Lexi and Jake, a struggling middle class couple with two children, have won the lottery. Millions and millions are theirs. The can buy anything they want. But when they are presented with the check, and after Jake has already purchased a Ferrari, their best friends object. Carla and Patrick, Jennifer and Fred come forward to say that all three couples have been part of a syndicate that has bought lottery tickets together for fifteen years. They want their share. So begins Just my Luck, a suspenseful domestic thriller by Adele Parks.

Lexi, a counselor at the Citizens Advice Bureau, loves her job and is helping Toma Albu, an immigrant who lost his family in a tragic accident. While she considers buying a new sofa with her newfound wealth and donating to charity, Jake and his teenage children Emily and Logan, have fallen down the rabbit hole of greed. Clothing, expensive sporting equipment and handbags, planned trips and limousines are all consuming as the legal challenges to the win mount. Soon Lexi will learn something that will rock her marriage, she and her children will be threatened and there will be a shocking act of betrayal and an equally shocking conclusion.

There are so many things that resonate in Just my Luck. The simple goodness of Toma. The fickle nature of friendship. The cruelty of teenagers. Greed. Revenge. All this and more make this a 5 star read.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harleqquin and Adle Parks for this ARC.

Just My Luck opens with Lexi and Jake winning the lottery. They can’t believe their luck. But it’s also kind of tainted. Because their best friends who they normally buy a lottery ticket with ducked out of their lottery pool just a couple days before the big win. Now Lexi is one of those characters in a book that you can totally relate to. She’s down to earth, her heart is in the right place, she’s a decent mom and a good person. And as we get to know the other friends in the group, it made me like Lexi even more!

The three wives met in a birthing class fifteen years earlier. So as their children have grown up together, the women have shared so much. Their husbands are just a part of the friendship deal (as often happens), but everything seems to get on fairly well. And of course when they started out the friendship, they were all the same. But slowly, as the years went by, the couples started to change and grow apart. But their children remained best friends so they still seemed to have enough in common.

Then there’s a big fight and just days later, Lexi and Jake have won the lottery. So what really happened? And what’s really going on in the group? Just My Luck is a story that looks into how ugly money can be. And how a huge financial windfall can really bring out the worst in people. I found the book to be compulsively readable. I loved Lexi, but found her husband to kind of be a buffoon! And that happens in life. I recommend this book to fans of Lisa Jewell and Shari Lapena.

Special thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin for a free e-galley in exchange for my honest review. My review will be LIVE on my blog, Women in Trouble Book Blog on March 20, 2021.

Another winner of a thriller from Adele Parks. A group of friends win a pooled lottery ticket and things go south from there. Lies, broken alliances, and mistrust make you want to race to the end. Fabulous.

One of my favorite reads this year! I absolutely love this author and this is probably my favorite of hers so far. It was twisted and dark and kept me guessing and coming up with theories. So good!

This may have been my first Adele Parks novel, but it definitely won't be my last. Wow. What a read! Lexi and Jake are a (mostly) happily married couple with two teenage children. Their lives are filled with work, family, and friends...specifically their two couples' friends, the Heathcotes and Pearsons. Every Saturday for as long as Lexi can remember, the six of them have gotten together for dinner, drinks, and fun. Along with the camaraderie, the friends always split a weekly lotto ticket, dreaming of what they would all do if they ever won. It was always a pipe dream....until it wasn't. Lexi and Jake shockingly find themselves at the end of a winning lotto ticket. Sounds great, right? Problem is, Lexi and Jake had a falling out with their friends the week before, and the friends pulled out of the lotto game. That means Lexi and Jake are the sole recipients of almost 18 million bucks....or are they?

As we know, where money is involved, things can get ugly quickly. The Heathcotes and the Pearsons soon come forward, claiming that they never backed out of the game, and are therefore entitled to a cut. And soon the trouble begins. Lexi and Jake soon find themselves dealing with the dark side of extreme, unexpected wealth. Secrets are revealed, infidelities are brought to light, and deceptions become the norm. It all comes to a head when Lexi and Jake's children become viciously targeted. Will they be able to be saved in time, before the unthinkable happens? "Just My Luck" is a look at the sinister side of money, and the evil it can perpetuate when placed into the wrong hands.

Just My Luck is a wild cautionary tale of the power of greed that comes with new found wealth.

Lexi and Jake and their two kids are a middle class family in the UK who dream of one day winning big. For fifteen years they've been playing the lottery with their best friends until one day, the two other couples pull out. A week later, Lexi and Jake's dream comes true and they've won. Unfortunately, winning may not be the godsend they think it is.

Wow, this story was a dark thrill ride. I was constantly internally yelling at the characters for such foolish mistakes but I couldn't put it down. Lexi was a sympathetic character though there were times I found her too frustrating. The other adults were just plain awful but that was the point. Though I had suspicions of what the ending was going to be, it was still pretty shocking. It definitely makes me think twice about winning the lottery. Would it actually be a miracle or a nightmare?

TW: assault, violence, miscarriage's

I loved Parks' previous book, but this one just didn't hit the nail on the head for me. While I enjoyed the idea of the book, I felt complete apathy toward the characters; I really need to either love a character or hate a character to stay drawn in. I understand this genre is more about the plot than focusing on character-driven elements, but the latter left much to be desired. I will try again with her next book.

Awww the lottery!
For fifteen years best friends ~ Lexi, Jake, Carla, Patrick, Jennifer and Fred have played the same six numbers in the weekly lottery. Although dreaming that one day they may win, they never thought they would. Yep they finally won17.8 million pounds (=$25,121,140.00 in US dollars).
Well not THEY because Carla & Patrick as well as Jennifer & Fred decide they have been doing this long enough and decide to pull out. Yikes!!! Yep there is a lot of drama connected to this!

There are so many unlikeable nasty characters in this story. Needless to say ~ large about of money brings out the worst in everyone.
This was a 3 for me but the ending was a BIG twist ~ I did NOT see that coming! So I am bumping up my original thoughts from 3 to ⭐⭐⭐.5

Want to thank NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing (US & Canada) for this early release granted to for an honest professional review.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for April 6, 2021

This book covered all of my requirements for a good story. It had an interesting, different than the typical PI book I have been recently reading, exciting plot and unexpected ending.

Into the domestic noir category comes a story of friendship ruined by money.

Friends for years, Lexi and Jake have been playing the lottery with their friends, couples the Pearsons and the Heathcotes. But when a falling out happens, Lexi and Jake strike it rich on the lottery and now their friends want their cut too, after all, they had been playing those numbers together for many years. Why shouldn't they get their share? As Lexi, Jake and their kids come to grips with winning that much money, their family dynamic begins to crack and their personalities begin to change. Is money going to ruin not only their friendships but their family as well?

With a bunch of nasty characters and someone wanting to do right, this a story that makes you think about how quickly people can change, especially over money.

This book was really hard to get into and stay focused on the characters and their story. After Lexi and Jake find out they win the lottery, things start to go downhill. I found the characters way too obsessed with money and spending it so frivolously. I didn't like any of them. Even Lexi, who has a kind heart and has built her life as a social worker helping those less fortunate, just lets her family (well mostly her husband Jake) just walk all over her. I was extremely disappointed with the ending and felt like nothing was ever really fully resolved. 2.5 stars.

I couldn't put this book down. There were many twists and lots of action. It was nice that it dealt with both the positives and negatives that come with a big lottery win. Many people only focus on the positives and forget that there can be negatives. This was my second book by Adele Parks and it definitely won't be my last.

This was an odd story. Lexi and Jake won the lottery; however, this turned their life upside down and not in a good way. It's as expected for anyone who comes into a large amount of money. The mystery as to why they can't tell anyone about this money is subpar. It was an okay read.

Thank you to HARLEQUIN – Trade Publishing (U.S. & Canada) and NetGalley for letting me read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was about a bunch of friends who played the lottery every week and one day, they won! Their friendships suffered among other horrible things that went on and the twist at the end - holy cow, I did not see this coming! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book in exchange for my honest review.

Just My Luck is oddly compelling...I really wanted to know what this cracked out family was going to do with all that money.

Unfortunately, that's about the only positive I can think of looking back at this book. Told primarily through Lexi's (the mother) and Emily's (the daughter) points of view, it was absolutely exploding with long passages of internal dialogue. Those sections bored me to tears. I can't say that any of the characters had redeeming qualities. It was literally one of those cases where I was sitting here thinking, "Hmmm, I need somebody to root for here, so who do I hate the least?"

My super organized and ultra compulsive self became anxious every time I started reading. Days into getting the money and this family was blowing endlessly through it, with zero checks and balances, handing it out to random people, and just being terribly irresponsible. I was annoyed at all of them throughout 99% of the story.

Admittedly, there was one twist I didn't see coming at the end, which helped me like Lexi a bit more...the rest were of the twists quite obvious. Bottom line, I simply can't champion this book.

It looks like Just My Luck is already available, and has been for awhile, so I'm guessing my ARC is for the re-release, which is scheduled April 6, 2021.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin for my review copy.

While I love the premise of this book, I had trouble getting into it. I didn't really connect with the characters, and though sometimes I can get sucked into a story despite that, this wasn't one of those times. However, like other reviewers noted, this book really did make me think, and I definitely want to try more by this author.

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin for an advanced copy of Just My Luck. I have to say this took awhile to get into. The husband was such an unlikable character right from the beginning. There seemed to be a lot going on and with no meaning BUT then all of a sudden things started to make sense around 74%. Very good twists were happening, the ending put a smile to my face, the main character outwitted them all. I liked it, it was a good read.

In this novel we are introduced to a group of friends. Sometimes they lie to one another, hide secrets from one another. I mean what could go wrong right? There is Jake and Lexi, a married couple with two children. Then there is their married friends Jennifer and Fred. One day Jennifer and Fred lie to Jake and Lexi, saying they are going away for the weekend, when in fact they stayed in their home. Jake and Lexi find out that their friends had lied to them, but why would they do such a thing? A bunch of friends who were close then suddenly start drifting apart. So many lies, betrayals, deception and envy.

I enjoyed the multiple POV's in this novel. It was interesting and fun to get different perspectives and see different sides to the stories. With so many twists and turns, this novel will have you guessing and sitting on the edge of your seat. 

An intriguing novel that was enjoyable and one I recommend.

This book ended up exceeding my expectations. It was an interesting plot with really well developed characters. It was slow in some parts and I didn’t really get the ending. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy in exchange for review.

Having read a previous book by this author, I really looked forward to this one. Although the characterization is brilliant, the plot is rather predictable and blah at points. Lexi and Jake win a lottery worth over seventeen million pounds and their lives begin to change almost immediately. The first problem is with their long-term friends who have always played the lottery with them. However, this last time, when they won, the friends had argued and backed out of playing. Now, though, of course, they want a share, saying that Lexi and Jake are lying about them leaving the “syndicate.” I think that the saddest part of how the money affected the family was how greedy Jake and teen Emily were. They couldn’t spend the money fast enough, and I was very disappointed that Lexi did nothing to try to halt their erratic behavior. I did like the sub-plot about Toma, an immigrant down on his luck and a tragic victim of an unscrupulous landlord. Since Lexi’s job is helping people like Toma, she wants to be more practical and do some good with some of the winnings. She also wants to continue to live their regular lives, with a few luxuries, but she seems totally unable to stop the train wreck that is Jake’s spending money way too fast and not keeping an account of it all. There is a big twist at the end that I didn’t see coming, but for the most part the story is unsurprising. With themes of greed, envy and broken relationships, this is not an uplifting book, but it is perhaps one that can teach a lesson about what to do if you happen to receive a windfall.
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guides Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”