I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the Lucky Girl by Jamie Pacton Blog Tour hosted by TBR & Beyond Tours.
Check out my review and the 5 Reasons why you need to read Lucky Girl!
About the Book
Lucky Girl
by Jamie Pacton
Published: May 11, 2021
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Content Warning: deals with parental mental health (hoarding, depression caused by grief) and loss of a parent.
A hilarious and poignant reflection on what money can and cannot fix
58,643,129. That’s how many dollars seventeen-year-old Fortuna Jane Belleweather just won in the lotto jackpot. It’s also about how many reasons she has for not coming forward to claim her prize.
Problem #1: Jane is still a minor, and if anyone discovers she bought the ticket underage, she’ll either have to forfeit the ticket, or worse…
Problem #2: Let her hoarder mother cash it. The last thing Jane’s mom needs is millions of dollars to buy more junk. Then…
Problem #3: Jane’s best friend, aspiring journalist Brandon Kim, declares on the news that he’s going to find the lucky winner. It’s one thing to keep her secret from the town, it’s another thing entirely to lie to her best friend. Especially when…
Problem #4: Jane’s ex-boyfriend, Holden, is suddenly back in her life, and he has big ideas about what he’d do with the prize money.
As suspicion and jealousy turn neighbor against neighbor, and no good options for cashing the ticket come forward, Jane begins to wonder: Could this much money actually be a bad thing?
Find it Here:
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Review
This is an adorable YA Contemporary about a small town girl, not quite 18, who manages to buy the winning lotto ticket.
Jane just won $58 million dollars but there’s one problem, she’s not 18 and can’t legally cash it in or she could face actual criminal charges. When the news announces the name of Jane’s small town in Wisconsin as being the place where the winning ticket is purchased she starts to panic. Who is she going to get to cash all this money in and guarantee they won’t take her for all it’s worth? I thought the author did a great job in portraying the anxiety Jane feels every time someone brings up the lotto ticket and when the whole town goes on the hunt you can feel the world around Jane getting smaller and smaller.
Will she choose her best friend Bran, her mentally unstable mother, or the ex-boyfriend she thought she was in love with but left her high and dry with little explanation. I really liked the snippets of stories around other lotto winners and what happened to them throughout the book. Many of the stories included are a bit tragic from the winner taking their own life, being murdered for their money, or blowing it all and ending up broke. If all this research into past winners hasn’t given Jane enough anxiety her best friend Bran has decided to take his reporting skills to the next level to try to find the winner. Little does he know he’s connected to the winner more than he realizes.
This book was really cute. I thought the emotions were well done when it came to Jane. I thought the portrayal of her mother’s mental illness felt authentic to her grief. I have someone close to me who lost their father and his mother was never really the same. She even became a hoarder and still struggles with it to this day. This book doesn’t just portray someone with anxiety but also different ways people cope with grief. I enjoyed it overall and would recommend it to anyone looking for a fast-paced YA Contemporary that deals with grief and anxiety but in a way that feels light in tone.
Top 5 Reasons to Read Lucky Girl
About the Author
Jamie Pacton is a Young Adult and Middle Grade author who grew up minutes away from the National Storytelling Center in the mountains of East Tennessee. She has a BA and MA in English Literature, and currently teaches English at the college level. While pursuing her dream of being an author, she worked as a waitress, pen salesperson, lab assistant, art museum guard, bookseller, pool attendant, nanny, and lots of other weird jobs in between. Her writing has appeared in national and local magazines, and she spent many years blogging for Parents.com. Currently, Jamie lives in Wisconsin with her family and a dog named Lego. The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly is her YA debut novel and her sophomore novel, Lucky Girl, is forthcoming in Spring 2021. She has also published a MG novel, Farfetched, under the pen name Finn Colazo.
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Tour Schedule – Bloggers
May 10th
HerBookishObsession – Interview
Rania’s Rambling Reads – Review & Mood Board
Rae’s Reading Lounge – Review & Favourite Quotes
Featherboundbooks – Review
May 11th
Fangirl Pixie Blog – Review
The Mind of a Book Dragon – Review & Journal Spread
Jill’s Book Blog – Review
May 12th
Nine Bookish Lives – Review
Kait Plus Books – Review & Journal Spread
Melancholic Blithe – Review & Playlist
May 13th
Stuck in Fiction – Interview
BookishEnds – Review & Mood Board
Julie Anna’s Books – Review & Journal Spread
May 14th
The Writer’s Alley – Review, Playlist & Mood Board
Pages & Plots – Promo Post
The Clever Reader – Review & Top 5 Reasons to Read Lucky Girl
May 15th
The Book Dutchesses – Review
Confessions of a YA Reader – Review & Favourite Quotes
iambibliomane – Review
May 16th
Shelf Love – Interview
Storme Reads A Lot – Review & Own Experience Post
Midsummer Night’s Read – Review
Tour Schedule – Bookstagram
May 10th
jypsynlynn – Review
books_and_dice – Review & Favourite Quotes
herbookish_obsession – Bloggers Choice
featherboundbooks – Bloggers Choice
May 11th
fangirlpixiebooks – Bloggers Choice
mindofabookdragon – Bloggers Choice
jilljemmett – Bloggers Choice
May 12th
ninebookishlives – Bloggers Choice
kaitplusbooks – Bloggers Choice
blithesquesttoread – Bloggers Choice
May 13th
colbywilkens – Review
feliciareads11 – Bloggers Choice
bookishends – Bloggers Choice
julieannasbooks – Bloggers Choice
May 14th
CaitlynIsBooked – Review
jrundy85 – Bloggers Choice
thecleverreader – Bloggers Choice
May 15th
thebookdutchesses – Bloggers Choice
confessionsofayareader – Bloggers Choice
iambibliomane – Bloggers Choice
May 16th
tbrandbeyond – Promo Post
rampant_reading – Review & Costume Design Art
shelflove123 – Bloggers Choice
midsummernightsread – Bloggers Choice
The Clever Reader 