It's all good . . . and lucky Phoebe Avery plans to celebrate by throwing an end-of-the-year bash with her four closest friends. Everything will be perfect—from the guest list to the fashion photographer to the engraved invitations. The only thing left to do is find the perfect dress . . . until Phoebe goes from having it all to hiding all she's lost.
Phoebe's older sisters warn her to keep the family's crisis totally secret. Unfortunately, her alpha-girl best friend looks increasingly suspicious, and Phoebe's crush starts sending seriously mixed signals. Phoebe tries hard to keep smiling, but when her mother is humiliated in Neiman Marcus while buying Phoebe that perfect dress and her father decides to cancel her party, she panics. How far will she go to keep up her image as a lucky girl?
With Lucky, Rachel Vail begins a powerful sisterhood trilogy, comprised of one book for each of the three fascinating Avery sisters, with all their secrets laid bare during the year that completely changes their lives. Phoebe is the youngest; her story combines first love and flip-flops, friendship and sisterhood, humor and tears. Breezy, witty, and poignant, lucky is Rachel Vail at her breathtaking best.
BOOK REVIEWS
BookBrowse
Vail confidently and brilliantly describes the cruel dynamics of female hierarchies, their moment-to-moment coercions and sharp little miseries. The antithesis of Jerry Spinelli's quirky and individualistic heroine in Stargirl, Phoebe is still a richly developed character who grows in good and surprising ways. Still I wonder why Vail had to make Bridget Burgess's mother so repellent, and why Phoebe's world is so rich and so white. I would have liked to see Vail use her great ear for young voices to invent more diverse characters who live in a more complicated and realistic world. (Reviewed by Jo Perry). Full Review (839 words).
Media Reviews
Kirkus Reviews
The story, which has a touching ending and something to say about the connections between friendship, trust and money, wants to have it both ways...without forcing her to sacrifice anything real.
Publishers Weekly
Vail...again demonstrates a penetrating insight into the concerns of young teen girls.
Children's Literature
Rachel Vail brings her characters to life and makes readers eagerly await the next books in the series which will detail life through the eyes of the other two Avery sisters.
School Library Journal
Kindness and understanding emerge in unexpected, fresh, and satisfying ways, and readers will be looking forward to finding out what lies ahead for the Avery family.
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(839 words).
Kirkus Reviews
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