Lucky Caller
By: Emma Mills
Published Year: 2020
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co
Pages: 336
Summary (Provided by Goodreads): When Nina decides to take a radio broadcasting class her senior year, she expects it to be a walk in the park. Instead, it’s a complete disaster.
The members of Nina's haphazardly formed radio team have approximately nothing in common. And to maximize the awkwardness her group includes Jamie, a childhood friend she'd hoped to basically avoid for the rest of her life.
The show is a mess, internet rumors threaten to bring the wrath of two fandoms down on their heads, and to top it all off Nina's family is on the brink of some major upheaval.
Everything feels like it's spiraling out of control―but maybe control is overrated?
First Impressions
I love Mills. I have read all of her novels and greatly enjoyed each one. While I have liked some more than others, I have never been disappointed by one of her books. I will say, I am a little disappointed in the cover of this book. It’s not that it’s not cute, but I liked how unique Mills’ previous covers were but that I knew it was a Mills book just by looking at it.
What I thought
This book was a lot of fun from beginning to end, which is exactly what I’ve come to expect from Mills.
Nina is taking a radio broadcasting class and gets grouped with Jamie, her childhood friend who she has drifted apart from since an 8th grade incident. They start to rebuild their friendship over their 90s themed radio show and attempts to make it more popular.
The funny thing is that while trying to give you guys a little summary I realized that there really isn’t much that happens in this book. But it definitely doesn’t feel like that as you’re reading it. Nina is a fun character to read as she’s comfortable with herself and a bit sarcastic. Her two sisters are also fun and I enjoyed their banter and relationship. Jamie is, of course, totally sweet, and even Nina’s mom and her soon to be stepdad Dan are great.
It’s a very character driven novel and is propelled forward by their relationships and interactions. There is a conflict that occurs with Nina and trying to get her radio host dad to come talk on her high school radio show, but it’s not the focus of the novel.
The interesting thing about the relationship development with Jamie and Nina is that it is built through flashbacks. It’s not always completely clear when they’re happening but I enjoyed them.
This was a fun quick read that put a smile on my face. It’s hard to review because there’s not a lot to it when I break it down, but that didn’t make it any less enjoyable. If you’re looking for a cute YA book with fun characters and solid writing, I would recommend checking this one out. It’s not going to be a standout of Mills’ for me, but it was solid.