If You're Lucky

Written by Yvonne Prinz

Narrated by Amanda Leigh Cobb

Is Georgia's mind playing tricks on her, or is the entire town walking into the arms of a killer who has everyone but her fooled? When seventeen-year-old Georgia's brother drowns while surfing halfway around the world in Australia, she refuses to believe Lucky's death was just bad luck. Lucky was smart. He wouldn't have surfed in waters more dangerous than he could handle. Then a stranger named Fin arrives in False Bay, claiming to have been Lucky's best friend. Soon Fin is working for Lucky's father, charming Lucky's mother, dating his girlfriend. Georgia begins to wonder: did Fin murder Lucky in order to take over his whole life? Determined to clear the fog from her mind in order to uncover the truth about Lucky's death, Georgia secretly stops taking the medication that keeps away the voices in her head. Georgia is certain she's getting closer and closer to the truth about Fin, but as she does, her mental state becomes more and more precarious, and no one seems to trust what she's saying. As the chilling narrative unfolds, the reader must decide whether Georgia's descent into madness is causing her to see things that don't exist-or to see a deadly truth that no one else can. "A remarkable page-turner . . . Keep[s] readers wondering, twist by twist, if Georgia's universe will simply burst apart." -Andrew Smith, author of Grasshopper Jungle

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Oct 20, 2015
• ISBN: 9781501901997

Reviews for If You're Lucky

[kbranfield-837433 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

4.5 stars

With an engrossing storyline and an intriguing mystery, If You're Lucky is a riveting young adult novel that is full of exciting twists and turns. Yvonne Prinz puts a unique spin on the unreliable narrator plot device and readers, along with lead protagonist Georgia, will have a difficult time differentiating between fact and fantasy after she begins to suspect her brother’s death might be more than a tragic accident.

Following the drowning death of her beloved older brother, Lucky, Georgia is delighted to meet his charismatic friend, Fin, when he arrives in town for Lucky's memorial service. She listens with rapt interest to his stories about Lucky, but she cannot help but wonder why Lucky's girlfriend, Sonia, seems displeased by his appearance. Georgia's grief quickly leads to a downward spiral of paranoia and distrust when Fin carefully insinuates himself into all aspects of her brother's life. She begins probing into his past but when her own troubled history catches up with her, no one believes her accusations that Fin might be responsible for Lucky's death.

Georgia adored Lucky and she is immediately skeptical that her adventure seeking brother could have accidently drowned. But with no concrete evidence to the contrary, she and her parents try to move past their grief and pick up the pieces of their now shattered lives. Just as life is returning to normal, she begins to notice inconsistencies in Fin's stories and even more troubling is his sudden intrusion into all areas of her life. At first jealous when he begins paying attention to Sonia, Georgia becomes alarmed when Fin befriends her parents then continues to maneuver himself into Lucky's old life. Her investigation into Fin's past reveals a very disturbing pattern but Georgia's increasingly erratic behavior makes it impossible for anyone to believe her seemingly wild accusations.

If You're Lucky by Yvonne Prinz is an outstanding psychological thriller with a likable and sympathetic main protagonist who becomes increasingly unraveled when the lines between reality and delusion blur. An overall fast-paced and suspense-laden mystery that I highly recommend to readers of all ages.

[olegalca · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Kudos to the author for tackling schizophrenia. But unfortunately, the unreliable narrator works against the story, not with it.

[heatherlinc · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book was about a girl suffering from schizophrenia. I usually love unreliable narrators, but I never warmed to Georgia; maybe having a family member with the same mental illness made it too close to home . . . the paranoia, the distrust, the lies.The beginning of "If You're Lucky" had my attention, but the plot lacked the drama and tension is should have had, and it was too predictable. Sadly, this book could have been so much more but, once again, another author failed to deliver.

[lynncoulter · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Plan on staying up late if you choose "If You're Lucky," by Yvonne Prinz, for a bedtime read. This young adult novel, which goes on-sale in October 2015, is a quick read and a gripping thriller.It's the story of 17-year-old Georgia, "George" to her friends, and the aftermath of her brother's drowning while surfing in Australia. Losing a sibling would be tragedy enough, and her brother's nickname, Lucky, belies his fate. But George also suffers from mental illness, and the meds she takes leave her feeling isolated and alone.Then handsome, enigmatic Fin shows up, saying he was a close friend of Lucky's, although George has never heard of him. Fin charms his way into her family's life, even earning the devotion of their dog, and he begins to romance Lucky's girlfriend. He fits so perfectly into her small California town, George begins to wonder if he came there to deliberately assume Lucky's life. She starts to question whether he might have murdered Lucky, just so he could take his place.I won't give away the specific nature of George's mental illness, which isn't revealed until about the middle of the book, as the tension starts to build. The reader is left to ask herself: Is George right about Fin? Or is she delusional? In many ways, this feels like a Patricia Highsmith novel, The Talented Mr. Ripley, in making us question whether or not we have a reliable narrator. But Prinz has written this in an easy-to-read style, with short chapters and short, simple sentences, that most young adults will breeze through. (I wouldn't have minded if the writing had been more complex or challenging, but that's just my preference.) My only real criticism was the use of the name Lucky, and how it played into the title and eventually, into the resolution. It felt gimmicky, to me. But I did think that George's objections to taking her meds--and sometimes, her outright refusal to take them--rang true, from what I know about mental illness. In general, her voice felt realistic and believable.I think younger readers will enjoy this book. I received this book as an advance reading copy from the publisher, but that has not influenced the opinions I've expressed here.