Author: Jennifer E. Smith
Publisher: Delacorte Press
My Rating: 4/5 Stars
Hardcover, 418 Pages
Published May 2017
Summary: 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.
I've been a Jennifer E. Smith fan for a pretty long time now, so I was super excited when I heard about Windfall. Her stories just have a way of always making me smile at all the right moments, and I'm always left with such a warm, fuzzy feeling. So when Emily and I went book shopping right before we went back to school, and this one's beautiful cover caught my eye and I was reminded of how excited I had been for this book -- so it was one of my top purchases that I brought to school with me!
As I've mentioned before, it's really hard to keep up with reading when you're in college, especially when you're an English major. You're given so many other books to read for assignments, and I've never been a good multitasker when it came to reading multiple books at the same time, so I had to get through this one pretty slowly. However, slowly but surely, I managed to find snippets of free time where I had a chance to sit down and just soak up as much of this book as I could. Even though it was 400+ pages, I felt myself fly through it like it was nothing, because I was so hooked on wanting to find out what happened next.
As the summary explains, Alice and Teddy have been best friends for an incredibly long time. So for Teddy's eighteenth birthday, Alice jokingly buys him a lottery ticket, not expecting anything from it. But when Teddy ends up winning over 141 million dollars, everything changes.
The only problem is that not everything changes in a good way. While Teddy's life (and the lives of everyone surrounding him) suddenly stumbles into this much wealth, people naturally come out of the woodwork wanting to take advantage of this -- one of the most notable people being Teddy's deadbeat father who had a gambling addiction and up and left him years ago. So the book takes you through his struggles of suddenly being "cursed" with so much money, and having to balance between pleasing the do-gooders around him (such as his parents and Alice) while also splurging a little bit, having grown up in a home with very little money and finally being given the golden opportunity that he never had. It also takes you through another struggle -- Alice has been in love with Teddy for years, but she can't find the heart to tell him. Until she suddenly does -- and things definitely don't go as planned. (But I won't spoil that part for you -- you'll have to read the book yourself to find out what happens!)
My favorite character in this book was definitely Alice. She spent so much of her time trying to do good for others, and it was honestly incredibly inspiring. Of course everyone in this world (or at least, everyone with a heart) wants to do good for others, but it takes a certain person to dedicate so much of their free time towards being selfless and going to soup kitchens and raising money and tutoring orphaned children. Which is why Teddy coming across all of this money causes a rift between him and Alice -- because she has plans for him changing the world with it, and he can barely think past the present day.
(Minor spoilers in this paragraph -- please skip to the next one if you don't want the book ruined for you!) Towards the ending of the book, Teddy and Alice's little romance had me so excited and smiling so big that my roommate looked over at me several times to ask if I was okay, because I was sitting there grinning at my book like a goon. At first I was shocked when she didn't take the offer Teddy gave her with the program, but then it was quickly made up for by that adorable ending. I mean, guys. I almost felt my heart stop, it was so dang cute. My cheeks seriously hurt from smiling. I loved it.
Overall, I really enjoyed Windfall. Jennifer E. Smith did another spectacular job of creating a feel-good romance while also creating a story that I'd never wandered into before -- the story of someone having so much wealth so suddenly that they had no idea what to do with it, and the pros and cons of each decision they made that followed thereafter. If this book wasn't on your TBR already, it definitely should be -- as well as the rest of Jennifer E. Smith's books! I really enjoyed tearing through this one and I'm eagerly awaiting some of her future work as well. :-)
As I've mentioned before, it's really hard to keep up with reading when you're in college, especially when you're an English major. You're given so many other books to read for assignments, and I've never been a good multitasker when it came to reading multiple books at the same time, so I had to get through this one pretty slowly. However, slowly but surely, I managed to find snippets of free time where I had a chance to sit down and just soak up as much of this book as I could. Even though it was 400+ pages, I felt myself fly through it like it was nothing, because I was so hooked on wanting to find out what happened next.
As the summary explains, Alice and Teddy have been best friends for an incredibly long time. So for Teddy's eighteenth birthday, Alice jokingly buys him a lottery ticket, not expecting anything from it. But when Teddy ends up winning over 141 million dollars, everything changes.
The only problem is that not everything changes in a good way. While Teddy's life (and the lives of everyone surrounding him) suddenly stumbles into this much wealth, people naturally come out of the woodwork wanting to take advantage of this -- one of the most notable people being Teddy's deadbeat father who had a gambling addiction and up and left him years ago. So the book takes you through his struggles of suddenly being "cursed" with so much money, and having to balance between pleasing the do-gooders around him (such as his parents and Alice) while also splurging a little bit, having grown up in a home with very little money and finally being given the golden opportunity that he never had. It also takes you through another struggle -- Alice has been in love with Teddy for years, but she can't find the heart to tell him. Until she suddenly does -- and things definitely don't go as planned. (But I won't spoil that part for you -- you'll have to read the book yourself to find out what happens!)
My favorite character in this book was definitely Alice. She spent so much of her time trying to do good for others, and it was honestly incredibly inspiring. Of course everyone in this world (or at least, everyone with a heart) wants to do good for others, but it takes a certain person to dedicate so much of their free time towards being selfless and going to soup kitchens and raising money and tutoring orphaned children. Which is why Teddy coming across all of this money causes a rift between him and Alice -- because she has plans for him changing the world with it, and he can barely think past the present day.
(Minor spoilers in this paragraph -- please skip to the next one if you don't want the book ruined for you!) Towards the ending of the book, Teddy and Alice's little romance had me so excited and smiling so big that my roommate looked over at me several times to ask if I was okay, because I was sitting there grinning at my book like a goon. At first I was shocked when she didn't take the offer Teddy gave her with the program, but then it was quickly made up for by that adorable ending. I mean, guys. I almost felt my heart stop, it was so dang cute. My cheeks seriously hurt from smiling. I loved it.
Overall, I really enjoyed Windfall. Jennifer E. Smith did another spectacular job of creating a feel-good romance while also creating a story that I'd never wandered into before -- the story of someone having so much wealth so suddenly that they had no idea what to do with it, and the pros and cons of each decision they made that followed thereafter. If this book wasn't on your TBR already, it definitely should be -- as well as the rest of Jennifer E. Smith's books! I really enjoyed tearing through this one and I'm eagerly awaiting some of her future work as well. :-)
I'm super glad you liked this Jessica! I think I could actually read this to pick me up from my year long slump :/ I've been off of blogging, but I'm happy I'm back! Great post as always♥
ReplyDeleteJumana @ Books by Jay
Love books that leave you warm and fuzzy.
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