Nicole has a hard time letting people in. After being burned by one too many people she's put her trust in, Nicole knows to be suspicious of everyone. But when those suspicions lead her to Damien - star actor at the local theater and secret P.I. - Nicole gets more than she could ever want as passions combust and truths come out. What started as an amateur sleuthing job might just turn the Bad Luck Club and the denizens of Asheville on their heads.
While reading the other Bad Luck Club books, Nicole was always hit or miss for me. I often thought her personality was just way too much and I had a hard time relating to her. So, I was excited to finally get her story; I knew I would either hate her or finally understand her by the end. Luckily, it was the latter for me. I came out of Nicole and Damien's story appreciating who Nicole is and what she had been through before we see her in the later Bad Luck Club books.
I always felt like Damien was a tall, dark, and mysterious character when around the other books' main characters. However, Damien really opened up in this novel (as he should, since we finally get his point of view on both Nicole and the happenings around town). As it turns out, Damien is not at all the type of character I thought he was when he was just a secondary character.
Both Nicole and Damien have had less than happy-go-lucky lives, and I thought Casella did a fantastic job at making both Damien and Nicole stronger because of those set-backs and life-altering challenges. There was a lot more to their stories than I originally anticipated, but Casella wove their stories together so well while also keeping everything in check for what happens later in the series. As we see throughout the Bad Luck Club series, Nicole only continues to grow as a character but everything she becomes starts in this book.
While definitely not a book you absolutely have to read prior to the rest of the Bad Luck Club series, I do recommend giving this one a go particularly if you've read the other books and you aren't sure how you feel about Nicole. She is out there, she is wild, but she has such a fierce heart and we finally get to see it in Bringing Down the House.
A huge thank you to A.R. Casella and the team at Social Butterfly PR for providing a review copy of Nicole and Damien's story.
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Release date: 3/7/22
Format: eARC
eARC provided via: Social Butterfly PR