The Good Luck Charm by Helena Hunting Published by Grand Central Publishing on August 7th 2018
Genres: Contemporary, Fiction, General, Humorous, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Sports, Women
Pages: 384
Experience the hilarity and heartache of first love and second chances in a sexy new romantic comedy from the New York Times bestselling author of the Pucked series.
Lilah isn't sure what hurt worse: the day Ethan left her to focus on his hockey career or the day he came back eight years later. He might think they can pick up just where they left off, but she's no longer that same girl and never wants to be again.
Ethan wants his glory days back. And that includes having Lilah by his side. With her, he was magic. They were magic. All he has to do is make her see that.
Just when Lilah might finally be ready to let Ethan in, though, she finds out their reunion might have nothing to do with love and everything to do with improving his game. But Ethan's already lost her once, and even if it costs him his career, he'll do anything to keep from losing her again.
I’m a huge fan of second chance romance – I just love that there is this previous history between the characters and it always tends to add depth to the story for me. So that said, I had some high hopes for The Good Luck Charm by Helena Hunting. Overall, it was a quick and fun read with some low key drama along the way but don’t dive into this book expecting anything new or unique… it was unfortunately quite predictable.
Ethan and Lilah grew up together and dated all through high school, but then Ethan got drafted and everything fell apart. Now it’s eight years later and Ethan is back in Minnesota having been traded to the local NHL team and pleading with Lilah for forgiveness. Over the years, Lilah continued her relationship with Ethan’s parents but he was never a part of that apparently. I found it a little bit weird that over the years Ethan didn’t know how much a part of their lives she still was, but it’s apparent that she really was and when Ethan’s father suffers a severe stroke, as a nurse and family friend, she has to figure out a way to keep her emotions in check around her ex and still help those who stuck by her and became the family she never really had.
Ethan has regretted the way he handled his breakup with Lilah when they were younger, and he regrets taking the advice that had him making the decision he did. Being back in Minnesota and being around Lilah has made it impossible to ignore their past and he’s determined to gain not only her forgiveness, but hopefully a future.
I did really enjoy these two as individuals, but I think what bothered me a bit about this story is the idea that Lilah had to lose herself in Ethan and his schedule because she was afraid of losing him again. I get it… I get that her history really influenced her choices, but I think I was kind of irritated that Ethan was so oblivious to what she was doing. I also think that there were a few things that happened in this story that had me just shaking my head a bit as to how unbelievably coincidental they were. I can’t say anything about that, because I’m not going to give anything away, but when you read this, you’ll know what I’m talking about!
So what did I like – This is going to sound weird, but I liked when Lilah finally took control of her life and started putting her goals and choices first. Yes, this falls during the time where she has to push Ethan away and they aren’t necessarily together, but it really showed me that while Lilah loved Ethan, she wasn’t willing to put her life second to him and what he was doing. It showed Ethan that while he was an important part of her life now, that didn’t mean her goals had to take a backseat to the things happening in his life. I really liked that they came back together with a clear understanding of how, if their relationship was going to work going forward, things had to change.
Overall, a sweet, second chance romance that I enjoyed but didn’t absolutely love. There are some promising secondary characters here that I am looking forward to hopefully reading more about!
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