Jackpot Summer by Elyssa Friedland – a Review

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Description:
After the Jacobson siblings win a life-changing fortune in the lottery, they assume their messy lives will transform into sleek, storybook perfection—but they couldn’t be more wrong in the new laugh-out-loud novel from beloved author Elyssa Friedland.

The four Jacobson children were raised to respect the value of a dollar. Their mother reused tea bags and refused to pay retail; their father taught them to budget before he taught them to ride a bike. And yet, as adults, their financial lives—as well as their personal lives—are in complete disarray.

The siblings reunite when their newly widowed father puts their Jersey Shore home on the market. Packing up their childhood isn’t easy, especially when they’ve all got drama brewing back home. Matthew is miserable at his corporate law job and wishes he had more time with his son; Laura’s marriage is imploding in spectacular fashion; Sophie’s art career is stalled while her boyfriend’s is on the rise; and Noah’s total failure to launch has him doing tech repair for pennies.

So when Noah sees an ad for a Powerball drawing, he and his sisters go in on a ticket. Matthew passes but the ticket is a winner and all hell breaks loose as the infusion of cash causes sibling rivalries and family secrets to resurface. Without their mother, and with their father busy playing pickleball in a Florida retirement village, the once close-knit siblings search for comfort in shiny new toys instead of each other.

It’s not long before the Jacobson’s start to realize that they’ll never feel rich unless they can pull their family back together.

Review:

Jackpot Summer by Elyssa Friedland is a fun story about a family of four Jacobson siblings, who spend the summers in LBI (Long Beach Island) on the Jersey Shore.  The story begins when their widowed father tells the family that he has put his home on the market, much to their chagrin. Everyone is spending the July 4^th weekend together, not too happy about the sale; but their dad is determined to move to Florida. We meet the four siblings, Matthew, who is a wealthy lawyer; Laura, who thought all was well in her marriage; Sophie, is an artist, as well as a teacher; and Noah, the youngest, makes little money doing tech work. During their time of helping to pack up the place for the sale, we get a see each of the them in their own environment, which gave us a view of their lives.

Noah says he wants to buy a lottery ticket, as it is currently in the millions; Laura and Sophie want to join in, with only Matthew not interested. To their shock, they win part of the lottery (a couple of others share the prize), making them instant billionaires. Laura, Sophie and Noah are all thrilled at their winnings, anticipating that their lives will change for even better. The three of them learn quickly that winning all the money is not always the answer to their own problems, especially with each of them doing extravagant purchases, taking trips, buying a new expensive house, making donations, etc. They also began to feel guilty of leaving Matthew out of the group, even though he and his wife were very wealthy on their own.

Each of the characters were so enjoyable, entertaining and fun; I loved how close they all were, as they were always committed to each other.  Laura and her husband became closer once they won the money, though they bought a huge house, but over time, she missed her friends.  Sophie loved doing her art, but she did miss her teaching days.  Noah, who truly was lonely, managed to spend too much of his winnings. Matthew and Beth were not worried about money, but in time Matthew will quit his job, looking for something more filling. The Jacobson’s were a close-knit family and knew they needed to resume a normal life with their family.

Jackpot Summer was a fun, sweet engaging story, filled with family, love and laughter. I loved all the mentions of places in LBI (I am a Jersey Girl), which was so much fun to catch. Jackpot Summer was a different kind of story, which was so very well written by Elyssa Friedland.  I loved every minute of this book, and suggest you read Jackpot Summer.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher