Lucky Few - Kathryn Ormsbee

Lucky Few by Kathryn Ormsbee
Genre: YA Realistic Fiction

Blurb (on back of book): Stevie, Max, and Sanger: keeping Austin weird.
Stevie Hart is homeschooled, but don’t hold that against her. Sure, she and her best (okay, only) friend, Sanger, will never be prom queens, but that’s just because the Central Austin Homeschool Cooperative doesn’t believe in proms. Or dancing. Still, Stevie and Sanger know how to create their own brand of fun.
Enter Max Garza, the new boy next door. After a near-fatal accident, Max is determined to defy mortality with a checklist: 23 Ways to Fake My Death Without Dying. Dead set on carrying out fabricated demises ranging from impalement to spontaneous combustion, Max charms Stevie and Sanger into helping him with this two-month macabre mission. But as Stevie finds herself falling for Max, it becomes increasingly difficult to draw a line between his make-believe deaths and her real life.

MY OPINION: *****

It's been a pretty long time since I've read what I can call a good book. I went into this book thinking I wasn't going to love it because when reading the blurb, the plot didn't completely appeal to me. I mostly read it because I found out that I have no other unread books in my house (that reminds me, must take a quick trip to the library ASAP). However, now that I'm done, I'm surprised to say that I actually loved it!

I wasn't going to rate this five stars but as I read more, I just found myself liking everything about it. Yes, there were a couple of things that I didn't love but those things were nothing compared to everything I liked about this book.

HOMESCHOOLING
This is one of the few books I've read about homeschooled kids. For some reason, it just hasn't been a widely read about thing in my life. For those of you who don't know, I was homeschooled for most of elementary school and I know firsthand most of what it is like. I think that there are so many different forms and curriculums and people that you can't categorize everyone into little groups like this book did. I, for one, did not really identify into any of those groups. However, I think for what it was worth, it was a fairly accurate representation of homeschooled kids, despite it being a little stereotyped and judgy.

FRIENDSHIP
The relationship between Stevie, our MC, and Sanger, her best friend, was really phenomenal. It was represented accurately and heart-warmingly. I could totally see it being a real friendship. I just want to point out that not all homeschooled kids only have one friend. We're not socially inept. Sanger and Stevie have little things like the BFF Card and "sisters before misters" that really makes their friendship so real and strong.

ROMANCE
It wasn't cheesy, it wasn't cringey, and it was cute. Max and Stevie didn't have insta-love, which was definitely appreciated, and they were so compatible. I loved how everything worked out. They were just meant to be. Yes, they did need a little pushing, but I couldn't help but love Max. To be honest, if I were puked on I wouldn't want to stay as close to that person as Max did. They both made sacrifices for each other which I thought was sweet and really accurate in representing love.

MAX
I loved Max. Can I just say that? No, I did not understand what his motives were in faking his own deaths completely. I can't say I can relate to him. However, I loved his determination and strength and overall sweetness as a person. He's gone through a lot more than you would think and to be that strong through it all, that's one brave person. Max does say a couple of detrimental things to both homeschoolers and diabetic people, but he owns up to it and admits he was wrong. Stevie never fails to mention Max's lack of two fingers, which I thought was unusual and definitely unique. The reason behind the lack of limbs was gory and sad.

LIST OF DEATHS
Um, well. Max has this thing where he wants to fake his death 23 times. It ranges from an allergic reaction to a spider bite to spontaneous combustion. It's horrifying but yet completely grappling and interesting to read about and I couldn't help but find it unique. It was definitely a new thing in YA fiction.

DIVERSITY
There was a TON of diverse characters in this book, not just in race but in things like Stevie having Type I Diabetes (something that I've never read about in a work of fiction and which needs to be more talked about), and Max having a loss of fingers. Sanger's parents are lesbian and it is addressed realistically, though it was so maddening to see how people treated them.

ENDING
I can't say I was happy about it but I can't say I was angry about it either. It felt so rushed to me and I think I would have liked a lot more closure with the characters, particularly with Joel and Sanger and Max. It felt like the book built up to something big happening and then it just didn't. It felt almost unsatisfying. To be completely honest, I really wish they finished the list.
WRITING
I LOVED the writing style of this book. It was very choppy at times and very long at others. I think it showed diverse sentence structure and made the book much more enjoyable to read. It felt fast-paced which I loved and I felt like I finished the book a lot faster. I would have liked more "he said" and "she said" kind of things to clarify who was speaking (half of the time I had no clue) but I loved how it was done overall.

Overall, I loved this book. I would definitely be open to reading more of Ormsbee's work. I would recommend it to people looking for a deep, funny, almost-morbid novel.

Main Character: Stevie
Sidekick(s): Max, Sanger, etc
Villain(s): Misunderstanding, toxic waste, diabetes, etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: All of this was very real to life.