Lucky in Love - Kasie West

Title: Lucky in Love
Author: Kasie West
Rating: 3 Stars

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Can’t buy me love…

Maddie’s not impulsive. She’s all about hard work and planning ahead. But one night, on a whim, she buys a lottery ticket. And then, to her astonishment—

She wins!

In a flash, Maddie’s life is unrecognizable. No more stressing about college scholarships. Suddenly, she’s talking about renting a yacht. And being in the spotlight at school is fun…until rumors start flying, and random people ask her for loans. Now Maddie isn’t sure who she can trust.

Except for Seth Nguyen, her funny, charming coworker at the local zoo. Seth doesn’t seem aware of Maddie’s big news. And, for some reason, she doesn’t want to tell him. But what will happen if he learns her secret?

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This is the first book I read by Kasie West, and I have to say: It didn't hold up to the Kasie West hype.  Now, it did have a cute premise - and it wasn't terrible, but it wasn't really great either. 

To sum up the book quickly: Maddie and her family are very poor - they have been struggling since her dad lost his job three years ago.  On her 18th birthday, Maddie stops to get some snacks at the local gas station, and buys a lotto ticket on a whim.  She wins $50 million and after taxes, winds up with quite a chunk of change. 

I think the author did a good job of portraying what it must be like to be newly 18 and a lotto winner - having that much money out of nowhere must have been very overwhelming for Maddie.  She also had opportunities to buy things she was never able to buy before - new clothes on a regular basis, a more reliable car, etc.  However, I do feel she was pretty irresponsible with her money in many ways.  Yes, she did want to save some of it, and she was nice and gave a bunch to her parents and brother.  However, she also went out and dropped a buttload of money on a very, very expensive car - when she could have gotten a car that was just as reliable for less money.  She also went and spent a ton of money on clothes all along Rodeo Drive, just because Trina said she should.  Hasn't the girl ever heard of Target or the Gap?!  Nice clothes at a reasonable price and she can still look cute in them. 

I also thought it was pretty irresponsible of her parents to not be more strict with her about the money.  I understand that Maddie is 18 and legally an adult.  However, she's 18 - she's young and NOT used to having that kind of money around.  She really needed someone to be firm with her and teach her how to be more responsible with that much dough.

Now, the book is called Lucky in Love - however the love portion of the book is small.  Piddly really.  Maddie makes it obvious that she likes Seth, but we don't really know until the end that Seth likes Maddie.  Also, they don't have their first date until the last 1/4 of the book.  How are you supposed to write a good love story if the love doesn't happen until the end?!  Not only that, but what did we really have a chance to learn about Seth other than he works at the zoo, he's Vietnamese, and he can't afford college without scholarships.  I mean, not that those things aren't good to know about him, but we don't really get a lot of other depth or anything to Seth. 

The same could be said about Maddie's friends - all we learn about them is that they love studying.  I mean, they have like a seriously hardcore love for studying.  It's all they do, and all they talk about.  I found myself wondering if they ever did anything even remotely normal for teenagers. 

Overall, I don't know that I would read this book again, but it was light enough to get me started on books I want to read this year.