Author: Adele Parks
Publisher: Harlequin Books Australia
Year of release: 2020
Release Date: 20TH April 2020
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Six players. A game that changes everything
Synopsis:
It’s the stuff dreams are made of – a lottery win so big, it changes everything. For fifteen years, Lexi and Jake have played the same six numbers with their friends, the Pearsons and the Heathcotes. Over dinner parties, fish & chip suppers and summer barbecues, they’ve discussed the important stuff – the kids, marriages, jobs and houses – and they’ve laughed off their disappointment when they failed to win anything more than a tenner. But then, one Saturday night, the unthinkable happens. There’s a rift in the group. Someone doesn’t tell the truth. And soon after, six numbers come up which change everything forever. Lexi and Jake have a ticket worth £18 million. And their friends are determined to claim their share of it. Number 1 Sunday Times bestseller Adele Parks returns with a riveting look at the dark side of wealth in this gripping take on friendship, money and betrayal, and good luck gone bad…
Review:
Carla, Patrick, Jennifer, Fred, Lexi and Jake; friends who’ve done the big things side by side, birthed children, bought the house, sold and moved, watched out for each other’s children, been a shoulder to cry on when needed for 15 years, nowadays they treat themselves to a lotto ticket using the same numbers each week. What’s the harm? It’s just a bit of fun right?
One night discussions become heated between the group causing the usually stable friendship to wobble on it’s foundations. Once the evening comes to an end Jake and Lexi hosts of this Saturday night’s get together check the numbers out of habit it turns out they won, they’ve gone and won $17.8 million pounds. Jake and the children Emily and Logan are over the moon, Lexi needs more time to process this. Lexi and Jake decide it would be better to keep this amongst themselves just for now. However this doesn’t quite go to plan when Carla, Patrick, Jennifer and Fred find out about the win they also want their share this wouldn’t have been an issue only both Lexi and Jake remember that everyone else at the table that night pulled out of the syndicate even before the post win fog kicked in making real life seem like an almost distant memory.
We’ve all done it haven’t we? Found the time to give over to the age old question what would you do if you won the lotto? I love a good view into how the other side live. Just my Luck offered me this as I to was able to delve back in and fine tune my list once again.
I also really enjoy a well written character based story with a twist. I don’t gravitate towards the Mystery and Thriller with excitement in tow but the plot had me really eager and hopeful thankfully I wasn’t wrong. The plot twist had me guessing right up until the very end.
I was a little worried for a while that the book would run out before the story had closure. Events of this story were really well thought-out, I didn’t see most of this story coming. Author Adele parks has managed to tie in all the events in the book seamlessly not leaving anything out, this makes for a highly enjoyable read from start to finish.
The dual narration helped keep this story in motion and kept me reading. As the story progresses I found myself wondering “Does winning the lottery make things better in the long run or is it curse”? I think it changed this family especially Jake not always for the better.
I also can’t help but wonder do we expect to win to much thinking we are owed rather than lucky? If Jake Greenwood was answering I imagine he would’ve answered with a yes it was painfully clear to me that Jake had no interest in sharing anything, nor did he view anyone else as having won either including Lexi or the children it was his win and his win alone, this made him my least favourite character.
I think Just my Luck would suit a mature audience who enjoy a character-based Mystery/Thriller, light-hearted with dark moments. Other books I’ve discovered from Author Adele Parks. Both of you and One Last Secret My continued thanks to Harlequin Books Australia for sending a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion