Anything But Lucky...

I haven't been reading as much YA lately, but there have been a few titles that have certainly caught my attention. Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis is one of them.

It's an addictive and satisfying fantasy with an excellently realized world that will have you hooked from the opening page. And wow will it stick with you long after, especially since you can't help but put it into historical and contemporary context.

The Good Luck Girls are anything but lucky--they're sold to a welcome house as children by their desperate parents and branded for eternity. When Clementine kills a man, she, her sister, and three friends go on the run--to an uncertain freedom where they're only ever a step ahead of the law.

This is at first glance a bloody revenge fantasy but it is so much more important than that. Davis's narrative crackles with history (the connection to the Underground Railroad, for one, is clear) and also brings to life the countless girls and women trafficked into sexual slavery today. Thus, what you read never feels gratuitous, but necessary. And though it's "just a story," your heart breaks all the more for each character because you know she has a counterpart in reality.

The voice is also excellent--Davis is a gifted writer and I will be looking forward to her future works. She has built such a convincing world that you will practically choke on the dust if you can ever dislodge your heart from your throat. I'm definitely hoping for a sequel.

This is one you surely don't want to miss. It's YA, yes, but anyone beyond that would enjoy it as well.

Be on the lookout when this one is released on October 1, 2019.

Thank you to BookishFirst and TorTeen for providing this ARC to review!