3 1/2 STARS

Not my favorite from this series but it was still enjoyable and Kate does have a lovely talent with her writing!

I’ve had an ARC of this book sitting on my kindle since August 2018. I picked it up and put it down several times, and I know it was more of a it’s-not-you-it’s-me situation. I adore Kate Clayborn’s writing style, but something in her immersive descriptions and attention to detail demands every bit of my attention, and I wasn’t in the headspace any of the times I picked up the book to really give it the time it deserved. I finally listened to the text on Scribd, and boy am I glad I did. Besides excellent narration, the Greer and Alex’s story grabbed and held my attention for the duration.

Greer and Alex are imperfect characters, and I think that’s one of Ms. Clayborn’s biggest strengths as an author, writing characters with big but realistic flaws. I always feel like I’ve met her characters or that I know someone like them. Even though I don’t personally know anyone who raised their sibling, or dealt with a chronic illness. Both characters were profoundly human and refreshingly natural to both critique and root for.

My favorite part of the story was the incendiary chemistry between Greer and Alex. It was delicious watching them eventually succumb to the sexual tension that was practically singing my eyebrows for the first half of the book. Whew.

I also enjoyed the unpredictability of the story. I’ve read thousands of romance novels, and many with similar premises to this one. So I was a little leery the climax and ending were going to be predictable and frustrating as a reader. They were not. I felt a mix of emotions going through the rise and fall of the book, but never frustrated and often refreshingly surprised.

While I genuinely enjoyed this book, I can’t say I was 100% in love. I wish there was a little more time seeing Greer and Alex’s new normal. While Alex’s changes and self-improvements were evident, I still wasn’t convinced he was okay settling down with Greer, even if it didn’t mean giving up his life altogether. His relationship with his father also seemed unfinished. On Greer’s end, I thought her eventual career was a little glossed over. She was working so hard to graduate and start her job, but I only felt her passion for social work at the very beginning.

Overall, this was a lovely conclusion to a great series. The book is a refreshing take on the best friend’s brother trope. Plus, we love a heroine who rocks the short haircut! Ms. Clayborn is a fantastic writer, and I can’t wait to see her career blossom.

**I received an ARC of this book in order to provide an honest review**

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Kate Clayborn knows how to wreck me. I don’t know how she does it, but she’s done it EVERY DAMN TIME. I will do my level best to not gush, but to give you good solid reasons why you should have this series and this book in your life. Wish ME luck.

This story technically begins during the events of the first book, Beginner’s Luck (which isn’t necessary to read as BoL works as a standalone, but YES you should read it because it’s that damn good). Alex Averin is in town visiting his sister Kit, when he meets Greer, one of Kit’s best friends and sparks fly. Now, you may think you know exactly how this is going to play out, but let me assure you that Ms. Clayborn knows how to take a well-worn premise and turn it just enough to allow the reader to see it from another angle, which I simply adored. And yes, romance, deliciously lovely romance happens.

The Good
The writing is stellar. You know when you want to shout from the rooftops that something is fantastic and you should get it immediately? That’s how I feel when I think of this book. Ms. Clayborn’s has an ability to set a scene for her reader without drowning them in the minutiae. She builds her ‘verse meticulously, and has a way of painting a picture with her words that feels like photo-realism. Alex is a professional photographer and the story itself had strong and distinctive imagery throughout that I was engrossed in. I really felt like I was a watching a romantic picture come to life. This small college town feels genuine and inviting without being so idealistic that you feel like you’re in Pleasantville. There’s color and diversity, conflict and comfort, all wrapped up on a great little blanket of familiarity that I wanted to snuggle in and stay a spell.

The characters are so well drawn they come to life off the page. Alex and Greer have my heart, full stop. But beyond that, they have full lives that affect all aspects of their romance. Yes, their personal relationship is the heart of this story, but their professional lives are woven seamlessly into the narrative. They are complicated, fully formed characters that are easy to relate to and love. I was rooting for them from the beginning and every step of the way, they behaved like adults. The temptation, so often, is to rely on things that seem out of character to fuel a conflict and that is not the case here. I understood their motivations, I believed in the way the obstacles played out and appreciated the journey they both went through to come together at the end. There are moments that are dramatic, but never tip into melodrama. The relationships that have been built over the course of the series give depth and color to the overall canvas and I loved seeing those relationships grow to allow the reader to see them from different viewpoints. Never easy, but always worth it, that's what their personal relationships say to me.

The Firsts are impeccable. Now, if you’ve read my reviews before, the Firsts (meet, kiss, love scene) are crucial to my enjoyment of any romance. It’s what I look for in any story, and it’s what makes me happy as a romance reader. When they are on point, they lift any story and if they aren’t good, it’s almost impossible to come back from that. Here, the Firsts are have a great balance of heat and heart, and made me smile for days. Alex and Greer’s attraction is never in doubt and their chemistry fueled the romance and then some.

The Bad
Nothing.

Everything in Between
See, The Good, because it’s all so damn good.

The Bottom Line
My words have failed me (but hey, give me points for not just typing out READ THIS BOOK about 100 times and then just wrapping up my review), but thankfully Ms. Clayborn’s words more than make up for my failing. It’s so damn good that it actually sent me into a bit of a reading slump because I didn’t want to leave this ‘verse. That’s the mark of a great romance. Greer and Alex’s romance is a beautiful bow to wrap up this excellent series. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Imagine, a world-class photojournalist who's been in every hot spot in the world capturing unimaginable images and stories is now helping a woman learn how to use a camera and take her first shots. Now imagine, a hospital social worker with serious health issues of her own and with great compassion for people in need is now urging the intrepid world traveler to seek help with his panic attacks. These two are coming at life from such different angles and lenses. And yet, their one focal point, his sister who is also her best friend, serves as the pivot around which they build their relationship.

Clayborn's story is all about textures and light and filters, much like a photograph. The filter through which one views someone one is attracted to changes when there is a tear in the fabric, and then changes again when the seams are sewn up. Our conception of who the people around us is varying all the time. Clayborn does a great job of showing shifting expectations and assumptions and growing understanding and acceptance between the hero and heroine and also between them and their friends and families. As people come and ago in the hero's and heroine's lives, they illuminate or darken different facets of their personalities. Clayborn's skill as a storyteller is for the reader to feel like they're on an exciting scavenger hunt to uncover the hero's and heroine's characters.

The review will publish on Cogitations & Meditations (http://keirasoleore.blogspot.com) at the end of May 2019.

This whole series was fantastic. And this ending was just so great. The mental health depiction in all 3 was phenomenal but this one with the anxiety rep...just phew. SO GOOD. It's rare to read a romance with that much balance between something serious and something romantic but Clayborn managed it incredibly well. Their real life problems are so believable even though the characters have hit the lottery and the romance is so well done. I can't wait to see what else Clayborn does!

I loved this book. I think it was the perfect way to close out the series. The dynamic between the three friends was lovely. Greer and Alex were perfect for each other and I have been heavily invested in their love story since Alex was first introduced. Kate is a master at giving nuanced and flawed characters, letting them find love, and not being magically "fixed".

FINALLY.

Work's a bitch and I hate that it takes away so much of my reading time, but FINALLY, I had time and enough energy to read and actually finish this one in one sitting because I blocked out all the distractions, LOL.

I love Kate and her writing, and I love this story of Alex and Greer. I love both of them together. I love how Greer helped Alex deal with his panic attacks by pushing him to get help, and how Alex brought out a different side of Greer, who has chronic illness and has all her life had to deal with her loved ones treating her differently because of it. I highlighted so many passages and bookmarked so many scenes in this,

and I also want it to be on record that Kate can write sexy like nobody's business. That is all.

I feel a little bit sad to part with this gang, but also I'm so excited to see what Kate comes up with next!

Like Clayborn’s hero, Alex Averin, I don’t like “luck” … well, the idea of it, anyway. I don’t like its randomness and I don’t like its hidden possibility in what might NOT happen. It played a much larger role in Clayborn’s third “Chance Of A Lifetime” romance than in the previous one I’d read. In Luck Of the Draw, luck was the set-up: three friends win the lottery and how they use the money puts them in certain circumstances, ones they wouldn’t’ve been in had they not won. It didn’t seem all that important to Luck Of the Draw, but in Best of Luck, it becomes an ongoing debate between hero and heroine. Heroine Greer Hawthorne has reason to believe she’s lucky, not only because of the money she won, but what fate dealt her: an illness that marked her childhood and adolescence and continues to be a daily reminder of both how lucky she is and how unlucky. What are the odds of being diagnosed with a life-altering birth-defect? As good as the odds that the surgery Greer had would help her lead a more active, engaged life. “Luck” for hero Alex is a bane and reminder of a childhood of want and neglect, thanks to his “luck-dependent”, gambling-addicted father.

When we meet Greer and Alex, they’re carrying this baggage. Greer, however, is on the ascendant; her lottery money has allowed her to pay off her family’s debts, brought on by her illness, near-complete her social work degree, and find herself on the cusp of independence from her overprotective family and onto a career and her own place. Alex, on the other hand, isn’t in the same place. He is in home-town Barden, Virginia, to give his sister away at her wedding (heroine of book #1). Alex was solely responsible for his sister’s upbringing and well-being, though a child himself. Since Kit achieved her career, independence, and now with a family of her own, Alex has built a career as a world-famous photojournalist, never spending more than a few weeks in one place and only sporadically coming home to see Kit. When the novel opens, however, Alexis a mess: he has panic attacks and his work is suffering. Ready to leave post-Kit-and-Ben wedding, he can’t resist the lovely, quiet, shy Greer’s request to help her finish her final college credit, a photography class that will furnish her with the art credit she needs to graduate.

Though I loved Luck Of the Draw from the get-go, it took me much longer to warm up to Best of Luck. I liked both Alex and Greer: I liked their voices, their struggles and their humility. I didn’t like them very much together, however, mainly because Greer’s condition sat there between them, this great big ole secret. I understand Greer’s reasons for keeping it from Alex: their affair is temporary, and, more importantly, Greer likes feeling powerful, beautiful, and free of that hovering protectiveness she’s lived with from family and friends. I also really liked how Clayborn uses Alex helping/teaching Greer about photography as a way to develop their friendship. There’s one particular scene where Alex helps Greer photograph a ladybug that is fabulous. What I didn’t like and kept me from engaging deeply with the novel is that, with Clayborn’s choice of first-person, alternating-Greer-Alex narration, the romance felt estranged from its romantic purpose: there was the lovely Alex and the equally lovely Greer, in their own heads, with their own struggles, and not much came together.

On the other hand, Clayborn implicated intimacy when Alex and Greer become lovers. This is a favourite comeuppance trope that the genre does so well: the hero and heroine may think that physical intimacy may be kept separate from emotional engagement, but they’re always proven wrong. Clayborn didn’t make either Greer or Alex indifferent-to-emotions sex: they were warm and affectionate with each other, droll and tender. I liked that about them, but their affair was suffused with time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near: Alex is only in town till his next assignment and Greer knows it too well. Greer too is eyes-on-the-prize about her future and its glorious independence.

Once I got past the 40% point on my Kindle, I fell in love with Clayborn’s romance. It was heart-breaking and heartfelt, funny, tender, and angsty. Alex and Greer were so darn nice, not a bland, cookie-cutter nice, but decent, honest, messed-up in the best humble way, but the novel was so hopeful and they make such good decisions. They do the right thing; they act so well: Alex, for example, at Greer’s urging, sees a therapist, who is maybe the novel’s greatest character. (Romances often don’t get enough credit for their secondary characters, but the best ones, I find, often develop secondary characters who are vibrant and interesting, not mere plotty placeholders.)

Though Greer and Alex’s growing love for each other is two-steps-back-one-step-forward to the HEA, there are great scenes of heart-lifting and/or heart-wrenching love. One such is when Alex takes Greer for a beach-dip on the eve of Saint John the Baptist’s Day:

“Tomorrow’s Saint John the Baptist Day.” That — does not have anything to do with anything, so far as I know. I blink up at him, confused. “It’s a tradition for some cultures to — well, you spend the evening at the beach, the night before. And then at midnight, you go in the water. You splash away your bad luck. You get good luck.”

“You don’t even believe in luck.” He looks at me for a long time.

“I don’t,” he says, simply, a small shrug of his shoulders. “But I believe in you.”

This is where Clayborn’s theme is redeemed: both Greer and Alex are right about luck. How can we deny that chance plays its part in our encounters and circumstances? Even for someone, like me, who believes in divine purpose, it nevertheless remains a mystery and we still have to make sense of the way things transpire: we have to parse them and understand them and figure out how to act on them. And Alex’s perspective: the importance of believing in something that gives meaning to our lives? Life is pretty empty without it … and purposeless, or as Alex says about Greer: ” … she affects me like an anchor, in this place that sometimes feels like a vast, unpredictable sea?” Isn’t this idea so much better than Matthew Arnold’s contrived “Love, let us be true to one another?” Its pathetic appeal to fidelity, even though, really, we are “on a darkling plain,” over romance’s assurance that love anchors us in the sea of randomness?

In the end, I loved Clayborn’s romance and stayed up till the wee hours to finish it. With Miss Austen, we find in Best Of Luck evidence of “a mind lively and at ease,” Emma.

Kate Clayborn’s Best Of Luck is published by Kensington Books’s Lyrical Press. It was released on November 27th and may be found at your preferred vendor. I received an e-galley from Kensington Books’s Lyrical Press, via Netgalley.

Didn't put it down from start to finish. Great romance, real characters, interesting premise that has been done before, but is still well-done here. I want to read the rest of the series (hint, you can read this one without reading the first two, but you'll feel like you are missing a teensy bit) and more by Kate Clayborn.

I will admit that I really struggled with this book at the beginning. I couldn't get pass the first 20% of the book and I found myself picking and putting this book down a lot. I just couldn't connect with the main characters at first. However, it definitely picked up and I ended up enjoying it much more than I thought I would have. Greer and Alex are such complex and emotional characters that you end up rooting for them. Kate Clayborn knows how to write a heck of a book and I can't wait to read more from her.

ARC provided via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A thoroughly charming conclusion to Clayborn's Chance of a Lifetime series, BEST OF LUCK is a slow burning, contemporary romance with a nuanced look at life and love while living with chronic conditions/mental health issues. The friendships and world feel fully lived in in a way that few authors manage, and the pacing of reveals throughout the story is done with such a deft hand the reader doesn't quite realize they've been parsed out another hint until several pages later. Another excellent read from Kate Clayborn and a perfect bookend to the trilogy.

In this third installment of her CHANCE OF A LIFETIME series, focusing on three female friends who banded together on a lark to play the lottery and ended up winning the jackpot, Clayborn focuses on the shy, reserved member of the trio, twenty-seven-year-old Greer. Greer's using her portion of the money to pay for her undergrad degree, as well as to pay off her parents' debts, debts incurred treating the rare illness with which she was diagnosed as a teen. Because of that illness, Greer often had trouble participating fully in the things everyone else around her took for granted ("but all of a sudden I feel like the Greer who's never been able to see things through, who's been too tired or too sick to finish what I start, the Greer who needs help with even the smallest tasks" [Kindle Loc 200]). But now that she's on a more even-keel, health-wise, she's growing increasingly resentful of family and friends still treating her with kid gloves, telling her to take it easy and not push herself too much, expecting her to not be able to finish things she's started. Because of this, Greer is more than a little frustrated to discover that an unmet art requirement might keep her from finally graduating from college as she intended.

But Greer is a fighter, and convinces the college to allow her to sign up for a summer class in photography, a class that her professor will only let her add if Greer's friend, thirty-four year-old Alex Averin (the brother of one of the previous heroines of the series), a world-famous news photographer, will help her make up the classes she missed, and will give a guest lecture to the class and agree to display some of his photos in the class's culminating exhibition.

Greer turns the situation from one in which she is yet again dependent on the help of a friend into one which will help Alex, too: she'll only allow him to instruct her in photography and participate in her class if he agrees to get help himself for the panic attacks only Greer knows he's been suffering from since returning from his latest trip.

Clayborn does deft, sensitive work portraying the difficulties both of dealing with a chronic, sometimes debilitating, physical illness and those that stem from more psychological traumas. Her book's dual message— to prioritize self-care AND to allow the ill autonomy and control over themselves and their dreams—plays out against the slow-burn romance between Greer and Alex, while simultaneously exploring the many different interpretations of "luck," the subject of Greer's photographic project.

Clayborn is particularly strong at pointing to the sexism undergirding some of the more common of romance novel tropes, in BEST OF LUCK the self-sacrificing big final gesture that is supposed to prove a hero's love for the heroine. Instead, Clayborn gives us this:

"I love you. I don't need you, but I want you, and that's—that's even better. For me, that's—that's the best thing" (Loc 4247).

this one is definitely my fave of the three, hands down. so many emotions. i loved the juxtapositions of what luck meant for Alex vs for Greer. That was so well done.
Whew the tension filled scenes leapt off the page. I felt that emotion simmering between both MCs. That connection they had was so palpable.

most notable scenes: 1. I may have held my breath reading the scene with Greer trying to take the lady bug photo.whoa!! And Alex just there and damn.yup. 2. scene at The Meltdown sandwich shop, , good juicy tension then of course interruptioooon. 3. the goddamn alley scene!!! I was legit destroyed by it and put back together. so basically an emotional wreck several times while reading.

Greer and Alex were intriguing characters as well, each with their own vulnerabilities, which I felt was well explored. i feel like this quote ("She's good at negotiation" Quiet but deadly. Like an assassin, but for your feelings" , my fave, sums up Greer so well? And Alex seeing her like that mmhmmm.

I had one issue, where Alex, who's an international photographer was reminiscing on one of his visits and refers to a person who spoke in broken English. That threw me off, because as someone who has English as a first language but also is from the Caribbean and speaks our dialect, switching between dialect and Standard English, i know how our dialect is seen as inferior and has been referred to as broken English which no. so imagine a person for whom English isn't their language, having the English they speak being referred to as broken is a no. And when you're really enjoying a book and stumble upon what for most probably wont even register on their radar but for me i stopped reading for a few minutes, I urge writers to be mindful of phrases like these

It didn't spoil my enjoyment of the book but i was taken a back and it did illicit a reaction and in the event others maybe similarly impacted I wanted to bring it up.

Best of Luck by Kate Clayborn is the last book in the Chance of a Lifetime debut series for the author and it is such a worthy ending to a brilliant series. I absolutely love everything about it – it’s an embodiment of everything I love in contemporary romance and shows how much value there is the this kind of stories – ordinary everyday people struggling with different issues trying to find their place in the world and someone to share their life/love/world with.

Mental health issues are explored throughout the series and they take central stage here too. Alex is suffering from panic attacks and anxiety and we follow him on his journey of figuring this out and finding a way to deal with it – starting with acknowledging the problem and taking up therapy.

Greer has a chronic illness and it’s probably the first heroine I have read dealing with this. It shapes a lot of her life and is present in her interactions with her friends and family. There is a certain freedom in her early relations with Alex when he doesn’t know about her health issues.

I like how the author shows the full complexity of the MCs lives – we see them as professionals and as friends and as sons/daughters/ and siblings.

The story explores the practical aspects of making the relationship between Alex and Greer work – he travels a lot for his work and has just started treatment for his mental health issues, she is the process of graduating college and building a life on her own where she is.

It's a best friend's older bother romance and I loved how they were concerned about Kit’s reaction but it was never an issue. None of she/he is not good enough for you, but rather, how would this affect our dynamics as siblings and friends if we break up at some point. They have a strong chemistry but also their relationship is built of supporting each other, caring for each other, sharing their deepest secrets (things they haven't even admitted to themselves).

Incidental queer rep in all three books, just there in the background as part of the MCs lives, and it made me really happy.

In short, I can't recommend this book and whole series enough, just so read it! It's definitely going on my Best of 2018 list.

CW for panic attacks, anxiety, chronic illness, bike accident

One of my favorite books this year! Kate Clayborn is underrated as hell. I can't believe this is only her third book! She writes emotions so well. They felt real and not manipulative. It takes talent to make me cry and ache for the characters without resorting to cheap plots like death or cheating.

I want more!

Chance of a Lifetime #3, I have been impatiently waiting for this book since the characters were introduced to each other in the first book. This can be read as a stand alone but I really recommend reading the first two books to get the whole picture. This is written in third person with alternating perspectives of Greer and Alex. I loved this book the story and the characters so emotional.

Greer, Kit and Zoe buy a lottery ticket never expecting to actually win, so far Kit followed her dream and bought a house and fell in love, Zoe quit her job and went on an amazing path of self discovery and fell in love too. Now it's Greer's turn who was finally able to follow her dream and go back to school. She's almost got her degree when they tell her she short credits for art.

Alex Alverin, Kit's older brother, is a world renowned photojournalist his plan to come to his sister's wedding and then take off again has to be revised when his debilitating panic attacks get worse. With the urging of his agent and Greer, who caught him in the middle of one during the wedding, he takes some time off. But he won't be idle on his time off Greer recruits his help with her art credit. Greer's only hope to get the art credit she needs is to take a photography class subtly using Alex to get the teacher to agree was aggravating but easy. Greer also gets Alex to agree to go see a therapist while he's here. Alex was always attracted to Greer but the more time he spends with her the more the attraction builds into something more, and vise versa, and the more he learns about her the more he's tempted to try and stay. Greer may have fallen in love with Alex but she knows him to well and is just waiting for him to leave again. Alex's fears are so deep rooted he doesn't know if his love for Greer is stronger than his wonderlust.


Overall, this is my favorite of the three. Both of the character's histories play a part in why they act they way they do and how their budding relationship gives them a new perspective and allows them to look at their lives differently and finally be willing to change for the better. There is such deep emotion and fear that Kate Clayborn really puts you through the ringer with this one.

“You don’t even believe in luck.”
He looks at me for a long time. “I don’t,” he says, simply, a small shrug of his shoulders. “But I believe in you.”

Sometimes I love a story so much, I find myself at a loss for words when it comes time to write my review. Best of Luck is one of those stories.

Greer Hawthorne is the quiet, almost shy friend of Kit (Beginner’s Luck) and Zoe (Luck of the Draw), with whom she shared a winning lottery ticket. With her winnings, she finally went to college to get a degree in social work, plowing through her four years of classes in two and a half years. For a good three quarters of the book there’s some health issue that is alluded to (and quite frankly, holding out on the reveal was annoying to me...but I’m impatient like that), which is the reason why Greer didn’t go to college until she was in her late 20s.

Now, with her graduation just mere months away, Greer discovers she’s short a single art credit that she must have in order to get her degree. Long story short, she’s able to finagle the credit with the help of Alex Averin, famous photojournalist, and also Kit’s brother. (Sidenote: I highly recommend reading Beginner’s Luck first - you’ll get a more thorough picture of Alex and his character and heartbreaking backstory if you do, and it’s a great book as well!)

As Alex and Greer spend time together working on her assignments, they help each other, and fall in love. It’s a beautiful, deeply moving relationship that develops in the most organic, natural way. It is love story perfection!

However, the road to happily-ever-after is rarely in perfect focus at first shutter click (ha...see what I did there?!). Those health issues Greer spends so much of her life dealing with cause her to crave independence, which is also what Alex thinks he needs. It puts their emerging relationship in direct opposition to their life goals. But, as with the couple in Luck of the Draw, the reader is witness to the personal, individual growth of both the hero and heroine. Once they get their own life into focus, their beautiful relationship develops.

I’ve been waiting for the right light my entire adult life. Chasing it. I know the light. And Greer - Greer is the light.

This whole series has been fantastic. And now that I’ve finished all three books, the aspect of these stories I appreciate most is that the lottery win isn’t enough that it completely changed the way these young women lived (which...we never even learn exactly how much it is). This was enough money for them to make some course changes to the path they are on - to make their deepest, truest dreams a reality. But it never leads them down a completely different path. Seeing how these women use this stroke of luck to have their best, fullest life possible, was absolutely delightful!

It doesn't happen often, but I am truly saddened this series is over. I loved everything about these three books - the storylines, the writing, the dialog, the characters. EVERYTHING!!! I can’t wait to read whatever Kate Clayborn writes next.

*thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books/Lyrical Press for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review

The low angst, fluffy comfort book you didn't know you need it.

A heartwarming story about how you don't need someone to make happy but that he/she makes your life better. The best kind of love, "I love but I don't need you, I certainly could live without you but the thing it's that I don't want to".

Greer and Alex are three dimensional characters. Their interactions, their fights, their first kiss, their ending, everything it's so well written, so coherent with their personalities.

I don't say this lightly because I take this seriously but this was one of the best (if not THE best) representation of mental health that I've ever read in a romance novel.

Alex's struggles with anxiety and panics attacks are so relatable, they hit me so close to home, his fears, he wanting to "just fix it", all the process that he went through. It was really touching for me to read about a main character that deals with this, in a realistic way. He's not magically cured, Greer's love doesn't cure him, and he has a lot to work with. But just the facts that he is not ashamed and that he gets his happy ending and that he can have a "normal life" in spite of it, was such a positive message for me and it made me really emotional and happy.

I loved Greer relationship with her best friends (Zoe and Kit), it was well portrayed how important are our female friends to us women, and I loved reading about it here, how they cared for one another and that they talked about their struggles, it was beautiful.

Also Greer and Alex change a lot through the book, in a good way of course, they grow a lot as persons and they always acted like mature people.

To sum up: Adorable complex three dimensional main character's, beautiful cast of secondary characters, female friendship, complex yet healthy family relationships, realistic positive mental health representation. Definitively one of the best books I read this year.

Desert Isle Keeper
Best of Luck

Continuing with the lucky theme that runs throughout the fantastic Chance of a Lifetime series, Best of Luck proves three’s a charm; good things do come in threes; and it’s a magic number. While all the books are uniformly good, featuring likeable and relatable principal characters, secondary characters that absolutely enhance the story in every way, and settings and situations that feel comfortable and familiar, Best of Luck is the best of the series. Ms. Clayborn re-introduces Kit Averin’s older brother, Alex, a world-renowned photojournalist with a profound case of wanderlust, who’s flitted in and out the series since Beginner’s Luck. Alex falls hard for Greer Hawthorne, one of Kit’s best friends, whose roots in Barden (a fictional city in Virginia) run deep. From the teaser prologue that first appeared in Luck of the Draw, to the note perfect epilogue, everything about this novel sparkles.

Winning the lottery with friends Kit and Zoe changed Greer’s life. But unlike her co-winners, Greer didn’t struggle with what to do with her winnings. With Zoe’s legal help, she made arrangements to give much of the money to her family, using what remained to pursue her long-postponed education. Independence from her large and overprotective family and a permanent position as a social worker are finally within her grasp… until her graduation plans abruptly go awry. Despite her hard work, a miscalculation of the credits needed to graduate threatens to derail all her plans. A photography class – and the sanctimonious, unsympathetic professor who teaches it – stand between her and a diploma.

When Alex arrives – late – to the rehearsal dinner for his sister’s wedding, Kit happily greets him and pulls him into the celebration, but not before he spots Greer. Lovely and ever watchful, Greer remains separate, yet clearly an essential part of the friendly chaos around her – and he experiences the same frisson of awareness and attraction he feels whenever she’s near. When they find themselves together with Zoe, she makes it clear she hasn’t forgiven him for their last meeting when she spotted him on his way out of Barden. It’s still painful to remember her dismissive “You’re lying,” after he explained he’d been called in for a job. He’s spent the evening surreptitiously tracking Greer and spending time with Kit and her friends, when he abruptly realizes a panic attack is imminent. Alex moves out of the room quickly, struggling to contain his nausea and make it outside… but he’s only able to regain control of his breathing and heartbeat after Greer sidles up next to him and reaching for his hand.

After spending a frustrating evening trying and failing to ignore the irresistible pull Alex has on her attention, Greer is watching when he makes his frantic escape… and she follows. Familiar with panic attacks (her brother had them as a child), she grabs his hand and stays by his side until regains control. The panic attack – and his subsequent, painful admission that it isn’t the first time he’s had one – subtly changes Greer’s impressions of the seemingly unflappable Alex. She can’t forget how he fled from Barden two years ago, but witnessing his panic attack, changes her perspective on his inability to stay in one place for long. When she checks in with him at the wedding the following day, the comfort and intimacy of the previous night remains, and Greer finds herself making a confession of her own – that she might not graduate on time. Alex offers to help, but she rebuffs him; Greer is determined to fix it on her own. But then she realizes they might be able to help each other and the deal they eventually strike reverberates through the rest of the story.

Best of Luck masquerades as a simple (swoony) opposites-attract romance, and then slowly reveals itself as a lovely meditation on what it means to know and understand – and embrace – our truest selves. And along the way, Alex and Greer slowly discover the freedom that comes in wanting – but not needing – someone with whom to share their secret selves. On the surface, Alex is easy to love – he’s handsome, clever and kind. But once his history is revealed, it’s glaringly obvious to Greer (and us) that the panic attacks are rooted in Alex’s adolescent roles as father figure, brother and son. His therapy sessions (a trade-off for Greer allowing him to help her graduate) are alternately hilarious and profoundly moving – and they provide wonderful insight into his mind; these, paired with his superbly rendered PoV (god, it’s so good!), make him absolutely irresistible. Smart, irreverent, deeply in lust with Greer… he’s a devastating hero and Ms. Clayborn perfectly captures his vulnerabilities and insecurities, doubts and fears. Her characterization of this complicated, lovely man, is absolutely perfect, and as the novel slowly progresses, Alex eventually recognizes that home isn’t a place – it’s a person. And his Person is Greer.

Emotionally intelligent, resilient and often able to see things others miss, Greer is a much more challenging character to unwrap. (I also don’t want to reveal any of her secrets in this review). Suffice it to say, being forced to rely on friends and family growing up – spending her formative years watching others make decisions for her – has left Greer desperate to live life on her own terms. Winning the lottery accelerated her plans for independence, and with three credits to go, she has no intention of giving up on her dreams. Determined to graduate, she doesn’t want to need Alex’s help. But she accepts it anyway – on her own terms. Her feelings for Alex are complicated (he’s Kit’s brother!), but when they FINALLY transition from friends to lovers, Greer reminds herself to enjoy the moment, knowing her time with Alex, however wonderful, is fleeting. Greer is surprised by the sense of freedom she experiences being with Alex, but her constant worry and doubt over needing him – when he’s destined to eventually leave her behind – prevent her from envisioning a future with him.

From the moment Alex and Greer were first introduced in Beginner’s Luck, it was clear they were destined for each other. It’s been a delicious tease witnessing the tension between them – the thrum of attraction that’s marked each of their encounters – wondering how the author planned to bring them together. Ms. Clayborn brilliantly maneuvers the pair into each other’s orbit and everything about their relationship feels natural, right and wonderful. The novel works for many reasons, not the least of which is the author’s obvious affection for her principal characters and the friends and family that comprise their world, and I was wholly invested in this story from start to finish. I enjoyed each of the previous Chance of a Lifetime novels, but Ms. Clayborn simply outdoes herself in Best of Luck. I laughed, I cried, I sighed. And then I read it again and laughed, cried and sighed all over again. It’s a tremendous conclusion to an already terrific series. I’m sad to say goodbye.

This book packs a serious emotional punch. There is an understanding of mental health issues that was dealt with sensitively, without sensationalist overreaction. It was for this reason that I immediately bought the first two books in this series.
The author may be new, but she writes like a seasoned pro. She has such an authenticity in her writing that I believe she is one to watch. This series is just the beginning of a great career.
Back to the actual book though, I just loved this beautiful love story between Greer and Alex.. Their road wasn't easy or light. There were struggles and tension. There was a clash between someone with too many roots and one with too few.
If you want a read that will draw you in and capture your heart, then you won't do much better than this book.
Highly recommended.