Windfallby Jennifer E. Smith
Publisher – Pan Macmillan
Release Date – May 4th 2017
Buy – Amazon | Book Depository
Alice doesn’t believe in luck—at least, not the good kind. But she does believe in love, and for some time now, she’s been pining for her best friend, Teddy. On his eighteenth birthday—just when it seems they might be on the brink of something—she buys him a lottery ticket on a lark. To their astonishment, he wins $140 million, and in an instant, everything changes.
At first, it seems like a dream come true, especially since the two of them are no strangers to misfortune. As a kid, Alice won the worst kind of lottery possible when her parents died just over a year apart from each other. And Teddy’s father abandoned his family not long after that, leaving them to grapple with his gambling debts. Through it all, Teddy and Alice have leaned on each other. But now, as they negotiate the ripple effects of Teddy’s newfound wealth, a gulf opens between them. And soon, the money starts to feel like more of a curse than a windfall.
As they try to find their way back to each other, Alice learns more about herself than she ever could have imagined . . . and about the unexpected ways in which luck and love sometimes intersect.
My Review
The last time I read a book by Miss Smith is
The Geography of You and Me (find my review
here) and I absolutely adored it. Can you believe that is…… years ago and I can’t believe I haven’t read anything by her since. After reading
Windfall lets just say’s I missed her, her bright covers, her gorgeous prose and her gorgeous romantic-filled story from start to end.
After her parents died,, Alice has lived with her aunt and uncle, since she was 9. Her cousin, Leo is just so amazing and so cute too, that he protects her like his own sister. Alice has been in love with their best friend Teddy for as long as she can remember. On his 16th birthday she bought him a lottery ticket… 6 numbers including number 13…Alice didn’t believe in luck until that day. Windfall is a windfall of life, in just one day everything can change, and everything can spiral out of control.
I think having this newfound wealth can be a curse in the beginning because it’s falling into that uncertainty again of life, that they have both experienced. But it’s the smallest things that once again brought them together. Money can never buy you everything you desire, it can pay for your happiness or love, so it’s the person, it’s up to both Alice and Teddy to see what it can do and how far it can go.
What would you do with $140 million? If you won the lottery what would you spend it on? Teddy got kind of hot-headed when he won the money, he also changed him as well. He never had money before after his dad completely wiped them out. So he wants to give his mum a proper home, the home they had before, he wants to give her that back and it’s those acts of kindness that really shine through his character, that’s the Teddy we all love including Alice. Alice chose that ticket, those numbers, and she never knew that what would bring them together would be this piece of paper. Although Teddy offered half, she declined it, as her random act of kindness was not taking the money because she felt she didn’t deserve it when it was her present to Teddy. It would also feel wrong in her parents passing they saved a trust fund for her and her future. She would feel wrong not to honor that. Alice not only found herself in this novel, but together Alice knocked some sense into Teddy. That you always need that someone even when your high above the clouds, to gradually get you back down to reality.
This book is breath-taking, uplifting and it’s a ray of sunshine to read. You can’t not laugh, smile and cry and how kind and loving these characters are to you. What I felt that it was a reflection of life, that sometimes your so self-absorbed that you need a bit of perspective. You find yourself wondering what you can you do to make someone else’s life just that little bit brighter. I like to smile and say hello to the bus driver, and thank you when I get off, that certainly just either starts and the ends the day in a smile. Like I said it’s the smaller things that have the most impact and Alice and Teddy are a reflection of that. This book not only focuses on love and romance, but also kindness, family friendship and grief. Windfall has everything and more, you don’t realise how much it impacts on you until you finish it.
Rating – 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Thank you to Pan Macmillan for the review copy via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
