The Good Luck Girls of Shipwreck Lane; A Novel

By Kelly Wimmer and Kelly Harms

A debut novel with huge bookclub potential—about luck and love, and winning a sweepstakes—with a cast of characters who will charm readers from the very first pageThe HomeSweetHome network’s Free House Sweepstakes has just announced this year’s lucky winner of a brand-new, fully-loaded dream home: Janine Brown of Cedar Falls, Iowa.For Janey Brown, hearing her name called on television feels like the inescapable fruition of her Aunt Midge’s endless string of harebrained plans, each of them designed to drag Janey into the world outside the tiny kitchen where she is happiest submerging her anxiety and grief in the pursuit of the perfect pot-au-feu.Meanwhile, across town, Nean Brown just knows that house is her destiny. When she hears her name, it’s almost not even a surprise. Good fortune took its sweet time showing up in her life, but better late than never. For Nean the house promises an escape from the latest in her revolving door of crappy jobs and drunk boyfriends, from being the kind of person other people look at but don’t see.Both Janine Browns head for their new hometown of Christmas Cove, Maine to claim the prize, and when their lives intersect, they discover that more than just a million-dollar dream home awaits them at water’s edge. In the vein of Mary Kay Andrews, Kelly Harms's The Good Luck Girls of Shipwreck Lane will win you over.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: Jul 9, 2013
• ISBN: 9781250011381

Reviews for The Good Luck Girls of Shipwreck Lane; A Novel

[cdyankeefan · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Jane Brown and an unrelated Jane Brown are apparently both winners of a beautiful home furnished by the Home Sweet Home Network. Hats ensues when both Janes come to claim their prize. When it’s revealed who the real winner is the other must determine their future. Both Janes are coming from places of pain and bo5h have difficulty establishing trust and breaking down barriers. Through time and a lot of help from Jane #1’s Aunt Midge the women’s lives go in directions they couldn’t possibly imagine. I don’t have enough superlatives for this book. I laughed, cried and hoped that both Janes would let their guards down to see how good tthey are for each other. I absolutely, positively love this book.

[mchwest · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fabulous! Just a good read, makes you warm inside to read it, makes you hungry to cook good food, and I can't wait to find more written by Kelly Harms!!

[bookwormconfidential · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I won a free advance reading copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway.

When I read the book description, I imagined the book to be a humorous light read, and it actually is a humorous light read. I didn't consider though that the book would be a "Chick-Lit" book.

The story contains about 5 main characters, and the story is told through two character perspectives; both women named Janine Brown. The characters will tell the story in both present and past tenses; the story is read sort of like a recalling of events.

The characters are a bit more stereotypical than realistic, but nonetheless, these type of characters fit with the type of story the book contains.

The book has humorous situations that seem fitting for a light read, but also contains some scenarios that are more realistic and have a more serious tone.

Overall, I think this book would make a good summer/beach read for women.

[cherybear · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A great read and a fun read. Two women with the same name from the same city both lay claim to the prize only one of them has won. Both have had their share of very different losses. Both are hiding things about their pasts, in very different ways. In fact, they could not be more different, and yet, so much the same. Interesting characters, mouthwatering recipes, and insight into the human heart round out the story. The Maine setting is an added bonus.

[tennwisc-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It took me awhile to figure out how I felt about this book. But once I figured it out I decided that I liked it, really liked it. I can see myself living in this household and being happy for being able to call these wild women my friends. It may be slow to grab you but keep reading it will pull you in.

[sarahlouise_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book saved me. Some might call it fluff, but the two voices of Janine Brown (Neen and Janey) pulled me into their world and out of my own. A fairy tale, to be sure, in the same vein as the Sarah Addison Allen books. A lot about cooking and baking, it inspired me to get back in the kitchen.

[murderbydeath · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is one of those books that I almost didn’t make it through, but picked up considerably towards the end and made the effort worthwhile.It’s a gross over-simplification, but I don’t like anti-heroes, or any characterisation that comes close to such a definition. One of the Janine Brown’s that make up the main characters of this book is a drifter, which in and of itself isn’t any problem. She starts off strong, in my book, when she knocks her abusive boyfriend unconscious with a coffee mug. But then she proceeds to lie, cheat, steal and string along the ‘other’ Janine Brown and her Great-aunt, and I don’t really care why or how sad her story is (and it is, by the way). I don’t care that I know that the trope virtually requires that the character is going to regret their actions, and find redemption, either. I just don’t like the trope, so I was pretty close to DNF’ing this one, but inertia, if nothing else, kept me reading it.I still have problems with the premise as it relates to the above, and I was left dissatisfied with the weak explanations for why the ‘other’ Janine Brown retreated so completely into dysfunctional shyness after the death of her fiancé, but Great-aunt Midge managed to pull it altogether and make the story into something far more interesting and touching. The men were … meh. Necessary, I suppose but not central to the plot; this is definitely a story of a friendship forged under unusual circumstances.Better than I expected, but not as good as the other book of hers I’ve read, The Matchmakers of Minnow Bay.