Alice has never believed in luck, but that doesn’t stop her from rooting for love. After pining for her best friend Teddy for years, she jokingly gifts him a lottery ticket–attached to a note professing her love–on his birthday. Then, the unthinkable happens: he actually wins.

At first, it seems like the luckiest thing on earth. But as Teddy gets swept up by his $140 million windfall and fame and fortune come between them, Alice is forced to consider whether her stroke of good fortune might have been anything but.

She bought a winning lottery ticket. He collected the cash. Will they realize that true love’s the real prize?

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As a joke, Alice buys her best friend, Teddy, a lottery ticket for his 18th birthday. What they don’t expect is for his ticket to be one of the three jackpot winners, instantly making him a multimillionaire. Now Alice is afraid of losing not just her best friend, but the boy she’s in love with.

The characters and their story is what drew me into this book. I really loved Teddy and Leo the most. For the most part, Teddy was sweet, though a little naïve when it came to his money, but then again, most people that win big are going to make some outrageous purchases. Especially when they’re figuring out what it is they even want to do with their lives. Though I don’t condemn him at all for buying the old apartment building he used to live in for him and his mom, given the fact they lost everything when his dad left. And Leo was honestly the rock of their little trio. He was the nerd you love to love, and such a sweet friend and cousin to Teddy and Alice.

Alice was someone that I was a little intrigued by. Her past of losing both her parents gave her a depth that you don’t get in most contemporary young-adult fiction. Her biggest character moment was turning down half of Teddy’s winnings when he offered it to her, though I can understand why she did. It would be hard to turn down that much money, but I do get it.

Overall this was an interesting take on what would happen if an eighteen year-old won the lottery the first time they ever played. It doesn’t go to the point where Teddy changes completely and blows through his money, but he does make some questionable choices in the beginning stages of his new wealth. I liked seeing how he struggled with what he wished to do with the money, but also wanted to spoil himself and his friends and family now that he could do so.

I personally loved the book and thought it played out great. The main reason I picked this up is because I usually loved Smith’s books, but the plot was intriguing as well. I’m glad that this turned out to be another great book I can recommend to the contemporary/romance YA fanbase!

Rating: 5/5 stars