Lucky Caller by Emma Mills

Summary from Goodreads:

When Nina decides to take a radio broadcasting class her senior year, she expects it to be a walk in the park. Instead, it’s a complete disaster.

The members of Nina's haphazardly formed radio team have approximately nothing in common. And to maximize the awkwardness her group includes Jamie, a childhood friend she'd hoped to basically avoid for the rest of her life.

The show is a mess, internet rumors threaten to bring the wrath of two fandoms down on their heads, and to top it all off Nina's family is on the brink of some major upheaval.

Everything feels like it's spiraling out of control―but maybe control is overrated?

With the warmth, wit, intimate friendships, and heart-melting romance she brings to all her books, Emma Mills crafts a story about believing in yourself, owning your mistakes, and trusting in human connection in Lucky Caller.

Review:

As I mentioned on Goodreads, This wasn't my favorite Emma Mills book. It took me a long time to get into this, and I almost gave up on it twice because of the whole story revolving around a school project trope...which isn't my thing. However, the love story? Totally my thing. It was Jane Austen and Rainbow Rowell and Becky Abertalli at the their best kind of love story. If you're feeling iffy about the beginning of this one, keep going because the love story is worth it. And the school/radio project gets better too.

I feel like I didn’t connect as emotionally to the characters in this Emma Mills book, as I normally would. I didn’t really click with Nina, the main character. Why was she so dead-set on not hosting the show? What was she actually into? Everyone around her seemed to be interested in things, but she seemed to have almost no interests at all…She was kind of boring. Her older sister’s story was kind of boring too (I’ve read/seen it a million times), but at least she had a story, and an interest in something.

I liked all the flashbacks to the fantasy game the sisters used to play. And I liked when the older sisters and Jamie all came together for the younger sister when she needed them. Maybe at times it just felt like the author was trying to do too much? Like if the book is supposed to be all about the radio show, commit to that. Don’t then also have this parent story arc. The whole listening to her mom call into the radio and meet her dad seemed kind of forced and didn’t add to the rest of the story for me.

The part of the story that I loved was the love story. I loved Nina and Jamie’s second chance. I can totally believe something like this happening to a couple because something like this happened to me (minus the reconnecting part). I used to imagine what it would be like if I reconnected with that childhood crush that I messed it up with…I don’t really do that any more. But, I love this trope. I love that these two have this chance. And that everyone around them sees their connection. I love the story about the birthday cake. I love that Jamie dresses up for Nina’s sister. I love that he fell in the pool for the game. I love that they can just talk by looking at each other, and can play stupid hypothetical games. They’re finding each other again after years of separation reminded me a little of Persuasion, and I loved this connection. I also love romances that begin as friendships because so many of mine began that way.

All in all, the radio show/school project plot line wasn’t my favorite. I also never really loved Nina as much as I wanted to. I did love the sisterly flashbacks and the fantasy games they played. And I loved the romance. The romance made my rating for this book much higher than it otherwise would have been. I give it an 8/10.