The Lucky Ones (2020)

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Author: Liz Lawson

Book title: The Lucky Ones

Publication year: 2020

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Fiction, Music

Number of pages: 352 pages

Short description: May is a survivor. But she doesn't feel like one. She feels angry. And lost. And alone. Eleven months after the school shooting that killed her twin brother, May still doesn't know why she was the only one to walk out of the band room that day. No one gets what she went through, no one saw and heard what she did. No one can possibly understand how it feels to be her. Zach lost his old life when his mother decided to defend the shooter. His girlfriend dumped him, his friends bailed, and now he spends his time hanging out with his little sister...and the one faithful friend who stuck around. His best friend is needy and demanding, but he won't let Zach disappear into himself. Which is how Zach ends up at band practice that night. The same night May goes with her best friend to audition for a new band. Which is how May meets Zach. And how Zach meets May. And how both might figure out that surviving could be an option after all.

Personal review: This book is such a heart-wrenching, hard hitting, emotional journey that I devoured from start to finish. For a debut novel this is truly fantastic and unfortunately so relevant to the society we live in today, especially if you're in America. The Lucky Ones is a story of tragedy, trauma, coping, and hope all wrapped into one story that, let's face it, made my ugly cry pretty damn hard but it was astutely worth it.

[Ailime]