by Alexandria Bellefleur
ASIN/ISBN: 9780063000889
Publication: February 1, 2022
Series: Written in the Stars #3

**I was provided a copy of the book through NetGalley. I voluntarily read and reviewed it. All opinions are my own.**

Count Your Lucky Stars is the third book in the Written in the Stars series. It’s a second chance romance featuring loyal and grumpy best friend Margot, one of my favorite characters from the series. She unexpectedly meets her former best friend, Olivia, the girl she was in love with in high school, while helping with her friend Brendan’s wedding planning. Through a twist of fate, she ends up offering Olivia a place to stay. Now, they both have to live together while trying to keep their feelings at bay.

I hoped Margot would be paired with Brendan, but my hopes were dashed when Hang the Moon came out with his sister’s best friend Annie as his love interest. Olivia isn’t too bad, I guess. While I enjoyed the book, I missed the writing and the starry-eyed feel of the first book, a reflection of Elle’s personality. The tone of Count Your Lucky Stars is more akin to Margot, a bit broodier and maybe more intense relative to the first book.

It’s not quite a slow burn, but the tension and the pining between Margot and Olivia is a highlight of the novel. Olivia and Margot’s interactions are some of the best parts of the book and help to establish why they first fell for one another. My favorite conversation between them is one we can all relate to, misheard lyrics–I think I may always hear “like a cheese stick” instead of the actual lyrics now. Also, Margot’s mouth…the things she said and the things she did made this book a whole lot steamier than what I was expecting, which was not a bad thing at all. Heh…

Because the book jumps into the awkward first meeting and straight into their feelings, the flutters that come with reading about two characters falling in love were missing. Additionally, I struggled with the constant “does she or does not” internal dialogue from Olivia and Margot. When paired with the other frustrating thing about the novel–miscommunication as the primary culprit behind their failed relationship–my enjoyment of the book diminished. Just as Margot says that it’s easier to tell someone to talk things out than to be the person who has to do the talking, I had to remind myself that it’s easier to be frustrated about miscommunication as a trope when you’re reading it.  

While I still had a good time reading Count Your Lucky Stars, I couldn’t help but compare it to the first book. The magic of the first novel and the friendships that helped flesh it out hardly made appearances. Elle and Margot didn’t talk very much, and I missed them together. I also didn’t fully connect with Margot and Olivia as a couple, but this might be because I first shipped Margot with Brendan. It might also have been that the feelings were assumed rather than established throughout the book.