I love Denise’s FMCs, and Sybil was no exception. I just wanted to give her a big hug the whole time. This was really cute and sweet (pun intended) and I zipped through it. I do think there were some things that could have used a little more show not tell and would have liked a little more time in certain scenes (you’re telling me she had a whole hotel room and he didn’t come back and we didn’t see the second kiss? It’s just mentioned offhand in another chapter). I also would have liked some earlier exploration of adhd versus having it right at the end so we could see Sybil process that more and maybe even talk to her family about it.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
Denise Williams has sometimes been a little hit-or-miss for me, with the last full-length release I read from her even being a DNF. Plus, I was somewhat apprehensive of the mix of tropes: one-night stand, grumpy/sunshine, and the now-dreaded fake-dating. But Just Our Luck happened to hit just the right spot for me, and felt like a sweet confection in the vein of the donuts that play a role in the book.
I was emotionally moved by Sybil’s character, with all her chaos. As a fellow neurodivergent, plus-size woman, I related so much to her struggles to fit with what was expected of her by her family, even if our exact behavior patterns aren’t exact mirrors of one another. And to see the affirmation that she is “enough,” both for them and for a romantic partner, is beautiful.
Kieran is rather sweet, and I admire his dedication to his family’s well-being and livelihood in the face of his grandfather’s health and financial struggles, including putting his medical-school dreams on hold.
The romance is super cute and charming, and I was pleasantly surprised that the “one night stand” element in the beginning didn’t pan out how I expected at all. While there’s evidently early physical chemistry, the initial tone feels more sweet, and even a little awkward (but in a cute way). I appreciate how the two support and build each other up, especially given their respective struggles, and it felt like a very “real” romance, in spite of the slightly bonkers beginning. The book did lag a bit once the initial premise of their “luck,” plus beginning to fake date lost its luster, but the ending called back to it in a creative way.
This was a delightful read, and I’d recommend it to readers in search of a fairly lighthearted interracial romance.

I LOVED THIS STORY.

Thank you so much to PRH Audio for the gifted audiobook and to Berkley Romance for the eARC via NetGalley! These are my honest thoughts!

I have a friend who has been RAVING about Denise Williams' books for YEARS, and I just picked up my first one. I was so enamored with these characters... and I ended up doing almost the entire book via audio, because the narrators were fantastic! Teddy Hamilton is often a grumpy grump narrator, but I felt like he was exactly right for Kiran!

The book starts off steamy, but transforms into a slow burn when our main characters go from "only one night" to fake dating, literally overnight. With a winning lotto ticket left behind, Kiran tracks down Sybil using the internet, and a fake dating situationship emerges. But these two have chemistry in spades, and each brings something different to the table. These opposites attract vibes are what the other needs at this moment in time.

There are so many complexities at play in this story, and yet not one of them diverting from the story being told, and I loved that! Sometimes the extra noises are distracting, but there was such a fine balance between it all. Perfection.

Five stars! This one is out March 25th!

Sybil is kind of a hot mess. After leaving an IOU for donuts, she returns to the donut shop. She starts flirting with Kieran and they end up hooking up in the office. When interrupted, Sybil flees but not before leaving the cash for the "stolen" donuts along with a hastily scrawled note on the back of a lottery ticket. Kieran realizes the ticket is a winner but does not know how to reach Sybil and uses a social media plea to get her to return. The two decide to start "fake dating" so that she has a date to her sister's wedding and he can get some much need publicity and cash for his grandfather's donut shop. But the sparks between them are real and it is hard to resist forgetting this is all fake.

This is an open door romance that has him going down on her about 12% into the book. But then I would describe it as slow burn. Lots of yearning and will they/won't they energy happening.

I loved the character of Sybil but Kieran fell flat for me. I just did not like him. I felt he was indecisive and rude. Everyone always made excuses for him. The drama toward the end before they could have a HEA was straight up obnoxious. I had really enjoyed the book and since it took them SO long to get together, it felt unnecessary.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and would give it 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

Thank you to Net Galley and Berkley Publishing Group for the DRC. All opinions are my own.

This was cute! I love a fake dating aspect and i thought the premise was good! I loved how the characters had to fake it until they make it and work together. I love the the fmc was learning as she went.

Read this if you like:
•Iowa setting
•Donuts
•Luck

This book was okay. I wanted to like it a lot more. I found the main female character to be immature. The ending explained a few things but it felt like it was put in there at an attempt to explain vs making it a plot point which I would’ve liked. I loved the reference to Iowa State fairs butter cow. I love the Midwest references and it’s nostalgic for me since I went to college in Iowa! Overall, this book wasn’t my favorite but if you’re looking for a quick audio that’s not a standout, this one might be good. Thank you Berkley for eARC

Thank you Berkley, Denise Williams, and NetGalley for an ARC of Just Our Luck. All opinions are my own.

While I haven’t read Denise Williams’ entire catalog yet, the books I’ve read I have absolutely LOVED, so I was a little sad this wasn’t my favorite. I think it held a lot of promise, and definitely had moments that shown (I loved the love confession and the birthday at the zoo), but there were a few things that were too glaring to ignore.

Sybil read more as deeply immature than ADHD (a sub-plot that felt very much like a last-minute addition to begin with). I didn’t really understand what all the gaslighting everyone was doing to Kieran at the end about making a big deal about what Sybil had done - I felt like she deeply screwed up, and his reaction was entirely fair. I think overall I would have enjoyed the book more had Sybil’s ADHD and processing been a focus, not an afterthought.

POV: dual first person

You can expect: opposites attract, one night stand, fake dating, forced proximity, backwards hat king, grumpy (him)/sunshine (her), “you’re mine”, he falls first.

Rep: plus-sized FMC, Black FMC, ADHD.

Spice: 2.5/5

CW: mentions of parental abandonment and drug use.

I was so excited to get this one from Berkley, and I really, really liked it! It was the perfect, cute, spring romance and I was hooked!

*Thank you to Berkley and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review and to PRH Audio for the gifted ALC*

Y'alllllll I love donuts and I loved this book!! When Sybil wins the lottery, nobody saw a fake relationship with a donut shop clerk coming. Including me! (Because I didn't read the synopsis, oops). This book really starts with a BANG and just keeps on rolling. I really enjoyed Emma's narration, and Teddy's was no slouch either. However what I enjoyed the most was the characterization of Sybil's ADHD, especially as she discovered very late in the book that she had it. I really liked how family-focused this book was, with each of them being so supportive of their kids/grandkids.

The third act conflict felt like it came out of the blue, but at least it was a conflict that actually *would* reasonably cause a couple to break up. And it led to a glorious grand gesture, so I wasn't mad. I also liked the little easter egg to Technically Yours, and potentially to a future book??

“You both got lucky finding each other.”

“I told you, you don’t always have to make yourself the joke.”

“Burdens can be shared.”

A book full of luck, changes and challenges!

I thought this book was adorable. It was fun and I found myself laughing a lot. I love that there is a curvy FMC and her body isn’t the only topic of conversation. She also is very confident in the way she looks and I appreciate that a lot. Sybil does struggle with a lot of other insecurities that I found myself relating a lot to her.

I love the relationship of these two, Sybil is witty and spontaneous and Kieran is always prepared. I love how these two characters brought different things out of each other and challenged each other in a positive way. They were both so flirty and cute I really just had the best time. I also really loved the relationship Kieran and his sister had with their grandfather. He was a really funny character too!

Overall such a cute read!

I am a HUGE Denise Williams fan, so this will not put me off any of her future books, but this was probably my least favorite of hers. I wanted to see more growth from the FMC and didn’t get it. She’s pretty immature, and stays that way. There’s the excuse that she has ADHD, but it’s at the 94% mark and I feel like that’s something that could/should have been addressed much earlier on to help her growth. I’m used to really strong FMCs from Williams who have strong character growth. This was also my least favorite of hers MMCs. Williams writes SWOONY men. SWOONY. But I didn’t get that, at least for me. I felt like he was kinda a jerk for most of the book, especially near the end.

3.75 stars, rounded to 4

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley. I voluntarily read an early copy of this book.

I really enjoyed this book! It mixes two of my favorite tropes: fake dating and grumpy/sunshine! I enjoyed the characters and I like Sybil's growth and change as she tries to become less flighty and a bit more reliable. I also liked watching her stand up for herself with her mom and Kieran towards the end of the book. It felt very romantic and hopeful. Overall, a solid, cute romance read.

This was a DNF for me. It was very slow paced and the male main character was not likeable to me. I did appreciate the interracial aspect of the story.

I love fake dating!!! the pretending and suppressing their feelings. there was a lot going on in terms of their identities, their jobs, the lottery winning. but sometimes I still felt like there wasn’t a whole lot going on. I found myself a bit bored and not as locked in as I’d hope to be because of the insta love.

kieran was so grumpy and honestly for good reason. I loved the neurodivergent rep with sybil and found myself relating to her quite a bit. I also loved the resolution with her mom and how she stood up for herself.

thank you berkley romance and penguin random house audio for the earc and alc!

what to expect
⟢ grumpy x sunshine
⟢ fake dating
⟢ they split lottery winnings kinda
⟢ neurodivergence rep

There’s isn’t a Denise Williams book that I haven’t read. This one has the classic Denise formula that makes me laugh, cry, swoon and crave more every time she debuts a new book! You know you’re going to get the best intellectual banter, funny cheesy jokes, characters who are so real and sweet you just want the best for them and spice that is well deserved after some heated tension! I enjoyed Sybil and Kieran’s journey because as much as it was a love story, just like many of her books it’s also a story about being your true self and taking risks! I just love how authentic she writes. Thank you for an opportunity to read this early!

I liked some parts of the book but unfortunately this overall was a miss for me. I couldn’t connect to the story and characters and wished there was more character depth and development.

For about half of the book I was unsure if the mmc liked the fmc. He was also mean to Sybil at times. It left me a bit confused. I also feel like it was more lust than love between them. They didn’t have a strong connection or chemistry. I wanted to be swooning and feel invested in them but was not.

Although this was not for me, I do want to try and read another book written by this author in the future.


Thank you Berkley Pub and Netgalley for the arc.

Overall, I thought this was such a cute read, I enjoyed the characters, but not as much as some of her others. But I have to say that Sybil was a little bit impulsive with her actions. I really enjoyed the insta-lust in the beginning, the steam was steaming and you could feel their connection right then and there. I didn't quite see the growth in Sybil's character that I was hoping for and have seen in her other books. The little twist towards the end really got me though and I'm not sure if I would be as forgiving. I was right there what Kieran was feeling. I would say that he was definitely better than me. It wasn't quite my favorite, but I enjoyed it for what it was.

3.75/5

Denise Williams is really becoming a MUST read author for me! Her characters are so incredibly relatable in their pursuits of love in the face of the challenges life throws at you, and Just Our Luck gave that to us in magnitudes.

Sybil, our lucky girl syndrome FMC, has found herself down on her luck but unwilling to yield her belief that something good, something amazing, is coming her way. She finds luck where she least expects it, on a night she decided to trade men for a good donut and a $250 million jackpot (after taxes, of course), when she meets Kieran, the man running the late night donut shop she enters. After a haste hookup leads to Sybil running, and leaving behind her winning lottery ticket, we see Kieran and Sybil go on what can only be described as a wild ride of a fake dating scheme intended to save the donut shop and convince Sybil’s family that she may be more responsible than they think.

Sybil and Kieran were a pair who may have met by chance, but were led back to each other by fate. I loved how often Kieran spoke life into Sybil when she doubted herself, and how much Sybil tried to help others, even when chaos ensued in its wake. This is a book that I’ve been really looking forward to, and I’m so happy I was able to read it early 💗

Dnf at 11%

She didn't tell him it was a dick picture before showing him what she got and that was gross.
Like just for the excuse of giving him the full experience?
Girl be so fucking for real now.

He didn't consent to seeing it. Just like how she didn't consent to receiving it. It just gives icky behavior.

This book was fun, romantic, hopeful, and asks the question: If you are lucky enough to find the one, what will you do to keep them?

Filled with laugh out loud banter and joking with swoon worthy chemistry, you’ll love this book if you like:

- fake-dating (but who’s really faking it?)
- adhd rep
- making sex jokes with seniors
- sexual jokes
- ALL the tension
- amazing cast of side characters