I left a 3 star rating when I read this book 4 years ago but didn't write a formal review. I am marking the rating here to move this book off my shelf.

4.5 stars!

Helena Hunting + hockey romance = what more could you ask for??

Softer and sweeter than her early Pucked books, but The Good Luck Charm has all of Helena's wit and charm. I love the evolution her writing has taken and I can't wait to see what we will get next!

I've had a few people recommend this author to me and now that I've finally had the chance to read a book by her, I've got to say that Ms. Hunting does not disappoint with this second chance romance, which was full of heat and emotion.

However, in saying that, I wasn't all that sure I was going to like the main characters at the start. There were moments where I wanted to punch Ethan because he was such a self-righteous jerk, yet I found I really liked him in the end. He's determined to win Delilah back at all costs, despite it being for all the wrong reasons in the beginning. Yet, he doesn't want to lose her again. She's special to him and no woman will ever be more right for him.

While the heroine, she's strong and brave. I really liked her back story and I liked how she handled everything thrown at her throughout this story. Yes, it's hard to deal with Ethan being back and I'm glad that she only put up with his self-righteousness for so long. Enough was enough. Time to fight back so to speak. No longer let him have things his way.

Overall, Ms. Hunting has penned a really good read in this book that despite it taking time to warm up to the main characters, I'm glad that I pushed through Ethan's self-righteous attitude to see that he's a good guy. To see that Delilah is good for him and that he would do anything for her because he loves her and wants what is best for her. Moreover, I can't wait to read more from this author. Hopefully soon! I just need to get my TBR pile down a bit more before I can.

This second-chance love story had a lot of spice and steam in it. It was an extremely quick read and I would recommend it folks who are heavy on the steam side of romance.

The Good Luck Charm struck all the right notes for me. Also, the angst and drama were minimal and I really appreciated that as well.

Ethan and Delilah were a great combination of sweet and sexy all wrapped in a second chance romance package.

There are other characters that I'd LOVE to read about, so I hope that HH returns to this world. Also, the angst and drama were minimal and I really appreciated that as well.

Rating ~ 3.5 stars.

This was my first time reading Helena Hunting, and this certainly won't be the last time!

Ethan and Lilah once were childhood friends, then later highschool sweethearts which ended when Ethan left Lilah for his hockey career. Now Ethan's back in her life and Lilah is unsure of how to deal with him and the emotions he makes her feel and who never got over the boy who broke her heart.

For most part I liked both of them and their relationship, it was easy for them just pick up from where they left off because of how comfortable they were with each other, they had been friends and you see that even in their relationship. They were cute together and the story was sweet. We also find out what really happened in the past and how it would affect their present and any future they have.

Quibbles: The problem however that I usually I have with these kinds of books is the fact that the couple would have never gotten back together if not for whatever event that led them back to each others lives. Case in here, is that Lilah even mentions Ethan does come to town but he never sees her. Then there was the issue of him not listening to her and her just giving in to him. Seriously, it made me quite :/ whenever I read that she was putting her wants and her studies at risk because she couldn't say no to him.

Overal I did enjoy the book, they just made me frustrated at times but I am looking forward to reading more from the author.

Second chance romance is one of my favorite tropes. That the heroine and hero have known each other since childhood? I will eat that up with a spoon!! I did just that with Helena Hunting’s, The Lucky Charm. This book was sweet, sexy and teeming with emotion that had me both swooning and swearing.

Lilah and Ethan were always meant to be, but they needed a decade apart to figure that out. With that comes anger and regrets. Bearing witness as they sort it all out was powerful. These two were more than lovers, they were best friends and could once read one another like a book, now they have to discover several new chapters.

I liked some of the situations and the author’s naughty scenes were incredibly well written but the rest of the book didn’t measure up to that. Overall I was irked and then underwhelmed by a lot of the book.

The male dialogue just wasn’t working for me. It read like a females voice, or just clearly written by a woman. And then it would veer to an opposite extreme and sound like a douchey stereotype of a frat boy (luckily those times were minimal).

There was a chapter that dealt with the recent stroke victim (one of the character’s fathers) that was so indelicate with the conversation and attitudes that I was cringing.

Overall I just don’t think this book was for me.

This book is comfy yoga pants with a glass of wine, chilling by the pool sort of easy. It has all the warm and fuzzies wrapped in a sweet and steamy second chance romance. It’s a light, feel-good sort of read that had a smile on my face from beginning to end.

But nothing could ever prepare me for being this close to the man who took my heart, crushed it, and gave it back to me in pieces.

Ethan and Lilah were childhood friends turned high school sweethearts. They had all the makings of forever, until Ethan left to pursue his professional hockey career and broke Lilah’s heart.

Eight years later, Ethan is back, after being traded to the team in his hometown. But he’s never forgotten or gotten over Lilah and he’s determined to be back in her life. But Lilah never got over the pain this man once caused her. Coming from a broken home with an absentee father, Lilah never lost touch with Ethan’s parents, even though their son shattered her fragile heart. I loved the relationship she had with his parents and the way they cared for her as well. But even though his parents adore her and Ethan is swearing he’s not the naive boy he was when he left her, Lilah isn’t so eager to open her heart to him again.

Nothing you say is going to change the past.” “It could change the future, though.”

I loved the way that Ethan is slow and patient with Lilah. He’ll take anything he can, even friendship, while he yearns for more from the girl he never stopped loving. He was such an easy hero to fall in love with. He’s sweet and patient, sexy and playful, with this incredibly endearing boyish quality to him that I couldn’t get enough of.
I adored their slow burn reconnection and the way that they slowly find back to each other.

He’s slow and careful, he’s sweet and gentle. He’s the boy I fell in love with as a girl, grown into a man I don’t think I ever fell out of love with, between the then and now.

This was such a sweet romance with just the right amount of tension thrown in to make it interesting. There’s no crazy drama. No painful angst. Just two people that never stopped loving each other, discovering what it means to love and sacrifice. It was a perfectly charming romance that I recommend to anyone looking for a perfect read to spend a warm summer evening with.

I made it to 30% and was just too bored to continue. There wasn't anything interesting or unique about the characters or plot to carry me forward and after letting this languish on my iPad for 4 months, it was time to call it quits.

The Good Luck Charm was a really fun second chance romance story that surrounded around my other romance love, hockey. I swooned a lot reading this one and found Ethan and Lilah to have great chemistry. Honestly I wanted a whole book dedicated to their backstory when I was done. There was a minor part at the end that I wasn’t crazy about, but all in all it was a sexy, light, romance read. If you love sports romances mixed with second chance romance, this book is for you!

The Good Luck Charm had three elements I couldn’t resist: second chance romances, friends-to-lovers relationships and hockey (if I read “sport” books, I like this best). And luckily for me (pun intended), I did like the book! When Ethan left Lilah to pursue his hockey dreams, she never expected him to come back eight years later hoping to pick up where they left off. Neither of them are the same people they used to be, especially her, but she can’t deny that the spark between them is still alive and kicking. That chemistry was hands-down the best thing about the story and something I picked up on from their first scene. But I think the author relied too much on the chemistry and steamy scenes instead of developing the actual relationship. It’s clear they, as individuals and a couple, have things to work through but the second half of the book became a haze of sex, co-dependency and repeat. It went on for too long and if you’re going to tell me these two are soulmates, I need to see it to believe it and not just told. I felt the book could’ve benefited from flashbacks to show their connection or just more scenes outside the bedroom in the present. Even the conflict was good because it felt realistic and something easily relatable but the resolution (and ending in general) felt too quick and convenient and slightly out of left field.

Do I recommend? If you want a quick romance with hot chemistry, this is worth borrowing from the library. While I didn’t love it, it has put this author on my radar and I’d check out her next book.

Such a romantic story! A must read for any one who loves a good romantic comedy. Very well written and passionate chemistry.

5 Second Chance CROWNS

Helena Hunting once again pulls at my heart strings with lovable characters and a fantastic romance that is equal parts funny, angsty, and steamy.

Some couples just have that chemistry, and Ethan and Delilah have it in spades! There really isn’t anything that isn’t adorable. The banter. The reminiscing. The fall back into love is just fun and entertaining and delicious! I couldn’t get enough.

The Good Luck Charm isn’t truly like anything else she has written. It the humor is a bit more subdued than her picked world. It isn’t as angsty as her jokes sing series, but it is the perfect combination of the toy.

The Good Luck Charm is another light hearted HOT ROMANCE you certainly need to fill your night! It is second chance goodness all around.

ARC received in exchange for an honest review

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Lee’Anne – ☆☆☆
Second chance romances are usually one of my favorites but this one just didn’t do it for me – it was good, just not great. Having read a ton of Helena Hunting’s other books I had hopes and this one just didn’t get there. Ethan left Lilah eight years prior and after a rough day, the last thing she needs is to have to come face-to-face with him but that is exactly what happens. Though absolutely crushed when Ethan left her, Lilah was determined to not let it rule her life and up until meeting him again, she’s done a fine job. As soon as the two see each other, the sparks from their past reignite and they can’t deny they’re going to have to face them.

I really loved Lilah’s character – she’s determined, strong-willed, and has her life straight. It’s Ethan’s character that I didn’t love – he was kind of an a$$ to Lilah pretty much the entire book and I just wasn’t invested in their winding up together. The supporting characters in the book were great though and I’m excited to see who the author writes about next! My non-love for this book definitely won’t keep me from checking out more from Helena Hunting in the future, her writing style is fantastic, and this was a quick read for me.

3 1/2 STARS!

✦ Dual 1st POV
✦ Second chance (childhood friends / high school sweethearts)
✦ NHL player, returns home (traded teams + ill father)
✦ Nurse

✦ Fun moments, some hot ones, too
✦ Hated how he “needed her” all the time – to the point that she wasn’t able to keep up with her own life. Yes, EVENTUALLY she sets limits on this and takes control of her life again but it took a long, LONG time and it pissed me off.



Honestly, the first half or so of the book was great. But around the middle, and dragging towards the end, I was pissed at Ethan for being so self-centered -- unintentional or not -- and pushing to have her always at his side, always wanting to sleep over, etc. The reason this was an issue? Because it was taking time away from her job, her studying (she's going back for her masters), her basic damn responsibilities, HER SLEEP. And this is not okay, especially since out society is set up already to overwork women, especially with emotional labor and domestic responsibilities, while also expecting us to bend-over backwards for men. Fuck that. And this all bugged me EVEN MORE because he broke it off with her after high school because he felt he couldn't keep their relationship going strong while studying and getting drafted to the NHL, etc. But then he turns around and puts her in that position? UGH.

Like I said, yes, eventually she puts her foot down. But it takes, I shit you not, a good 20% of the story. NOPE.


Things smooth out in the end, they get their HEA, talk about their plans for the future, it's all good.


Overall: a charming read that I truly enjoyed a lot, though perhaps more so in the first half of the book. Still, I will be back to try more from Helena.


I shared a few quotes / scenes i loved in this thread: https://twitter.com/The_Book_Queen/status/1043598811178795009

Helena Hunting never fails to make me laugh and swoon throughout her books; her latest novel is no different.
Ethan and Lilah were made for each other but per usual their road together isn't an easy one. Ethan leaves Lilah behind to really make it with his hockey career....flash forward years later and when Ethan returns home to deal with a family emergency he remembers how much he loved Lilah. At that point Lilah is still trying to put her heart back together and Ethan's presence doesn't help with that process.
The only thing I wished, from myself, was that I liked hockey as much as Hunting does :)

You guys know how much I love my hockey romances, so when The Good Luck Charm by Helena Hunting (Toronto author, yay!) was pitched to me, I was an immediate yes.

The Good Luck Charm is a second chance contemporary romance starring Lilah Smith, a nurse who’s looking to become a nurse practitioner, and Ethan Kase, an NHL hockey player who comes home to Minnesota after a bad few years in the league. Lilah and Ethan dated in high school and had a really loving relationship, but broke up when Ethan was drafted into the NHL and moved to L.A. The break-up was really bad for both of them – Lilah was never super close to her family, so Ethan’s family became hers and Ethan was really her best friend. So Lilah was totally abandoned when Ethan left. Meanwhile, we find out that Ethan’s choice to break up with Lilah was influenced by a lot more than just his own ambitions.

When Ethan’s father has a stroke, Ethan shows up back in town and the two of them realize the spark never really went away. They restart their relationship, trying to hold onto the past while recognizing that they are different people than they were in high school. Ethan has been playing poorly in the NHL, and he’s now realizing that he might not have a future in the NHL. Meanwhile, Lilah was married and just recently divorced, and she’s trying to pick up the pieces of her life.

The romance in The Good Luck Charm is very intense and the chemistry between the two leads almost explosive. In some ways, that’s a good thing, because it made the sex scenes very exciting and got me invested in their relationship. But it also made it very frustrating for me as a reader because Ethan and Lilah could never say no to one another.

Lilah, especially, would give in to Ethan’s demands for her time (time that she should have spent studying to pursue her goal of becoming a nurse practitioner) so easily that at times I felt like she was a bit of a doormat. Similarly, Ethan was so clingy that it made me really dislike him at times – he was pushy about getting Lilah’s attention and couldn’t understand her needs.

In fact, it’s this pushiness that ends up being the catalyst for the central conflict in the novel. Once Ethan gets back to training, he needs to see Lilah before each game so that he can play better. He’s very superstitious, and he feels that he plays better when Lilah is part of the equation. And it’s this role that Lilah feels uncomfortable with. She questions whether Ethan is actually still in love with her or if he just wants her around because she’s his “good luck charm.” And it’s a legitimate concern.

I liked that this was a different issue than a lot of romances I’ve read. Both Ethan and Lilah are trying to pursue career goals and they’re both hindering and helping each other with their romance. It’s a unique situation. I also liked that Ethan’s family was so present in this relationship – Lilah stayed friends with them throughout her estrangement from Ethan, and even though it’s complicated, I still felt like her attachment to them was believable. I also felt that Ethan’s parents provided an interesting foil to Lilah and Ethan’s relationship.

THE FINAL WORD:
I could have used a little more hockey and a lot less “doormat”-ness in The Good Luck Charm. The relationship between Lilah and Ethan is really intense, and I liked the uniqueness of the story, but for me, it fell flat because it felt like the main characters couldn’t say no to each other ever. I like my heroes and heroines just a little bit stronger than that, and I was frustrated by the way the characters acted and reacted. This one was just okay for me.

Is it ok if I start this review off by shaming myself? I'm going to. I read The Good Luck Charm way back in June, when I was devouring all the hockey romance in light of the Caps winning the Stanley Cup. I fell totally in love with it. It made me so ridiculously happy, I posted about it a ton on Instagram. But you know what I didn't do? Review it. So, here we are three months since I read it and I'm FINALLY going to write a review. I'm ashamed.

Second chance romance is my jam and, well, when you mix that with a bit of sports romance I'm one deliriously happy reader. I cheesy grinned and swooned my way through The Good Luck Charm. Sometimes second chance romances can be a little heavy as the couple works through what separated them in the first place. That wasn't the case with Lilah and Ethan. Things just clicked for them. There was very little time and attention paid to drama in this book. Instead, it was fun, swoony and sexy. They were clearly meant to be and it was obvious in just about every scene.

I loved the characters, the romance and the setting. As a superstitious sports fan myself, I enjoyed reading about it from Ethan's side and seeing how it affected Lilah. Since I was lucky to read this one prior to publication AND receive a finished copy from the publisher, I snagged the audiobook on release day. The Good Luck Charm is one I'll reread for a long time to come. I'm already looking forward to reading it again.

FAVORITE QUOTES
I fear my heart remembers loving him more than it remembers how he broke it.

"Just because I left doesn't mean I ever forgot you, Lilah."

I've never wanted like this. Never felt this level of desperation with anyone but him.

The weakest point of the story is easily the notion that Lilah is the "Good Luck Charm" indicated by the novel. I was surprised at how this one is a fairly good New Adult romance. Though the story is more of a slow burn thatn Helena Hunting's other books, I found that to be more realistic than most other in the genre. I received a copy of this book as an egalley in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley.