Thank you to both #NetGalley and Crown Publishing/Crown for providing me an advance copy of Eliza Kennedy’s #literaryfiction novel, Lucky Night, in exchange for an honest review.

#LuckyNight is an amateur attempt to imitate the sweeping prose, allegories, and character introspection, specifically dissecting the dichotomy of the sexes within a heterosexual marriage, in the vein of a novel written by Lauren Groff.

Having briefly skimmed samples of the author's other novels, along with some reader reviews, I figured at worst it would be another contemporary romance novel. Chick lit, or a #beachread, if you will. I understand yearning to be the next Lauren Groff, but to invoke the southern twang of Jenny, the female protagonist, "This ain't it." And I loathe contractions nearly as much as I despise beginning sentences with a preposition.

The inferno is an allegory. I knew as soon as the name “Aloysius” appeared a mere two chapters into reading. How I hoped and prayed that the title of Part I would either lead to a hilarious satirization of a modern era #romcom or some type of #Sci-Fi erotica. Alas, no such luck.

There are no breaks when switching between the characters’ introspections or dialogue. While it doesn't exactly require rocket science to differentiate between the binary perspectives given the material is trite and rudimentary, it is bizarre and seems like the content was cobbled together with some slapdash editing. Like a Cormac McCarthy novel, which this book far from, quotation marks have been tossed out the window. Ironic, considering this is where I would have liked to toss the novel, and even myself at points, while struggling through it.

The concepts discussed are not revolutionary either. Nay, no moon-eyed or swooning of the critics here. Harkening back to my point of not rocket science to discern between the man, who is fantasizing about sodomy through the vehicle of baby oil (how disgustingly ordinary), and the woman, contemplating the cellulite in her ass. This is insulting to readers who actually enjoy literary fiction and/or contemporary romance novels.

The only reasons I even finished the novel were to write this review, and to find out whether the truly, insufferable characters—and not in the "this is brilliant writing" sense—perished, along with the hotel, which I prayed these annoying twats did from the first chapter onwards, or if this was the burning down of their "torrid" affair. Readers may never know...

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the Kindle ARC in exchange for an honest review. The premise of this book is intriguing - a couple - both married to other people - sneak away for a night together and the hotel they visit catches fire. I wanted to enjoy this book - but didn't finish it. I didn't like the writing style and could not get involved with the story or characters.

Don’t skip over Lucky Night! This was a great book. It kept me turning the pages until the very last one. I didn’t want it to end.

Dazzling, gripping, moving, and unexpectedly tense considering the entire novel unfolds within a (luxurious) hotel room.

The writing is so good, the plot is compelling, and the characters are flawed and remain likable even as they bicker and make questionable decisions. Being able to read Jenny’s and Nick’s thoughts and how they contrast with what they are actually telling each other was delightful. I loved every moment and the ending was perfect.

Highly recommended, especially to readers who appreciate the magic of two people sitting in a room, having a long conversation about everything and nothing, as they consider their lives and their feelings for one another.

Thank you very much to Crown Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy.

This was quite different than anything I have read. While at first you want to dislike Nick and Jenny because of the long affair and their selfishness and you grow to see them as real people. This book really looks at real life, marriage and people. I enjoyed it and the setting made it all the more better.