Happy Girl Lucky

Written by Holly Smale

Narrated by Ella-Rae Smith

Introducing The Valentines – Happy Girl Lucky, the first book in the hilarious new romantic-comedy series by Holly Smale, author of the bestselling and critically acclaimed Geek Girl books.

Fame – it runs in the family!

The Valentine sisters – Hope, Faith and Mercy – have everything: fame, success, money and beauty. But what Hope wants most of all is love, and it doesn’t matter how far she has to go to find it.

Except real life isn't like the movies. Unless of course you're a Valentine . . .

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Release date: Feb 7, 2019
• ISBN: 9780008254162

Holly Smale

Holly Smale was unexpectedly spotted by a top London modeling agency at the age of fifteen and spent the following two years falling over on catwalks, going bright red, and breaking things she couldn't afford to replace. By the time she had graduated from Bristol University with a BA in English Literature and an MA in Shakespeare, she had given up modeling and set herself on the path to becoming a full-time writer. Geek Girl was the #1 bestselling young adult fiction title in the UK in 2013. It was shortlisted for several major awards, including the Roald Dahl Funny Prize. Holly currently lives in London, England.

Reviews for Happy Girl Lucky

[nwieme-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Good. Sad. Not sure about the ending. Lucy is a great character! Ellen wasn't bad either.

[master275 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This was just not a great book to me. The subject matter was a horrible reality that is beyond disturbing in itself - but it wasn't the subject matter that caused the two stars....it was just the lack of story. It was just was all over the place and I felt it difficult to understand any of the characters. It was like looking through the windows of a house---you see activity and events - but really don't understand the reasoning behind the actions. Even Barbara - who I guess we know the most about - I didn't have any understanding of her at all. No depth.
I really expected this to be extraordinary (even if in a painful way) - but it was fell flat for me:-(

[susan0316 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I'll start out by saying that this is a difficult book to read but that as a mother or a daughter or a woman, its a book that you should definitely read. It's a novel about abuse of a child but told in a way that I've never read before and in a way that's really made me think about how evil some people can be to other people.First the triangle - June is a young widow - not real attractive but she would love to find someone to love. Bobbie is her 13 year old daughter - she is very cute and extremely smart and plans to go to college someday. She loves her mother deeply and tries to take care of her. Craig Kirtz is a local disc jockey who becomes a friend to the small family. June has a major crush on him but it was Bobbie that he was interested in and Bobbie that he seduced at the young age of 14. June has no idea that there is an on going relationship between Craig and Bobbie until years later when Bobbie brings charges against Craig for sexual abuse.The novel alternates between the past and the present. The reader learns how Bobbie felt during her teenage years and how it affected her as an adult and why she decided to come back to her home town and face Craig and her mother again. By facing her past, she had to re-live it all again.This is a fantastic novel about a difficult subject. It was so well done that I had trouble putting it down once I started and I was unable to start a new book once I finished it because the character of Bobbie kept resonating in my mind.Thanks to Goodreads for a copy of this book for a fair and honest review.

[squirrelhead_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I kept hearing about this book on Goodreads so I put in my request at the library. The majority of the book is set in the WW II era, one of my preferred time periods, and it’s set in and around Upton England .We start with a busload of people evacuating Southhampton, heading to the rural town of Upton during WW II. Ellen Parr notices a small girl sleeping on the bus after everyone departs. Whose child is this? Where is her mother? Ellen gathers the little girl in her arms and makes inquiries of the women but no one claims her. The girl, Pamela, was separated from her mother during an air raid.There are some scenes that are so heartbreaking that it put me in mind of The Light Between the Oceans. I could actually quote the beginning of that book’s review for this one and it would be appropriate. ” This book is filled with sadness and loss. There are happy moments but even those are shadowed by secrets and wrong doing…”This novel spans decades but the majority focuses on the early 1940’s time period. Ellen and her husband Selwyn take in the evacuees, some children stay longer than the adults. When no one claims Pamela it’s Ellen’s hope that she and Selwyn may keep her. The circumstances are well explained in this book but I wouldn’t want to reveal spoilers.Ellen’s back story is revealed after a hundred pages and believe me, you may want the tissues handy. Actually, you just feel so bad for Ellen yet admire her inner strength. This is a fat book of 450 or so pages and I read it in 3 days time. The characters are well developed, you’d feel as if you known them. The deprivation is keenly described.Three quarters into the book it slows down a bit but I was never tempted to abandon this story. I would read more by this author.There are references to food but not often. Lots of tea, bread, Rock Cakes, a meat pie, baked onions, potato pie, rissoles and a treacle tart. One the dessert side of things I decided to make a peach cobbler. After so much deprivation I wanted excess. We even had Blanton’s bourbon with it. Now that’s decadent. (Photos on my book blog)

[wagner5sarah35 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Good, but I didn't like this one nearly as much as some of the other WWII historical fiction I've read. At one point, I was very interested in the story surrounding Pamela, the child Ellan finds and essentially adopts, but the central pieces of her story are revealed a little too early in the novel and makes for a long, drawn-out conclusion.

[.l.p · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

We Must Be Brave is a tender and poignant tale of an Englishwoman named Ellen Parr and her experiences through World War II and the profound effect that a little girl named Pamela has on Ellen’s life when Ellen finds this young girl unaccompanied on a bus of evacuees. Ellen grows to love Pamela as her own child and the novel explores their everyday life and how their subsequent separation affects them both deeply for decades to come after the war. We Must Be Brave is not a fast-paced book and it is not heavily focused on the war but it is a celebration of enduring parental love and human connections. Frances Liardet’s writing is beautiful, whimsical and quite descriptive and evokes a range of emotions from love, despair, hope, sorrow and joy. Whilst I found the first quarter of the novel to be almost too slow - initially struggling to connect with any of the characters, I’m glad I persevered a little more as the story shifts focus to Ellen’s backstory from her childhood growing up to her young adult life as she tries to rise above her family’s fall from grace. This would have to be my favourite part of the novel, I became quite invested as I was able to really connect with Ellen, empathise with her struggles and appreciate the beauty of human kindness. We Must Be Brave is not one of those novels where I felt compelled to read it cover to cover as it travels at a slower pace, it is a story to savour and reflect on for it tears at your heartstrings and reminds you about the astonishing power of love in all its different shapes and forms and particularly the enduring love between a mother and child. I enjoyed the long progression in time as the reader is drawn into an intimate and emotional connection with Ellen over the years and we are reminded that in spite of hardships, sorrow and tragedy life can still go on with the support of the people that we love and the people who love us. Overall I enjoyed this read and I would recommend We Must Be Brave to those who enjoy historical fiction and who are interested in reading about the joys of the human spirit. Thank you to NetGalley, HarperCollins Australia for the chance to read this novel in exchange for an honest review.

[mrsmommybooknerd7 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book was such a delight. I immediately fell in love with Hope, the main character. Her immeasurable joyous view on love, her naïveté when it comes to life and her unintentional humorous personality, it was the perfect package. You watch her fumble through her first love and it is nothing short of completely entertaining. You will cheer for her, you will want to yell at her and you will want to guide her all her obstacles. I cannot wait to read the other installments in this new series. It is such a fun read, with the interesting Valentine family!!!! I highly recommend this book and really enjoyed it!!!