Tuesday, June 14, 2022

Book Review: Lucky

It feels like I'm just falling off the blogging wagon, am I right?? I'm really struggling with depression right now and though I have medication for it, I feel like I'm on one end of the spectrum today, but tomorrow I will be flung clear across to the other side. If we could find me some consistency in the middle, that would be greeeeeaaaaat. 

Lucky - Rachel Edwards 

Someone is watching Etta. Footsteps in the night, the security light coming on at strange hours … is it all just her curtain-twitching neighbours, who seem to monitor her every move? Or is her little online problem making her paranoid?

Because Etta needs to win big. She joined a gambling website to get a bit of cash, hoping to convince her boyfriend Ola that they can afford to get married. And she was so good at it … until she wasn’t. Luckily, she’s made a friend who hit the jackpot and if she plays her cards right, he could lend her the money to win everything back. Easy. So why does she feel so afraid? 
This was an absolute shit show Etta has managed to get herself into. It felt like that show Bridezilla, but before they get engaged, and she's just super desperate to get married, so she's like, I need a plan! Responsible partner Ola is like, "slow down girl, we need money for a house so we can be financially responsible" and she's like, "ugh, FINE".  (Don't get me started on Ola because Ola is a loser she needs to kick to the curb as it is, and I'm over here thinking there isn't a dang thing in this world that would convince me he's a good mate for anyone. I understand wanting to settle and do the wedding and baby thing, clocking ticking, blah blah blah, but a loser? Really? Is this what we're coming to?! I digress.) What does a normal person do? Get a job and save? 

If you're a loser! 

Etta isn't a loser (though I started to really doubt my opinion there for a bit), she's smart and smart people do what they do, turn to onling gambling because that NEVER fails, am I right?? Except, as it turns out, it goes bad fairly quickly. Once she gets WAY in over her head, and she spirals into gambling addiction. Honestly, I don't think I've ever read a book that focused on gambling addiction, so this was pretty wild. I could feel the panic Etta feels onces she realizes how royally screwed she is, and she starts making even worse decisions that she thinks will get her out of the hole she's dug, except that goes to hell as well, because now she's in debt but with some really awful people after her. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this one, and even though I was getting so annoyed and literally yelling at my book because Etta is an absolute moron who makes ridiculously terrible decisions, it is an absolute ride. Twists come at you out of nowhere, and through it all, the author makes you as a reader feel the panic and fear, just as Etta does. It puts a glaring spotlight that no matter what situation you get yourself in, there is no such way as the easy way out, there are no shortcuts, the only way out is hard work and making sacrifices, but also putting your wants aside until the end goal is reached. (Also, don't gamble, y'all. I know people have a good time, which seems like insanity to me, but you're flushing money down the toilet. If you really hate having money, let me just give you my email and you can just send it to me because I currently have a whole stack of bills here...)

Even though she got on my nerves with her terrible choices, this book was a wild ride and I enjoyed it. I loved all of the emotions the author got me feeling, I loved watching this trainwreck run completely off the rails, and it was a book I binged in a day. Loved this one. A huge thank you to Harper360 for sending me this for review, I can't wait to see what Rachel Edwards does next!

(Side note, I read Rachel's first book, Darling, and one of my comments was that there was room for growth in the writing.... I'm not saying I influenced that, but she nailed it! She definitely grew and I am so impressed, she is definitely an author to watch and quickly becoming an instant buy for me.)
This post contains affiliate links. Help a girl out, because I am not a good gambler. 

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