The Lucky List

May 1, 2021
A bucket list leads to a summer of self-discovery. After an incident at junior prom leads to a breakup with her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Emily is having the worst summer ever. Her best friend's away at camp, none of her other friends are talking to her, and since her dad's selling their house to downsize, she's afraid of losing memories of her mom, who died of cancer three years ago. But things turn around as she strikes up an easy friendship with Blake, the daughter of her dad's best friend who recently moved back to town. While Blake, whose own mother died when she was a newborn, is helping her pack up her mom's closet, Emily comes across the bucket list her mom made when she was Emily's age--and she decides to complete the items in hopes it will help her feel closer to her mom. As the two take on adventures around town, Emily starts questioning her feelings of attraction to Blake. A countdown to finishing the list before a class trip keeps the pacing solid, and an entertaining unraveling of connections to her parents' pasts adds nice depth. Told in Emily's first-person narration, the breezy tale explores the theme of learning to live life without holding back, as Emily both questions her sexuality and learns to heal from her grief. Most characters default to White; Blake has a White dad, and her mom was Japanese. A truly charming summer romp. (Fiction. 12-18)

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May 24, 2021
After three years of dating Matt, part of a tight-knit white friend group in rural Huckabee, Pa., 17-year-old Emily Clark unintentionally blows up “her entire social life” at junior prom, three weeks before the book begins. Now, with her Black best friend, Kiera, away at camp, Emily is single and friendless, having only memories of her mother, who died three years ago, to keep her company as she and her father prepare to sell her childhood home. All looks grim until her dad’s best friend, Johnny Carter, returns to town with his half-white, half-Japanese daughter, Blake, who’s also 17 and whose mother died after childbirth. Caught up in a renewed friendship and discoveries about her mother’s past—particularly her summer-before-senior-year bucket list—Emily sets out to complete the list with Blake by her side, leading to a summer of self-discovery. Solid pacing, paired with Emily’s accessible first-person perspective, keeps the pages turning. In her solo debut, Lippincott (All This Time) presents nuanced characterization and pays particular respect to the grief process, offering an affecting core to this sweet contemporary summer romance. Ages 12–up. Agent: Emily van Beek, Folio Literary Management.

July 1, 2021

Gr 8 Up-Emily Carter hasn't been the same since her mom died three years ago. She's become anxious and afraid, and made a mess of her social life when she publicly kissed someone other than her boyfriend at junior prom. On top of it all, her best friend is away at camp and Emily and her dad are moving out of her childhood home. The summer is looking bleak, until her dad's best friend moves back to town, along with his daughter Blake. While packing up her mom's closet, Emily and Blake discover her mom's bucket list from the summer before her own senior year, containing items like "get a tattoo" and "get over my fear of heights." Emily sees completing the list as a way to connect to her mother, as well as fix her social life. With Blake's help, Emily may discover more about herself along the way. The first-person narrative subtly explores the interplay of Emily's grief, social pressures, and self-discovery in a quietly meaningful tone. The romance takes a backseat to Emily's coming-of-age but remains an important part of her story. Blake is slightly two-dimensional, but readers will nevertheless be rooting for the two to get together. Emily's race is never explicitly mentioned; Blake is noted as having a Japanese mother. VERDICT Reminiscent of Maureen Johnson's 13 Little Blue Envelopes and Jason Reynolds's The Boy in the Black Suit, this is a gentle and moving exploration of grief and what it can mean to move forward without a loved one, perfect for fans of romance and realistic fiction.-Aaren Tucker, Univ. of Illinois

Copyright 2021 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 30, 2021
Grades 8-10 The summer before senior year becomes a transformative period for Emily, who has withdrawn somewhat since her mother's death three years ago. While Kiera, her best friend, is away, a childhood friend named Blake returns from Hawaii and quickly bonds with Emily again. A beautiful surfer girl, Blake helps Emily overcome her fears as she tries to fulfill the recently discovered bucket list of challenges (get a tattoo, skinny-dip in the local pool after hours) that her mother set for herself at Emily's age. Though determined to win back her ex-boyfriend in order to please her BFF, Emily finds it increasingly difficult to deny her growing romantic attachment to Blake, who clearly returns her affection. The portrayal of Blake, a talented, sophisticated, down-to-earth surfer who befriends everyone she meets, would seem over the top, except that Emily is telling the story. The well-drawn small-town setting is alternately confining and reassuring for a 17-year-old who wants to be seen as herself, rather than the girl whose mother died. An involving novel of challenges, change, and growing self-awareness.

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