Book Review: The Good Luck Girls

Title: The Good Luck Girls

Author: Charlotte Nicole Davis

Genres:  Fantasy

Pages: 352

Publisher: Tor Teen

Review Copy: ARC from publisher

Availability: Available Oct. 1st

Summary: Westworld meets The Handmaid’s Tale in this stunning fantasy adventure from debut author Charlotte Nicole Davis.

Aster, the protector

Violet, the favorite

Tansy, the medic

Mallow, the fighter

Clementine, the catalyst

THE GOOD LUCK GIRLS

The country of Arketta calls them Good Luck Girls–they know their luck is anything but. Sold to a “welcome house” as children and branded with cursed markings. Trapped in a life they would never have chosen.

When Clementine accidentally murders a man, the girls risk a dangerous escape and harrowing journey to find freedom, justice, and revenge in a country that wants them to have none of those things. Pursued by Arketta’s most vicious and powerful forces, both human and inhuman, their only hope lies in a bedtime story passed from one Good Luck Girl to another, a story that only the youngest or most desperate would ever believe.

It’s going to take more than luck for them all to survive.

Review: I came upon the ARC of The Good Luck Girls by happenstance at the Y’all West Book Festival in May. Later that day, I went to a panel where Charlotte Nicole Davis was discussing dangerous ladies and her description of her debut novel, as well as what she shared about her characters and the world really intrigued me. I was so excited to read The Good Luck Girls and I was not disappointed. Actually, I was disappointed when I finished it because I was so immersed in the world that Davis created, and the free lives these amazing young women went through hell to fight for, that I wanted to stay with them and see the next chapter of their stories.

The Good Luck Girls does not hold back on the brutal world that these girls have lived in. The novel begins with the morning of Clementine’s “debut”, so to speak, where she is nervous about her first night with a man, while her older sister, Aster struggles with how to prevent her sister becoming a “Good Luck Girl”. Aster is a year older than her Clementine, so she unfortunately knows what it’s like to be a Good Luck Girl and she doesn’t want that for her sister. However, like many trafficked girls, she is powerless to prevent her sister’s debut. Until she realizes what power she does have and that sets off all the girl’s fight for their freedom. The girls take advantage of the situation to escape and while they are running, realize they have the skills and the knowledge to become effective bank robbers (or rather just robbers in general) from the very high profile men who have tormented them. These 5 young women become dangerous indeed and I was here for it!

The novel is a classic journey novel as travel to where they believe they can have their branding removed, and along the way come into a good understanding of who they are as individuals and as a team. Even though Violet and Aster initially begin as enemies, they eventually come to understand and each other and love each other as sisters. Their blossoming friendship was one of my favorite parts of the novel as I feel it was the classic “hate to love” trope, but with a twist as having close friends who truly love you is just as meaningful as having a romantic relationship. In fact, I feel like the relationships among the girls, how they truly come together to form an kick ass, terrifying, “criminal” gang, was the best part of the novel. I was rooting for them with each robbery and nervous for them whenever they came across the family of the man Clementine murdered who was hunting them down. While the novel is mainly told in Aster’s voice, I felt connected to all 5 of the girls and wanted only the best for them.

The Good Luck girls is a fun novel and moves at a good pace. There is a wonderful mix of action with quiet, touching moments that really bring you into the world Davis created. I can’t wait for the sequel.

P.S. Isn’t that cover amazing?!