This novel immediately grabbed my attention from just reading the blurb — mainly because I’d never heard of a plot at all similar to this one. Lucky Girl follows the main character, Lucy, throughout her childhood and young adulthood as she navigates being both a competitive dancer and child actor. It specifically highlights the relationship between her and her manager Bruise, with their complex and intimate dynamic serving as a subplot throughout the story of Lucy’s life. It does an excellent job of portraying typical teenage themes like relationships and friendships, while also bringing up more lesser-touched-on topics such as depression, addiction, assault and homosexuality. 

The story begins with Lucy as a young girl who has already devoted her life to dance and finds herself getting cast in a Dance Moms-esc reality television show. The show introduces characters that remain prevalent throughout the novel while beginning to expose the rift between Lucy and her mother, as they differ on how much of Lucy’s life should truly be given away to dance. Their relationship continues to be a pressure point throughout Lucy’s life and serves as just one way that the audience can find relatable ties in the novel to their own lives. The TV show is what initially sparks Lucy’s national fame and leads to movies, music videos and a host of other opportunities  In a novel for anyone looking for something different than the typical romantic summer read, Author Allie Tagle-Dokus effortlessly blends the complicated struggles of a childhood star into a novel that any person could feel a sense of connection towards.