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Alexandria Bellefleur’s Written in the Stars series – about romance and astrology in Seattle – comes to a sweet conclusion with Count Your Lucky Stars, about two former high school girlfriends who reunite unexpectedly after many years. It’s warm and funny and real about what it’s like to fall in love when you think romance is beyond your grasp, and provides a proper capstone to the series as a whole.
Assistant event coordinator Olivia – Liv – Grant is recently divorced and currently trying to make a life for herself in a brand-new town. She’s angling for her first solo assignment and ends up planning the wedding of Brendon and Annie (from Hang the Moon). The last thing Liv expects is to see Margot Cooper – her childhood best friend and first love – who happens to be the Best Person of the groom at the wedding.
Margot Cooper is a total cynic about love, which is why she’s rolling her eyes at having been asked to be Best Person at the high-profile wedding of her friends. She and Liv haven’t spoken for years, and after having been burned by their break-up, she’s taken up the bachelorette lifestyle and refuses to settle down. Even being around Margot feels awkward – and thrilling, though Liv won’t admit it out loud. Since Margot is the last single person in her friends’ group, she’s felt a bit awkward about being the odd person out and Liv’s presence soothes that ache.
Margot soon finds herself homeless thanks to a series of unprecedented disasters. Since Liv has room at her place, Margot finds herself in the spare room. Soon they find themselves adopting a cat, sharing meals and long, simmering looks. But can they get over their past hurts to find true love together?
Count Your Lucky Stars is another wonderfully charming example of what Bellefleur can do when she’s firing on all cylinders. The book is smart, sexy, funny and warm – very much in-tune with the rest of the series. If you enjoyed the previous books, you’re sure to enjoy this one.
Margot is still the same funny, foul-mouthed cynic we met in the previous books, and she’s given extra depth and time to grow here; she’s probably the character most like me in the entire universe, so I was happy to watch her succeed.
I liked Liv’s independence, her smart ambition and the way her determination to organize her world goes by the wayside thanks to her connection to Margot. They make a fun couple – Liv prods Margot into enjoying connecting to the rest of the world, and Margot helps Liv anchor her ambition in something real and true.
We get to see a lot of the rest of the folks from this universe, with Brendon and Annie in particular getting extra page time, and lots of room for Darcy and Elle. Someone even gets a belated babies-ever-after epilogue (I won’t reveal which pairing here). There’s a real sense of community in the series, of friends connecting, and the Seattle backdrop is given a lot of lively color and detail. And Cat – because of course that’s what they name their cat – is as delightful an example of contentedly arrogant feline joy I’ve ever read in a romance.
Count Your Lucky Stars is a lovely romance between two equals that provides a perfect conclusion to an already lovely series.
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Grade: A-
Book Type: Contemporary Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 02/02/22
Publication Date: 02/2022
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.