Review: "Get Lucky" by Katherine Center

Sarah Harper has just been fired from her job in New York after she makes a questionable decision by sending out an e-mail filled with breasts to every single person on her work e-mail list- including the interns and the bosses. Thankfully, it's Thanksgiving and she's headed home to Texas to spend time with her sister and her husband, as well as her father, who hasn't been the same since their mother died. When she gets to Texas, her sister Mackie tells her that she and her husband, Clive, have given up on being able to have a child. Their fertility doctor explained that Mackie's uterus is just not able to sustain a pregnancy. Combine a heartbreakingly decorated nursery at Mackie's house with Sarah's deep love for her sister, and you have a dangerous combination. Sarah insists in carrying Mackie's child- a child who will be a product of Mackie and Clive's genetics, but who Sarah will give birth to. It will give Sarah a chance to so something good for once, plus it will give her time to regroup from her New York mistake.

What the sisters weren't considering was how weird it can be to carry your sister's child. Or how Sarah will feel when an ex-boyfriend shows up and Sarah starts to have feelings for him. Or what will happen when someone from New York calls Sarah up asking for a huge favour. All she needs to do is get through the next nine months and she'll be home free- or so she thinks.

I'll admit that I was a little worried about how Katherine Center would handle the issue of surrogacy in Get Lucky. Having done some research on it in University, I know that it is a sensitive and deeply emotional topic. I needn't of worried. Center handles it with grace- both addressing it and not making it a focus at the same time. We don't get the sense that Sarah really connects with the babies growing in her belly throughout the pregnancy, and the focus is not on how many times they kick or the various doctor's appointments. Instead the focus is on Sarah, handling new emotions, coming to terms with her time in New York, and looking for love and a lasting relationship even while carrying her sister's babies.

The characters were quirky and lovable- Mackie, determined to make Sarah's pregnancy a healthy one, Howard, her new boss who hates everyone, and Everett, the old highschool flame. I especially loved Dixie, Sarah's father's fiancee, with her quirky personality and her ability to continue being true to herself despite the opposition from everyone around her. The characters and their various personalities are part of what made this book so enjoyable.

In short, Get Lucky is a fun summer read, which manages to deal with a major topic in a respectful and serious way without turning the book into an epic debate on the subject. I enjoyed it, I loved the ending, and I'm definitely going to read Center's other books now that I've read this one.

Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Recommended to: Fans of women's fiction
Challenges: 2010 100+ Reading Challenge, New Author Challenge 2010, 2010 Support Your Local Library Challenge

I took this book out of the Norfolk Public Library.