This book did not disappoint.

It was funny, poignant, fast paced, a quick read but had some deep themes.

I really enjoyed the difficult, awkward viewpoint of Ruby and the development of all the characters,

I was a bit concerned how they would all come together and thought it might be a bit tacky and obvious, for example Ruby's wedding photos getting muddled or something but it was done in a really nice and clever way.

I would recommend this book to others and really enjoyed it.

I really enjoyed this book. A heartfelt story about body image and how we see ourselves and think others see us. It’s all about self esteem and finding the confidence to accept ourselves for who and what we are.
The story follows 3 different women who essentially share the same issue, they don’t really like themselves or the way they look. As the book progresses the women learn to accept themselves, flaws and all and forget about what other people may think of them. This, I believe, is the biggest hurdle for women, learning to love ourselves. The book has a strong message in its plot-nobody’s perfect.

I was delighted to be given the opportunity to read the latest book by Dawn Porter and it really did not disappoint. Her style of writing is so clever that one is entangled in the story line so much so that it is hard to put the book down. I would certainly recommend!

There are times when you read a book and you have no idea what it’s about and have taken a punt because the author is famous and you like them, and because the cover is really cool, and this was one of those occasions. This book was an exquisite piece of fiction that encapsulated what it is like to be a woman in the 21st century, and how no matter who you are, why you are, what you is happening and what you see can be very different. It was heart breaking and heart warming in equal measure and showed the power of women, both the positive and negative. 

The book follows the perspective of two mothers, Ruby and Beth, as they negotiate motherhood, work, and relationships, while dealign with their own insecurities and problems. As we track their stories, we’re also treated to an external view of a third woman, Lauren, whose Instagram ideal lifestyle and impending nuptials provide a backdrop and timeline for the book’s narrative. Each woman’s life and lifestyle is vastly different, and the way we see each really carries a message about shown life versus true life. 

Let’s start with Ruby. She is a complex character who suffers from Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and the associated affliction of excess body hair. She is the mother to a young daughter Bonnie, and her strained relationship with her emotionally manipulative and abusive mother has left her with a complex about herself and about her life as a mother. She doesn’t connect well with Bonnie and is jealous of Bonnie’s relationship with her Dad Liam. Her struggle is heartbreaking and was fascinating to watch as she grew. Meeting Ross in the park really opened her mind to her familial relationships and her growing bond with her daughter, which was heartbreaking to read about at first, become one of the warmest aspects of the book for me. I thought her self loathing was awful and all too familiar, and her battle with dealing with her negative body image whilst working within the photo retouching business was a painful duality to read about. I really like that she had found someone initially in Liam, and like that her insecurities were the basis for their split, but later their growth.

And Beth, I loved Beth. Her and Risky has a special working and friendship bond and were hilarious to track. There sexual frankness and body positivity was actually quite inspiring, and even though I really didn't like the relationship between Beth and her husband Michael (in fact, I really hated it) I felt like she was a really great character. She was so different to Ruby, she was open enough to breastfeed at work, she thoroughly enjoyed being a mother, and she had a relationship with the father that was deeply flawed in a completely different way to Ruby and Liam. Although Risky was beyond deeply inappropriate at points, there unusual working and personal relationship was a real show of female diversity and force, and I loved that together they had forged to create a successful business together. Her brief encounter with Ross was pretty heartbreaking and born from a place of desperation, and he navigated that with an aplomb that I really respect O'Porter for giving to one of the male characters.

I thought the most interesting person was Lauren. Lauren appears at the end of chapters in the form of an Instagram post, associated caption, and a mix of positive and negative reviews. We see Ruby begin to interact with her world as a photo editor, asked to assist at Lauren's upcoming wedding to a famous (and loathsome/controlling) businessman, ready to touch up their big days photos to fulfil a social media obligation to a champagne company sponsoring her big day. We also see Beth interacting with Lauren as her wedding planner. I think he dichotomy was absolutely spectacular, and actually made you question Lauren's character and motive and then in turn your own. Her personal portrayal on social media, carefully planned, orchestrated, and edited, provided a very glossy and impersonal image. Her want to edit and touch photos for her big day gave the impression of someone unhappy and desperate to change themselves to conform to a publicly expected image. Then we see Beth interact with her, we see her smile and laugh one on one, and cower in on herself when her mother and her husband to be are present.

I feel like this book absolutely embodies the idea of not judging a woman, or in fact anyone, by their cover. Partly because we're complex, partly because you don't know what someone has been through or is showing you, it shows that all women are judging themselves and choosing the front they put on to the ones closest to them, and to the wider world. I found bits of this book really hard to read (in a good way) because it struck very close to home, and I feel like that would ring true for anyone that reads it. I like that O'Porter made all of the characters, whether main or side, complex and flawed. They had their moment where things, and characters, all come together in a powerful way, and had enough uplifting moments that the harder moments to read were worth it.

This book expertly navigates the complexities of being a woman in the modern world. It really embodies the idea that we shouldn't judge others (by what we see, what we hear, what we feel) and should just strive to be better versions of ourselves because that will ultimately help. I really think it shows that idea that we (as humans, as women) are actually judging ourselves more harshly than anyone else and showed that theory that no-one else is looking at you because everyone is too busy thinking everyone is looking down on them I can't recommend this emotional rollercoaster of a book highly enough.

This is the third book by Dawn O'Porter I've read, I liked Paper Aeroplanes but haven't liked the others. Think this has confirmed she's not the author for me, but I can see why others would like her.

Wishes really do come true! I was so happy when the publishers granted my wish and provided me with a copy of So Lucky via NetGalley before it's release date. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to read it until now, but I'm still so thankful I was given the opportunity.

So Lucky focuses on three female characters, who from the outside all appear to have a perfect life, but are all struggling with certain problems of their own, whether that be marriage, physical conditions or doing anything to gain followers on social media.

Dawn O'Porter is spot on with the way society is judgemental and toxic. How many of us believe we need to live up to certain standards surrounding us. I loved how true to life the characters were, I think every woman can relate to them.

This book is brutally honest, frank and gritty. A range of emotions ebbs and flows over the reader whilst you progress through the chapters. The empowerment towards of the end of the book is just brilliant.

Honestly, if you haven't yet picked up this book, just buy it. I don't think you will be disappointed.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest, independent review.

Beth has it all...or so it seems. She hasn't had sex for a year. Ruby lives life by her own rules...but she feels like she's failing. Lauren is living the dream...but her happiness is fake news. Is anyone's life as perfect as it looks?

'So Lucky' was a great read about sisterhood and body image with laugh-out-loud moments, and shows what all women face in the world of social media. It shows how we are all so obsessed with portraying ourselves as perfect...but no one truly is. We are all hiding something. All of the characters had something to hide, and I loved how it wasn't just thrown out on the table straightaway, but teased out gently. I really felt I understood each of the characters and felt I got to know each of them.

I have never read anything by Dawn O'Porter before. However, I loved the way she wrote and developed each character. She is not afraid to tackle issues such as sex and body positivity, while still managing to create a novel that had uplifting messages at the same time as being funny.

This was a really interesting read, I couldn't actually put it down, I was great to read about topics that wouldn't usally be spoken about so frankly. I kind of loved all the characters as they were all battling their own demons be it from body image to marital issues. This was just a great insight to remind us all that everyone is battling something and to just be kinder to each other. I would recommend this book to my friends without a doubt.

This was such a great read, filled with plenty of moments that made me laugh out loud, moments that were raw and emotional, and plenty of filthy frank and blunt moments too!. It has a bit of everything and it flows brilliantly too, I loved the different characters having their own focused chapters so we really got to know each one properly and see what they were dealing with. The character progression for each of them was brilliant too, the writing and building for each one done so well!. They were all people you felt you knew, could relate to on some level.

Just a little word of warning...it isn't for the prudish! ha. Dawn doesn't shy away from the bluntness of sexual discussions and terminology, which is kinda great to see, to be honest!

'So Lucky' describes how I feel about reading the newest novel from one of the UK's most dynamic and fearless women writers-it also describes the throwaway remark that most of us unwittingly use to dismiss the success of others.

Especially women.

We do this to ourselves all the time, men rarely underplay their achievements but a woman going 'hell yes I have worked hard for this home/promotion/personal goal' is nearly always framed by 'being in the right place at the right time,'or good fortune. It is almost always given away to outside forces rather than our own sheer hard work.

And by the same token, whether in work or out of it, our female centric standards are always holding us to be better, more beautiful, thinner, faster, smarter, just more until we disappear into the perception of what we should be,and are forever yellow stickered and abandoned on the reduced shelf, living a half life.

This is what the characters in 'So Lucky' deal with daily-Ruby, the single parent whose style everyone has opinion on, Beth the mother who finds that being one is so much harder when the 'perfect' mother in  law is breathing down her neck, and Lauren whose very lifestyle exists as a yardstick by which other women are measured.

I suspect every reader will relate to all of these women depending on where they are in their life at the time, but one of them more than the other two. For me, it was Ruby, as a single parent the weight of other people's expectations of failure was suffocating. Being on your own signified to the world that you were unable to hold down a relationship, there must have been something about you that was 'unlovable'. Give her a wide berth, you could see it in other people's eyes.

The women's journies to learning to accept themselves, and casting off expectations is truly brilliant and I defy anyone reading this not to punch the air in recognition of the following-

bad sex
awesome sex
so-so sex
hating your kids
loving them so hard you cannot breathe
wondering who you are and where you are going(and will you ever get there?how will you know?)
acknowledging that no-one has it all together, no matter what image they project
I cannot think of enough superlatives for this book and could easily bang on for another thousand words about the cover design which is dynamic and brilliant as well as appearing effortlessly cool.

The black and white of what life expects of you and as well as you expect of yourself straddled with the glistening pink doughnut of being a woman in the 21st Century.
The hole in the middle, the constant feeling of missing some vital part of yourself, versus the carby delight of scoffing the whole thing.
But I digress! AGAAIN!

There is genuinely only one thing this book review can be boiled down to-Dawn is an incredible writer who nails each and every single thing in this book. Humour, sexiness (as well as the lack thereof), the brutal reality of parenthood, social media 'standard' setting and bullshit detecting .

The whole package is a stunning and emotive portrait of modern womanhood that sticks two fingers up to the world, unbuttons your jeans and reaches out for an extra biscuit.

Because life is too short to live by impossible standards.

All you can do is live in the moment,try to learn to love yourself and find it in you to let go of what is pulling you down. And on days when things seem unsurmountable, just remind yourself we are all doing the best we can. But most importantly, the hardest people on our backs are usually ourselves.

So let's stop, redefine our boundaries and start over again. And if we don't manage it today, let's give it a go again tomorrow. We are women, we are sisters , let's try and be a littler kind to ourselves and each other, what do you say?

Liberating, fearless and contemporary, Dawn O'Porter's 'So Lucky' is a book to be read, treasured and re-read.And bought as a present. And borrowed from libraries. And generally shouted about as purely excellent craftsmanship and story telling.

I’ve loved all of Dawn O’Porter’s novels to date, especially The Cows, and So Lucky is another brilliant read!

So Lucky follows three women: Beth who has a new baby but is very unhappy in her marriage, Ruby who feels she needs to keep her entire body covered at all times, and Lauren who we mainly see through her Instagram posts and seems to have a perfect sparkly life.

I read So Lucky in one sitting as once I started reading it I just didn’t want to put it down. Dawn O’Porter is so good at capturing what it is to be a woman in the modern age and the pressure we all feel to conform to society’s norms. There is a sense that women should be perfect – we should remove all of our body hair and be smiley and happy at all times. Life just isn’t like that!

Beth is besotted with her young baby but she also loves her career so she’s back at working planning Lauren’s wedding but she’s also pumping breast milk and trying to be a good wife. Her husband has had no interest in sex ever since she got pregnant and Beth just wants to feel desired. She’s also having to deal with her interfering mother-in-law who her husband seems to always defer to. I felt really sorry for Beth, it’s so difficult to be in a relationship where your partner won’t discuss issues. My ex was awful for sweeping everything under the carpet and pretending nothing was wrong, it makes for such stress in the home.

Ruby is separated from her husband but she’s cordial with him because they have a three year old daughter, Bonnie. I really felt for Ruby, she had a difficult time as a child and she can’t seem to relate to her own child now. She also has a secret that means she feels she has to keep her body covered at all times. Her attempting to get a wax with her child in the room was so tense and I wanted to climb through the pages and help Ruby.

It was brilliant to read a novel like this where the women are close to my own age. I still have so many insecurities as a 40 year old but it’s not always represented in novels as much as it is for younger women. It felt like Beth represented the not being allowed to be who you are and to talk openly about what you want in life, and Ruby represented all the body issues that women have. They were both such real women to me though and I could see myself, and women I know, in both of them.

Lauren is a younger woman on the verge of marrying the man of her dreams. We get to know her through her instagram posts that are full of inspirational hashtags and often sponsored. She seems to have a perfect life. As the novel progresses we find out that Beth is Lauren’s wedding planner, and Ruby is going to work on the wedding photos so through them we get to meet Lauren in real life, and it seems all is not quite as glossy as it seems on her Instagram. She has an over-bearing mother and fears that her fiance might be attracted to other women. It really showed how social media allows us to give the impression that our lives are so perfect but the reality is that everyone has their insecurities and their problems but we forget that sometimes and think we’re the only one.

I love how real all three women felt in this novel, and how we gradually get to know why they are the way they are and we see how they try to accommodate for what they see as their inadequacies. There are some utterly mortifying moments in the novel, which were toe-curling in the embarrassment factor but I loved that because life is like this. Things often aren’t as we might imagine them to be!

Ultimately, I found this a really relatable, moving novel that also saw the funny side of things too. I very much enjoyed this book and I already can’t wait to read Dawn O’Porter’s next book! I highly recommend this one!

I started this book yesterday evening, intending to read for 30 minutes before bed. 2 hours later and I had to force myself to put my Kindle down!

The story flicks between the POVs of Ruby and Beth.
Beth appears to have the perfect marriage but is struggling with her husband’s lack of interest in sex.
Ruby is finding it difficult to manage her 3-year-old daughter Bonnie (alongside a physical condition which leaves her feeling ashamed and isolated).
Meanwhile, social media 'influencer' Lauren is about to marry a wealthy millionaire and appears to have the 'perfect' life, at least according to her Instagram feed.

The characters are complex and well-developed. Their individual stories weave together well, and I found myself racing through to find out more. I guessed parts of the ending long before it happened, but that didn't take away from how much I enjoyed this book.

Beth, Ruby and Lauren have it all. They're living life by their own rules. They are, to everyone outside, so lucky. But Beth is in a marriage where her husband won't have sex with her and disparages her body post-pregnancy; Ruby feels like she's failing and is becoming overwhelmed in a spiral that sees her take it out on her young daughter; Lauren is an influencer who can't let the cracks of her life show publicly.

Truthfully, I wanted to read the book as I had seen this cover everywhere and kept thinking - I really can't seem to escape this. Sometimes books just pop up a lot. I didn't expect to demolish it in one sitting, following three well drawn women - and Risky, the MVP of the supporting cast - as they explore their ambitions, flaws and connections in all their messy glory. It's an easy read, funny and considers what lurks behind the outsider notion of being so lucky.

I'm not sure I would know how to categorise this book. I raced through it - it's very funny but with some serious issues of the modern world. Lauren - social media starlet about to marry millionaire Gavin Riley amidst rumours of him sleeping around. Beth - wedding planner, new mum working full time on Lauren's wedding while still breast feeding and wishing she was on maternity leave which has been left to her husband Michael. His lack of interest in sex and strange relationship with his mother is a huge issue. Risky (by name and nature) is Beth's assistant - outspoken, feminist (when it suits), she shocks Beth constantly with her openness about sex. Ruby - touches up photos for a living to remove imperfections despite struggling with her own huge body issue that takes over her life and is ruining her relationship with her three year old daughter, Bonnie. We join these women's lives - we experience what they do, we feel for them and we wonder how their stories will join - there are coincidences, elements of farce and some laugh out loud comedy as well as some very poignant moments. I loved this very current read. #netgalley #solucky

I started reading this book at about 1 this afternoon and it's now 2.04 am and I just finished it. I honestly did not want to put it down.
The story follows 3 very different women and deals with very real and very different issues for each of them.
I can't recommend this book enough, it was superb.

I LOVE Dawn O’Porter. She creates such relatable characters who are often dealing with taboo issues. I really enjoyed cows but this book was even better. With massive thanks to netgalley for the ARC, my absolute favourite to date. I would love to follow the three women (and Risky) in the next phase of their personal growth.

Well this was different! Quite dark and depressing truth be told and not at all what I was expecting. However, I found myself being sucked in by the characters and the way their differences brought them together. Very clever how they were all linked together in the end. It did make me laugh a few times but I had expected it to be more comedic. Thanks to the author, Netgalley and HarperCollins for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

So good. Sex, marriage, friendships, work, photoshopping and Instagram, what could go wrong?
The characters are so believable, as is the world they inhabit.
I want to give this book to women, and some men, of all ages and make them read it in a day, like I did.

Despite knowing who Dawn O’Porter is and having heard amazing things about The Cows, I’ve never read any of her books. Admittedly I think the cover of So Lucky is what enticed me (doughnut, yes please) but it probably ended up being the best impulse request I’ve ever made.

The story is told via the dual perspectives of Ruby, a single mum to three-year-old Bonnie and Beth, a wedding planner and new mum to four-month-old Tommy. Ruby juggles spending time with Bonnie, living with Polycystic Ovaries Syndrome and her job as a photo retoucher for celebrities and social media stars who simply have to look better than perfect. Beth has recently gone back to work, been reunited with her sassy sex-positive assistant Risky and been tasked with throwing a lavish wedding for social media star Lauren Pearce and her multi-millionnaire fiance Gavin. When their two worlds collide, both women realise that nothing is ever quite as it seems.

Ruby is very spiky at the beginning of the book and I was worried I wouldn’t be able to warm to her. She seemed to hate spending so much time with her daughter and this actually got me intrigued. I never had any doubt that she loved Bonnie deeply but I could tell she was struggling. I don’t think I’ve read too many mothers in contemporary women’s fiction of Ruby’s ilk even though I’m sure they exist in reality. There was an air that Bonnie was often something of an inconvenience to Ruby’s desired day-to-day life and this is something that mothers are often encouraged to hide.

I knew almost straightaway that Ruby must have had a tough life. The details of her past don’t begin to unravel until quite close to the end of the book but her character gradually starts to make sense. I learnt a lot about Polycystic Ovaries Syndrome through Ruby’s story. I knew quite a bit about it before but I had no idea that it could affect someone to the extent it affects her. My heart ached for her every time she talked about the cycle of trying to rid herself of her excess hair every few weeks. I wanted to scream at her that she didn’t have to do this to herself but I also understood the pressure she felt to adhere to our society’s standards of beauty.

It’s through conversations with a man she meets in her local park that Ruby begins her journey of self-acceptance and her change in focus of what’s really important. The man often talks about a daughter who he lost years ago and how he wished he had had more time with her. I loved seeing this insecure, terrified woman realise that she has the inner strength to not only own her body and her past but also to impart wisdom, which she does in an incredibly inspirational way to Instagram darling Lauren, when she desperately needs it.

At the beginning of the book, Beth is the sexually repressed wife to Michael and she is starting to believe it’s her fault that he won’t have sex with her anymore. Her self-esteem is at rock bottom and she seems to be using her work as a distraction. I kept trying to figure out why Michael had really lost interest in her and I think I went through all of the possibilities -he’s just shallow and doesn’t like her post-baby body, he was getting sex elsewhere, he’d realised he was gay. I feel like I invested so much mental energy into these characters and that’s testament to O’Porter’s writing style -these people became real to me.

Through some rather hilarious conversations with her sexy millennial assistant Risky and a mortifying stumble upon an exhibitionist couple, Beth’s sexuality is unleashed and it definitely won’t go back in! I laughed out loud lots of times during Beth’s narrative and her realisation that she doesn’t have to accept her lot in life was deeply satisfying.

Most of the book focuses on the artificiality of social media and how that damages self-esteem and perpetuates mental health issues. However, there is a scene where Ruby seeks refuge online. She feels very alone at this point and she finds comfort in knowing that there are other women out there who are feeling the same way. I loved this little nod to the fact that the internet isn’t all bad and that many people can find acceptance and their ‘tribe’ online. Her vision of the future seems almost blissful to anyone who struggles to fit into the exacting standards of today’s world.

The idea of luck plays an integral role in the book, as the title may suggest. Despite the fact they all experience deep dissatisfaction with their lives, all of the characters are often told how lucky they are to have what they do. Ruby is told how lucky she is to be able to spend so much time with Bonnie. Risky tells Beth how lucky she is to have a husband who is happy to stay at home with the baby. Lauren has streams of fans and followers who are constantly telling her how much they wish they had her life. All of these comments come from places of not knowing the realities of these lives that are envied.

However, at the end of the book, all of the characters realise how lucky they truly are. Ruby has a beautiful daughter, an ex-husband who is a good man and the knowledge that she can be a better mother than her own. Beth has a son, a job she loves and a newfound love of herself. Lauren has her father, good friends and a bright future. Even Risky realises that her current boyfriend may not be in the same vein as the terrible men she has previously encountered.

So Lucky is a funny, moving and inspirational read that celebrates female friendship, self-love and the little things that we hold dear. It seemed to speak directly to me as a young woman and I felt included in the group. It’s the perfect light antidote to all of the dark spooky books around this season!

I struggled with this story at the beginning but kept on reading and suddenly started to feel involved. A sad story in many ways but was also uplifting. The characters were very believable and there was a great conclusion.