The Lucky List

The New York Times–bestselling coauthor of Five Feet Apart weaves a “breezy” and “truly charming” story of love, loss, and learning who you really are (Kirkus Reviews).

Emily and her mom were always lucky. But Emily’s mom’s luck ran out three years ago when she succumbed to cancer, and nothing has felt right for Emily since.

Now, the summer before senior year, things are getting worse. Not only has Emily wrecked things with her boyfriend, who her mom adored, but her dad is selling the house she grew up in and giving her mom’s belongings away. Soon, she’ll have no connections left to Mom but her lucky quarter. And with her best friend away for the summer and her other friends taking her ex’s side, the only person she has to talk to about it is Blake, the swoony new girl she barely knows.

But that’s when Emily finds the list—her mom’s senior-year summer bucket list—in a box in the back of her closet. When Blake suggests that Emily take it on as a challenge, the pair sets off on a journey to check each box and help Emily face her fears before everything changes. As they go down the list, Emily finally begins to feel close to her mom again, but her bond with Blake deepens, too, in a way she didn’t expect. Suddenly Emily must face another fear: accepting the secret part of herself she never got a chance to share with the person who knew her best.

“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.” —School Library Journal