REVIEW: Just Our Luck by Denise Williams

In Just Our Luck by Denise Williams, Sybil Sweet buys a lottery ticket and visits a late-night donut shop. She’s immediate attracted to Kiran Anderson, who is running the shop for his grandfather, and the pair have a one-night stand. When Sybil leaves her winning lottery ticket behind, Kiran reluctantly tries to find her by having an influencer post a video, asking her to come to the shop to collect the ticket.

The video goes viral, and suddenly, everyone wants to know what is going on between the pair. Sybil sees this as an opportunity to get a date to her sister’s wedding and offers to share the winnings with Kiran if he helps her out. Kiran, on leave from medical school, knows the business needs the money. A few public appearances and a date to the wedding shouldn’t be too hard. As Sybil inserts herself into Kiran’s life, however, their plans of keeping things friendly fall to the wayside as they develop feelings for one another. But when Sybil does something that impacts Kiran’s future, will it all come crashing down?

I honestly struggled with this one. There were a few times I thought I wasn’t going to be able to finish it, but I pushed through it because I don’t like giving up on a book. I was also curious to see if it got any better, but sadly, it did not. Sybil can’t hold a job for more than a few months, can’t be trusted to do the things she’s supposed to for her sister’s wedding, and what she did to Kiran? I understood she was trying to help, but she didn’t think of the consequences. She rarely thinks about the consequences. There is a reason for this, but it’s not revealed until almost the end of the book, so for most of the book it seems like she’s just unthoughtful and impulsive. It doesn’t make her a likeable character.

Kiran is grumpy for most of the book. It was somewhat understandable because he was dealing with his grandfather’s recovery and putting his education on hold to run the donut shop. Despite agreeing to fake-date Sybil, he seems miserable and reluctant to do anything to promote their relationship.

While the concept of involving the lottery ticket was interesting, the story itself wasn’t. It had nothing interesting to keep my attention, and I found myself putting it down repeatedly. It took me longer to get through this book than it should have.

While I’m sure there are some readers who will enjoy this book, I, unfortunately, am not one of them. Between the unlikeable characters and the lack of anything to really keep my attention on the story, it just didn’t work for me.

Book Info:

Publication: March 25, 2025 | Berkley |

Who needs love? Not Sybil Sweet. After years of bouncing from job to job in search of something that feels right and from man to man in search of something special, Sybil is embracing her role as the directionless, floundering member of her family. All she really wants now is a little financial stability and carb comfort. Lucky for her, she’s got just enough in the bank to buy a lottery ticket, and the late-night donut store is open.

Kiran Anderson abandoned his dreams of becoming a doctor to take over running his family’s bakery, and after two years of fighting a losing battle to save the place, he’s exhausted and broke. But when a whirlwind of a woman sweeps in late one night, flirty energy gives way to more…until she runs out the next morning, leaving behind her winning lottery ticket.

Lucky for Kiran, his attempt to return the ticket looks like a grand romantic gesture and goes viral, sending sales through the roof. In an effort to keep the store afloat and to get Sybil’s family off of her back, they agree to fake a relationship for three months. Even with hundreds of millions of dollars, finding each other might end up being the sweetest bit of luck for both of them.