Jackpot! by Jackie Pilossoph
Release Date: Print available now and the eBook to come shortly!
Rating: 5/5
Source: The author, thank you!
Summary:

Jamie Jacobson doesn’t have a lot of faith in love, except when it comes to her Jimmy Choo shoes. Her brother Danny has two loves; his barely existent acting career and his ability to pick up women. But life is about to take a wild turn for these two dysfunctional but lovable siblings now that their mother has just won the lottery.

Frankie, a longtime widow has wanted grandchildren for years. Now she’s prepared to pay cash for them. When Frankie presents her son and daughter each with a contract promising $8 million dollars if he or she can produce a child in the next twelve months (DNA tested, of course), Jamie and Danny each begin a frantic search for a person to help them reproduce.

Come along on their desperate, outrageous and hilarious journeys where fake seductions, ovulation kits and a tarot-card reader are replacing condoms, the pill and fun, meaningless hook-ups. They hit a couple big bumps in the road that have nothing to do with their lack of diaper changing experience, but a lot to do with their hearts.

Now they face the choice of their lives. Give in to love? Or go for the JACKPOT?

In the nearly 30 years since the death of her husband, Frankie Jacobson has had few desires she hoped would be fulfilled, none of which have anything to do with her remarrying. Frankie’s children, Danny and Jamie have done nearly nothing to help her fulfill those desires which include seeing them both settle down and provide her with Grandchildren she can dote on. In fact her two children are the exact opposite, both working in careers they hope to take them to a life of stardom and fortune it’s only Frankie who can see what’s truly important. When she suddenly becomes the lucky winner of millions Frankie knows just how to get what she wants, but will the results be worth the complications along the way? More importantly, will Danny and Jamie overcome their own self-centeredness to discover what matters most? Only time, and possibly money will tell.

From the very beginning of Jackpot! I was hooked. A single mother who’s lost the love her life, now left to raise her two children in hopes of one day being “rewarded” for her sacrifices, it was so incredibly original and refreshing. In a world of Chick Lit where the majority of the plot devices center around marital infidelity it was nice to see something different, especially a book that at it’s core is about family and love.

No matter the outcome, in Frankie’s mind the only way to bring her family together was to use the money she wins in the lottery to propel her children to make the choices they’d been delaying. Neither Danny or Jamie were ready to settle down and start families, though they were both right around the 30 age mark, making it the ideal time to make a choice. Unfortunately for Jamie her past relationships have led her to believe it simply wasn’t possible, but it was easy enough to provide a baby given she had the appropriate anatomy and a willing partner. For her brother Danny, he simply doesn’t want to settle down for fear it will ruin his chances at the potential, non-existent movie career he has going, but when money’s thrown into the equation he can’t seem to argue. Following along as these two blunder and bluff their way into parenthood for the sake of a few million was hilarious! Where they ended up was even better though and made all the heartache on each party worth it.

With a cast of characters gunning for a chance at millions however they could, you wouldn’t imagine there’s much romance to the story, but there absolutely is. With Jamie and her unlikely beau I kept wanting to scream at the book (while reading next to my sleeping husband) to tell her to knock it off and just fall in love. It was torture, but so well worth it. As for Danny, the charming “movie star”/high school teacher, I was in love with him from the beginning and couldn’t help but hope he’d end up with the right girl by the end. Not only were both of their journeys quite hilarious, but they were wonderfully romantic, leaving the story just how I would have hoped.

Jackpot! is a story I know Chick Lit readers everywhere will want to pick up. It has all of the elements that make it a fabulous read including witty dialogue, romance, humor, a remarkably original plot and wonderful characters. As I read Jackpot! I couldn’t help but root for each of the characters individually and as a whole family unity, wanting them desperately to have their “happily ever after”. Not only is that achieved, but much more. Jackie Pilossoph’s follow-up novel to her debut Hook, Line and Sink Him has cemented her firmly in the world of Chick Lit not only as an author who knows what readers want, but as a writer who knows how to share a story. Jackpot! is a novel that readers of authors like Emily Giffin, Sophie Kinsella and Jennifer Weiner will adore!

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