May survived a school shooting by hiding in a closet while her twin brother, her teacher and friends were shot on the other side of the door. No one can blame her by being traumatized and angry, but she's having a hard time 'getting on with her life' like everyone is telling her to do. When she starts at a new school, she meets Zach, the first person she's been able to connect with after a year of agony. But when she discovers that his mother is the lawyer for the shooter, a women she has vowed to hate and vandalizes her home on a nightly basis, instead of retreating from their friendship, she makes the unlikely decision of continuing it. I had a bit of trouble with this. She sat at their dining room table having dinner with this women, which to me, wasn't believable. But the book gave us insight to survivor's guilt, how families and friendships are torn apart, and how hard it really is to just get on with life.

Powerful and raw, The Lucky Ones depicts the reality that so many teens face today, where they are either honored during assemblies that also act as memorials, or they are now known as the ones lucky enough to survive a school shooting. May McGintee is one of the latter, and she can't figure out why. Out of everyone in the band room that day, including her twin brother Jordan, she's the only one that made it out alive, and eleven months later, she's still not sure how to keep on living. Meanwhile, Zach Teller has been suffering in silence since his mother decided to defend the shooter that killed May's brother. Everyone at school shuns him, and every day Zach's resentment towards his mother grows. Conor is the only friend that Zach has left, and he gets dragged to band practice the same day that May's friend Lucy manages to convince her to accompany her as she auditions for a band. Zach and May meet, and it's the catalyst they both need to wonder if just surviving is good enough.

This book tore me to pieces and stitched me back up in that I read it in one sitting and cried my way through the last 60 pages. I remember what it was like in high school, to do active shooter drills, and the one time we thought that it wasn't a drill. The Lucky Ones handles grief and survivor's guilt in a way that makes you wonder how people can possibly be desensitized to school shootings. It's a specific kind of validation and reassurance and support that teenagers shouldn't need in an ideal world, but that they do need in the world we live in. At the same time, The Lucky Ones holds nothing back when it comes to the all-consuming, devastating grief that comes in the wake of a school shooting in a way that I think everyone needs to confront. It's extremely apparent that Liz Lawson wrote this with the utmost case and respect, and she delivers a poignant, gut-wrenching book that is in a league of its own. Due to the subject matter, I understand that there are definitely people who simply can't read this book for the sake of their well-being, but I highly encourage everyone else to pick up a copy, because we need to be talking about this.

The Lucky Ones deals with the aftermath of a school shooting and the different way survivors grieve. The main character, May, lost her twin and is dealing with her anger and guilt a year later.

What I liked:
The ending provides hope for the reader after such an emotional journey. The pacing is fast. I finished in a day.
The characters are amazing--each fully developed and easy to sympathize with their motives/actions. Each unique and true to teen age experiences.
The school environment feels legit, which sometimes is difficult to see in the YA industry.
Band/Music references

What I didn't like:
Why does the shooting victim always have to be so special? Ordinary people die and also deserve to be mourned, honored, and missed... Just a pet peeve.
Uses "f***" more than necessary.

Recommended for high school libraries. Solid 4.5 stars.

"And something in it makes me feel like he sees me, instead of an angry, fucked-up girl or a warped reflection of my dead brother. So even though I don't deserve any of this, I end up in his car."

May McGintee was the only survivor to walk out of the band room the day of the shooting. And the grief of losing her twin brother and the feeling of safety has made her angry and bitter. But when she meets Zach, who's mother is the shooter's lawyer, the two grapple with their complicated feelings of guilt and anger, finding a camaraderie in the aftermath of a school shooting.

This novel contains heavy emotions. May is dark and angry and struggles to contain the guilt riddling her mind. Zach is ostracized by most of his classmates because of his mother's decision. Their relationship happens slowly, which I appreciated. The slow, gradual friendship these two develop felt natural and raw; they are an unlikely pair, and yet, it works.

I can already see people complaining that May is annoying and frustrating and hard to understand, but I think that's the point of her character. After an event like that, no one can fully understand what she went through. But Zach really tries. Despite having no idea how or what will help May, he tries to be there for her. As does May's friend, Lucy, who is honestly the real hero in this story. Both Lucy and Zach's friend, Conor, were some of the best side characters I've read about in a while. They were flawed like our main characters, but their hearts were in the right place.

However, in the aftermath of a school shooting, I would imagine parents and teachers would be more involved in the children's lives, more caring and understanding to the PTSD these kids are struggling with (which might be wishful thinking). But in this novel, there were literally no good adults. Parents were absent, teachers weren't nice or understanding, the principal made May speak to the entire school on the one year anniversary (due to May's therapist thinking it would be a good idea, even when May admitted she hardly ever says anything when she goes to her mandated therapy) which has to be the most unrealistic assignment. It just didn't seem plausible that these four high school teens had absentee parents, especially after an event like this. I would have liked to see a functioning adult help these children instead of leaving them with these raw emotions and visceral fear that they have no idea how to handle.

I did enjoy this novel. It was heartbreaking and poignant and explores the aftermath of a shooting in a way we never see. I appreciate the author's note at the end, in which she states most people suffering from a mental illness are not violent, and that this country is in need of better mental health services for children, which she made evident in this novel.

The Lucky Ones is set to release on April 7th, 2020.

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest and thoughtful review.

Content Warnings: PTSD, panic attacks, depression, alcoholism, gun violence, blood, violence

4 A Real Look Stars
* * * * Spoiler Free
There are times when we experience things we shouldn't have to. The teaching of young children as to what to do during an active shooter situation is one of them. Unfortunately, it is a sign of our particular times. As a mother of two sons, I am very lucky they were out of all schooling, so it wasn't something I needed to deal with.

The Lucky Ones by Liz Lawson is a debut novel of the highest regard. It looks at the devastation and impact of all those involved with these shootings, how the one incident is like the pebble skipped across the lake and how its contact is not just the entry point.

Like the ripples on the lake of people touched by this tragedy, all are changed. For the main character, Mia, she lost her twin brother. She is overwhelmed by survivor's guilt. She is suffering from PTSD and has gone through levels of rage. She barely has a handle on getting through the day and now after eleven months, she is being forced to go to another high school that is made up of both schools. One that had the shooting and the other that did not.

Zach is another victim of this shooting but in an entirely different way. His mother is the defense attorney for the shooter. By her doing "Her Job", it has changed everything in his world. His father is a ghost, he has to look out for is sister and he has no real friends anymore. The adage of the sins of the father fall on the son is exactly that but with the mother being the culprit. Every day there is a hurdle he has to overcome, either someone trashing his house or trashing him at school. He is in a lose-lose situation.

These two cross paths because of the only friends each has are forcing them to be someplace. Zach's friend is auditioning for his band and Mia's bestie is one of the people auditioning. Things can happen as simple as that.

This is not an easy read, yet is one that is worthwhile. Seeing what can take place and the aftermath is so important these days. Nothing is black and white...shades of gray can be the norm and we need to be there for others any way they want us to be...To listen, learn and not judge.

A very strong debut novel.


A gifted copy was provided by author/publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.

May is a lucky one, but she doesn't feel like one, every since her brother, the genius, was a victim of a school shooting. She feels responsible for what happened, and doesn't see how anybody else can possibly feel the way she does. Zach became a social outcast the day his mother decided to represent the shooter, his friends are ghosting him, and his girlfriend left. Than Zach and May meet each other when their schools are joined and hit it off, but they don't find out each others roles until later, can their friendship weather the biggest storm of them all?

This book has a refreshing and realistic take on school shootings, it that it is though the eyes of a survivor, May should have died that day but was spared, and this book takes you though all her grief, panic attacks and all the symptoms of PTSD and survivors grief. It is obvious the author did her homework and got it right , and her notes at the end are also well worth the read. I really liked this book.

This review will appear on my blog on April 7th, 2020

School shootings have been an all too common occurrence for us here in America, where in 2019 there had been 25 incidents in schools and mass shootings totaling 419 - more incidents than we have days in the year.

In this book, ‘The Lucky Ones’, Lawson wrote with utmost sensitivity that resonates about the psychological aftermath of those that have survived these horrific incidents.

This story was centered around May McGintee who survived a school shooting when she hid in the closet during the attack while her twin brother was murdered along with her classmates and close friends. May felt lost and alone, surrounded only by PTSD, anger and the guilt she feels every day.

Zach was also lost and angry because her mother decided to take on the case as the attorney defending the school shooter. Their home was vandalized, their community in disapproval, and with a mother constantly working with a father who is psychologically broken and absent, Zach was left to raise himself and his little sister on his own.

With friends who were in a band together, May and Zach met each other. This was not a simple love story and I loved the complexities of the situation and characters.

This was an amazing debut novel that was both heartbreaking and gentle, raw and full of emotions, that was also both tragic and relevant. I loved this book very much and I highly recommend it.

If you enjoyed Thirteen Reasons Why, This Is How It Ends, and All the Bright Places this book is for you.

The Lucky Ones by Liz Lawson is a quick, but emotional, read of the aftermath of a school shooting looks like for two different families. May is the sole survivor of the shooting, and has lost her twin brother Jordan. Zach is the son of the shooter's lawyer. The novel deals with what the reality looks like a year post-shooting for both teens and emotionally portrays the PTSD, survivor's guilt, and other horrible realities of gun violence.

I feel like it’s a little wrong to say I loved this book because of the subject matter. This shouldn’t be something that had to be written, something about survivors of a shooting at a school. School is where one should feel safe and able to learn without the stress of wondering if it will happen here. This was written so well and is so full of emotion. I giggled, I cried. What a great read.

This was not an easy book to read, but that's what it makes it such a good one. This is the story of two people who seem completely incompatible but who find comfort and love in each other. And it's about grief and learning to keep living when you're dealing with survivor's guilt.

May is the sole survivor of a school shooting, and although everyone calls her the lucky one, she doesn't feel lucky. All she feels is anger at the shooter and at the lawyer who represents him. So when she meets the son of said lawyer, she doesn't want to like him, but it turns out they're more alike than she thinks. The characters were so well drawn in this book. May is hard to read about because she's all sharp edges and anger, but it's completely understandable. And Zach is such a sweetheart who really cares about her. He helps peel back the rough exterior to see that she's hurting and help her begin to heal.

I won't lie: it was bleak. I couldn't put it down and I felt emotionally drained when the book was over. It's an awful subject matter and that's why it needs to be written about. So watch out if you suffer from depression or think this book might trigger you, because it really is bleak. But it's beautiful too.

*I received an ARC from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.*

This is a very raw and emotional read, but also a very timely and needed one. It took me a few days to finish because of those emotions. The story shows a perspective we never hear about, the aftermath of a tragedy and the impact on the survivors. I think thus is an important book for readers. I liked the psychology, and healing aspects of the characters and found myself deeply caring for them.

We call them the lucky ones, the survivors, those who are still around in the aftermath of catastrophe. But, are they really lucky? Is surviving always better than not? What about when the catastrophe is man-made and there's someone to blame? What is justice and what's its role? These issues are presented with incredible skill and compassion in <i>The Lucky Ones</i> by Liz Lawson.

May hid in the music room closet while the shooter killed everyone else in the music room, including her twin brother Jordan. Eleven months later, she still explodes in anger all the time, cursing herself for not defending her friends and her brother. Her parents have all but disappeared into their own grief, and her one constant is her best friend Lucy. But lately Lucy hasn't been up for participating in the one thing that helps May feel alive - painting graffiti on the house of the lawyer defending her brother's murderer. She feels like she owes it to Jordan to continue this secret rebellion, this secret war. After all, only a monster would defend a cold-blooded killer of children, right?

Zach is a senior whose life has become a living hell since his mother decided to defend the kid who shot up a neighboring high school and killed six people. He and his sister have become social pariahs at school, his mom is working so many hours he goes weeks without seeing her, and his father rarely gets out of his bed let alone his pajamas and never leaves the house. When the vandalism starts, Zach assumes his parents will deal with it, but they don't. He realizes that this shouldn't surprise him since he's done all the cooking, cleaning, shopping, and chauffeuring for himself and his younger sister for years now. After 11 months of vandalism, Zach is very close to his breaking point.

When May and Zach meet something changes. For the first time in almost a year someone looks at Zach and doesn't see his mom. May realizes that Zach doesn't know she's one of the "lucky ones" who survived. As they begin to wonder if they could be friends. When they find out how they're connected will they both decide that they really do want to survive? Or, is it better, easier, to let yourself die a little at a time. Is dying what they really deserve or will they find a way to heal and move on, to really live again.

This book is tender and tough and heart-wrenching and humorous and packs a serious punch. I am not exaggerating when I say this should be required reading for all high school students and their parents. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Disclaimer: I received a free electronic copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Wow, wow, wow this book took my breathe away. This will definitely be in my top 10 reads of 2020, it might even be number 1. This is the first book the author wrote and she sure did not disappoint.

This book was about the aftermath of a school shooting and how it affected everyone involved. There was also a love story mixed in as well.

I want to start off by saying that school shooting books really fascinate me for so many reasons. I think the main reason is that I often wonder what made a child commit such a heinous act. Were they bullied? Did they get abused when they were younger? Where were the parents? What made them snap? It really makes you think how can it have been prevented. These kids are so young and their brains are not fully formed yet. Now back to the book. This was a beautifully well written book that pulled at every emotion imaginable. I didn’t know I could shed that many tears and find so much joy in just one book. This book had it all. It showed what it was like dealing with the aftermath of a school shooting but it did have a love story connected to it. I really felt for May and what she went through losing her brother and how she felt responsible. It was like I was right there in the closet with her. The emotions were very real. I also liked the connection she had with Zach. It was her first real connection either one of them had since the school shooting occurred. How their lives intertwined was crucial to this story. I loved at the end how finally some healing began after such a terrible tragedy. I would definitely recommend this book.

Between the plot, characters and all the twists in this book it made it an easy and fast read. I would definitely recommend it and happily give it 5 Hearts❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

The Lucky Ones, by Liz Lawson, is a heartbreaking glimpse into the aftermath of a school shooting and the impact of those left behind but it is also a story of hope and love in the midst of despair. May, the tough, angst-ridden high school senior, is force to attend a new high school when administrators decide to discontinue school at their original campus in the wake of the tragedy. Losing her twin-brother and barely escaping with her life, May is angry, grief-stricken and confused. Meeting Zach, the cute guy in her drama class, awakens something in her.

But it is more complicated than that. Zach's mom, a criminal defense attorney, is the defense attorney for the perpetrator. Zach and his sister have been largely ostracized once word got out. May, shutting everyone else out, is on thin ice of her own at school. Both May and Zach have something in common outside of the shooting-their family lives are tenuous a best and highly dysfunctional at worst. They gravitate towards each other but when more truths come out how can they continue? That question and more are answered in this startling, honest YA novel.

At first the teenagers read as a little too...much. Too stereotypical, trying too hard to identify them as xennials with both jargon and action. However, as time goes on, they become more realistic and ultimately more likeable. There is a lot of heartbreak and devastation in this novel and for those who are triggered by the violence and theme of the novel should be aware but it is ultimately a story of survival. Overall I really enjoyed this story-it is tough to read sometimes but it is also frankly honest and thought provoking.

Thank you to NetGalley ,the writer and publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

WARNING: Tough subject of school shootings discussed.


Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!


Lawson illustrates a world affected by a school shooting, including the close family, friends, school members and the unlikely victim of the lawyer’s son who has to deal with his mother hired on behalf of the shooter. Readers are shown the emotional and physical affects with a close-up of a survivor, May, whose twin brother was killed in the shooting. By coincidence of the heart and school scheduling, May and Zach, the lawyer’s son, are drawn to one another. Each of their stories unravel and truths are revealed. Well written story and unfortunately, very topic in the world we live in.

Before I get into my review, I wanted to share why exactly I was so interested in this book. On January 23, 2018 there was a shooting at my local high school, the one I graduated from just a few years prior. Seventeen people were injured and two were killed. When you hear about these awful events on the news, you never think that it could happen so close to home, or at least that’s what I thought. I can’t even begin to imagine what it was like to be in the school on that day. I wanted to read The Lucky Ones in hopes that I could share this story with those that need it the most. The people in my community who are still struggling with what they went through. The people who need a little hope.

In The Lucky Ones we follow the lives of two teens after a horrific school shooting. May survived, but her twin brother didn’t. Zach’s mother is the lawyer for the shooter.

What an intense, heartbreaking and important story. It will rip your heart out and shake you to your core. There were definitely a few times when I had to put the book down because I needed a breather. I appreciate that the author decided to focus not on the shooting itself, but everything that happens after. The part that no one ever sees. The lives that were changed forever.

The Lucky Ones really explores grief and loss. Liz Lawson did a wonderful job showing that everyone grieves differently, there is no right way. The pain that May has is unbearable. Her world was completely flipped upside down. Everything that she once knew is gone. She has no much built up inside and it shows itself as destructive anger. Zach has felt loss of a different kind. He has been alienated by his friends and classmates because his mom chose to represent the shooter. He feels so isolated. These two characters have very different stories but once they meet, they are able to open up to one another. They can be vulnerable in a way that they haven’t been able to do. It was beautiful to see them, especially May, grow throughout the book.

Overall, The Lucky Ones was incredible. It comes with a lot of sad, but it also is very hopeful. Healing takes time and patience, but it will happen. When this book is released on April 7th, I highly encourage you to pick it up. It is a story that we all need to read.

Wow, this book packs a punch. I will be thinking about this book for a long time! I was completely drawn into May and Zach's lives. Their lives were both changed in different ways by the same tragedy. The Lucky Ones is a beautiful heart wrenching story of friendship and love in the wake of a tragedy. I loved love this book with all my heart.

I couldn’t decide if I wanted to give this book 3 or 4 stars but I ultimately decided on 4 because I think it ended pretty strongly.

I want to start by saying that mass shootings are one of my biggest fears and I hate that they’re something that have become so normalized in the lives of Americans that they are something we have to constantly be worried about when we go out in public. This book is about a girl that is the only survivor from the room where a school shooting happens and a boy that’s mom is the defense attorney for the shooter. Both May and Zach are dealing with the trauma a year after the shooting.

I had a really hard time connecting with both May and Zach in different ways and while I felt horrible for the situations that they were in, I found them both to be really unlikable. I understand why they would be because of all they’d been through but I just didn’t really like either of them until the end. Although I didn’t connect to them, I was rooting for them to make it through their grief and I was so sad for everything they went through. I especially can’t imagine the pain, grief, and regret that May was dealing with after being the only survivor and losing her twin brother and I was hoping she would be able to realize that it wasn’t her fault.

Overall, I think the book was good and it kept me hooked! Even though the characters didn’t click with me through most of the book, I’m glad they were going down a path of healing at the end and I hope that they’re both able to live good lives!

This may seem like a simple "what happens after a school shooting" story, but I didn't expect to catch any feelings like this. May is a survivor of a school shooting, after her school shuts down due to the shooting,she is transferred to another high school. There she meets Zach, the son of the attorney defending the shooter.

This story goes through events that happened the day of, days before, and a year after. It goes through how many people are affected by such a tragic event. Including some most people dont think about.

This was a good read, if you can handle this type of story, please read it.

How do you put yourself back together when it seems like you've lost it all?

May is the only one who walked out of band practice that day. The day a classmate shot her twin brother, and everyone else in the classroom. Why did she survive when no one else did? No one could possibly understand her anger and guilt.

Zach’s mother is the shooter’s lawyer. His life has been made miserable because of it. Now he and May’s lives are intertwining. Maybe the two most unlikely people to be in a room together are the only ones who can help each other learn to live again...

This book broke my heart into a million pieces. Yet for every broken piece, a glimmer of hope shone through. For May. For Zach. For their families and friends, all touched in some way by what happened. That maybe, the ones lucky to survive aren’t living for themselves, but to carry on the memories of the ones lost, and that it’s okay to hope again.

I was homeschooled, so I was never at a public school until I went to college. Never had to live with that fear that going into what should be a safe place could end up with me being on the wrong end of a weapon. My heart goes out to every single adult, child or teenager who has been in this situation. I was eight years old when Columbine happened. There’s never a right age to learn about these sort of events. It sticks with you, even as a little kid learning about it on the news.

While The Lucky Ones deals with loss of life and anger and survivor’s guilt, it also shows the beauty in learning to live again, even if it feels like you can’t.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read The Lucky Ones as an eARC in exchange for a honest review.