Book Review: How Lucky You Are

How Lucky You Are

About the Book:

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 Comments:

Three college girlfriends, now in their thirties.  Waverly has lived with her boyfriend for years.  He's wonderful but they've never married.  Is there a reason?  Are they the real thing, or is it time to move on?  Her parents are dead, she has no close family.  She owns a bakery that is going broke.  Kate is a politician's wife, until he and his mistress end up on the evening news.  About this time Waverly learns that Amy's husband physically abuses her.  As we follow these friends through a few months of their lives we see them re-evaluate choices they have made, learn that others have problems too, and learn to count their blessings.  

My main problem with the book is that I didn't like any of these women. Somehow Kristyn Kusek Lewis failed to make them resonate with me.  I wasn't horrified or even upset when I learned Amy was abused; she was nothing but a statistic to me.  Waverly seemed to epitomize what is wrong with modern society--she's got a great guy but the lack of marriage (permanent socially recognized commitment) keeps her from really trusting him with her problems (or maybe she fails to commit because she fails to trust).  Kate too seemed almost a stereotype of a politician's wife, until she dumps him for cheating.  Again, Lewis didn't make me care about her.  

I'd like to thank the publisher for providing a complimentary copy of the book via NetGalley.  Grade:  B-