Baseball is in my blood. I’ve been exposed to it since I was born as my mother was a major fan herself. As an adult, I have been a team mom and official scorekeeper for teams from t-ball through age eighteen youth leagues. Yeah, baseball is in my blood. This is one of the main reasons I chose to read The Lucky Ones by K.G. MacGregor.
This is the story of Brittany (Britt) Iverson and Ninah Faust. Britt left Kentucky as soon as she graduated from high school and never came back except for short visits to see her father. A traumatic experience caused by her mother soured her to small town life in this southern state. Now, though, she finds herself back in Leland, forced to stay long enough to help her father with a failing business he acquired just as he fell ill. The business happens to be the Longdogs Minor League baseball team (a minor team of the Pittsburgh Pirates), something Britt knows nothing about. However, she does know how to make a business profitable, and if she does help her father, both of them could end up with millions in the bank.
Ninah grew up in a small and impoverished coal mining town in Kentucky. With the help of a softball scholarship, she managed to escape the poverty, and now is a teacher at the high school in Leland. Ninah meets Britt through her friends Justine and Carly. All three women are also friends of Britt’s father, and they all pitch in to help Britt and her father as he recovers, and she works to keep the Longdogs going. There is chemistry between Britt and Ninah, but Ninah knows that Britt doesn’t plan to stay in Leland. Britt feels the attraction also, but she doesn’t want a girlfriend in Kentucky.
This is a story about love, and not just romantic love. It is about the love of family, friends, and yes, even a love of a community. This is also a tale of hope. For me, this is a feel good story, one that made me feel happy at the end. It is well-written, with a vibrant setting, well-developed characters, both main and secondary, and a story that left me with that feeling of hope.
This is my first K.G. MacGregor novel, and now I have so much future reading to do to catch up. The Lucky Ones is actually kind of a sequel to another book by the author called The House on Sandstone, and the main characters in that novel are important secondary characters in this one. The Lucky Ones can be read as a stand-alone novel. I have heard, though, the first book is an excellent read, so I’m going to recommend that you read both books in order if you can. I know I will be looking for the first book very soon.
I received an ARC from NetGalley and Bella Books for an honest review.
Rainbow Reflections 