Evelyn "Evie" Kilbride has always been the quiet friend, a shy girl who never had much to say, happy to wait in the wings as her best friend Kelly, the loud, confident one, takes the spotlight or their new friend, the beautiful Claire gets all of the attention. In the summer of 2010, the three friends take a holiday by the beach on the sunny south east coast of Ireland. Lately, things between Evie and Kelly haven’t been feeling the same way that they used to, and when she meets Jude, a wild boy with startlingly good looks and an American accent, everything starts to unravel. She may not realise it now, but the things that happen this summer will leave a permanent mark on her life. Evie will look back on this summer and remember it forever.
Lucky Girl is a story about love and friendship, and the decisions we make in our youth, the people we meet that can change the course of our lives forever, and the vividness and potency of a time when life is full of longing and excitement, summers are endless and filled with intensity.
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I never lived by the coast, but some relatives and family friends did, so I spent plenty of summers exploring the local strands there. Nowadays, if I don’t get to feel the ocean breeze -or sometimes better still, gale force winds- against my skin at least a couple of times a year I’m afraid I’ll be losing my mind. I hope the South East will always hold on to its own, distinctive magic.
I figured you merged existing locations into unique, fictional areas, which I think is excellent as in general this gives us so much more create freedom.
Argh, of course, Oxygen! I was on the fence about the music festival: on the one hand I thought, well, music festival in Laois = Stradbally = Electric Picnic. On the other hand I can’t remember Foo Fighters ever playing at the Picnic, but they did indeed at Oxegen ( which was at the racecourse in Kildare). The festival was called Witnness before that. I apologize for getting into such specific details. Just got a bit excited. I guess I’m old-ish. I’m from the Grunge era. ?
As for the story, it is interesting to read it from a (Irish?) male perspective. I almost feel like an intruder, getting access to the minds of these teenage girls. Poor souls, they’re so harsh on themselves! I can definitely sympathize with some of the male characters, even though in certain instances this may seem a little outrageous. For example, I wonder why the father behaves this way, what’s going on in this man’s head? I believe that in general, Irish men don’t talk much about their feelings to anyone (guilty), at least not directly or when sober, which can be extremely problematic for absolutely everyone involved.
Coming of age angst is such a complex concept and I suppose we’ve all expressed it in different ways. You capture this very well in your story. I’m looking forward to seeing how Evie’s narrative unfolds. I hope she’ll be ok!
I'm slightly disturbed by the fake presents under Cassandra's tree. It contrasts with Evie's image of Claire having a perfect family. They seem to care a lot about image and presentation, so I wonder what else could be a veneer.
I love how you added pictures of Evie to Jude's Instagram. I loved his Instagram profile, generally. The sketches, though, force Evie to confront some of the lies she's been telling herself about Jude. It's unfortunate because she should move on from him.
Evie is lucky to have Shane as a pseudo-sibling. He's a positive force in her life. Unfortunately, her parents don't seem to be much help now (her father is probably part of the inspiration behind her unhealthy relationship with alcohol).
As always, I want Evie to enjoy herself. To enjoy Stephen's Day and go out to catch up with old acquaintances instead of drowning her memories of an unhappy Christmas.
Yes! I suppose that the fake presents show a desire to keep up appearances for people who visit the house, rather than outwardly showing anything less than perfection.
Thank you so much - those instagram profiles took forever to make but were so fun. Evie should absolutely just be moving on but it's hard for her to get over it, the way she felt was so intense and she's the kind of person that holds onto people very tightly for a very long time. The ambiguous ending is what is killing her, she expected a cleaner break, more directness from Jude and now she's just getting it more twisted in her head as time passes by.
Shane <3 I have a real soft spot for Shane, and although he can be a bit over cautious I think his heart is in the right place. Evie could really use someone like him considering her parents have been so ineffective.
I also want to celebrate the fact that this week i reached 1000 views on wordpress! It feels like a big milestone, considering how I got almost 0 views when the first few chapters as they were released hahaha! The amount that this story has ramped up in the last few months has been so humbling to see. Thank you all for being here, those who comment and those who don't. <3
Late at night in a big city with loads of drunks is upping the risk factor and it really did look like Dean was offering some protection in case Evie had run into some unsavoury characters; all he wanted in return was conversation. He didn't linger too long to see if he would be invited into the flat...he went his way once the job of escorting her home was done. I know there's the whole Evie is independent, shouldn't feel obliged thing but reality is cities past midnight are filled with predators looking for vulnerable people to prey on...I'm originally a Londoner, I know what it's like out there.
Dean's still a bit all about his strong opinions (2012 Mayan calendar, really Dean? You'll be talking about fake moon landings next) but what we saw is a young man who has to work harder than Evie's crowd with an evening job on top of his course work and I've met plenty of guys (and a few women) like him who believe they've earned the right to strong opinions because they work harder at life. Again, great depth of characterisation here because this chapter has seen him go up a notch in my estimation but he still can't read a room and the drug taking was off but when he's sober, not high and not all about his opinions he's OK.
People constantly disrespect what Evie says. I have lots of experience living in some of the biggest cities worldwide and being out late at night. Regardless, if I tell a guy that I want to walk home alone, I would like him to respect what I say and not think he knows better than me about what's best for me. I hate the idea that women don't know what they're talking about or can't be believed when they state their preferences, so random acquaintances should feel free to override them if safety's a potential issue. I don't need someone to second guess my words about myself.
It's good manners to offer to walk someone home, but if someone is rejected multiple times, they need to stop. So I get that Dean has good intentions, but he oversteps here, and it's slightly creepy. Statistically, the men who pose the most danger to women are those they know, not strangers. A person's home is their personal space, and leading acquaintances there can cause problems.
Confronting someone about why they've blocked you is also overstepping most of the time, so I think they're fairly even.
Anyway, I'm glad that Evie left Marnie.
IMHO, "Ulysses" is better than "Leopold," at least (it's the cooler version). But I've not read all of it, so they both could be unacceptably horrible for someone in Dublin who doesn't want to be associated with that at all…
Evie stresses me out, though. She's always miserable when she goes out. It's painful, and her thoughts are always so judgmental and nasty when she doesn't want to be out. I wish she would find better friends. Maybe Dean can help there, but I'm worried about his potential drug issues.
