Just My Luck: The Sunday Times Number One Bestseller from the author of gripping domestic thrillers and bestsellers like Lies Lies Lies

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The narrator does a good bit of growing up in the book and has memorable interactions with much older children; these come off as true to life and touching. I haven't read anything by this author previously but I have heard of her and am aware she's pretty popular. Beyond that, this was a great story about a fourth grade boy, Benny, and the challenges faced by his family when his father has a medical emergency.

book club: Just My Luck by Adele Parks | Gransnet June book club: Just My Luck by Adele Parks | Gransnet

I feel like they're tackling all these really hard issues but doing it in a way where they're accessible to children. Loyal long-time fans will no doubt find the same formula as we're used to seeing from Parks but I felt this was definitely one of her better crafted and thought through domestic thrillers with a potent mix of an interesting cast of characters, a well rounded and compulsive plot, plenty of twists, reveals and wicked surprises, an alluring premise, and suspense, action and drama by the truckload, making this the perfect escapist for the times we currently find ourselves in as it transports you to a world of decadence and glamour most can only dream of. Her first novel, Playing Away, was published in 2000, and since then she's had seventeen international bestsellers, translated into twenty-six languages.

The story was well told and kept my attention (although the party was perhaps slightly too detailed) throughout. Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U. There were some many fun details as well: Benny's obsession with making Lego stop motion movies, his friend Olga and her hand drawn comic books, George's antics, and Benny's teacher.

Just My Luck by Adele Parks | WHSmith

And he has yet to make any progress in the "empathy contest" that his school has recently set in motion.I definitely got a little annoyed with one of the characters in how they uncontrollably spent the money and didn’t take anything else into consideration. On a whole, a great read and one that should really be on a lot of middle grade bookshelves, and perfect for those kids who are dealing with these issues. It takes a close look at the impact of instant wealth on an individual, a couple, their children, their friends, workplace and wider community. However, I am aware that most people, regardless of culture, have a bit of all of these failings in their bag of traits. Even though the family's friends had allegedly opted out of purchasing future lottery tickets before the winning ticket was purchased, they still felt that they were still entitled to a share of the winning ticket.

Just My Luck (Audio Download): Adele Parks, Louise Brealey

The narrative relating the extent of the family’s spending spree I found to be distasteful though, no doubt, this was the intention of the author. The house is under great stress and the boys do their best to cope in a household where their father is more like a child. This time she aims at a younger audience than her previous YA novels, and accordingly she uses a simpler structure, using only one narrator.Benny has unvarnished thoughts about all of this, tempered with love and acceptance that resonate as an authentic nine year old world view. There are various strands to the plot culminating in a near catastrophe and, as the story unfolds, we view the action through the eyes of both Lexi and her teenage daughter, Emily. The story started off strong and then, lost a little bit of steam in the middle and totally picked up again near the end. For Lexi and Jake, this win becomes a glaring example of how two people can vastly differ on what to do the money.