Review: How Lucky You Are by Kristyn Kusek Lewis

Title: How Lucky You Are
Author: Kristyn Kusek Lewis
Publication Date: September 4, 2012

From Goodreads:

In the tradition of Emily Giffin and Marisa de los Santos, HOW LUCKY YOU ARE is an engaging and moving novel about three women struggling to keep their longstanding friendship alive. Waverly, who's always been the group's anchor, runs a cozy bakery but worries each month about her mounting debt. Kate is married to a man who's on track to be the next governor of Virginia, but the larger questions brewing in their future are unsettling her. Stay-at-home mom Amy has a perfect life on paper, but as the horrific secret she's keeping from her friends threatens to reveal itself, she panics. 

As life's pressures build all around them, Waverly knows she has some big decisions to make. In doing so, she will discover that the lines between loyalty and betrayal can become blurred, happy endings aren't always clear-cut, and sometimes you have to risk everything to gain the life you deserve.

My Thoughts:

Waverly Brown is thirty-five years old and is the proud owner of Maggie's, a bakery. She and boyfriend Larry have been together for ten years, all of which have been very happy. But even so, Waverly is still dealing with many issues. The death of her parents fifteen years before and the dramatic loss in business. In fact, things are getting worse by the day and for some reason she just can't seem to ask for help. Nobody knows that her business is in trouble, not even Larry. At first I wasn't sure what to make of her. I couldn't understand why she didn't just tell Larry what was going on and see if he could help her. But as I learned more and more about her, I began to understand. She felt like a loser not being able to take care of everything in her life on her own, something she thought was a sign of success, and being successful meant being happy. Even so, she was still a very strong character. Loyal and honest in the kind of way we all wish our friends were. She put the needs of her friends before her own, even when they didn't exactly deserve it.

Those friends, Kate and Amy, couldn't be more different from each other. Kate was born to a very wealthy, important family and her husband was the top choice to become the governor of Virginia. She is stunningly gorgeous, and has somewhat of a poor attitude. To be honest, I didn't much care for her. I wasn't even sure how Waverly could be friends with someone who did nothing but complain and constantly treat her like crap. Amy, on the other hand, was everything Kate wasn't. Perky, caring and the kind of person that wakes up in the morning with a smile on their face just because they are happy to be alive. A little irritating, sure, but she was a reliable friend that Waverly could always count on.

The author does an exceptional job of reeling you in from the very beginning. We are immediately shoved into an uncomfortable situation and slowly led through the character's lives to bring out every small secret that had led up to that moment. The pacing is perfect and the character's lives are completely believable and relevant.

I'll be honest and tell you that the events in this book were hard to read at times. But that is the sign of a great story, one that makes you feel many different emotions while reading it and keeps your heart racing. There were times in this book that I wanted to jump into the pages and smack around a few people. But there is also something very important to learn from this story. No matter what may happen to your friendship, if you know someone is in trouble, sometimes going against their wishes and getting help is the only thing you can do to save them. Being a friend means more than being a sympathetic ear. It means being there to help when that person may not even want your help. To never give up on that friendship even though you know they may never want to see you again.

How Lucky You Are is an incredible story about friendship, love and loyalty. I highly recommend it to all lovers of Chick Lit, female or not, and to anyone who has ever risked the loss of a friend in order to help save them.


For more about Kristyn Kusek Lewis or How Lucky You Are, visit her website here.

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*I received this book for free in exchange of my honest review. This did not influence my opinion in any way and all views and opinions expressed are 100% my own.