Happy pub day for Holly Smale! This adorable book is officially out into the world, and it is really a fun juvenile fiction. Honestly, these books are so much better than most of what was offered when I was a kid, I feel kind of cheated.
Happy Girl Lucky - Holly Smale
Sisters Hope, Faith and Mercy have everything: fame, success, money and beauty. But what Hope wants most of all is love, and it doesn’t matter how far she has to go to find it.
Except real-life isn't like the movies. Even if you're a Valentine .
If you have a child in the 11+ age range looking for a new series to get into, I strongly suggest this one! Happy Girl Lucky is the first one, but I can only assume the others will be just as fun. I remember a lot of books from back in my day, ahem, were mostly fluff aside from The Babysitters Club, which I never could get into. I am loving that the books aimed at this middle-grade/young adult age group are coming with some grit to them because this is the tik-tok generation, let's keep them engaged.
Stepping off my soapbox now, mmkay?
Hope is our main character, she's part of a Hollywood famous family, The Valentine's. Her family has raised her largely in the shadows of fame, but she has been waiting for her 16th birthday, because that's when she can be introduced to the world. Hope thinks this is going to be amazing and glamorous, that all of these doors are going to open for her and of course, it doesn't quite turn out that way.
I love Hope so much because you're reading this and you want to be her friend. You want her to be your daughter's friend. She reminds me of me, doing the quizzes out magazines, finding my love match based on my horoscope, etc. She holds fake auditions for a potential boyfriend and it reminded me so much of high school and giving boys code names so nobody knew who we were talking about. Through memory loss and brain injury I still remember my friend's was Turtle and mine was Ernie, and I still remember exactly who they were. HA! One of my favorite things about this book, which is becoming a real life reality to me as a mom of a teenager on the cusp of driving, is that eventually teenagers drift from their parents' lives and it becomes their life. They have to make decisions and as a mom who knows it all, I could see Hope veering off and all of the potential consequences, but Hope couldn't... because she's only a teenager. It was a bit of a splash of cold water for me realizing Hope is kind of like my daughter, and I know what is coming down the road and as a parent you want to steer them away from all of it, but you know we all have to hit those bumps so we grow as people.
As a parent, this was actually a fun and quick read that reminds you what it was like to be a teenager, and maybe put things into perspective as your children grow. As child, easily a relatable read that is both fun and entertaining, but keeps you engaged, especially if you are reading a book for a dreaded school assignment. I promise you'll enjoy this and get through it quickly.
A big thank you to Harper Collins for sending me an ARC for review, I hope that you get a chance to pick this one up for your child. I'm all about books in Easter baskets, just saying.
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