Guest Review: Just My Luck by Adele Parks

It’s the stuff dreams are made of – a lottery win so big, it changes everything.

For fifteen years, Lexi and Jake have played the same six numbers with their friends, the Pearsons and the Heathcotes. Over dinner parties, fish & chip suppers and summer barbecues, they’ve discussed the important stuff – the kids, marriages, jobs and houses – and they’ve laughed off their disappointment when they failed to win anything more than a tenner.

But then, one Saturday night, the unthinkable happens. There’s a rift in the group. Someone doesn’t tell the truth. And soon after, six numbers come up which change everything forever.

Lexi and Jake have a ticket worth £18 million. And their friends are determined to claim a share of it.

Review: As a person who has been playing the national lottery ever since it started without any significant win, I was intrigued by the sound of this story about a family who won big. Although I am aware that Adele Parks has written several top selling books, this is the first that I have read. I’m glad that I did; the story had me hooked from the start and was a quick read for me. There is plenty going on and enough twists and turns to keep me turning the pages wondering what on earth was going to happen next.

The story begins with Lexi and Jake Greenwood discovering that they have won the weekly lottery draw, with a jackpot of £17.8 million. Until the week before, they had played for years as part of a syndicate with two other couples, but during a rather heated argument, the other couples apparently backed out of the arrangement. However, once the win is made common knowledge, the other four claim their share of the winnings. While Lexi, Jake and their two teenage children are spending the money, the dispute with their former friends is not the only problems their wealth brings them. They all have different ideas of what to do with the money. There are also all sorts of people who want a cut of their good fortune, some of them more forceful in their methods of asking than others. What’s more, they find that there is a change in the way people react to them. It seems that their win has had an effect on everyone around them, often bringing out the worst kind of traits such as greed, violence and betrayal.

This book had me surprised, and indeed alarmed, again and again by what was happening in the lives of Lexi, Jake and their children as a direct result of their lottery win. I found the whole story absorbing and frightening at times; very good writing in my opinion. I actually gasped out loud at a few points. There are quite a few nasty characters in the pages of this book; even the ones you feel you should be supporting have their own agendas apparently. Just when I thought everything was tied up, there was a terrific twist at the end - I certainly didn’t see it coming. I can definitely recommend this thrilling story to other readers, but I would warn them that it might make them think twice about playing the lottery.

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