Review: Lucky by Garrett Leigh

Dominic Ramos is a Premiership football player with a secret. There are no trophies for being gay in his game. Locked into his rep as the meanest defender on the pitch, keeping his secret is soul-crushing, but love has no place in his sport, even if his soft heart craves it.

Lucky Coleman is on his knees when he meets a man with more money than sense. It’s a Grindr hook-up for cash, not a love match, but dreaming of his desperate, kind eyes earns a place amongst his numerous bad habits.

Meeting once was risky, twice pushes Dom’s courage to the limit. Losing Lucky seems inevitable, but his tight grip on his image counts for nothing when Lucky starts to fall.

Catching him could cost Dom everything, but if he can set his heart free, getting Lucky long term might be a risk worth taking.

This is probably going to get lengthy since this book gave me feelings and when I have feelings I tend to get loquacious. So for those of you like me, who have the attention span of a hummingbird, here's the tl;dr: Lucky is an emotionally powerful tale featuring two gritty and layered characters who have to fight for every centimeter of their HEA that I would recommend to readers who cherish romances that flout the paradigm.

Now, ALL THE WORDS!

The sports angle is what drew me to this book. It's no secret that I have a thing for athletes and sport. True, I'm American and thus not hugely familiar with soccer (football) but for me an athlete is an athlete is an athlete. Dom has worked most of his life to get where he is-an elite defender for a Premiership team. There wasn't an inordinate amount of sport mentioned but it did center on what I like best: dedication to the craft and interpersonal relationships.

There are no two ways about it, Dom is fractious and grumpy. But his pain and weariness were a visceral and moving experience for me. He's been hiding who he is for years, hiding so long that it's made him vicious on the pitch and churlish off it. There are a few people that could potentially be sources of support for him, but the fear of being discovered has rendered him paranoid and mistrustful of everyone so he lives a solitary existence. Years of hiding have aided the formation of well fortified defenses that are now force of habit. That’s the trouble with masks, after wearing them for so long it’s hard to remember what's real, the mask or what’s buried beneath. There are glimpses of the person he could be but they are rare. Until Lucky.

As much as I would like to dismiss his fears as baseless, I cannot. Because it's not true. The evidence lies in the way Cristiano Ronaldo was and still is being treated. Google Cristiano Ronaldo + gay. See how many hits you get. One word: relentless. Or what about Micheal Sam or any number of past and present football players? Too many continue to endure a harsh reality that forces them to live half-lives which engender depression, anxiety and suicide. I want to believe the tide is turning but it is the slowest fucking tide ever. So it’s my fervent hope that people, both young and old, will not only read this book, but people like Garrett Leigh will continue to write them, continue to pound at the gates singing Lin Manuel Miranda's now ubiquitous "love is love is love" anthem until it no longer needs singing. So people like Dom no longer have to hide in the shadows exhausting themselves whilst doing so.

His furtive and anonymous hookups have never been satisfying, conjuring more anxiety and frustrated longing than anything. But they do provide relief and to that end he arranges a paid Grindr hookup with Lucky.

Something happens in that run down room in Dalston, something that defies explanation. It's not instalove but there is chemistry and dazzling attraction that is the beginning of something for both of them.

What was supposed to be a one-off turns into a two-off then regular texting then more. Then forever. The progression of their relationship was like watching a colt try to walk for the first time. Neither of them have a whole lot of experience nor do they put a lot of stock into happily ever after. Both are rough around the edges but there is an ineffable force that seems to bind them together.

Lucky is anything but, actually. His life is not unlike countless other queer kids who have homophobic parents but that doesn’t diminish his experiences or how affecting they were. Left to his own devices at a tender age he's developed some bad habits (trigger for drug usage) and simply put, he doesn't have much support. He has a best friend who does what she can but oftentimes he goes without. Pride is a factor but Lucky's world is riddled with poverty, drug use, violence, crime and prostitution, so the people he knows don’t have much to give in the first place. One would think that would make him bitter or dolorous, but he isn't; he verges on puckish at times.

Both of these men have baggage and at one point I did think the narrative was going to be too bleak for me, but I couldn't put it down. They are both such nuanced, genuine and beguiling characters that I found myself helplessly at the mercy of Leigh's narrative. Fear not, Lucky is not all doom, gloom and angst. There are emotionally weighty topics obliquely mentioned-homelessness, suicide, child abuse, abandonment-that played a role in their formation, but this is not the focus.

Their journey to becoming a 'we' is the focus and it was the easiest thing in the world to root for them.

I won't claim to be a Garrett Leigh expert but Lucky is hands down the sexiest book I've read of hers. Ever. Maybe it was the emotional connection built between them or maybe it was the scorching desire they have for one another or maybe it was the fact that so much of what transpires between them Dom's never experienced before. I really don't care. Whatever it was it should be bottled and weaponized. For the good of mankind. What's more, their sexual compatibility aided in deepening their connection, so my face melting AND their was a purpose! It should be noted that Lucky is pansexual and there are references to him having sex with a female prior to his really investing in Dom.

Lucky could've easily become a bromide Cinderfella story with their disparate income gap and backgrounds, but instead Leigh contravened the mold and stayed the course. Both Lucky and Dom are prickly and independent in their own ways and their emotions and actions align with those characterizations. Yes, they fall in love and yes, that is a transformative event for them but neither magically morph into Disney characters that skip off into a technicolor sunset. Years of trudging through their pallid realities comes with an austerity that’s not easily reversed and I cannot overstate how much I admire that they are emotionally and behaviorally congruent; it's what elevated Lucky to unforgettable territory.

Leigh's prose is above reproach; it's fluid and captivating. The usage of dual perspectives made them three-dimensional, subtly showcasing their differences and highlighting their similarities. Their lassitude was palpable without being burdensome and their triumphs were realistic without being banal, something that takes a sophisticated hand to accomplish.

Before I tip over into obsequious, I'll just say if you are someone who appreciates tenacious, meaty and authentic characters finding a unique happiness unto themselves within a relevant landscape, I think you'll enjoy Lucky.

An ARC was provided in exchange for an honest review.