Delacorte Press and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of The Lucky Ones. I voluntarily chose to review this novel and my opinion is freely given.

May survived a school shooting, but does not feel lucky. Losing her twin brother, her friends, and her favorite teacher has made May feel tremendous guilt and anger. Though it has been only a year, will May find a way to leave her feelings behind and move forward?

Zach has feelings of tremendous guilt, but it is because of his mother. As the lawyer in charge of defending the school shooter, his mother has made life at exceedingly difficult for Zach and his sister. When Zach meets May, will the pair be able to put aside their differences and focus on a future?

Liz Lawson says it best in her Author's Note: "The lucky ones who are haunted by what they've faced and by what they have yet to face. The human beings who are collateral damage of these shootings, who have had their lives ripped out from under them, split open, used for media fodder, and then forgotten when the world moves on." I like the fact that the author chose to focus on the aftermath of the shooting instead of the actual event. Readers learn enough of the story and do not need the graphic detail. May's suffering and pain seems real, especially in the description of the panic attacks. There were holes in this story, however, that hold The Lucky Ones back from being great. Without getting into specifics, the shooter is given leeway that is just not realistic. May gets herself into situations and it seems impossible that she is not found out. Overall, The Lucky Ones is very timely and involves a situation which is all too common in today's society. Parents should read this book with their teens, as it can provide a jumping off point for real conversation.

I have mixed feelings about books centered on school shootings in general. On the one had, this has become a part of our culture, an experience that will be a part of many people's lives, something that weighs heavily on the minds of young readers. On the other hand, they can be kind of exploitative. I will grant Lawson this: we've got a unique perspective here. Not May. The twin grieving a sibling she fought with, with parents blinded by their own grief. That's become a fairly standard character. Zach, though is interesting. We see the affects of his mother's decision to defend the shooter and the relationships directly destroyed as well as the distance he's forcing, the self sabatoge.

May is a survivor. She is the "lucky one". A school shooter took the lives of her classmates, friends and twin brother. May is filled with guilt, rage and anger. Her family is falling apart, she's lost friends and has been expelled from school due to her behavior. Her only friend left is, Lucy.

Zack's mother is defending the school shooter and as a result of this his friends have alienated him, his girlfriend dumped him and with the exception of his one friend, Connor he is all alone. His mom is never home, his dad is distance and just sits around at home in his pajamas. Connor is caring for his sister all on his own and someone keeps vandalizing his home.

May and Zack's paths cross and then form a strong bond but once Maya discovers who Zack is she lashes out in anger and is forced to revisit the guilt and rage she feels, while Zack is left to once again deal with the ramifications of his mother's choice to defend a killer.

The Lucky Ones is told in point of view fashion, giving perspectives from May and Zack. This is one story of many about gun violence in our schools and society but this one shows what it's like to be the child of someone who defends a hated person and how it effects their lives and mental state.

This story isn't all heartache and grief as with real life there are moments of laughter and happiness. There are also secrets and profound grief but Lawson deals with it sympathetic and multidimensional way.

This is May's story. It's about hope, love and grief.

* I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, this book is heavy. And beautiful and hard to read. We follow May, who's twin brother was killed during a school shooting almost a year ago. May is the only one that was in the room and survived. We follow her anger and guilt towards herself, towards others grieving around her, towards the woman now defending the shooter.

Like I said, this is a heavy book. I'm 50/50 on some of what the adults' decisions were but at the same time, I recognize what Liz Lawson was doing with them. Almost all of the adults that are involved in this story are also going through grief in their own ways, or have something else going on in their personal lives that don't revolve around their children. While I recognize that this is often the case, I struggled especially with the adults working in the school that made no attempt to get our main characters (especially May) any extra help.

Perhaps this comes from my background in working in residential treatment, but it surprised me that May was never told she needed more intense treatment. There is some mention of therapy that she refused to talk in but it just didn't seem like enough to me. There was no talk of treatment for the family (parents included) who lost May's twin. I wish that could've been more prevalent in the story.

That being said, I loved this book a lot and finished it in tears. Please go into the story making sure you can handle the content. It's intense but beautiful if you're ready for it.

May lived through the school shooting that killed her twin brother and everyone else in the band room. Zach's mother is the lawyer who has decided to defend the shooter. Both teens are struggling with the aftermath and barely holding it together. When the pair meet at a band audition, they start to figure out that maybe they can survive their losses.

I'm not crying, you are.

One year ago, May McGintee lost her twin brother in a school shooting and is living with guilt after being in the same room as her brother died. Those who survived that day are The Lucky Ones. This novel is a raw insight into the grieving process of a teenager who survived a school shooting and feels at fault. With no one to turn to but her closest friend, who just doesn't get it, May turns to anger and violence to cope with her mourning and mental health.

But, some light shines into her world when she meets Zach, a boy in her drama class at a band audition. However, little does May know, Zach is the son of the lawyer taking on the shooter's case and she's been vandalizing the woman's home for months.

May was such a complex character with a unique voice and I felt for her. I'm prone to reading books about grief because it's something everyone goes through at some point in their lives and everyone copes with grief differently. In May's experience, she goes through waves of survivor guilt leading to panic attacks and depressive and coping through aggressive episodes. Zach comes into May's life at the perfect moment and not just because he's the love interest. I appreciated that their romance wasn't forced insta-love as it was more of a love at first sight, but Zach doesn't cure May of any of her mental health disorders and she's still mourning and coping.

Zach was my favorite character because he was funny and didn't take sh*t from anyone.

I usually crave a story with good parents who communicate with their children, but in this story, I enjoyed the different angle Lawson took - it wasn't just teens being angsty and hating/resenting their parents, it was much deeper. For one, Zach resents his parents because he's not able to live a "normal teen life" because his father is clinically depressed and his mother is at the office day and night. Zach has had to provide for his fourteen-year-old sister, Gwen like going out to buy groceries. As well as being the victim of bullying at school since their mother took the shooter's case. Meanwhile, May's house is always silent, in between the rare occurrence that her father is home from work; directing a film.

This was a great book about the grieving process and the justice system.

5/5 stars..

WOW... where do i start...
This book is about a girl who survived a school shooting being the only girl who survived out of the people in the classroom the shooter targetted she lost her twin brother so now she has to live everyday with the PTSD and everything from that day.

Then she meets a guy who might not be a good idea seeing as his mother is the lawyer fighting the case for the school shooter.

This book had so much emotion and it was super powerful

it gave me very 13 reasons why vibes being in a highschool etc

This was such an amazing book and im so glad i was sent an ARC for it.. This author should be proud of her work because this book was super moving.

If you are into YA/Romance/ A moving book this is a good book seeing as this goes on in our world alot so as i read it i just kept thinking of all the people who have experienced this and i cant imagine. Overall this book was a 5 stars!!

Reasons To Read The Lucky Ones
*Heartbreaking
The Lucky Ones seriously ripped my heart out. It was inevitable given the subject matter, but it was even worse because I related so much. I’ve fortunately never been a victim or survivor of a school shooting but I’ve definitely said things I’ve regret. Like May, I’ve had those things repeat in my head. Like May, I’ve gone down self-destructive paths.

*Angry Girl
May is one of my favorite main characters ever. I’m pretty sure it’s because that I could just feel for her so much. She grew up in her brother’s shadow essentially as he was the more gifted one. Before the start of the book, we learn that May’s been feeling angry for a while. This wasn’t brought on just because she lost her brother, but also because of her upbringing. She does things that you may not agree with but can understand.

*Best Friend Goals
I loved loved loved Lucy so freaking much. I just want to bottle her up and carry her around with me. Okay, that sounds weird and extreme. Lucy was so supportive of May and looking out for her a lot. Even when May didn’t like it.

The Lucky Ones will hurt you and show you there’s healing.

Not a bad book. I read through it very quickly - it was very captivating. I feel like there are other shooting books that do this story a bit better, and I thought the romance portion of this book was going just a bit overboard. What shone most, though, was the communication that these two characters ended up having with each other. In their strife, they listen to each other, trying to understand the point of view of an enemy, and it’s something that not many YA books do, so that was appreciated.

“The Lucky Ones is a book about what happens after the news cameras leave and the reporters stop calling.” May McGintee is a “lucky one,” though she feels like anything but lucky. Wracked by PTSD, May is also angry. She’s the only survivor to walk out of the band room on the day when her twin brother and closest friends are killed during a school shooting. Feeling guilt, an immense amount of loss, as well as constantly fearing for her safety, no one could possibly understand how May feels - even after eleven months and therapy sessions. She finds ways to process her anger, but others see them as destructive. Zach’s life hasn’t been the same for the last eleven months either but for a very different reason. Zach is angry too. As a result of his mom’s decision, he lost everything, and his home, the only place he can be himself, is being vandalized. It doesn’t help that his mom is never home, and his dad is an absent parent, barely able to get himself out of bed or even get dressed. Zach and May each have one friend that sticks with them through everything. With their support, Zach and May just might be able to find a way to move forward.

THOUGHTS: This book tackles a heavy topic, well-covered in the young adult genre, but the fresh approach of looking at the aftermath when news cameras have moved onto the next big story gives this debut a worthy spot in high school libraries.

By the end, this was a very emotional read, but it wasn't overwhelmingly memorable. May is an incredibly unlikable narrator, but I kind of appreciated that about her. This is a book that I can see specific teens enjoying and relating to, but the writing just wasn't as strong as I would've liked.

This book is perfect for fans of Courtney Summers. I love a YA book with a female narrator who is "frustrating" or "annoying." I love it when books like this give female narrators self-destructive tendencies. It's so realistic. Girls are complicated, and I love it when books reflect that.

Typically, girls are perfectionists. Especially, with their emotions. We like to control how we feel at any given point. The reason why I love The Lucky Ones is because we have a narrator, May, that is absolutely unhinged in her emotions. It can be so destructive and paralyzing as a teen when you realize you can't control your emotions or anxiety.

Teens are rising up and talking about school shootings and gun control. Now more than ever, which makes books like The Lucky Ones very important. YA literature is all about engaging teens in lives that are different from their own. This book will provide a lot of thought in teens who haven't been thinking about gun control or the impact school shooting could have on their lives and communities.

I absolutely loved this book. I loved everything about it. I can't wait to read more from Liz Lawson.

There is only one thing that rubbed me the wrong way. In the later scenes of the book. Zach is talking to his mom about his reconciling with his father. She says something along the lines of "he just wants to be your friend." I hate this narrative. Kids do not need to be friends with their parents. They should only ever be kids. Being a friend to your parent can spark a lot of toxic behavior on the parent's part, and that isn't something I want young teens to read.

Literally this one sentence was my only problem with the book. It was phenomenal.

BIG topics covered in this novel. The repercussions of a school shooting and how decisions made by parents have a direct effect on their children.

I felt like all of the characters were very real. May is suffering from survivors guilt and the fact that her relationship with her brother wasn't great when he died. They had a completely standard sibling fight, but they were never able to make up, which made it so heartbreaking. May was angry, because of everything that happened but she softened around her friends.

I really liked the scene where Lucy accuses May of not letting other people grieve, because I was kind of thinking that too. However, I also liked that May didn't immediately apologize. It took her a little bit longer to realize her mistakes, but she does.

Something that May and Zach have in common is that their parents aren't there for them. May's parents made her feel like the "spare" since she was little, so when her brother is killed and she is left alive she can't help but feel like her parents wish it was the opposite. Their grief process includes ignoring her, which encourages May to think they don't care about her as much as her brother. Zach's mom decided to defend the school shooter, making everyone in school turn on him. He goes from being a pretty popular kid to someone who just wants to blend into the background. And his dad's mid-life crisis forces Zach to become the only adult figure for his sister.

May and Zach have to deal with their own lives, which look completely different than they did a year ago, and the realization that their parents are people too, and they're not always right or reliable.

I think this book is really important. It covers very serious topics, some more relatable to readers to others, but all include something you can learn from. School shootings are something most people see on the news for a day and then move on from. This novel reminds us that terrible events like that don't last a day and that the people who survive them and are deemed "lucky" end up suffering for much longer.

Growing up as a child of the seventies-eighties school shootings were unheard of.
The only drills we practiced were fires or tornadoes. Our biggest “enemy” may have been a Russian invasion,
a la “Red Dawn”, or drugs.
It was nothing like the reality our children, & grandchildren, face today.
School shootings happen far too often.

When I spotted “The Lucky Ones” on NetGalley, it caught my attention with the pretty
cover and interesting blurb. I knew it would be an emotional read.

In all honesty, the beginning was hard... I debating whether or not to continue reading ~
obviously, I did or I wouldn't be writing this review. : )

The story is told from the POV of the two main characters ~ May and Zach.
Eleven months after this tragedy, and they're dealing with the continued fallout.
May was pricklier than a cactus and filled with so many emotions.
Then we have Zach, a bit more subdued but not drama free.
For better, or worse, these two form a connection {not insta-love}

Naturally, I'm not going into great detail and keeping this review spoiler free.

I would have enjoyed more side character development...
Lucy seemed to be an important friend, but I didn't feel like we learned she was close to Jordan until way
into the story. There were other bits I would have liked to see fleshed out, this gal loves details and backstories.

One thing I didn't like... every parent/adult was portrayed as awful or bumbling fools.
Might have been nice to have one supportive adult in the bunch.
Simply, someone May or Zach could have turned to for the help they needed.
It felt like every single one flaked out, and it made this mama's heart ache.

As with life, things didn't wrap up perfectly ~ those small steps were a start!
I felt hopeful, watching those seeds of healing being planted.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and flew thru the kindle pages in one day.

I'll be keeping my eye on future works by Ms. Lawson!


I received this electronic book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this opportunity!

May is a survivor of a school shooting and after being homeschooled for a bit, she is now returning to back to school but going to a new school where she mets Zach. Zach's mother is a lawyer, defending the school shooter. Despite this, a friendship blooms between the two of them, partly because of their respective best friends joining a band together.

I stayed up until 2a.m reading this book, I could not put it down! It definitely had me tearing up at a few points. This book deals with a very serious subject matter and I feel like it dealt with everything everything very delicately and accurately. All the character's felt realistic and I especially loved Lucy, May's best friend.

The Lucky Ones by Liz Lawson is a powerful story of the aftermath of a school shooting. We follow a girl, May, who's brother past because of the school shooting. This story is really about May and hows she's handling her life. What her grief looks like. I do have to say that I really like how Liz Lawson wrote May, she feels real; she is angry, guilty, overwelled. Her feelings felt real, not over the top, not pushy, but real. Like, if I were in her shoes, I would feel the same way she is. I was surprised by the relationship between the characters, going in I thought it was going to be more about the shooting, but it's not, it's about May's and her current relationships. It's about the people in her life now, old and new people, and her leaning to continue her life. This story is also about judging people because of their parents. We meet Zach and his mother who's defending the shooter who killed May's brother. We seem how people can judge people because of other people in their lives, and I enjoyed how Liz developed that role. I really enjoyed Zach's relationship between him and his younger sister, I always down for a good sibling plot. Overall, this is a moving story that I haven't read anything like this. It really made me stop and think that this is something we have to think about & deal with in today's world, that shatters my heart. I can't wait to read more by Liz

(This review is in Double the Books Magazine and on my blog)

The Lucky Ones is about the survivors of a mass school shooting. Particularly, it is duel narrated by May- whose twin brother was killed in the shooting- and by Zach - whose mom is the lawyer defending the shooter. The story follows their lives about a year after the shooting.

The overall tone of the book is dark, traumatic, and grief-stricken. May’s character is so angry, you can feel that anger radiating from the page. Without saying too much about the story- I loved May’s character development. Her walk through grief felt intensely real.

However, I wasn’t fond of May’s relationship with Zach. I didn’t think she needed a love-type relationship and would’ve preferred it if they were just friends instead. Zach reminded me of some sort of Prince Charming coming to sweep away the Princess and solve all her problems and I was just not into it. I felt like May was stronger than that and her best friend Lucy deserved more credit and frankly, more page time.

This is a heartbreaking but timely book. If you liked This Is How It Ends, definitely pick this up.

Thank You Netgalley for providing an ARC of this book for an honest review.

The Lucky Ones by Liz Lawson is beautiful storytelling
The Lucky Ones by Liz Lawson was flawless. The story Lawson narrates is empathetic and unapologetically sincere. An eye-opener to those who’ve only experienced gun violence from afar.

The Lucky Ones takes place eleven months after a school shooting. After the news cycle and spectators have moved on, survivors are reeling, trying to recover life after immense loss. Whether it was family, friends, or innocence, everybody lost something that day.

May & Zach
May is unable to move on. She is haunted by the events of that day and has latched on to her survivor’s guilt after losing her brother in the school shooting. Zach lost some of his closest relationships after his mom, a lawyer, decided to represent the shooter. He has become recluse.

“And I have to be silent and I have to be quiet and my throat is raw from holding it all in; my entire body aches from holding it all in. And then the door slowly swings open and light pours in and it seems so wrong to see light again.” -May
When May and Zach meet, they had stopped living, but their developing affinity seems to start bringing them back to life. As their story develops, you can almost see a little flame of hope slowly catching strength.

Contrary to what you would expect from a typical YA novel, this is not a modern-day Romeo and Juliette. When I started reading, I was afraid that is where the book was going. And truthfully, a fictional story of cross-starred lovers in the aftermath of a school shooting is not a story I want to read. Thankfully, the book acknowledges the similarity and quickly shuts it down. I kept reading, and I found that The Lucky Ones by Liz Lawson is not a love story in the traditional sense, but it is a story about love. All kinds of love. Family and friendship love. Because, as we have all heard, love is patient and love is kind. Love tempers violence.

The best part of this book is that the chapters alternate perspective between May and Zach, so we get to know them both pretty well. Lawson knew this was the only way to do this story justice. Thanks to this, we are privy to their innermost thoughts and get a first-row seat on their journey through healing. And, through tears and laughter, we root for them.

Go buy it now!
This story beautiful, compelling, thoughtful, and also a bit unexpected.

It makes you think about all the real “lucky ones,” “the leftovers” or survivors after school shootings such as May and Zach. Let’s not forget about them. Let’s not be spectators to violence. We need to support survivors long past the features in the news cycle. We need to talk about mental health, not only to help survivors recover but also to avoid more tragedies in the future.

The Lucky Ones by Liz Lawson will be released on April 7, 2020.

Content Alert: The book describes scenes of a school shooting.

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

Following the aftermath of a school shooting, May feels alone and lost. Especially since she was the only one who got to walk out of the band room alive while her twin brother, her favorite teacher, and several other of her classmates are killed. Meanwhile, Zach's life is also falling apart ever since his mom defended the shooter leading to him becoming an outcast at school. By chance, May and Zach meet each other and over time, a friendship develops in which they learn to cope with their pasts.

I wasn't a big fan of the characters here which made it a bit difficult to get invested in the plot. Although May's reactions and emotions are valid and understandable, she often uses her trauma to play the victim card whenever she's called out for her manipulative and self-centered actions. Zach isn't much better, he's basically just trying to pursue a relationship with her and even goes so far as obsessively thinking about kissing her when May is expressing her feelings about her brother's death. The romance was so forced here with very little chemistry. I really wish that Zach's mom had more page time (that's a thing right?) to explain why she did what she did. For a book about gun violence, this book barely covered the politics or debates on the matter. However, mental health and the survivor's guilt were explored quite extensively- a decent representation but not a very good portrayal.

The only highlight of this book was Lucy, of whom May definitely did not deserve and totally rocked as a best friend. Honestly, she felt so underappreciated throughout the entire book and I loved her despite all the other "meh" characters.

Overall not a terrible book but I wasn't too impressed by its execution.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press publishers for providing a free ARC

Liz Lawson's debut, THE LUCKY ONES centers around two teens, May, a survivor of a school shooting that took the life of her twin brother, and Zach, the son of the attorney who is representing the killer. Through a myriad of circumstances, these two broken characters come together and embark on a journey of pain, heartache, and healing.

This was a hard one to get through, for a number of obvious reasons. I've read books with heavy subject matter before, but none so current as this. I think Lawson did exceptionally well at capturing the pain survivors experience, on top of the pain and heartache every teenager goes through in high school . . . almost to a fault. The angst and anger both May and Zach expressed throughout the duration of the book was overwhelming. Understandably so, but I found the constant anger, bitterness to be distracting and frankly too much. I kept having to put the book down and consider giving up on it, but I kept attacking it bit after bit, trying to get to the meat of the story. It was a very character-driven story wound up in emotional trauma with characters that were a little hard to like and relate to.

We're dealing with the aftermath of a school shooting, before a trial has begun, centered around the point of view of a survivor. That's heavy stuff, and I think Lawson did a good job of handling it, without getting too political in the narrative. The focus was spent on the emotional toll of being a survivor, of the bullying accompanied with being indirectly part of the trial. While both characters come to the end of the book still angry at the world, at the cards they've been dealt, it ends with that positive note of happiness and healing and hope. Which I think we all need.

THE LUCKY ONES tackles a difficult subject and handles it exceptionally well. I think it's a novel that is reflective of our society and how we handle with emotional trauma and stress, and gives incredible insight into what the life of our teens are like in such a day and age. I don't recommend this for everyone as it deals with heavy language and heavy subject matter, but I think it's an important read for many.

3/5 stars