Book Review: If You're Lucky

If You're Lucky Review

Rating: ✭✭✭

Title: If You're Lucky
Author: Yvonne Prinz
Genre: YA, Mystery, Contemporary, Mental Illness
Publication: October 25, 2015
Format: Arc E-galley, 288 pages
Source: Thanks to Algonquin Books for sending me a copy of If You're Lucky by Yvonne Prinz

Georgia's brother Lucky drowns while surfing in Australia, but Georgia knows her brother. She knows that he couldn't have drowned. When all his friends come down to False Bay and host a memorial, Georgia meets Fin. A charismatic and charming boy claiming to be Lucky's best friend. 
The voice in her head begin to tell her that she can't trust Fin, that he killed Lucky. In an attempt to make these voices clearer, Georgia stops taking her medication and sacrifices her sanity.

If You're Lucky was a good book and had many elements that I liked enough to give 3 stars but I just thought it was lacking build up and energy. Being in a genre of mystery, I would expect a lot of tension and the feeling of needing to continue reading, but there was none of that. It had the perfect amount of twists and turns to keep me engaged but I never really felt like I was fully enjoying the book or really invested in what was happening. Even at the end, everything kind of just happened and I was confused because it wasn't very clear. Despite this, I believe that it's a difficult feat to tackle a mental disorder like schizophrenia head on but If You're Lucky has portrayed this perfectly and realistically.

Georgia investigates Fin as she begins to notice strange behaviour, but as her actions and moods become completely unstable, it becomes a challenge for the reader to determine reality from fabrication. Writing this through Georgia, the MC with the mental disorder, was a really amazing aspect of the novel because it kept me guessing throughout. I found myself more invested in what Georgia was going to do and how she would react rather than caring about what Fin would do next or how the story was progressing. Sadly, the plot was quite predictable for me, even from just reading the synopsis, but I could tell that Yvonne Prinz worked hard to articulate and develop a well thought out plot because it really showed. 

Each character was a hit for me and I liked all of them because they all had a personality. Fin was probably the best character in the book because he was so charming and really fit into the role of an identity thief stealing his dead best friend's life. I didn't find it difficult reading through Georgia's perspective either and quite enjoyed her unreliability - it was fun and intriguing to be confused about whether something was happening or not in the book. 

Overall, If You're Lucky was a great read, and a unique one, as it is written through the perspective of Georgia, a sufferer of Schizophrenia and I would recommend it for anyone searching for a refreshing, mysterious and riveting read.

View all my reviews // Goodreads // Amazon // Booktopia // Book Depository