The Good Luck Charm

It was ok. I've been on a ro-com/chick lit/whatever this is kick lately, so I thought I'd give this one a go. The writing was good, the story line was good. I'm not sure what about this book struck me as mediocre. Maybe I'm rom-commed out. I just found myself increasingly annoyed by the woman, and super turned off by the man. He's a level 5 clinger, y'all. She doesn't have much of a backbone until the end. It was really just ok. I'd still check out Helena Hunting's other works though.

I had high hopes--reviewers I follow loved it--so it must be me. While I enjoyed this book, I wasn't blown away by it. Just another hockey romance in the ever-growing pile of hockey romances, IMHO. I'm writing this review almost a week after I read the book, and it's a blur. If you like second-chance romances and hockey, this book is for you.

I have to confess I picked this up because its cover looked a lot like The Hating Game’s. And while it turned out to be a fairly good contemporary romance it didn’t live up to my expectations. Which, I admit, were unrealistic. Where I feel I was justifiably disappointed was in the second chance romance. I think a couple need to show they’ve changed and grown but these reunited high school sweethearts still acted like teenagers both physically and emotionally. At least I did get a laugh out of it when Lilah was jet-lagged the next day after her flight from Chicago to Minneapolis. (Aren’t the two cities in the same time zone? Could that flight have even taken an hour?)

Lilah and Ethan were an item once, back in high school, but he left to pursue professional high school, and she had her heart broken. Now, ten years later, she’s a nurse and his career is floundering. When his father gets sick, and he’s traded back home to Minnesota, they may have a chance for a new start. But with hockey careers, Ethan has no way to know what the future may hold. He may be staying around, or he may be leaving again after one more season. Lilah has an established life in Minnesota, and a career. Does she really want to uproot her life for someone who left her before? I really thought this one was cute. Helena Hunting writes great characters, and this second-chance romance sizzled on-page.

Please excuse typos/name show more misspellings. Entered on screen reader. show less

Ethan has been traded back to Minnesota's professional hockey team, which brings him home. The timing couldn't be better because his family needs him as his father has just had a debilitating stroke. Lilah's dreams were shattered 8 years ago when Ethan left to play hockey in LA and broke up with her over the phone after years of friendship and love. Now Lilah has taken the next step in her career just as Ethan decides to make another play for her affections. Even if she forgives Ethan, what happens when his career takes another turn?

The Good Luck Charm is a very light read, seemingly made longer with the addition of some dramatic events in both Ethan's and Lilah's lives. It is difficult to like either of the main characters, Lilah show more forgives and forgets the devastation that she experienced much too easily. Then once Ethan and Lilah are back together, she enables his selfish domination of her time to the point that she jeopardizes her own career goals. The pacing of the story is off since most of the drama and main events happen in the last few chapters of the book. Overall, The Good Luck Charm is a disappointment. show less

I was sent a final copy of The Good Luck Charm from Forever Romance. I was not obligated to review this. My ratings and reviews will be my own personal opinions and are in no way influenced by publishers or authors who may have sent me books to review.

I read my first Helena Hunting book earlier this year and loved it. I was excited to get the chance to read her next release, The Good Luck Charm.

The first thing I loved about this story was how real and flawed Lilah is. This starts off with her having a horrible day where nothing seems to be going right. She is served divorce papers, has a coffee incident, and runs into her ex-boyfriend.

I also had no clue this was a second chance romance as Lilah and Ethan were high school sweethearts. show more They broke up when Ethan was drafted into the NHL. Yes, a hockey player! This was another thing I was not expecting as I started reading. I love sports romances!

This does deal with some series issues like having a sick parent as Ethans father was in the hospital after suffering a stroke. I liked that Ethan did not have the perfect relationship with his parents (in not an abusive way). I was just not your typical storyline and it was refreshing.

Helena Hunting is the queen of romantic comedy, and this story still had that comedic feel to it as well. I found myself laughing or smiling as I continued to read.

Overall, I loved this. show less

The Good Luck Charm

I Picked Up This Book Because: Random pick from the library.

The Characters:

Delilah:
Ethan:
Carmen, Emory, Ethan’s parents

The Story:

The writing is fine. Concise and consistent, Ms Hunting is a good story teller however the story was underwhelming for me. I never reached that level of “don’t want to put the book down”. It was more like “I just want to be done”. The characters were good. I am curious to see if Carmen and Dr Lovely have a book in the future because I think there’s some chemistry there. I thought Lilah was pregnant near the end of the book but that didn’t pan out I think I just didn’t feel any kind of drama or urgency in the story. I know their lives were going to be impacted by show more potential trades but even the end of that felt anti climatic.

Overall it’s a decent book about second chance love.

The Random Thoughts:

3 Stars show less