Jackpot Summer by Elyssa Friedland #bookreview #contemporary #romance #womensfiction #family #drama #humor

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Title: Jackpot Summer

Author:  Elyssa Friedland

Publisher: Berkley

Publication Date: June 11, 2024

Page Count:  382

My rating: 4 stars

About the book:

After the Jacobson siblings win a life-changing fortune in the lottery, they assume their messy lives will transform into sleek, storybook perfection–but they couldn’t be more wrong.
 
The four Jacobson children were raised to respect the value of a dollar. Their mother reused tea bags and refused to pay retail; their father taught them to budget before he taught them to ride a bike. And yet, now that they’re adults, their financial lives are in disarray.
 
The siblings reunite when their newly widowed father puts their Jersey Shore beach house on the market. Packing up childhood memories isn’t easy, especially when there’s other drama brewing. Matthew is miserable at his corporate law job and wishes he had more time with his son; Laura’s marriage is imploding in spectacular fashion; Sophie’s art career is stalled while her boyfriend’s is on the rise; and Noah’s total failure to launch has him doing tech repair for pennies.
 
When Noah sees an ad for a Powerball drawing, he and his sisters go in on tickets while their brother Matthew passes.  All hell breaks loose when one of the tickets is a winner and three of the four Jacobsons become overnight millionaires. Without their mother’s guidance, and with their father busy playing pickleball in a Florida retirement village, the once close-knit siblings search for comfort in shiny new toys instead of each other.
 
It’s not long before the Jacobsons start to realize that they’ll never feel rich unless they can pull their family back together.

Jackpot Summer by Elyssa Friedland is a women’s fiction story that takes a humorous family drama and mixes in some contemporary romance into it. The story in Jackpot Summer is one that does change the point of view between the characters during the story.

The Jacobson siblings grew up with parents who pinched pennies and knew the value of a dollar but they also enjoyed summers at their Jersey Shore beach house too. Now with all four siblings dealing with lives problems they all need to head to the family beach house and begin sorting through memories.

As Matthew, Laura, Sophie and Noah begin to pack they all wish they could change their father’s mind on selling. Each has too many other things in life though to put up much of a fight until Noah sees an ad for a Powerball drawing and on a whim three of the siblings pitch in for tickets and actually win the jackpot.

Jackpot Summer by Elyssa Friedland spun from the idea of lottery winners often find themselves blowing through their winnings or in worse shape than before the win. This idea wove into the story of these four siblings and their problems and how life was before and after the jackpot which lead to a lot of family drama that unfolds in a more humorous way than one would expect drama to which I really enjoyed and with a little romance on the side this made for a fun tale.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Find this book online:

Goodreads  /  Amazon

About the author:

Elyssa Friedland attended Yale University, where she served as managing editor of the Yale Daily News. She is a graduate of Columbia Law School and subsequently worked as an associate at a major firm. Prior to law school, Elyssa wrote for several publications, including Modern Bride, New York magazine, Columbia Journalism Review, CBS MarketWatch.com, Yale Alumni Magazine, and Your Prom. She grew up in New Jersey and currently lives in New York City with her husband and three young children.