This was a story that will really appeal to students at my school. We're in a challenging ward with very high levels of deprivation, and a lot of our students are in unstable housing situations or are looked after. It's always brilliant to have representation that speaks to their lived experiences!

In this book we follow Lucky, who ends up in foster care after her grandfather dies and her grandma ends up in a care home due to dementia. She learns quickly that not all foster homes are created equal after her new foster dad starts being creepy towards her. Will she ever get out of foster home and back to her grandma? You'll have to read this book yourself to find out!

This was....very hard to read but super important. I don't think there's enough foster care representation in YA and so I'm glad this exists. I do wish we could've gotten to know Lucky a bit more as she felt a little bit flat, but all in all, this was a really good read.

Another eARC that I received from Netgalley that I didn’t read on time - & one of the books that I really should have read at the earliest!

Just Lucky is all about a 15 year old girl - who loves her life living with her grandparents! She loves that they have always been there for her; and making sure that her selfish mother (& trust me she is the definition of selfish!) who left her with her grandparents isn’t missed.

She loves her life, with her beloved grandparents and her best friend - when it all falls to pieces when her grandfather passed away and she finally realised that her grandfather has been keeping the extent of her grandmother’s dementia from her.

When her grandmother almost burns their house down, and the authorities get involved, she has no choice but to actually become a part of the foster system.

Just Lucky is thus, an ode to Lucky’s experience in the foster system. It’s a look at how a human being can be considered less than one, when the world believes that they have nothing and are at its mercy.
But it is also a hopeful look at the world form the eyes of a resilient young woman who does nothing but move forward with a strength that is admirable.

DNF. Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for this early copy! I decided to not keep reading this one, it was not for me. Thanks!

I'm uncertain of the portrayal of the foster care system in this book. I'm not sure that this is how it works. And it's startling the wide variety of family scenarios Lucky experiences in just a few months: hyper religious, abusive, a good situation that she loses due to her anger (which appears quite suddenly), an ideal home she loses when the family moves. The only thing she doesn't experience is neglectful parents only in it for the paycheck. Even with that unreality, this still feels important. We need to encourage empathy in readers, to see how native and POC foster kids experience disproportionate amounts of mistreatment. Interesting but ultimately weak.

A moving story of finding family even in the hardest of situations, i really respirated with Lucky as a character so full of life until one event can turn her world upside down. A must read for almost everyone. i can’t stop recommending this book to others. it’s a story that needs to be praised more

This was a solid YA novel with a valuable story. This book was an instant buy for my school library.

⭐️ [3/5 Stars] ⭐️

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

This novel’s writing style felt more directed towards younger readers rather than the 13-18 age group. I love reading young adult but sometimes the writing style makes the characters feel and sound younger than they actually are. In retrospect, this was fine for a Y/A coming of age novel but there wasn’t anything that was outstanding or memorable for me, personally. I liked the tropes and the themes that were explored and think this has the potential to be really enlightening for younger readers.

I really enjoyed the story about Lucky. This story made me cry and that alone makes me want to give it all the stars. Lucky lives with her grandparents because her mother had addiction and gambling issues. She starts to notice her grandma is forgetting things. Her grandpa dies and her grandma has an episode and sets the house on fire. She gets put into the foster care system. It’s a very good story and I have already recommended it to others

Heartfelt, Heartbreaking and Hopeful! Thoroughly enjoyable read, I would highly recommend to anyone.

An emotional heartfelt read. I cannot wait to devour whatever else the author has written. Fantastic writing style with very real characters. I love the points it touches upon and the emotions that the main character develops in each situation. More please!!!

Mostly, Lucky Robinson has lived up to her name. She lives her Cree grandparents in a nice house and attends a school she loves and has a best friend Ryan. But then her luck runs out: Her grandfather dies, and Lucky discovers that her grandmother’s “forgetfulness” is a lot worse than just that. So Lucky gets sent off to foster care.

Americans tend to idealize Canada (I know that I do), but their foster-care system still seems a lot better than ours. Even so, poor Lucky needs her wits to thrive and finally find home. I loved this slender book so much. There’s a bit of cursing in the book — a realistic level — but Lucky is a great protagonist who will inspire the hundreds of thousands of children in foster care, whether in Canada or its southern neighbor.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Second Story Press in exchange for an honest review.

Received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for a honest review. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

A story of a girl who is searching for a permanent home after being placed in foster care cause she’s to young to take care of her ailing grandmother alone.
It’s a very short book with short chapters so it’s easy to read.

ARC provided by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis: This book is about a girl who was named Lucky by her mother because she had won a jackpot while she had her baby in her belly. So, Lucky lived with her grandparents since she was a little child. But at the age of fifteen, her grandpa died and it was discovered that her grandma had Alzheimer after a terrible accident. Due to this, she is moved from one foster home to another as accidents keep happening.

This book is about the quest to find a sense of familiarity when things begin to change drastically in your. It talks about several social issues and stigma we face in today's world, discussing homophobia, the general notion about how a religion is practiced, racism etc. It talks about how difficult it is to find a good foster home, homes which can be trusted.

I liked the way the story begin and it was purely a joy to see the relationship between Lucky, her grandparents and Ryan, her best friend.

"By the time he left, we had made plans to explore my basement together the next day and had already decided we were going to be best friends forever."

"Nothing had changed. But his parents weren’t like me. Or you. Or anyone normal you’ve ever met. His parents were religious."

“Don’t ‘Grandma’me!”Her eyes were blazing. “This…”she gestured at Ryan’s bruised face. “This is not all right. And it’s certainly not ‘Christian.’”

Her best friend was gay and as his family was 'religious', he was kicked out of their house. This is one mention of discrimination mentioned in the book. At her first foster home she had to deal with a pedophile and a family which felt like had come from the past. It was that bad. Apart from that, as Lucky was switching from house to house, she had to deal with particularly racist people who didn't know anything better. During such encounters, she had resorted to physical violence, which, truth be told, is particularly satisfying when you are dealing with turmoil in your life. But despite this, Lucky finally found a place she could call home after the rollercoster seeming life she had to live in a span of few weeks.

So yes, I really liked this book. Especially the ending which reflected how despite problems in your life, you'll always find people with whom you feel you belong.
I sat beside her son who still hadn’t said a word to me.

“Hi,” I said, smiling at him. He flushed and looked away. “Bobby, say hi to Lucky,” Mary instructed him. “Hi,” he muttered. Okay then. Off to a great start. Clearly we were destined to be BFFs.

A cute and simple read! Lucky's relationship with her grandmother was undeniably endearing. I just wish it was longer though.

My parents, who had five children of their own, took in one of my brother's teen friends, Bobby, as a foster kid. That boy was broken. My father was a stay at home Dad after an accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down.  Someone was always there if you needed help. We offered Bobby as much love as we could. It wasn't enough.

In my twenties I worked with teens who were in care. Most of them were girls who had been sexually abused in their homes, and for some, the abuse continued in foster homes.

There is a shortage of good foster homes, especially for teens. I have known this since then. I wish that we had opened up our home up for kids who needed them. But my partner and I both worked full time. I worked with children all day, and felt I couldn't deal with more our own two when I got home.

My cousin and his partner, two of the people I admire most in the world, have fostered over 30 children. They make a commitment to those kids and make them part of their family forever. Family get togethers are quite the event.

You are probably wondering why I'm going on about foster care here. It's because of this book. It's because I know the truth in Melanie Florence's novel.

Lucky is a smart young teen who lives with her Cree grandparents. Her mother, an addict, is incapable of taking care of her, but she has a good life. Her best friend, Ryan, lives nearby. Grandma has been getting more and more forgetful, but Grandpa is there to help out and look after her. When he dies unexpectedly, Lucky tries to take care of her, but then Grandma almost burns the house down and is diagnosed with Alzheimers. Grandma ends up in a home and Lucky ends up in the foster system.

As soon as Lucky landed in her first placement, I had to put the book down. I needed to prepare myself for what was about to happen. Unfortunately she ends up in four homes before finally ending up in a place that works for her.

In spite of the difficulties Lucky has to endure, she is blessed with a good friend in Ryan who she has known since they were little. While in care Lucky manages to befriend many other children. I loved that it was often through a shared love of graphic novels and comic books. Through them we come to know the gamut of experiences that land kids in care in the first place.

I appreciate the diverse characters in this book. I appreciate that Florence shows us the racism that Lucky has to endure and how many adults just don't understand it.

While I think this book is appropriate for students aged twelve and up, my wish is that teachers and other adults will read it. At the least they will understand what it means for the children they work with who are in care. At best, maybe they will decide to open up their own homes.

Omg this book was so good but so so very sad. As I write this I’m in tears. It was beautiful and gave me all the feelings. It’s a must read! Thank you netgalley for the ARC 💖

It became clear very quickly that I am not this book's intended audience. The narration felt so childish that I couldn't manage. If it had read a little older I would've enjoyed it much more and kept going. This is absolutely not a fault of the book or the author! I am just not the intended audience here.

Lucky is 15 year old girl who lives with her grandparents. She has good friends, a loving home, and even though her mother abandoned her at birth, she loves that her grandparents are her caregivers.

Things with Lucky’s Grandmother could be better, as she keeps having ‘forgetting spells’, and it worries Lucky. But things all come to a head when Lucky’s Grandfather passes away unexpectedly.

The stress of Lucky’s Grandfather’s death exacerbates her Grandmother’s symptoms, and after a fire related incident, Lucky is placed in an emergency foster care house.

It isn’t all it’s cracked up to be – the “wholesome Christian family” she’s placed with are not nice people. The mother uses meal cancellations as punishment, and the father is a serial abuser of any girls placed with him.

Lucky’s entire world is turned upside down, and she, understandably, doesn’t know whether she’s coming or going, and things grow intense for her at several points during this book.

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This book was very quick to read. The chapters were short, and the pace was fast. It had a gripping enough storyline that I was intrigued to find out what happens next.

The situations that Lucky finds herself in, or is placed in, are mostly beyond her control. She just wants a stable home with her Grandmother, but she rapidly finds out that it’s just not possible, even though she desperately wants it to be.

Lucky faces so much in such a short amount of time, and I commend her strength at getting through each day like she does.

Though she faces a fair amount of hardships, Lucky finds new (and lasting) friends along the way in the form of some of her foster siblings.

This book is just one small peek into what it is, and can be like, as a foster care child, when life unexpectedly turns upside down.