Lucky Me (Lucky Us)

This book felt very teenage (and I'm not a teenager); it was an enjoyable light read while on vacation. A bit of romance, a bit of mystery, lots of fashion.

Amazing read!

In LUCKY ME, rich girl Gia is threatened by an anonymous caller, which causes her father to hire a shockingly attractive bodyguard to follow her around. What intrigued me: I was hoping for a light Kinsella-esque read. Great first person narration The most striking thing and actually also my favorite thing about LUCKY ME is definitely the main character, Gia. She's incredibly funny and just comes across as a real person. You hardly encounter novels about rich kids that don't play into stereotypes, and Kapur really managed to create a likable protagonist. I loved her witty banter with love interest and bodyguard Jack, their dialogues are definitely the highlight. As much as I enjoyed reading about Gia, the other characters remain very one-dimensional and uninteresting. Because the narration is so focused on Gia and her internal monologue, LUCKY ME lacks world establishing. Hardly anything is described, from Gia's surroundings to the looks of the people around her. I do like that Gia's voice is so strong and seamlessly can transition from background information to the present tense storyline, but I would have liked this more if I didn't have to conjure up all images on my own. One-dimensional love interests The bodyguard storyline isn't very groundbreaking and didn't really get to me that much. The immediate danger of the situation is mostly defused by the fact that Gia absolutely ignores it. There isn't much urgency in the story - which would have really spiced things up a little. Jack is always just hovering around as the sole reminder that something is actually wrong. I didn't really connect with him, most of the time I just couldn't make sense of his personality. Is he being sarcastic? Is he just trying to come back at Gia for her sassy comments? The only info we get of him is that he's attractive, and that just makes him a very flat character to me that I didn't have any reason to care about from the start. Same with the other love interest, neither of them were really fleshed out enough to actually make me root for either of them to end up with Gia. I wish the novel had tried less to force the inevitable love triangle and had played more with the stalker sub plot. Rating: ★★★☆☆ Overall: Do I Recommend? LUCKY ME is a sweet, fun contemporary novel. It may be very predictable, but it's without a doubt a nice pastime if you can look past the generic love interests. The narration is truly impeccable, hilarious, and absolutely unique.

3.5/5 Lucky Me is the first book (at least it better be! (more on this later)) by Saba Kapur. It is a young adult contemporary romance about a girl who is seemingly living a very lucky life. She is the daughter of two famous actors and she wants for nothing. Except, as the book so aptly points out, disaster does not discriminate and it can and will strike anyone it chooses. Lucky Me deals with a disaster in the form of a crazy stalker/killer that is out to get Gia’s family. This is a very hard review for me to write because there were a few things that did not work for me at all with Lucky Me. Things that in other cases would have annoyed me and made me think this is not the book for me. However, I could not put this book down. I really enjoyed it and after it ended, I found myself really really wishing that I had the next book so I could find out what was going to happen with Jack and Gia and the whole gang. I am a very character driven reader, and Lucky Me is a very long, plot driven novel. The stalker mystery drives the whole story, and I found that we didn’t get to develop character relationships as much as I would have hoped. I really hope the interpersonal relationships (especially Jack and Gia!) really get delved into deeper in the next book because I think that is something that will take this good novel to the next level. The other annoyance was Gia herself. Jack was very patient with her, but she was a whirlwind of emotions, petulance and immaturity. I get why she was doing it at first, since she was thrust into this situation with no choice in the matter, but after a while it got old. However, I could just not bring myself to stay annoyed at her. There is just something about Gia. Something I liked and want to see more of. I am a sucker for a good bodyguard plot, so I ate up that aspect of the story, and Jack was my favorite character. I want to see so much more of him in the next book, and I would love for it to be told some from his point of view as well. I think that will help me get to know him a lot better. And I really do want to get to know him better. Especially, after that bombshell that he dropped at the end of the book. (which I personally, don’t think it true at all. At least, I hope it isn’t true.) The best part about Lucky Me was the writing. Author Saba Kapur is witty and she works in tons of one liners and pokes fun of everything. I loved that about this book. I can’t wait to see what is going to happen next. There is something irresistible about Lucky Me. Case in point: This book is about 500 pages long, and I devoured it in one evening. Even with the annoyances, I simply could not put it down. 3.5/5 *Disclaimer- I got a copy of this book for free in exchange for my honest review. I was not compensated for my thoughts.

High School senior Gia Winters seems to have everything a girl could want, a hot boyfriend, a killer wardrobe, and – thanks to her famous parents – she's first in line to be the next next Miss Golden Globe. Most would consider her to be pretty lucky, if it only weren't for a pesky stalker and an even more annoying bodyguard. Or scratch that, because the bodyguard isn't all that annoying after all (even though Gia would rather be seen in last season's Louboutins than admit that). In Lucky Me classic screwball comedy meets Hollywood Glitterati, and the result is one of the funniest books I've read in a long time. If you are looking for a light read, and enjoy campy drama (think White Girl Problems, or Celebutantes), then Lucky Me won't disappoint. Yes, the main characters, Gia and bodyguard Jack, come across as a little immature at times, but for me that only added to the charm. They don't take themselves too seriously, which makes for a great contrast to the otherwise rather grim subject of a dangerous stalker, who likes to get creative with his methods (poisoned dumplings, anyone?).

Didn't keep my focus. Main character was super annoying. It's really annoying because I can see the potential for a great book there. But this book annoyed me more than it entertained me.