Personal Rating: 4 Stars Goodreads Rating: 4.10 Stars Content Rating: Strong PG-13 (for language, violence, smoking/drinking, and suggestive remarks) Trigger Warnings: Drug overdose, parent death, rape is alluded to, brief use of racist language. With her mama recently dead and her pa sight unseen since birth, fourteen-year-old Amelia is suddenly in charge of her younger brother and sister, and of the family gas station. Harley Blevins, local king and emperor of Standard Oil, is in hot pursuit to clinch his fuel monopoly. To keep him at bay and her family out of foster care, Melia must come up with a father, and fast. And so when a hobo rolls out of a passing truck, Melia grabs opportunity by its beard. Can she hold off the hounds till she comes of age? (goodreads.com) This book was fantastic. I won’t beat around the bush with “I found this book here” or “this book interested me because”—it doesn’t matter. All you need to know is that this is an amazing, heartbreaking, uplifting, giggle and tear inducing book with incredibly likeable (and one detestable) characters. That’s it. That’s all you need to know. Okay, maybe you need to know more than that. You’re probably wondering why, if this book is so wonderful, I only gave it four stars and not five. Or you might be wondering what exactly about this book was so good. You may even require some convincing that a book about a gas station could even be interesting. And, because you have so little faith in me, I will give you an actual review instead of just gushing about how much I liked this book. You’re welcome. First things first: why did I only give it four stars? There are a couple of reasons. The first being that there was unnecessary use of racial slurs. It was hardly there, and only popped up once or twice. And sure, it was probably accurate to something a person of that time would say, but it had nothing to do with the plot, the instance that I remember most clearly was really just in a throwaway line that didn’t add anything. It’s one thing if a slur or harmful language is important to the story, but it doesn’t sit well with me when that sort of thing is thrown around without cause. So that’s one of the reasons for losing a star. The other reason is just because I personally was not comfortable reading about some of the subjects I mentioned in the TW section above. Also, there was a heckin’ lot of foul language and you know how we feel about that round here in these parts. Apart from those things, I really did love this book. I’m a sucker for “found family” stories and this one played that trope out to perfection. It also had a unique setting in a gas station during the Great Depression in Virginia, which turned out to be a really interesting and fresh setting for a book. I loved the different ways the family in this book improved their gas station and the lengths they went to protect it from the disgustingly evil Harley Blevins (I really would have liked to punch this guy in the face… with a baseball bat… or a brick… a couple of dozen times). Reading about the different promotions they’d run to make a little extra cash, or the things they’d do to make the station nicer, or the meals they’d cook, was just my cup of tea. And the characters! Apart from Harley Blevins (aka the Scum of the Earth), the characters were so likeable it was ridiculous. The story is told from Melia’s (the MC) point of view and it is written the way she would speak, regional slang and all. She was such a strong and interesting character with actual development that didn’t feel rushed. I don’t think I have ever liked a first person narrator more. Her siblings, Earle and Janey were adorable and also had their own lives apart from being adorable children. They had their own wants and thoughts and motivations. Oftentimes, kid characters in YA and adult novels are so flat and boring and just there to be cute. But Earle and Janey were so much more than that and drove the plot in their own way. Then, of course, there was Hiriam, who you aren’t really sure what to make of when you first meet him, but I promise he grows on you. I could probably go over each and every character from this book and tell you about them, but I won’t do that because I don’t have the energy to type that long of a review. Suffice to say, that even the town snobs of the story eventually started to warm up. Pretty much everyone except Harley Blevins (the Poopiest Poop of this book and possibly all time) was likeable or interesting. I do want to throw out that Christians in this book are not portrayed in a good light, though it can be a realistic light unfortunately. They treat Melia and her family poorly because they don’t go to church and are just very judgmental and hypocritical in general. While the Christians in the town in this story eventually get better, it really irks me that Harley Freaking Blevins used God and religion as an excuse to do the things he does. He also sees his faith as a business transaction with God, which is not accurate. He sort of reminds me of Frollo from Hunchback of Notre Dame (the Disney movie, I’ve never read the book) using his position of power and the name of God to judge others and bend them to his will. Which is not what God is for. God isn’t a god of bargains, He is a god of unconditional love. Lucky Strikes was truly a compelling historical fiction and I may read it again at some point down the line. I absolutely recommend it to anyone who is interested in Depression-era fiction, gas stations of yesteryear, or just stories about finding family and yourself. Thank you for reading, I’m off to fill up my gas tank… no literally, it is getting low. Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23546616-lucky-strikes
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