what Kasie West was trying to tell us with this book. Also, what I think is even more important: teenagers should not have a lot of money! Very important message.
The zoo. Big part of this book takes place in a zoo because that’s where Maddie works and that’s where she hangs out with Seth. I thoroughly enjoyed reading these parts because the zoo was pretty amazing and I loved seeing what happens in the zoo “behind scenes”.
the negative
Audiobook narrator. I don’t know who narrated Lucky in Love and I’m to lazy to go find out but she was the worst narrator I’ve ever listened to. When she was telling the story, you know, descriptions and all that, it was good (average). However, every single voice she tried to make was an epic failure. I hated Maddie’s voice (when she talked to other charcters), I especially hated the way she did Seth’s voice and I found Blair’s voice unbearable. The rest of the characters’ voices weren’t great either but at least those I could stand. Oh, and another thing that bothered me: in the book we have a few very minor characters like the pizza delivery guy and a shopping assistant and for some reason the narrator decided that they are supposed to have foreign accents although nowhere in the text is indicated that they should (I checked). It was unnecessary and in my opinion, kind of rude. Assuming that they’re foriegn just because they’re doing jobs they do is offensive and not okay.
Maddie. She’s supposed to be the second smartest girl in her school and oh my God, she was so fucking stupid! Every single decision she made throughout the book made me want to yell at her. I was rolling my eyes so many times while reading because she would do something incredibly stupid and naive and a couple chapters later she would be genuinely shocked with the outcome. Use your brains from time to time, girl! You apparently have it, right? She’s the beautiful example for why teenagers should not be given large amounts of money – they will spend it on stupid shit! Now, let me get this straight, if Maddie was rational with her money, this book would have no plot so I don’t really have the problem with that. My problem was that she was portrayed as this super smart girl who always plans everything and has to control everything. They why the hell didn’t she plan how to spend her money?!
overall
Unfortunately, this was my least favorite Kasie West’s book I’ve read so far. I want to love it but I can’t. I’m still glad I’ve read it and appreciate it because it’s definitely a welcome change in Kasie’s work (with important topics and diversity) but I don’t think it was executed well enough. I’m still looking forward to her books and I hope she gets better because her last two releases (this one and By You Side) were quite disappointing.
I would still recommend Lucky in Love if you’re a Kasie West fan because this could be just me and my problem with it – you might love it. But please, don’t listen to the audiobook, it will most likely ruin the story for you.
colloquialism's review against another edition
4.0
Exactly what you'd expect from a Kasie West book a lighthearted teen romance I couldn't put down