Love & Luck – Jenna Evans Welch

Addie is visiting Ireland for her aunt’s over-the-top destination wedding, and hoping she can stop thinking about the one horrible thing she did that left her miserable and heartbroken—and threatens her future. But her brother, Ian, isn’t about to let her forget, and his constant needling leads to arguments and even a fistfight between the two once inseparable siblings. Miserable, Addie can’t wait to visit her friend in Italy and leave her brother—and her problems—behind.

So when Addie discovers an unusual guidebook, Ireland for the Heartbroken, hidden in the dusty shelves of the hotel library, she’s able to finally escape her anxious mind and Ian’s criticism.

And then their travel plans change. Suddenly Addie finds herself on a whirlwind tour of the Emerald Isle, trapped in the world’s smallest vehicle with Ian and his admittedly cute, Irish-accented friend Rowan. As the trio journeys over breathtaking green hills, past countless castles, and through a number of fairy-tale forests, Addie hopes her guidebook will heal not only her broken heart, but also her shattered relationship with her brother.

That is if they don’t get completely lost along the way.

Sadly I wasn’t as impressed with this book as I was with LOVE & GELATO, but it was still an enjoyable read. There were a lot of things I did appreciate but I didn’t really love how the book was put together, so let’s start with the nice things first.

I really loved the family aspect of the book. I don’t know why but I always love a story about a girl with brothers (I don’t have any of my own but I love reading about this sibling dynamic) and it was great to see Addie’s close relationship with her closest brother Ian as well as how she got along with her other two brothers. I also love that her Dad was still around and he didn’t have to be killed off or anything for him not to be a part of this story (he just didn’t want to be on the trip). I also really loved the parental relationship with Addie’s mom being a fierce and strong woman while still being incredibly caring. She didn’t have to be one thing or the other and I loved her relationship with her children.

I also really, really appreciated the “love story” here. I put it in quotes because the end result of two characters being together really isn’t the focus of the book at all — it’s more of a happy side effect of the whole experience and I kind of loved that it wasn’t all about falling in love because that’s not everyone’s story. The romance was quiet, cute, and perfect for the situation and I loved how that developed.

Then at the same time, I felt like not a lot happened that pulled me into the story. One thing that really bothered me is there’s the THING that happened to Addie that’s so appalling that she can’t tell her mom and has also affected her relationship with her brother but the reader doesn’t get to know until the book is over halfway over. It wasn’t like LOVE & GELATO where Lena was taking her time to legitimately figure out a mystery. This was just information that was being withheld and it was frustrating to constantly have that reference and no one was able to talk about it. There wasn’t really a good reason why the reader needed to be kept in the dark about the incident as it had no real affect on the story.

I guess I’m also not really one for traveling stories which was a lot of what this book was. There was a lot of traveling and most of the drama was just things that happened to prevent the characters from moving forward, so it felt like some of the only plot devices were creating physical road blocks, essentially. It wasn’t a bad thing but it wasn’t something I enjoyed.

I also did really enjoy the crossover appearance of Lena and Ren because I hadn’t realized that this was a companion of sorts (or just set in the same setting) so I thought that was really fun to tie the two books into each other! I wonder if we’ll get more with other characters. I’d love to see something with one of the brothers.

Jenna Evans Welch is still an instant read author for me and I can’t wait to see what her next “LOVE” book will be! I do love the wanderlust aspects of all of these books and I’m excited for my next reading escape with her next release!

Kept Me Hooked On: Ireland! I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that took place in Ireland! It was really great to be able to sort of experience the country through this book and the characters’ experiences.
Left Me Wanting More: Plot movement. I felt like there were too many physical road blocks and there was just so much that prevented the plot from moving forward. I would have loved to see more character-driven things to push that long.

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Even though I didn’t totally love this one, I did still appreciate a lot about it and I really liked the family dynamic here! I love these wanderlust feels and I’m definitely reading more from Jenna Evans Welch!

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