Skip to main content

THE LUCKY KIND by Alyssa B. Sheinmel



copyright date: May 2011
primarily marketed for: young adults (14 and up)

I picked up this book because I had fallen in love with Alyssa B. Sheinmel’s first book for young adults The Beautiful Between.  I have to admit I was slightly disappointed with The Lucky Kind because I had such high expectations. 

Both books are about family secrets, but I found the relationships and dialogue in The Beautiful Between to be much more realistically drawn than the family relationships and dialogue in The Lucky Kind.  I am wondering if that might not be due to the protagonist of this book being a guy instead of a girl.  I am curious to hear if guys find Nick more or less believable than I did.

The Lucky Kind tells the story of Nick Brandt, a high school senior who is well-adjusted and wants for nothing in life, other than to get Eden Reiss, the girl of his dreams, to notice him.

When things start to look like they’re working out with Eden, his relationship with his father starts to unravel.  He discovers a secret his father has been keeping from him all his life.  And for Nick, it changes everything.

Unlike the secret in The Beautiful Between, I didn’t really feel the weight of Nick’s family secret the way he did.  However, I was drawn in to the story by his character.  I wanted to see how things turned out for him.  I rooted for him and Eden despite the emotional trauma Nick was navigating with his father and the choices that drove him to make in his relationships. 

Like her first book, The Lucky Kind contains mature language and coming-of-age situations, but I suspect Nick’s experiences are just the kind of issues many of you are ready to experience vicariously before you are faced with them in your own lives.
 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

TAKE WHAT YOU CAN CARRY by Kevin C. Pyle

copyright date: March 2012 primarily marketed for: young adults (12 and up) Despite the fact that the teacher in me sees so many lesson possibilities in Kevin C. Pyle’s graphic novel Take What You Can Carry , you should read it simply for the grace of its stories.   The artwork is as striking as the stories it tells.   Using artwork in two different colors and styles, Pyle tells the stories of two teenage boys living years and miles apart.   And yet, he communicates the universality in their experiences.   One boy is a Japanese American forced to move into an internment camp during WWII.   His family struggles to maintain their dignity and sense of peace under unbearable conditions. The other is a rebellious boy with an attitude whose reckless behavior causes him to wind up in trouble with the law.   To make amends, he finds himself completing community service hours in the most unlikely place.   I found my...
1 comment
Read more

NOTHING SPECIAL by Geoff Herbach

copyright date: May 2012 primarily marketed for: young adults (12 and up) This is Geoff Herbach 's sequel to Stupid Fast and continues Felton Reinstein’s story in true Felton fashion.   This is definitely a smart guy book—a book for smart guys, who definitely love a good chuckle. The story opens at the end of summer with Felton typing a letter to his girlfriend Aleah while flying in an airplane on his way to retrieve his younger brother from Florida.   The entire book is written as one giant letter to Aleah explaining how his summer led him to this moment in time.   After Felton and his brother Andrew got some help with their mother’s issues, Felton went right back to throwing himself into football and track—because he is stupid fast.   However, Andrew did not cope quite as well as Felton did.   Felton ignores his brother’s cries for help and continuously lets him down.   His brother ends up cooking up an elaborate plan to run ...
1 comment
Read more

THE SEA IN WINTER by Christine Day

  release date: January 5, 2021 primarily marketed for: Middle grades The Sea in Winter  by Christine Day is a gift to its readers. It is a book of quiet strength with much to offer.  Maisie is a ballet dancer who feels most herself when she is at the dance studio. However, at the start of this story, Maisie is coping with a serious knee injury that prevents her from dancing long-term. She misses her friends from dance and struggles to maintain those connections when she is no longer part of the dancing life they shared.  When her mom and stepdad plan a road trip to the Olympic Peninsula to visit sites of familial and cultural significance, Maisie stubbornly overworks her healing knee. She is determined to heal and return to the studio  faster than expected. Although her knee is the only focus of Maisie's wellness journey, it turns out there is more to healing than physical fitness.  Maisie is a quietly compelling character, but I was surprised to find myse...
Post a Comment
Read more