ARC Review : Lucky in Love by Kasie West

Title : Lucky in Love
Author : Kasie West
Genre : YA contemporary
Release Date : July 25th, 2017
Publisher : Scholastic Point

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In this new contemporary from YA star Kasie West, a girl who wins the lottery learns that money can cause more problems than it solves, especially when love comes into the picture. 

Maddie doesn't believe in luck. She's all about hard work and planning ahead. But one night, on a whim, she buys a lottery ticket. And then, to her astonishment --

She wins!

In a flash, Maddie's life is unrecognizable. No more stressing about college scholarships. Suddenly, she's talking about renting a yacht. And being in the spotlight at school is fun... until rumors start flying, and random people ask her for loans. Now, Maddie isn't sure who she can trust.

Except for Seth Nguyen, her funny, charming coworker at the local zoo. Seth doesn't seem aware of Maddie's big news. And, for some reason, she doesn't want to tell him. But what will happen if he learns her secret?

With tons of humor and heart, Kasie West delivers a million-dollar tale of winning, losing, and falling in love.

*I receive an ARC via Edelweiss in exchange of honest review. Thank you Scholastic Point for the book!

If you have been following me on my blog/instagram/twitter/literally everywhere on the internet for a while you'd know that Kasie West is my favorite contemporary author! Seriously, everytime someone ask me to recommend a contemporary books, my first choice would be Kasie West's. That's why, when I found out that I got approved for it in EW, I screamed and dropped any book I read at the moment to start reading this. While it turns to be not my favorite from Kasie's (the title still goes to The Distance Between Us and P.S. I Like You), Lucky in Love is still as cute as ever and worth the read.

The plot itself is actually pretty simple : what happen after you win a lottery? I imagine at least some of us have fantasized about what would we buy if we won a lottery (me included), but turns out it's not all happy in winning-a-lottery-land. That's what our heroine in this book, Maddie, learns about. She had just having the worst birthday ever when she bought a lottery on a whim, and turns out she wins! In an instant, her life changes. She became the center of attention in school. Someone who never say hi to her suddenly start inviting her to lunch. And everyone start asking to borrow her money. This situation, of course, frustrate Maddie, whose only focus used to be studying.

Quite frankly, me and Maddie did not connect at first. She likes studying, I'm not. She loves math, I hate it. Which is why it's pretty hard to connect to her for me. But throughout the book, I start to see some of myself in her. We are both a control-freak and hates to be the center of attention. And honestly, the way she handles the whole winning-a-lottery thingy is pretty similar to how I would handle it if I ever win one. On the other hand, it's pretty easy to connect with Seth. He's nice and funny and easygoing and super friendly, but more importantly (to me), he's vietnamese-american! i'm a chinese-indonesian, so I know how it feels to be "mistaken" as a foreigner in a country you were born in just because you look different than the majority race. also there's some mentions of asian cultures I know well, so it makes me happy. I just wish it were more, though.

Speaking of Maddie and Seth, I ship both of them so much! It was a little flat at first, mostly because Maddie and Seth have been friends for some times so I feel like missing something, but as the book progressed these two become more and more adorable. I feel myself grinning a lot everytime I read a scenes featuring them. You couldn't not shipping them while reading this book!

In conclusion, Lucky in Love is cute and adorable and funny contemporary books. I definitely recommend it if you have read any books by Kasie West! And if you haven't, it's time you pick one.