Get Lucky is an enjoyable read about the importance of family and the bond between sisters. But while there were parts of the book that really struck a chord with me, I ultimately felt that the heart of the story and its characters lacked depth, making it less than a keeper.

We meet Sarah Harper as she’s being fired for accidentally forwarding a website full of pictures of boobs to her entire company. She decides to go home to Houston for Thanksgiving and forget everything for a few days. On the plane home, when she’s feeling and looking her worst, she runs into her old high school boyfriend, Everett Thompson, whom she cruelly dumped. Once a skinny 17 year-old nerd, he is now an uber-successful hunk. He greets her with “Wow, you got old” – not exactly the words a girl wants to hear.

When her sister Mackie picks her up, Sarah is greeted with the news that after many years of trying to have a baby, Mackie and her husband Clive have finally decided to admit failure. When Sarah gets home and sees the beautiful nursery her sister had set up for her future babies, a brilliant idea enters her mind: she’ll be the surrogate for her sister’s baby. Of course, pregnancy is nothing like she expects, with her sister insisting on stuffing her with pesticide-free, all-natural foods, and running into Everett more often than she’d like. Her father has also just gotten engaged to a Dolly Parton-like woman, which is shocking because nobody even knew he was dating. Sarah also can’t stop getting into slightly awkward situations, but she slowly learns to take these in stride and chalk them up to learning experiences.

I liked the story and I didn’t like it. Certainly, all the characters are humorous and likeable, and the relationships between them often led to touching and bittersweet situations. But the main premises of the situation – the surrogate pregnancy, Sarah’s journey towards a new life – are extremely light and glossed over. I would never have known that Sarah was even pregnant, except once in a while we’re reminded that she’s as big as a house or has to pee a lot. Everything seems to come so easily to her, all her griping and bouts of depression notwithstanding. Don’t get me wrong; Sarah is a funny, compassionate protagonist, one I could connect with on many levels, but I often felt like she took everything too well, and she never had the light bulb epiphany that I was itching for. Lightness of situation pervaded the book on many levels, and I really missed the potential depth of the story. Sarah and Mackie’s relationship is sweet, but I would have liked more scenes between them. Sarah’s budding relationship with Everett had a nice feel to it, but it was fast and practically tacked on at the end. In general, something was just missing for me.

Still, I liked Sarah. Sarah and Mackie’s mother died when they were young, and they’ve had to rely on each other for support ever since. Now that Sarah is pregnant, it is a particularly emotional time for her, and she can’t help but miss her mom even more. It is at these moments, when Sarah is serious and introspective, that the book is at its best.

Ultimately, I can recommend Get Lucky – though I’d check it out at the library. It is a fun, fast read, and the characters often pulled on my heartstrings – which made me even more regretful that the story was so short and kind of (I hate to say it) flaky. Still, there are some moments of poignancy in this story that shouldn’t be missed, and some laugh out loud situations that left a smile on my face.