Lucky Brilliant is an emotive look at love, loss and friendship. Beautifully written with a strong plot and characters that are flawed but very easy to connect with,

I dd enjoy this book. It is worth noting, this book isnt telling a "tale" per say. It's more like you are a silent observer watching as Lucky deals with the death of her father and the impact it has. There is no real ending where you just know its over. we just kind of watch until Lucky seems to come to grips with this new life. That being said, it was still a very interesting read. I plowed through it in just a few hours. Lucky is super relatable.

Lucky Brilliant, also known as Lucy Brilliant, is stressed out, waiting for her dad to come home with the canvas she needs for a school project. However, her father never comes home- leaving Lucky and her mother to be plunged into a nightmare that only seems to get worse.

This was a really engaging and captivating read, once I'd started it I raced through to see what was going to happen next! It was fun and very dramatic, with lots of twists and turns. I also really liked that there was a psychic element that I didn't expect, I think it added a really nice edge to the novel.

On the other hand, there were lots of parts that felt completely unbelieveable. That feels like a weird comment to make when the plot and themes required a suspension of reality that I really enjoyed; I think it's that it tried to blend fantasy with real-world, and whilst the fantasy elements were great, the real-world parts just felt too extraordinary, and untethered to any kind of reality. It often felt quite one-sided and one-dimensional.

There were also some parts that felt pretty dubious, the Silas storyline felt a bit ableist, and there was some fatphobia throughout too. I also feel like the portrayal of Eva was a bit sexist in some ways? Less in the way she herself was written, and more in the way that Lucky viewed her.

Misgivings aside, it was a really fun read!

I received a copy of this book to review from Netgalley. Thank you for the opportunity.
This book reads well and easily, as it's writing is so smooth and really evokes a teenagers life. The characters are fascinating especially as the story goes on and we learn more about their backgrounds.
However, some parts of the story seemed unbelievable and like they were added to heap misery upon misery on Lucky. It made the story line melodramatic and less engaging.
On the whole an OK book.