Synopsis:
Emily and her mum were always lucky.
But Emily’s mum’s luck ran out three years ago when she succumbed to cancer, and nothing has felt right since.
Now, the summer before her senior year, things are worse than ever – Emily has wrecked things with her boyfriend, Matt, and her dad is selling the house she grew up in and giving her mum’s belongings away. The only person she has to talk to is Blake, a girl she barely knows since she and her dad moved back to town five seconds ago.
But that’s when Emily finds the list – her mum’s senior year summer bucket list – buried in the back of her closet. When Blake suggests that Emily take it on as a challenge, the two set off on a journey to tick each box and help Emily face her fears over losing her connection to her mum. As she starts to feel closer to her mother, so too does Emily’s bond with Blake deepen into something she wasn’t expecting.
And suddenly Emily must face another fear: accepting the secret part of herself she never got a chance to share with the person who knew her best.
Review:
Rachael Lippincott how I love you. I’m yet to rate one of her books less than four stars and I’m incredibly happy about that.
The whole idea of the list was so fun and I love how it gave Emily some closure about losing her mom. It’s such a beautiful way to feel connected to her again and it made for some really great moments–especially the ones between Emily and Blake.
Although Emily definitely had her faults, she was a very likeable character. Grief can really change a person and while that doesn’t wipe away some of her bratty behaviour, it does make it understandable. Her dad treats her like an adult to the point where she cooks all of his meals because he can’t do it himself (not sure if this is a grief thing or if he genuinely can’t cook) but doesn’t discuss the possibility of selling their house with her. Emily gets completed blindsided by this and I’m not surprised she acted the way she did.
Blake was a wonderful character, I could tell right away I was going to love her–I have a weakness for people with beachy waves. She was a ray of sunshine who I wish we got to spend more time with. She brought out the best sides of Emily and allowed her to feel adventurous again without any guilt for enjoying herself. I don’t say this often but I would have loved this to be a multi POV book so we could get Blake’s side of things.
The romance, while cute, was definitely a by product of what was already happening. There were a lot of cute moment between Emily and Blake and the journey of Emily discovering her sexuality was done realistically. The progression of their friendship to their relationship felt natural.
I don’t have anything else to say about The Lucky List other than it was entirely enjoyable. I will always recommend Rachael Lippincott’s books, they’re all brilliant.
Check out Young Creative Press on all socials
You can also check out my StoryGraph here
Like this post? Why not read this one too: Book Haul: May 2024
[…] Like this post? Why not read this one too: Book Review: The Lucky List by Rachael Lippincott […]