Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - Count Your Lucky Stars

Truly an incredibly entertaining book, and boy was it steamy. I loved the setup and that Margot and Olivia were getting a chance to figure out what could have been if massive miscommunication hadn't been at play in high school. I do love how this book ended, just had some second hand stress from the continued communication issues that persisted as things really started to hit off again between Margot and Olivia.

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theespressoedition's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Normally, I'm a huge fan of friends-to-lovers. Okay, huge fan is actually an understatement because it's really my favorite trope ever. This book just didn't do it the justice I had hoped for.

There wasn't a lot that I enjoyed about Count Your Lucky Stars, if I'm being really honest. Both of the protagonists were pretty unlikable, lacked basic communication skills, and weren't very mature for adults. I wanted them to just talk with one another about the awkward situation they went through in high school… that, by the way, could've been not at all awkward if they'd just talked then, but… they kept avoiding it and avoiding it until the weirdest possible moment.

When they finally did talk? I had this moment of "AWW yay - they're cute and happy now." But what happened next? I'm not even talking a third act break-up. I'm talking WITHIN THE SAME SCENE, the conversation went from them discussing their past and deciding to be together long-term to a massive argument for no real reason aside from a lack of faith in someone's parent???

Truly, I just wanted both of them to take a breather and look at the big picture like 30x throughout the story. I couldn't help but find myself getting frustrated over and over again. It could've been cute. It really could've been. But this one fell so flat for me.

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foreverinastory's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Agh I loved this one so much!! Definitely my favorite of the series.

Count Your Lucky Stars is the finale in the Written in the Stars trilogy. This time we're focusing on Margot and her ex best friend, Olivia. When the two reunite after ten years, it's almost as if the stars have aligned. Olivia is the new wedding planner for Annie and Brendan, and when she gets the awful news that her apartment has flooded, Margot offers her spare room. The two begin to grow closer again and maybe they'll finally get some closure over what happened last time.

I love this series so much. Every book got better for me and I fell even more deeply in love with all these characters! Margot and Olivia are both dealing with fears that felt so realistic to me. I related a lot to both of them. I love their personalities and how well they complemented each other. Plus seeing Olivia pulled into the friend ground was soo cute!

There's also a cat in this one and I am a fan. Agh I wish this series was over. I loved the astrology and the romance and everything. I'm definitely going to miss these characters!

Rep: white pansexual cis female MC, white bisexual cis female MC, white lesbian cis female side character, white bisexual cis female side characters, white cishet male side characters, older white cishet male side character with prior heart attack and complications from it.

CWs: Sexual content, emotional abuse (MC/side character), cursing, alcohol consumption. Moderate: toxic relationship (past one), gaslighting, infidelity, medical content, abandonment. Minor: Death of parent, chronic illness.

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arthur_ant18's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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katsdaysarebooked's review

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hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Well, here I am again picking up another second chance romance. Thank god this was way better than the last one I read. Why did this one work for me? Well, it was really about a miscommunication between the two characters, and neither one of them did something terrible to the other when they were parting. Just typical ~angst~.

A huge drawback for me of how this author writes is that I feel you really have to read the previous novels to care about any of the side characters (Brandon/Annie, Darcy/Elle). None of them really have any personality traits that are explained in this book (Margot’s book). Being interested in them as a reader relies entirely on having read the first two books. Otherwise, why would a reader care about random Brandon’s wedding? Who even is this Brandon?

Margot also annoyed me in this book, which is sad because I was very excited to read her book! She was very concerned about her friends forgetting her & leaving her out, but I thought there were a few different times when she was really selfish at their events and didn’t act like a friend. Sneaking away to bed early to eff Olivia? Ok, fine for 😎 reasons, but if one of my friends came to my bachelorette party and went to bed at like 10pm … I mean come on. That’s not how you act. You’re there for the bride/groom.

Olivia- whatever happened with her job? This plot line just got forgotten. Feel like an editor should have caught that…

Note:
Anyone who loves 🥵steamy scenes will really love this one (fans of the Brown sisters and primas of power possibly).
Also: all white people in this book, except possibly character mentioned as “Jian” who has no dialogue or any interactions. Opportunity was there to make Olivia BIPOC but nope!

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sofiarmz13's review

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emotional funny lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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enchantressreads's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I rated Written in the Stars and Hang the Moon both five stars, and you’ll see I’ve taken off a half star for this book. We will get to that at the end, but first.

This is such a comforting series. These characters are so comforting (even Brenden …) and I love seeing little tidbits of the main characters from previous books coming up in the sequels.

Count Your Lucky Stars follows Margot, who I loved since book one, and a former flame of hers, Olivia. They’re forced into an awkward reunion when Olivia becomes Brenden and Annie’s wedding planner. They have unspoken feelings for each other, but neither one of them wants to be the first to admit it. Through close proximity, they soon begin warming up to the idea of the other again. It’s very sweet and romantic. And as always, some nice spicy scenes.

But…
It’s been three books now, and while it’s been a nice diverse group of people sexuality-wise (my first book reading the word pansexual!), everyone is very white, and for the most part, privileged. I understand these are not books based around race, but it doesn’t have to be to include at least one one POC character.

I do love the characters, but we need more than just rich white people.

I still really recommend this series, though. They’re not entirely lighthearted—each book has a hurdle the characters have to go over, but it’s nice to watch queer people be unapologetically queer.

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sarahmreads's review

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I have never read any of Alexandria Bellefleur's books (shocker I know). But when I both got this as an ARC and also heard that these can be read as standalones, I figured I would give it a shot. And BOY was I in love with this book.

Olivia is offered the chance to be the last minute wedding planner for Brendon and his fiancé Annie after a mishap that destroys their former venue. The last thing she expected was her ex friend and fling Margot to be friends of the bride and groom. Now Olivia has to navigate not only the perfect wedding, but her growing feelings for Margot. Will everything go off with a hitch, or will it be an absolute disaster?

Where do I start with this masterpiece of a book? The characters I absolutely love. I related to both Olivia and Margot in completely different ways. Olivia is a lot like me in that we both overthink and have anxiety attacks about things we don't know about. This was reflected a lot in her inner dialogues but also dialogues with other characters, and I felt myself really panicking with her. Meanwhile, I related a lot to Margot because of her struggle with abandonment and the constant feeling of being left out and that her friends will leave her. I have a massive fear of missing out, so I think Margot's portrayals of it was pretty accurate.

Not only that, but Olivia and Margot, after rushing through the rough patch, actually have a pretty healthy relationship? There is a struggle at the beginning with miscommunication and I was so scared it would fall into that trope with them having to confess their emotions. But it went SO MUCH BETTER and I'm so glad that it didn't. The story took a lot of good turns and I really love what Bellefleur did with them. It really fleshed out the characters and also didn't make this a heavily cliché story as a result.

Some of the other characters I feel had much minor roles, such as Darcy and Annie, and I know that they are in the other books but I wish we saw a bit more of them in the story. I did love Elle's role as close friend to Margot throughout the story and think she was a pretty good character. I wasn't too much of a fan of Brendon however, but that's probably because his personality is just big in comparison to the others. Maybe if I read the other books I may come to like him a bit more.

Count Your Lucky Stars is a romantic, queer and adorable story that you can easily read in a day. This story warmed my gay little heart, and will make you want to have an Olivia or Margot in your life, because I sure as hell do.

I received a copy of this book as an e-ARC from NetGalley. Any and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

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