Lucky Girl

De: Amanda Maciel

Narrado por: Brittany Pressley

Lucky Girl is an unflinching exploration of beauty, self-worth, and sexual assault, from the author of the acclaimed Tease.

Rosie is a beautiful girl—and it’s always been enough. Boys crush on her, men stare at her, girls (begrudgingly) admire her. She’s lucky and she knows it. But it’s the start of a new school year and she begins to realize that she wants to be more. Namely, she’s determined to be better to her best friend, Maddie, who’s just back from a summer program abroad having totally blossomed into her own looks. Rosie isn’t thrilled when Maddie connects with a football player who Rosie was hooking up with—but if it makes her friend happy, she’s prepared to get over it. Plus, someone even more interesting has moved to town: Alex, who became semifamous after he stopped a classmate from carrying out a shooting rampage at his old high school. Rosie is drawn to Alex in a way she’s never experienced before—and she is surprised to discover that, unlike every other guy, he seems to see more to her than her beauty.

Then at a party one night, in the midst of a devastating storm, something happens that tears apart Rosie’s life and sets her on a journey of self-discovery that forces her to face uncomfortable truths about reputation, identity, and what it means to be a true friend.

Important topic

Rosie is the pretty, flirty girl who can get any boy she wants. Then she's sexually assaulted at a party by her best friend, Maudie's new boyfriend Cory (and Rosie's ex). Rosie said no, but still blames herself for being attacked. Now she has no friends, except maybe the new boy Alex, about whom people are also judging by what they think they know.

LUCKY GIRL was one of my most anticipated spring releases. I loved Amanda Maciel's debut novel TEASE, so my expectations were for something equally outstanding. Maciel took too long to set up the story, which bored me until 35% into LUCKY GIRL, after which the book improved considerably.

Maciel tackles important territory of rape culture, slut shaming, sexual assault and bullying without hammering an Important Message into reader's heads. I loved that Rosie had a positive body image. She knew she was pretty. Unfortunately, she thought pretty was her only attribute. She dated a lot of boys, flirted with even more and probably slept with far fewer than others imagined. YA lit has so few stories with teens who have a positive body image, I was glad to see Maciel give Rosie that confidence.

Rosie was a complex, insightful character. She had a good heart, recognized her jealousy. I could see why she blamed herself, and didn't realize she was assaulted not because she did anything wrong, but because girls are taught not to get raped which carries an implicit message of the responsibility to protect oneself from a (usually) bigger, stronger, heavier (usually) guy. I don't think, from an early age, boys universally get the same messages about respecting boundaries. Rosie grows a great deal during the book.

The resolution was unsatisfactory, though realistic. She would have been raked through the coals for laughing, as a drunk response to feeling shattered. Her flirtiness, clothes and dating history would have been an issue. Plus she waited weeks before telling anyone, because she was ashamed and didn't realize what happened was an assault. I wish Maciel had shown scenes where Rosie an her mother reported the rape, rather than having Rosie to tell Maddie afterward.

The most unrealistic part of LUCKY GIRL was that everybody believed and supported Rosie. I hope, but doubt, we've achieved that space where victims are believed and supported upon disclosure.

LUCKY GIRL is an important book with an average execution.

Kept My Interest

This book should really belong in the YA category but I found it enjoyable just the same.

This book was so good 😊

I can relate to this story and as heartbreaking as it is I saw a little bit of myself in this character. I found myself rooting for her in so many ways throughout the book. It’s never too late to reinvent yourself!

I'm surprised this is the same author as Tease

I can't really tell you what the story is here. There's no clear beginning, middle, or end. The protagonist is whiny. I don't think this story captures the psychological scars left by sexual assault. The main character is vapid. The conflict takes forever and a day to get started. Teenagers behave in ways that seem very unrealistic.... For example, the main character has been dating the quarterback all summer. When her best friend comes back from vacation and shows interest in him, and more importantly interest in her, the main character gives up her dating relationship with said quarterback, no questions asked. I'm sorry but I was a teenager girl once and I don't know on what planet that would happen but it's not earth. But all of that could be forgiven if it wasn't for the author writing insignificant details in the main characters voice. As she's having thoughts to herself she trails off talking about insignificant and unrelated things... If she used the phrase "but I digress" in this book every time she needed to get back to the point, you could double the pages. Also, in the end, nothing fucking happens to the antagonist of the story! There's no closure one way or the other! While I know this intended to mirror real life, it seems like the girl's sexual assault is pretty much forgotten because she's now dating a new guy. Oh...OK. Whatever. 3 stars because it's sadly not the worst book I've ever read. 4 on performance because the narrator sounds like a teenage girl but I can't give it 5 because the voice she does for the boys makes me want to break things.