Just My Luck

Set on the beautiful island of Maui, Just My Luck is a young adult romance with a mystery component and family tensions. Marty is in her final year of high school. Her parents’ separation has caused her to rethink her plans for pursuing a gap year of travel with her friend Nalani. In addition to the family drama is Marty’s string of unfortunate events including a tree falling on her car, hitting her head while surfing, and being badly bitten by mosquitos. Marty believes her bad karma is due to the items she stole from the rooms of guests at the hotel where she works as a chamber maid. She is convinced the only way to turn her luck around is to return these stolen items to their rightful owners. In spite of these items being trivial (sunglasses, a shot glass and a candle), given the exorbitant prices the guests are paying for their luxury suites, Marty swallows the cost of postage – often more than the cost of the item – in an attempt to improve her luck. The mystery lies in Marty’s challenge of finding the addresses of the guests who were her victims.

Marty also considers it misfortune to have been asked to tour two young adult male hotel guests around Maui. Marty breaks the cardinal rule by fraternizing with tourists and winds up falling for the older guest. By the end of the novel, Marty has returned all the items and her life takes a turn for the better.

Just My Luck is a pleasant piece of romantic fiction. It is a perfect summer beach read. The characters are engaging, the plot believable, although predictable (part of what makes it the perfect summer read), and the setting is paradise.