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Published May 2017
432 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
This romantic story of hope, chance, and change from the author of The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight is one Jenny Han says is filled with all of her "favorite things," Morgan Matson calls "something wonderful" and Stephanie Perkins says "is rich with the intensity of real love."
Alice doesn't believe in luck - at least, not the good kind. But she does believe in love, and for some time now, she's been pining for her best friend, Teddy. On his eighteenth birthday - just when it seems they might be on the brink of something—she buys him a lottery ticket on a lark. To their astonishment, he wins $140 million, and in an instant, everything changes.
At first, it seems like a dream come true, especially since the two of them are no strangers to misfortune. As a kid, Alice won the worst kind of lottery possible when her parents died just over a year apart from each other. And Teddy's father abandoned his family not long after that, leaving them to grapple with his gambling debts. Through it all, Teddy and Alice have leaned on each other. But now, as they negotiate the ripple effects of Teddy's newfound wealth, a gulf opens between them. And soon, the money starts to feel like more of a curse than a windfall.
As they try to find their way back to each other, Alice learns more about herself than she ever could have imagined ... and about the unexpected ways in which luck and love sometimes intersect.
"Smith's dynamic characters and their complex struggles...will keep readers invested." - Publishers Weekly
"Smith weaves a poignant tale of teens coping with loss and change as they balance on the verge of adulthood...Fans of Morgan Matson's and Deb Caletti's books will want to curl up with a box of tissues as they fall under Smith's storytelling spell." - School Library Journal
"Smith, no stranger to romance (Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between, 2015) crafts another thoughtful story about a girl on the brink of major change." - Booklist
"Smart and entertaining, as to be expected from Smith." - Kirkus
"Smith taps into the relatable feelings of young love...she skillfully juxtaposes these romantic complications with the struggles of newfound wealth; family and friend conflicts; and each teen's internal wrestling with the past, present, and future." - VOYA
"Windfall is about all of my favorite things - a girl's first big love, her first big loss, and - her first big luck." - Jenny Han, New York Times bestselling author of To All the Boys I've Loved Before
"Windfall is perfectly named; reading it, I felt like I had suddenly found something wonderful. It's a story about love, and luck, and the way our lives can change in an instant. I laughed and cried and bought a lottery ticket the very next day." - Morgan Matson, New York Times bestselling author of The Unexpected Everything
"Windfall is rich with the intensity of real love - in all its heartache and hope." - Stephanie Perkins, New York Times bestselling author of Isla and the Happily Ever After
This information about Windfall was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Jennifer E. Smith is the author of seven novels for young adults, including The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight. She earned a master's degree in creative writing from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, and her work has been translated into thirty-three languages. She lives in New York City. Visit her at jenniferesmith.com.
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