Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Fortuna Beach#2

With a Little Luck

Rate this book
After being magically gifted with incredible luck, a boy discovers this gift just may be a curse when it comes to love, in this YA novel by #1 New York Times -bestselling author Marissa Meyer.

Jude is determined to fly under the radar. He just wants to draw his comics, host regular D&D night with his friends, work at his parents’ vinyl record store, and escape high school as unscathed as possible. That is, until the night he comes across a mysterious twenty-sided dice and finds himself inexplicably gifted with a bout of supernatural good luck.

Suddenly, everything Jude has ever wanted is within reach. His first art submission is accepted to his favorite fanzine. He helps his friend’s song become a finalist in a songwriting competition. And he’s the 100th caller to a local radio contest, winning him a pair of coveted concert tickets, which he uses to ask out the popular girl he’s been crushing on since elementary school. For a few blissful weeks, he feels invincible.

But when he loses the magic dice at a local music festival, his luck takes a turn for the worse. He struggles to reclaim his good fortune while fighting off long-buried feelings for his best friend―who is definitely not the girl he’s supposed to be in love with. Can Jude risk stepping into the spotlight long enough to win the true girl of his dreams? Or is he doomed to be unlucky in love forever?

368 pages, Hardcover

First published February 13, 2024

Loading interface...
Loading interface...

About the author

Marissa Meyer

74books127kfollowers
I live in Tacoma, Washington, with my husband and beautiful twin daughters. Represented by Jill Grinberg. Learn more about me and my upcoming books athttp://www.marissameyer.com.

Ratings&Reviews

What doyouthink?
Rate this book

Friends&Following

Create a free accountto discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
544 (26%)
4 stars
877 (43%)
3 stars
505 (24%)
2 stars
93 (4%)
1 star
9 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 520 reviews
February 22, 2024
4.5 ⭐️

˚₊‧༉❀ ❝Here comes the rain, and I'm crying again, caught up in the downpour of me loving you.❞ ❀༉‧₊˚

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ alexa, play golden hour by jvke ♡
she's got glitter for skin, my radiant beam in the night

౨ ♣️ ৎ marissa meyer slays literally every genre, from fantasy to sci-fi to dystopian to now, thecutest contemporary romance duology ever.this was one of my most highly anticipated releases of 2024, and it did not disappoint!

౨ ♣️ ৎ there is a very small number of ya romance from the boy's perspective, but it worked super well for this one. Jude was a wonderfully dorky protagonist, a junior in high school with a penchant for star wars, marvel, star trek, lord of the rings, dungeons and dragons, and so on- and also with a massive crush on the most popular girl in his grade. he's extremely oblivious that the beautiful, talented girl he calls his best friend could be anythingotherthan a friend, but he was such a simp for her when he realized his feelings that it was so worth it.

౨ ♣️ ৎ the romance was so sweet and cute. best friends-to-lovers always has this innocent, adorable quality that I love. marissa meyer writes romances devoid of lust and too much angst andno, I repeat no, third act breakup!ari was an amazing character and I would have loved her perspective, but it might have robbed the book of the slowburn because she was definitely in love with jude from the first page.

౨ ♣️ ৎ one of my favorite things about this book was how it completely rejected the usual tropes; the you belong with me complex, where the girl the guy is pining after is actually a rude snob. this girl was super sweet and kind and even a little dorky, she just simplywasn't right for him.it was really refreshing to read about!

౨ ♣️ ৎ the one complaint I have though, was while the sibling relationships were adorable, marissa meyer committed a grave literary crime in that area. listen, sibling donotcall each other 'sis' or 'bro.' no siblings actually do that (edit: my apologies,mostsiblings don't do that). please stop having characters do it 😭

౨ ♣️ ৎ overall, this was so much fun and I enjoyed every page. (I especially loved the pages with snippets from jude's comic- they were the perfect touch) I would love to get another book in this setting, with another one of the side characters like ezra or one of jude's dungeons and dragons buddies. fingers crossed!

౨ ♣️ ৎ buddy read with my bsf Izzy! It was sm fun reading it with you 🥰🥰

˚₊‧༉❀ ❝The things we like are only a part of who we are. This doesn't change us.❞ ❀༉‧₊˚

I highly recommend this duology! 😘
Profile Image for Sylvie {Semi-Hiatus}.
921 reviews1,586 followers
February 17, 2024
2.75 Stars.

This was fine, I did kind of enjoy it, don't let my rating fool you. However, I'm not 15 anymore, therefore YA books don't seem as enjoyable to me as they used to.

*****************************
This is going to be a sequel/companion novel to 'Instant Karma' and it's going to be about Pru's twin brother.

To be honest, I wasn't a big fan of Instant Karma, but I'm curious about this one.
Profile Image for ✧˖° Zoe (semi-hiatus) ✧˖°.
70 reviews28 followers
Read
June 27, 2024
dnf @ 72% 🧩
I might come back to it but I just couldn’t do it
good luckNour😔😔

pre-read:
nour and I decided to stop reading Dance of Thieves because we don’t understand and we’re both in a slump.

we’re reading this instead!! 💪💪💪
Profile Image for elena ✧˖°.
269 reviews66 followers
March 11, 2024
⋆⁺₊✧3.75 stars
⤿ no spoilers in this review ⋆⭒˚

.ೃ➛ ❝here comes the rain, and i'm crying again, caught up in the downpour of me loving you.❞


🎧—better togetherby jack johnson
"there's no combination of words i could put on the back of a postcard, no song that i could sing, but i can try for your heart. our dreams, they are made out of real things."

yay!! this was cute and marissa meyer didn't disappoint once again.

⤿the plot.jude just wants a quiet life filled with comics, d&d nights, and working at his parents' record store. however, everything changes when he stumbles upon a mysterious twenty-sided dice, granting him an unexpected streak of supernatural good luck. with newfound fortune, jude achieves his dreams, but when he loses the magic dice at a music festival, his luck takes a nosedive. now, he must navigate a series of challenges, including fighting off long-suppressed feelings for his best friend and pursuing the true love he never expected. will jude risk the spotlight to win the girl of his dreams, or is he destined for perpetual unlucky love?

marissa meyer has been one of my favorite authors for years and i'll literally read anything she puts out. after readinginstant karmaand loving it, i knew i would love this, and i did. once again, one of my most anticipated reads of 2024 did not disappoint! she kills it in ever genre from sci-fi to fantasy to dystopian and, now, contemporary.

i can't remember, if ever, the last time i read a ya contemporary from the boy's perspective, but it was strangely refreshing! jude is a dorky junior-in-high-school with a perpetual avoidance for the spotlight and a simultaneous life-long obsession with the most popular girl in their grade. he isEXTREMELYoblivious to his feelings for his best fried (they're reciprocated YAY!), but he was suchhhh a simp for her when he finally realized it that this almost-too-long book was worth it.

best-friends-to-lovers was my favorite trope for a long time, and now i remember why. it's just so sweet and innocent, and i love the already-developed relationship ari and jude had. even when he didn't realize, it was so obvious he adored her from the very first page. he was just always hyping her up and doing little things for her because he truly cared.jude is the man.

i really appreciated that maya was a sweet girl and a genuinely good person. she was a little nerdy and never treated jude like he was stupid. i appreciated that she always stood up for him and his friends against her own. she just wasn't right for jude, and that's okay! it was a refreshing release from the typical tropes.

jude is such a good older brother, and his relationship with his sisters was so adorable to read about. each of his siblings has such different, clear personality, and i think it really shone through in this book. i also loved his relationship with his friends. this book had so much platonic juice that it made up for the long passages of self discovery.

i also really liked the pages we got as excerpts from jude's comic because it was almost like we had two plot lines going on at once, and it was a nice break from the story. the audiobook was cute because the narrator used a different voice and there was dorky medieval music in the background!

i'm obsessed with this setting, and honestly, i hope we get more books set in fortuna beach because i love it!

⤿bottom line.i loved this book! i rated it four stars because it took me 75-100 pages to get into it, but once i was, i was really invested.a part of me also died every time jude said “charisma check.”

marissa's writing style is perfect as always, and i loved it enough that i will make a point to reread it in the future! 10/10 would recommend for easy spring break and summer reading.

.

links:
my pinterest board
my playlist

.

⋆౨ৎ˚⟡.• preread •.⟡˚౨ৎ⋆
i didn't get the arc and now i'm salty
Profile Image for ੈ✩‧₊˚ faithreads *ೃ༄ .
231 reviews28 followers
June 11, 2024
Ok so this def wasn't bad! I just thought it was a little...cheesy! lol. So I'll start with what I didn't like and then explain what I did like!
💿 The whole plot line of the "magic" and "luck" was so overplayed and annoyed me so muchhhh! i just can't stand books with a supernatural aspect, especially if you're trying to combine like a normal world and romance with magic, it just sounds dumb! like I'm sorry but it was so unrealistic and I kept thinking about how much I didn't like it, and then missed some stuff lol. this might just be a me thing, but I can't stand that trope.
💿 For over half the book, all Jude could talk about was how much he loves Maya. It sounded like a 5th grader tbh.😶 He's supposedly a junior in high school and all he can talk about is how much he LoVeS this girl, but won't talk to her even when she talks to him!? Bro what???? Believe me, I totally get being nervous to ask her out, but not for like 5 years and not to this extent. it was just weird lol.
💿 I honestly thought the whole romance would be about Maya and Jude, and Ari was just Pru's friend. It was so confusing bc he was so obsessed with Maya, and then slowly transitioned (sorry idk what word to use lol) to Ari and it was weriddd.
💿 Omigosh Jude was honestly so cringy😭 Like everything he did gave me secondhand embarrassment lol. His obsession with the dice thingy, the whole Maya thing, how he handled Ari! This is also a little bit of the author making him super clumsy and dorky but still. Usually, I kinda like nerds, they're sweet and enduring! But Jude was so not it, i can't even explain why??
💿 The fact that he knew he didn't like Maya and STILL kept "trying" to like her and go on dates was getting annoying. Cmon Jude, there's plenty of other girls you can go out with!! (For example, Ari!)
💿 I feel like this book could've been quite a bit shorter...
Ok! Now that my little rant is over, there was a lot that I did like lol. Jude and his sisters was honestly adorable!!! I want him as an older brother!! How he was besties with Pru, hung out with Ellie, was so sweet to Penny! I honestly melted when he was with them! Also his drawings were cool, even tho the comics were annoying lol. but i don't like that in books, so that's pretty much just me. Another interesting aspect was the POV, it was 1st person, but multiple times Jude was talking to the reader? Like he directly addressed me? It was kinda cool, and def made me feel like I was in the book too! The whole vinyl store, music vibe was so funnn! I love that Ari is a singer and plays guitar and all that! It's just so much fun to read!!! I'll give it to Jude, he did have some super sweet gestures!! And y'all, the cover is actually gorgeous! Tbh it's like half the reason why I read the book😂 Ok and probably my favorite aspect of the book was friends the loversss! I LOVE this trope literally so much and this book totally was amazing bc of that trope!! when he first realized that he totally loves Ari I got BUTTERFLIES!! every single time it hits!!! ugh obsessed!!! anyway sorry guys I totally didn't mean to write a super long review lol!

🦋 𝐼'𝓋𝑒 𝒷𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝓌𝒶𝒾𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝑜 𝓀𝒾𝓈𝓈 𝓂𝑒 𝓈𝒾𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝓌𝑒 𝓌𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝓌𝑒𝓁𝓋𝑒 𝓎𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓈 𝑜𝓁𝒹💖

Pages: 356
Language: 🤭🤭🤭🤭
TW⚠️: lgbtq+ characters, language, minor flirting
Genre: YA romance
Format I read: Hardback (library)
Would I recommend to others: Depends
Profile Image for Krystal.
1,969 reviews423 followers
March 10, 2024
Narrated by Stacy Carolan.

I loved this, it was stinkin' adorable.

An ode to geeks everywhere.

Once again, I didn't realise I was reading a sequel, but as a bonus I actually read the first book a couple years back so it was an extra delight! I'd forgotten these characters, to be honest, but when I put it together it added extra fun.

Here's the plot:Jude is a Nerd (aaaaand I'm already sold) who loves to play D&D and draw comics (sold again). He stumbles on a D20 that somehow gives him unstoppable luck, and suddenly he's copping a wave of miracle occurrences. Which helps, because there's this girl he really likes...

What I really loved most here was the way the characters were done. Maya in particular was a lot of fun, and I appreciated her development a lot. There were nowhere near as many cringe moments as I expected from a YA novel with this kind of plot - that's Marissa Meyer for you! Great characters and it's hard not to root for all of them.

There's several different elements to the story - nerd culture, music, fame, fortune, popularity etc - but it ties together effortlessly and flows nicely. I loved how many facets the characters had, and it was fun to see them exploring these things.

Also, as someone who has JUST done their first ever D&D session, it was bundles of fun listening to those references. Even my partner was giggling at some of the references, despite 'not listening'. XD

This book is wholesome, nerdy fun, and I enjoyed it immensely. The audio added a lot of fun, too, with roleplaying enhanced by music and sound effects.

A delightful, nerd adventure with a soft heart, this will have you cheering for everyone all at the same time. Even EZ won me over by the end.

Highly recommend this for nerds of all types, romance lovers, and people looking for a good bit of teenage fluff to waste a few hours with. I listened to the whole thing in a day and it was fantastic.

With thanks to Netgalley for an audio ARC
July 2, 2024

4.5

♫ |story of us by taylor swift
lately I don’t even know which page you’re on

“I want to be with you. On whatever quest or adventure we go on.”

🍹 ⁀➴ so freaking cute, I loved it! Now I need more romance novels in the guy’s pov plz plz plz. And the Pru and Quint cameos made my fangirl heart so happy <3 no offense to them, but this was way better than Instant Karma. We need a story about Lucy next!
Profile Image for Chloe Frizzle.
494 reviews95 followers
February 3, 2024
This is a YA romcom, and I'm happy to say that it is teen appropriate, and that the characters act their age but don't get annoyingly immature about it.

The thing that I loved the most about this book is that it's very Dungeons & Dragons. Our characters play D&D, and they are constantly referencing it.

I found it hard to love this book. The characters were so full of life and fun, but the book was lacking conflict for most of it. Jude, our protagonist, has everything go his way. There aren't external stakes, or internal conflict for him. It isn't until very late in the book that we start getting any sort of conflict, and by then I was annoyed at the book and bored.

Jude is also seriously lacking Main Character Energy. When the plot is turning, it's not because Jude is making it happen. Things are always just happening to him, and he goes along with them. It makes it hard to root for him when he's not really making decisions or plans. When he gets a setback, he just wallows in it until something else happens in the plot. He doesn't try to solve it or change his circumstances.

The book includes comic panels, which is fun! It's a story that Jude is drawing. The corresponding audiobook portions have sound effects and background music. It's well produced and immersive.

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan for a copy of this book to review. All opinions are my own.
March 9, 2024
Marissa Meyer's YA romcom takes readers on a delightful journey through the highs and lows of teenage life, sprinkled with a touch of magic and plenty of Dungeons & Dragons references. In the charming tale “With a Little Luck”, protagonist Jude finds himself unexpectedly blessed with supernatural luck after stumbling upon a mysterious twenty-sided dice.

At first, Jude revels in his newfound luck, achieving everything he's ever dreamed of with seemingly effortless ease. From having his art accepted to his favorite fanzine to winning coveted concert tickets and even landing a date with his long-time crush, Jude's life takes a turn for the extraordinary. However, when he loses the magic dice at a local music festival, his luck takes a downward spiral, forcing him to confront buried emotions and navigate the complexities of love and friendship. One of the highlights of the book is its authentic portrayal of teenage life, complete with relatable characters and genuine teenage angst. The camaraderie between Jude and his friends, along with his close-knit family dynamic, adds depth and warmth to the story. Meyer gives a glimpse of the challenges and insecurities of adolescence, while also infusing the narrative with moments of humor and heart.

Special thanks to NetGalley, Bolinda Audio, and the editorial team for giving me the opportunity to review the ARC in audiobook format and to you, my reader, for taking the time to read this honest personal book review.

If you are interested in other of my book reviews, make sure to follow me on GoodReads! #WithALittleLuck #NetGalley #LifeLongLearning
Profile Image for jess.
286 reviews722 followers
Want to read
November 4, 2023
omg put everything on hold. why is the cover so cute? i’m so excited for this!!
Profile Image for tiffany.
38 reviews
April 6, 2024
erm I still don't understand D&D

------

feb 13, 2024...

THAT MEANS NO MARISSA MEYER RELEASES IN 2023 😭
Profile Image for athieee ✨(inactive).
100 reviews14 followers
July 1, 2024
nonono Marissa Meyer u've done better
BRO WAS SUCH A SIMP help💀😭
those two stars are jst for prudence and quint. and ari's character NOT the romance
ew
ew
ew
Profile Image for hannah.
118 reviews
July 3, 2024
um well this was something.
i definitely like instant karma better.

i was so excited for this and it kinda just didnt hit? like i loved the characters, i loved the d&d aspect, and i really loved the music, but it was just so so awkward.

take this lil quote that almost made me wanna quit. - ' "give me some of that rizz, my dude.” he holds his hand out, which I slap, lamely. undeterred, ezra takes his hands and pretends to smear my “rizz” all over his chest.' -like literally what in the actual fuck is that?????who thought this would benefit a book?

alos, basically the whole book gave me either second hand embarrassment or just made me cringe. this man was so awkward and made literally every interaction super awkward.

the story was predictable but still fine, and i enjoyed the different character arcs, especially seeing pru and quint again.

i forgot to mention the comics.WHY DID JUDE LOOK LIKE A LITERAL GIRL????????maybe this was the shitty pdf i was reading but like i knew it was jude, he just had a very veryfeminineface. i dont think this added anything to the book which was very dissapointing.

also i read this on oceanofpdf bc i was strongly ready to buy this, but i dont think i will. i dont think i would read it again:(

pre-read
i’m so excited for this but the aussie cover is just not it so now i’m sad.
Want to read
June 28, 2023
the way my jaw just fucking dropped when i saw the title im so excited for this book cannot wait til fucking february of 2024 (12/16/22)



THE COVER HOLY SHIT MARISSA MEYER IS INCAPABLE OF HAVING BAD COVERS
Profile Image for ☆adey☆ {semi-hiatus}.
152 reviews15 followers
June 6, 2024
Okay I'm gonna keep this review short and sweet (definitely not because I forgot everything I was gonna say..).

I personally experienced this book on audio, and I found that to be a very enjoyable way to consume it! There were sound effects and breaks of the fourth wall, that kept this book engaging and fast paced, It kept me wanting to listen even when I had no audiobook tasks to do.

In regards to the romance, I thought it was cute! I didn't think that it was anything tooo crazy, but its definitely got to be one of the only friends to lovers that I genuinely liked, only because it wasn't one of those books where it waspainfullyobvious that the main characters were in love with each other( the main man liked someone else). it was a pretty good slow burn for me, and the payoff was very sweet.

Also this book was solely in the male perspective, which I enjoyed because Jude is such a nerdy & geeky guy and 100% my type 🤭, I don't really have that much to say for Ari, I thought she was likeable but I wanted to learn more about her.

anyways, I found this book, (and the book before it in the series) to be very enjoyable, and I recommend it!

✧ ˚° ᴘʀᴇ ʀᴇᴠɪᴇᴡ--> this is the fastest ive read a book in a while and this was hella cute. rtc!˚° ✧
Profile Image for Robin (Bridge Four).
1,746 reviews1,571 followers
March 24, 2024
This review was originally posted onBooks of My Heart

3.5 hearts

With a Little Luckis the second book in Marissa Meyer'sFortuna Beachseries. This series is a cool blend of YA romance with a little bit of magic on the side. Jude, is your average semi-nerdy teen. He is the dungeon master for a D&D group, draws comic books and works at his parents record store. He has had a crush on the same girl for years and with some luck on his side he might just have a shot with her.

Jude is Pru's twin brother fromInstant Karmaand now we get a story centered on him. One thing Jude has going for him is he is definitely more likeable than Pru was at the beginning of his book so it was really easy to root for him. He and Ari have been great friends 4-ever. They have inside jokes, root each other on and hang out all the time. Ari writes music and Jude draws and creates stories for his D&D group. They both work at Jude's parents' record store and from the beginning it is clear that they are meant to be together, but Jude is a teenage boy with a huge crush on one of the popular girls at school and is oblivious to it.

When Jude finds a fancy 20 side die on a record turn-table and rolls a 20 with it all the stars seem to align and opportunity seems to knock at every turn giving him a shot to ask out his crush when he wins some tickets to a concert she is dying to go to. He finally has his shot but as he gets to know Mia, he realizes she is great, but maybe she isn't the girl for him. One problem, all his luck seems to be missing now that he lost his lucky dice so how is he going to get the girl he never noticed was right in front of him the entire time.

I had a really good relaxing time in this book. It is super cute and I really adored the sibling relationships in it along with the semi-dorky kid who you're hoping gains a little confidence and figures out how to get the right girl in the end. There are all kinds of cute moments and I appreciated that the girl he crushed on all this time was a great girl, she just wasn't the right girl for him but had so many cool things about her too. Ari was so easy to really like and I couldn't wait to see how her music was going to play into the story.

Overall this is a great little rom com that stays age appropriate. While there really isn't a lot of drama happening in the story, I enjoyed being a part of Jude's world as he learns that sometimes Luck is all in the eye of the beholder and how you react to it.

Narration:
Stacy Carolan is a new to me narrator. I thought they were a good choice for this story and fit the characters well. The cadence and diction was right for teenagers and the voice sounded like a teen. I was able to listen at my usual 1.5x speed.

Listen to a clip:HERE
Profile Image for Esme.
651 reviews25 followers
April 26, 2024
This was so much better than Instant Karma imo! If you've been following my reviews for a while now you would know I love going into books knowing nothing about them, so I was happy when I started reading and this was mostly about DnD! With the audiobook the chapters where Jude was working on his campaign the audiobook would change to play some like bard music/sound effects and I just loved that so much! it helped separate reality versus the DnD world. The book is honestly just so much fun like I really enjoyed every second of the book! It still had all the fun music references I liked from instant Karma with the record store (since the first book follows Jude's sister). The characters were actually more likable in this one as well! Overall I'm happy I gave this one a try!
Profile Image for Abby.
40 reviews4 followers
Want to read
January 27, 2023
WE'RE GOING BACK TO FORTUNA BEACH JUDE BOOK COMING IN 2024 HELL YEAH
Profile Image for BookNightOwl.
1,020 reviews178 followers
April 19, 2024
This book was cute and fun but I found myself having a hard time wanting to pick up the book and go on with the story. It’s about a boy whose family owns a record shop. One day he finds a dice in the shop and his whole luck starts to change. It also deals with friendship. I gave this story a 3.5🌟
Profile Image for Natalie.
2,924 reviews97 followers
January 16, 2024
3.5 stars, rounded up

I am a big fan of Marissa Meyer. She is an auto-read author for me and I always look forward to her new releases.

That said, if this hadn’t been a book by Marissa Meyer, I probably wouldn’t have rounded up.

The pacing of this book felt so slow in spots. It seemed to take Jude literally forever to make decisions or come to conclusions about things. It also didn’t help that I didn’t think he and the love interest had much (any?) chemistry together, probably because it didn’t feel like they had many scenes together.

Look, this sounds like a critical review, but it’s really not. There’s a lot to like here. I really liked Jude’s family and how they were always there for each other. Jude was really cute and sweet with his younger siblings as well. I liked the nerd culture that Jude was really into, and there were many cute and funny references. I didn’t know anything about D&D so it was interesting to see Jude play it with his friends, and the little drawings throughout were cool and really brought the story to life.


This is one of those books that you know exactly how it will end as soon as you start reading, but it’s still fun to get there. It just didn’t feel up to Marisa Meyer’s usual standard. I can definitely see this being popular. It’s light, and breezy and fun. I just wanted a little bit more from it.
Profile Image for addi.
28 reviews19 followers
May 10, 2024
OKAY PHEW I HAVE WORDS TO SAY.

first off: this was very different from my usual reads. i don’t normally pick up contemporary books, but i thoroughly enjoyed this one.

secondly: the gen-z dialogue did, in fact, make me cringe. but to be cringe is to be free ‼️

thirdly: this was (mostly) very realistic. jude, the main character, struggled with anxiety and a fear of rejection and let me just say: he is so real. the way he was written was so relatable and so ME. like the things we thought were things i also think from time to time.

fourthly: the message was SO GOOD. you don’t need extreme luck to do anything - you’re perfect as you are.


lastly: THE ROMANCE. i don’t wanna give too much away but i LOVED the two together. UGH. the way they brought out the best in each other. i’m gonna sob.

i loved it.
marissa meyer, you never disappoint me.
Profile Image for heidi_the_seagull.
216 reviews12 followers
February 16, 2024
AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!
I pre-ordered this book and got it the very day it was released. And each and every word was worth the excitement.
Marissa Meyer is truly one of the best authors of the 21st century. Her writing was engaging, personable, and made me connect with Jude more than I have with any other book character. The pov was so fun and unique and I absolutely loved the way the story was told. It is really rare to find a romance book from a guy's pov without giving me the ick, but I was cheering Jude on every step of the way and not creeped out by the male mind.
The plot was amazing. I loved the storyline and how it had a similar idea to 'Instant Karma', but had a completely different spin. And how his luck was a real item rather than a bonk on the head was super cool. I loved how at the end, there were no loose ends or unanswered questions, but rather a wholesome, clear, and perfect conclusion!!!
And Jude. His personality was so well reflected in each and every decision and thing he said. It was wild. And I love how the lucky dice affected him so perfectly. And his fear of rejection and how the dice gave him no fear of it?!?!?!?!?! Brilliant. Even when Jude gave me second-hand embarrassment, I understood his motives and still rooted for him.
The way Jude gaslighted himself into unrequitedly loving Maya was so real, honest, and relatable! It had become Jude's basic self-knowledge for his whole teenager-hood that he barely even took a look closer to what he was really feeling. No second guessing until he actually got closer to Maya.
But ARI?!?!?!?!?! She is the BEST person ever for Jude. They are 1000% getting married and living happily ever after the moment they graduate from high school. And 'Downpour'?!?!?!?!? The lyrics made me giggle and kick my feet. She was as in love with Jude as he thought he was with Maya. And that murdered my soul.
And the subtle ways he connected everything back to her? Even when he was with Mayaaaaa????? Bro was so oblivious. But totally realistic for a dude.
I loved to see the progression of Pru and Quint as well. I had missed them so very much. And the setting. I want to go to Ventures Vinyl.
And the Beatles references? And the completely wild Gen-Z sayings? The vibe? And it was clean? Nearly killed me???? THE COMICS?!?!?!?!?
This book is now my everything. Aside from Jesus, of course.
It was a favourite only eight pages in.
Profile Image for Jennifer.
2,044 reviews
March 12, 2024

With a Little Luck is a YA rom-com that features magical realism. It is a sequel/companion book to Instant Karma.

It can be read as a standalone (different narrator). However both books feature the same characters.

The narrator of this book is 16 year old Jude (he is the twin brother of Pru from Instant Karma). Pru, her boyfriend and their family are in both books.

Jude works at his family's record store. He is very much into Dungeons & Dragons. And he loves drawing art/creating comics.

This book was super cute. The magical realism/luck aspect was so fun. I'm not really into D & D so that part and the comics related to that did not interest me as much.

I enjoyed seeing Pru and her family again. I loved the music stuff (their friend Ari is a songwriter). The stuff with the lucky dice was so fun. I adore magical realism. Overall it was a really cute read!

Profile Image for aurora (taylor's version).
119 reviews2 followers
June 30, 2024
4/5 stars

it took me a bit to get through this book, but it was still pretty cute!!

the plot was cute, and the idea of jude's lucky dice was really interesting to me. however, I did find myself cringing a lot, and I feel like this book was just not necessarily meant for me. I couldn't relate to it as much as instant karma, and I do feel that primarily comes from it being from a boy's pov. some books it doesn't matter me too much, like pjo, but for this one it was just very apparent in my opinion. still very cute, but lots and lots and lots of pining.

in comparison to instant karma it took me WAY longer to read with a little luck, but overall it was still an enjoyable read, and I'd once again highly recommend marissa meyer's books to all who need a good read!!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 520 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.