The Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll

Gut Instinct Rating - 3.5

Characters - 5

Believability for type and topics - 5

Similarity to other books - 4.5

Writing Style - 3

Excitement Factor - 3

Story Line - 4

Title Relevance - 2

Cover art - 3

To read or not to read? Either way, you'll probably never see the real twist coming.

Movie? On the way... no announcements contain a date at this time.

Goodreads users gave this book a 3.48. I think it was more deserving of a 3.67.

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Published on May 12, 2015

Pages: 338

Publishing Company: Simon & Schuster

Number of books by author: 3 Novels

Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Contemporary

So, overall, this book was good. It wasn't great, it wasn't horrible. It had it's moments - if that's the easiest way to phrase my review. Because it had it's moments where I really wanted to put it down, and then it had it's moments where I was propelled - and this was in the last 100 pages of the book that I felt the propel-ing. It normally takes me a little under 3 days to read a book, whether it's 250 pages or 850 pages, I usually get through about 2 books in a week. This book had consumed me for 5 days. I've seen this book plastered on Bookstagram for months now, and I really thought that I'd like to see the story line play out (which, by the way, those last hundred pages will really turn ya for a loop, so don't start 'em if you can't finish it in one sitting). So, the book has been on my list for what feels like an eternity (this was book 49 from my list that started in late 2015; now at 134). Now, I don't add books routinely, and because I tend to take recommendations for my TBR, it's a considerably long list. How I get my list is another blog post, I suppose.

So, back to this book. The moments it had that were positive were the characters. While there were quite a few characters, some secondary and triad characters that really take a hold on this story, you could follow them. One of the triad characters played a huge role in this book, and I forgot who they were until they recapped his presence in Ani's life. There was a lot of diversity, since we were looking back in time at a high school community, as well as in the present day, late 20s community. There were plenty of people to hate, which is fairly easy when it comes to that petty high school drama. But, the list of people I loved? One. One person in the entire book that I had some overwhelming positive emotions towards. The remainder of the characters fluctuated between love, hate, anger, and maybe even a little bit of envy.

While this story was incredibly, sadly, believable, it wasn't a great wrap-up. As you read this book, you'll find that you've read this book before. The way it's told, however, is what makes it an entirely new book. The writing style paired horribly with this story, because the first half of the book droned on-and-on-and-on... (I won't keep adding to this), but it was hard to want to leave the TV, or my bed, to want to curl up in my chair to keep reading. It came with me to work, and before and after errands, I thought about opening it, but I couldn't. I thought the secret was revealed, I thought it was all fine-and-dandy, but it wasn't! Thank goodness I kept reading, because I would've missed out on the turn of the century. (A little dramatic? Sorry.)

The ending wasn't real clear, however. I won't ruin anything, but... if someone could summarize those last moments for me, I'd appreciate it. Pile that with a really catchy, but unmatching title and artwork for the cover, and the score of this one comes down really quickly. Read the book, however, because when the movie comes out, I'll need someone to actually follow up with about all the flaws and exaggerations.