I love the concept of this one. Two teenagers, one rich and one poor, are brought together as they try to retrace the steps of an old lady who may have just won herself over a hundred million dollars! It’s also possible she may not even have realized it…

Rico sure knows she could use the money. Her family lives above their means, in an apartment they can hardly afford. Rico, her mom and younger brother Jax don’t even have health insurance or healthy food half of the time, yet her mom refuses to seek help, preferring to work two jobs. To save face, maybe? She is doing her best to give her children access to good schools, but what’s the point if Rico can’t even go to college? She must help her mom pay bills.

So finding that winning ticket is of outmost importance to Rico. Her co-pilot’s reasons for tagging along on this adventure seem quite different, because Zan’s family is swimming in money, and yet both realize that while they may be from two separate worlds, they are not incredibly different after all. Life can hit anyone, hard.

This was my third novel from Nic Stone and the third one I’ve enjoyed, too. This author has a very unique writing style. I could have recognized her as the author of this book even if her name hadn’t been written on it. She explores social issues that are critical to her, like poverty, racism, stereotypes, and I don’t even have to read her bio or background to know that. I could feel it as I read this book. Another winner from Nic Stone. BTW, I really like her name. 

By Cristina Monica

JACKPOT is the second book by Nic Stone that I’ve really enjoyed. She has a way of making you exist in her fictional world and get completely wrapped up her characters. This is book brimming with diversity, the have and have-nots and coming-of-age.

I didn’t know what to expect going into this read, I knew there was a lottery ticket and a young woman. What I got was the compelling character of Rico, working every hour outside of school to help her mum with keeping the eviction notice away, whilst looking after her young brother, Jax. It was pretty tragic to read as Rico had no kind of normal teenage existence. There was a sense of desperation around Rico that invaded the atmosphere.

Rico embarked on a quest to find a winning lottery ticket and she got up the courage to grab Zan to help her. He seemed to be her opposite in every way especially in terms of his financial situation. However, the more I got to know Zan, the more I realised that Zan and Rico were similar in many ways. What made this story was that Zan and others that entered Rico’s life, brought some normal teen experiences, some firsts and it was precious to read Rico having these experiences.

There were some unexpected twists to this story and some tragedies too that had me on the edge of my seat. I can honestly say this was a great reading experience and that I enjoyed the book from cover to cover. Nic Stone’s narrative felt realistic, representing poverty tangibly and with messages that need to be heard without a preachy feel. I love her writing style, it makes for ease of reading. Highly recommended.

By Micky