A tale of friendship, empowerment, freedom and bravery in a world designed to oppress.

Aster. Violet. Tansy. Mallow. Clementine.

Sold as children. Branded by cursed markings. Trapped in a life they never would have chosen.

When Aster’s sister Clementine accidentally murders a man, the girls risk a dangerous escape and harrowing journey to find freedom, justice, and revenge – in a country that wants them to have none of those things.

Pursued by the land’s most vicious and powerful forces – both living and dead – their only hope lies in a bedtime story passed from one girl to another, a story that only the youngest or most desperate would ever believe.

It’s going to take more than luck for them all to survive.

Content warnings: sexual assault, addiction, violence, references to rape and suicide.

This is such a lovely proof! I love the cover and it promised to be a really interesting alternative, dark Western style book and it wasn’t wrong on that front. Some spoilers ahead!
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Interesting premise that the girls taken to the welcome house are all branded with tattoos that grow as they do and upon their 16th birthday their marking is fully bloomed. In this welcome house they are all named after flowers. So we have Clementine, Aster, Tansy, Mallow and Violet as our main ladies. Being part of a welcome house they are never allowed to leave and cannot cover their favours or they will cause pain and glow.
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A little slow to get into the story, Clementine ‘accidentally’ murders her brag, a wealthy man who is part of a powerful family and is then forced to flee from the welcome house with her sister (Aster) and three other girls.
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I loved the idea of the Raveners who are the muscle at every welcome house. They can make you see visions and feel pain that isn’t there. They were more on the edge, it would have been nice to see them as a more integral part of the story.
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The girls are on the run and need to make money to pay to have their favours removed by a woman from a bedtime story who they aren’t even sure exists. The story is filled with haunting ghosts, some of which are dangerous and some fine.
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I did enjoy the book, I felt that it really came into its own about a third of the way through and wish that the story continued past the end. The ending was a bit quick for me and I do think it would have been better over another chapter (probably so it didn’t have to end!).
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Overall this was a great debut from Charlotte Nicole Davis. It’s a tale of friendship, empowerment, freedom and bravery in a world designed to oppress.
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I’d love to see this turn into a sequel!
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The Good Luck Girls is out 10th October 2019! Thank you so much to Molly @hotkeybooks for this beautiful book to review.