This book is awesome. Real women, with real problems, and real sex drives, and oh god, real sex toys. It had me cackling out loud at times, and reflecting on my family and parenting at others. I adored how the three stories came together, and the end of the story, with each of the women winning in their own way. Phenomenal, and like nothing I’ve read before.

I have been saving this book to read closer to publication day, finally got around to it and it did not disappoint!

You have two main characters Ruby who is a single mum who has a condition that takes over her everyday life & thoughts. Beth who is a new mum who is back at work while her husbands looks after their four month old baby, Beth is struggling with the lack of intimacy in her marriage. Then you also have a third character Lauren who is a celebrity and is about to marry another celebrity, her story is told through instagram posts.

This book really reminded me that everyone has their own issues & insecurities and the way we present ourselves to the world (whether it is through instagram or face to face interactions) does not always match up to what is real.

I really sympathised with Ruby and I was pleased that her approach to motherhood changed in the story. There were quite a few laugh out loud moments and the way the characters stories all come together I enjoyed. The male characters were not the main focus either which I quite enjoyed.

A great read which certainly made me laugh in several places.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced reader copy in exchange for a honest review

I love Dawn, she celebrates women in all there real and ordinarily strong glory. She writes such amazing characters and so well, you aren’t always sure if you’ll like them at the beginning but by the end you love them to bits. This is an amazing and uplifting read full of humour and warmth. Recommended to anyone who enjoys a good read and appreciates real women.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

I didn't think that I could be more in awe of Dawn O'Porter but she's gone and done it again. So Lucky is a fabulous book with believable characters and is so relatable (other than one character having a huge libido four months after giving birth! But that may just be me!)

I could have read this book in one sitting it is so good but I made myself ration it because I actually didn't want it to end.

You will laugh, you will cry and you will question your views and opinions on so many things. I cannot recommend this book highly enough; go out and buy it now, well once it's published obviously.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for my copy.

Who needs "Fifty Shades of Grey"* when you can read "So Lucky?!"

I read the Cows and was really looking forward to reading this book. The book is told by three different women, Beth, Ruby and Lauren, all of whom have an issue of some sort but are viewed as "lucky" by the rest of the world. There are many tones of "Girl Power" and Woman supporting women throughout it and it touches upon many issues facing women today. There's also a LOT of sex and quite descriptive sex in this book!

I actually really enjoyed reading this book but didn't find any of the female characters particularly likeable, I liked that it is told from the point of three women with different issues and that I had a certain empathy for each of them but I found the character "Risky" over the top. I have to give it to Dawn O'Pporter though she is a very good writer and this is well written.

* I really hated Fifty Shades of Grey!

Not really a "man's book" but the story held the attention and gave some interesting insights into the female condition. Dawn O'Porter constructed quite a complex story line - or rather two - and brought the threads together at the end very skillfully

I thoroughly enjoyed this book funny and thought provoking in equal measure. Thank you netgalley for the opportunity to read this book as an arc in return for an honest review.

Dawn O'Porter's latest release So Lucky makes you think about everytime you've looked at a snippet of someone else's life and decided they're just "so lucky" based on your assumptions.  We follow three women; Ruby, Beth and Lauren, three different lives brought together by one event, the wedding of the year of Lauren to Dragon's Den millionaire star Gavin Riley.

Ruby is a single mother who works from home as a photo retoucher; she both knows and loaths the impact her retouching has on the body positivity of those she's retouching and the people that see the resulting images.

Beth, wedding planner and new mother to baby Tommy has returned to work much earlier than expected leaving her husband at home looking after Tommy. To her assistant and the outside world she's got everything going, an amazing job, dream project and a super progressive and supportive husband.

Lauren is a model and Instagram sensation who appears to be living the dream to her thousands of followers; while she speaks supposedly candidly about her anxiety online there are few people who actually listen to how she's feeling.

Alternating between Ruby and Beth's narrative perspectives and snippets of Lauren's Instagram feed which was a great way to break up the text and incorporate it as it plays such a large part of the story.   We follow all three women and their families in the run up to the wedding; my personal favourite was Beth and her relationship with her ever so slightly overbearing mother in law.

Initially I thought this was going to be a bit predictable but I my suspicions were completely wrong and I'm do glad they were.  This is refreshing, female-driven that'll make you laugh out loud at the same time it makes you reconsider the judgements we make about people from what they post online.

A really gripping, funny read about the complex relationship we have with our outwards persona and what really is going on inside, it perfectly encapsulated how we can all be someone completely different to what others experience.

I’ve enjoyed Dawn’s books in the past and this one was as full of as many laughs, cries, giggles and cringes as her other books!

The book is written from the point of view of 3 women, who are all living very different lives. I really liked the addition of the Instagram style posts and how one of the characters portrayed themselves in this light. The book also looked at how the women have felt constricted or confined by men at times so there’s a strong message of female power in this book!

I liked how things came together at the end but felt it was quite rushed and left me with quite a few questions (perhaps the opportunity for a sequel?!). Overall I enjoyed the bookand it left me with tears running down my face, both happy and sad!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Disclaimer: Thank you to Harper Collins UK and Netgalley for the complimentary digital copy in exchange for an honest review of this book.

A brilliantly funny and poignant book.

This is story of three women who from appearances appear to be " so lucky". Ruby is a successful photo editor with a lovely daughter and a good relationship with her ex. Beth is a new mum with a successful business and Lauren is a minor celebrity who is due to get married to one of the UKs most eligible bachelors. However as we learn more about each women we see that they each have their own problems and are just trying to cope with life the same as the rest of us.

Dawn O'Porter manages to capture the essence of being female in this book. It's both hilariously funny and break your heart sad. The character of Ruby and the journey she goes on is so moving. Risky is the most hilarious side character. Thank you so much to Net Gallery and the publishers for the opportunity to read this wonderful book.

I really liked the cover. It is very appealing designed. The writing style is pleasant and very fluently to read. The characters are very well described and look well thought out and consistently interesting. The tension is always present. The descriptions of surroundings, feelings and scenes were also very good. The story is told pleasant and it succeeds from the first pages to dive directly into the story. The storyline as a whole is very coherent and it seems very understandable and authentic. A very fascinating story that you won't like to stop reading.

I have loved all of Dawn O'Porter's books and her social media posts so I was delighted and 'so lucky' to get an e-copy of So Lucky from NetGalley and Harper Collins.
I wasn't disappointed. I laughed, cried and cringed, like proper toe-curlingly cringed! I don't think I've read another author as honest about modern life as Dawn, she says it how it really is – without apology. If you are easily offended maybe give it a miss but I really can't recommend it enough to the rest of you!

Beth, Ruby and Lauren. Three women living the 21st century dream only to realise that they can’t have it all and lessen themselves by even trying. A brilliant book after the amazing COWS. Excellent characterisations and women that are down to earth and believable. 5 big fat ones

I found this to be a good, fast read. I was intrigued by the three female characters (4 if you include Risky), and the different ways their stories are told.
Initially I liked Beth, and didn't think very much of Ruby. But then, by the end, I'd wholeheartedly gone off Beth, and I absolutely loved Ruby. I was actually a bit disappointed with the resolution of Beth's story-line. It didn't ring true for me, that she had gone from perfect to horror story marriage in the blink of an eye. Her husband didn't seem real, and I was disappointed with her story's end. But Ruby's was great, and although the fancy tying together of the various characters was a little forced it still worked for me.
Occasionally it feels like the writer is just out to shock - there are scenes that will upset some more sensitive readers - and some parts read a little bit like when your friend is really, really drunk and just gets a bit too loud and shouty in the pub...
But it was a fun read, and raised some good, interesting points and talked about things that really don't usually get talked about, and that can only be a good thing I think.

A story told from different points of view as described in the synopsis.
Although the viewpoints are different I found the whole text too laboured and was never sure whether a scene was mean to be funny or empathetic.
I suspect that my failure to engage with the novel may be it exists in a world quite different to mine and it doesn’t draw me into it.

Thank you to HarperCollins U.K. for granting my wish for an eARC via NetGalley of Dawn O’Porter’s ‘So Lucky’ in exchange for an honest review. It is due to be published on 31 October.

This was such an unexpected delight. It revolves around the lives of three women living in London. Each are successful in their own fields but are their lives as perfect as others think they are?

Beth is a wedding planner specialising in “unnecessarily expensive weddings for extremely rich people”. She also is a new mother and as she’s busy preparing for the celebrity wedding of the year, husband Michael has taken paternity leave. Her assistant, Risky, is always gushing how perfect Beth’s marriage is. Yet she and Michael haven’t had sex in a year, something that seems to only trouble Beth.

Ruby is a professional retoucher, who used to work in advertising but now works exclusively for Rebecca, a photographer in high demand by publications like ‘Vogue’. Ruby is tall and thin yet she has a physical condition that causes her to feel ashamed and isolated. She’s divorced and her three-year old daughter, Bonnie, is proving difficult to manage.

Finally there is Lauren Pearce, a model turned Instagram influencer. She is about to marry a millionaire businessman in above mentioned celebrity wedding. She seems to be living the dream but again all is not as it appears from the outside.

While Ruby and Beth narrate their chapters we first meet Lauren through her Instagram posts complete with hilarious comments and later in the chapters featuring Ruby and Beth.

This was such a joy to read and I found myself laughing out loud by the situations and the reflections and repartee between characters. Dawn O’Porter has done such a brilliant job in crafting the lives of these women making them very relatable. I was cheering them on in their individual stories and as their stories converged.

It is a comedy-drama as alongside the razor sharp humour she is examining serious subjects such as mental health, body image, self esteem and the expectations that society places on women aided by the media, both traditional and social. It could easily have been a kitchen sink drama rather than this delightful experience.

I will warn that there is strong language and frank observations and discussions on various topics.

I loved this so much and immediately bought her previous novel, ‘Cows’, and will be on the lookout for her future projects. Plus, am now following her on Instagram. Ironic?

I highly recommend this novel and I feel that it is going to be a big hit with reading groups. It’s the kind of novel that is both great fun yet tackles serious issues.

This is an incredibly funny and moving book. I have never come across a combination before where in the same novel I laughed hilariously and then cried for the burdens the characters were carrying.
The characters, all women, from different walks of life, at different stages in their lives, are strong, vibrant, endearing, vulnerable and real. We follow their individual journeys of self-discovery and ultimately their acceptance of themselves, in separate stories that are clearly linked but speak of different trials. There is Ruby who has polycystic ovaries and hides from the world because of the resulting body hair. She is a single mum to Bonnie, not managing to be a very good parent and trapped in a life where she is determined that no-one will discover what shames her.
There is Beth, meant to be on maternity leave but organising the celebrity wedding of the year to famous businessman Gavin and his Instagram perfect fiancée Lauren. She is breastfeeding, her husband is looking after the baby and Beth is wondering why her husband is avoiding her.
Lauren posts about her perfect life on Instagram in a bid to escape the pain of personal loss. In doing so she avoids confronting the thing that matters most.
Risky is Beth's assistant and incredibly honest when it comes to sexual practices. She also advocates the Sisterhood and believes herself to be an ardent feminist.
Dawn O'Porter uses serious issues and the conflict women can face being mothers, the fallout of not having a good mother, juggling a career with parenthood and what constitutes a happy and thriving marriage with a huge amount of hilarity and yet at the same time sensitivity.
By the end, when the women meet and join together to support one another, the reader is swept away by Ruby's bravery, Beth's determination, Lauren's attempts to start again, and Risky's reassessment of perfection in relationships. It is such a brilliant read, and one you do not want to put down. It is very hard to say goodbye to the women of this story and I found myself wishing each one of them well for the future. I felt like they were my friends too and I only wanted the best for them.
Would definitely recommend reading this book to others and as this was the first time I have read anything by Dawn O'Porter I am most certainly going to read whatever else she has written. Dawn O'Porter could quite possibly become one of my favourite authors!

I really enjoyed Dawns last book 'The Cows' so was looking forward to reading her new book!
So Lucky focuses on two main characters, Ruby and Beth with Instagram posts of a third character Lauren also featured throughout.
Ruby is a single parent to feisty 3 year old Bonnie and spends her days hiding away working as a photo editor, photo-shopping photos for models and celebrities while dealing with serious body image issues of her own.
Beth is a new Mum who has gone back to work sooner than she wanted to to deal with a celebrity wedding. Dealing with the realities of working while breastfeeding and the change in her home life is proving very difficult for her.
Lauren's Instagram account shows that she seems to have it all - gorgeous fiance, beautiful home, money, fame etc. But is it all just a front for social media?
This was a brilliant look at the pressures women face when they want to still work and have a family, as well as the realities of social media and how you shouldn't always believe what is portrayed.

My crush on Dawn O’Porter just upped into full scale adoration. Her writing is so witty, smart and keenly observed. I absolutely devoured this book and find her reflections on social media and influencer culture really insightful, without being preachy and losing any entertainment factor. Brilliant.