Best of Luck

This damn book. It is sure detrimental to my sleep habits, but so so good for my heart.

I started making a list right around the 30% mark of all the things I wanted to include in the review. I wanted to be prepared, and not have a bunch of nonsense that was all gushy about how good it was. I PROMISED. I'm about to break that promise. (I will shockingly ignore the list, so you're welcome)

First, you must read this series. I've inadequately reviewed all of them.(https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2207707286?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1 and https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2234274788?book_show_action=false&from... )
Kate Clayborn officially writes intense romances that somehow avoid angst-making melodrama.


The series is show more done now--once this is released. It's one of my favorite. You deserve this: Go get started.

These are layered romances, layered characters, real development and good jobs. These relationships are real to me too. In fact in my review for [b:Beginner's Luck|35717661|Beginner's Luck (Chance of a Lifetime #1)|Kate Clayborn|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1500650717s/35717661.jpg|57220819], I mention how painful and real I thought Kit's relationship to Alex (her brother and hero of this book that I'd like to climb) was fantastically done, as it is here. I love seeing his angle, and while he was all swoony in the prior book, I'm going to tell you that you have seen really nothing yet. Perfect. Heck no. This is Kate Clayborn (this is a thing we get to say now!) but he is compelling, intense, beautiful, and many other things.

And Greer, well, I think I posted an update that said I don't know who I'm more in love with. I really did love them both. Greer's quiet observations of the world around her to her participation in it were just really beautifully drawn. She's easy to adore. Unassuming yet assertive, brave, caring and appreciative.

Do the goodies stop there? No. That would be a stellar romance though. This is better than that. Because we still have Kit, Greer's family, and of course Zoe. We have a wonderful female-centered novel with subtle feminist touches (as we've seen throughout the series). And of note, neither the heroes nor heroines remotely resemble one another.

What stops me in my tracks anytime I read a romance is the idea of relatable multi-dimensional characters, in settings I can feel, with relatable problems. Honestly, give me a mundane love story that feels like it could be me or anyone I know any damn day. The magic of Kate Clayborn and authors like her is how the ordinary becomes extraordinary to read. This was fabulous. I was nervous. We were waiting for this couple. It was worth the wait.


Adding: For a more adequate review (Blackjack is always excellent, adequate doesn't describe her):
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2337334071?book_show_action=false&from...
Thanks to netgalley/publisher for an advanced copy of this book show less

It’s hard to find romance novels that I can be bothered finishing, let alone reviewing. But I quite like Kate Clayborn’s trilogy about three friends who won the lottery.

The third book is about Greer, who’s used her winnings for her long-postponed college education. She’s finally due to graduate, except she needs a studio art credit. She turns to Kit’s brother Alex, a successful photojournalist, for help. Alex is in town for his sister’s wedding and facing an enforced break from work as he deals with his panic attacks.

I enjoyed the bits about photography, and how Greer’s photography project ties in with the trilogy’s theme of luck. But what I really liked was how this is a story about dealing with health issues, mental show more (Alex) and physical (Greer). It’s about going to therapy, about balancing a need for independence with a need for help, about working out how to still live your life when your body doesn’t allow you to do everything you’d like to do.

However, I wish that the story had spent more time with Greer’s family. She has a close and complicated relationship with her parents and siblings; she lives with her sister, she talks to her mother at least twice a day. Moreover, the protective way all of them treat her really influences how she approaches her relationship with Alex.

As I said about Luck of the Draw, this isn’t my sort of romance novel in absolutely every single respect but it comes close.

“Greer’s not the answer to your problems. She’s not medicine for you, and she’s not a test you pass.” Greer’s words, from a month ago, echo back at me. It doesn’t work like that.
“I didn’t say --”
“Alex, I told you from the beginning. Anxiety is complicated. You’re complicated. You want to make this about one thing.”
I shove my hands in my pockets, stare across an expanse of track at her. “I want it fixed,” I say, through gritted teeth. show less

Alex is such a wonderfully drawn study of a man who had to take on so much from an early age and how that follows him even as he's successful. Greer is quiet strength, as she's been throughout the series. This book does a deep dive into mental health issues with a beautiful sensibility. A strong end to the series.

It's REFRESHING to have a romance that involves a woman starkly telling her LI to go to therapy! Greer was so sweet & so steel-spined, I loved her. And Alex, despite his Romance Hero trappings (looks, fame, ~Dark Past), was also fully individual & believable, especially in his relation to his anxiety.

Thematically, the book was a little choppy, with some threads not weaving in properly with the book overall. The "press play" thing just... disappears, and wasn't well-integrated to begin with. It could have been (since Greer's life was "put on pause" due to her health issues), but because the book keeps those specifics back from us until midway through the book (after the "press play" moments have already passed), it doesn't land like it show more could have. On the other hand, the book's examination of each protagonists' "separateness" worked well, I thought, and even found very moving.

Overall, this was still a worthy conclusion to a wonderful series of contemporary romances that each have done a great job of creating well-rounded protagonists in a fully-populated world. show less

Greer Hawthorne, the third friend of the lottery-winning trio, decides to use her winnings to go to college. Minus just the art credits she needs for graduation, she turns to world-famous photo-journalist Alex Averin, in town for his sister Kit's wedding. She's had a crush on him for years but Alex never stays in one place long enough to develop any relationships, much less with his sister's best friend.
I loved this story. Both Greer and Alex are damaged people which draws them to each other in a good way. They are exactly what each other needs. I did think the story behind Greer's issues was drawn out a bit too long, but otherwise, this is a lovely story about two lonely people who find each other.

Greer met Alex, her friend Kit's brother, a few years earlier. But, Alex was a world famous photographer and traveled the world. Now 2 years later, at Kit's wedding, Alex returns to walk his sister down the aisle. Greer is stressed because she just found out that she is missing an art class required for her graduation. When she sees Alex having a panic attack, she goes to help him.
Alex agrees to help Greer with her photography class, and to stay in town for a while.
Greer is hiding that she suffers from an illness which causes her pain. She finally opens up to Alex about it, but fears that he will feel obligated to stay with her vs. doing the job he loves.
OK ending to the trilogy of 3 friends who won the lottery, and later find love.

Heartwarming, wholesome and inspiring. Finally I found my five star