Take a Road Trip through Ireland with Love & Luck by Jenna Evans Welch

Cliffs of Moher - Photo by Sarah Donisi on Unsplash

If I were writing a travel brochure for Ireland, I start with what it smells like. It's a combination of just-fallen rain mixed with earth and something else, something secret.

For me, Love & Luck by Jenna Evans Welch is reminiscent of the movie Leap Year because it follows the protagonist on a road trip across Ireland and she encounters many ups and downs along the way. But the plot of Love & Luck is quite different as it's a coming-of-age story. Its genre is YA fiction.

I picked up this novel because I'm part Irish and would love to explore the country one day. I am fascinated by Irish lore and love getting swept up in the magic of the tales. 

Love & Luck seems to be the unofficial second book since Welch's previous novel, Love & Gelato, follows Lina, Addie's best friend, and explains why she's in Italy. But readers, like myself, who have not read Lina' story are given enough background information (and perhaps a minor spoiler or two), so we understand her character and connection to Addie. As someone who reads chronologically, I recommend reading the first book, which intend I to do at some point. 

You Should Read Love & Luck if...

• You love Ireland and all its magic.
• You're looking for a meaningful story that provides a balance of laughs and conflict. 
• You enjoy a story that has characters brimming with personality.

Want a short, spoiler-free review? Check out my review on Reedsy Discovery!

Summary 

During one summer, Addie goes to Ireland with her family for her aunt's wedding in Ireland, but all is not well. Prior to the wedding, Addie started dating Cubby in secret, a football teammate of her brother, Ian. Ian found out and despite his warnings, Addie continued to date Cubby and made a life-altering mistake, leading to her heartbreak and a fractured relationship with her brother. Readers are brought into the fold during the wedding and must discover what Addie's mistake was to have caused such anger in her brother. 

But Ian has his own secrets that Addie finds out about when he tries to ditch her for a road trip across Ireland with an online friend of his named Rowan. Because Addie and Ian had been fighting so much, their mother gave them an ultimatum where if either one of them screws up on their trip to Italy to see Lina, both will be removed from their sports teams. With this ultimatum in mind, Addie goes with Ian and Rowan on their road trip that is full of mishaps, arguments, vulnerabilities and confessions, which strengthen the bonds of their friendship trio. And they try to complete their road trip without their mother finding out that they're not in Italy.

-- SPOILERS AHEAD--

Cappagh, Co. Donegal - Photo by Phil Aicken on Unsplash

Characters

• Addie Bennett: A soccer player and savvy mechanic for the family, Addie has lost her sense of worth since her three older brothers, Ian, Archie and Walter are star athletes and excel in school. She will be entering her final year at high school, so she is anxious to impress the college scouts, and get a scholarship to pursue a career in engineering. She is sure her grades will never help her to get into a good school. With the ultimatum her mother gave her and Ian, she can't afford to be kicked off of her team. Plus, she loves soccer. She also has a major crush on a childhood friend of her brother's, Cubby Jones. The Bennett family moved to Seattle when Addie was 12 years old and she met Cubby not long after that. He starts to show her some attention during the summer and Addie sneaks out for several weeks to hang out with him. 

• Ian Bennett: A football player and music lover (he worships the band Titletrack), Ian is about a year older than Addie, but they have always been close. As they grew up, he would take her on "fieldtrips" to show her new places around Seattle. Although Ian is the star player for his school, he hates how everyone treats him differently. His true passion is writing and music, but he keeps it a secret from his family as well as his blog and published articles he was paid to write. He has the impression that no one is interested in his life unless it's football-related. And he doesn't tell Addie because he's angry at her for the Cubby incident.

• Archie Bennett: A football player and college student, Archie is closest to Walter out of his siblings. He's good at taking control and helping their mother with her driving in Ireland. He's generally laid-back, but will go into "protective big brother" mode when needed for Addie.

• Walter Bennett: A football player, college student studying an accelerated degree in chemical engineering and oldest brother of the Bennett boys, Walter is a smart-ass and can't keep a secret. He is the one brother who accidentally sees Addie and Ian while he's on his aunt's tour of Ireland after the wedding. He's closer to Archie out of his siblings. 

• Mom: She is a real estate woman in Seattle who gained success after listening to the recordings of a real estate guru. Her sister, Mel is getting married. Mom is so fed up with Addie and Ian's fighting that she gives them an ultimatum: if one of them argues while they're visiting Lina in Italy, both Addie and Ian are off of their sports teams. She checks up on them by calling and texting both kids while she, Archie and Walter are on Mel's tour of Ireland. She eventually learns that Addie and Ian are still in Ireland.

• Rowan: Rowan met Ian online through Ian's writing on the band Titletrack and for over a year, they corresponded. Ian and Rowan planned all along to go on a road trip across Ireland, so Ian could do research on Titletracks's locations when the band was starting up. At the end of the road trip, they plan to go to Electric Picnic, a big music concert in Stradbally where Titletrack will play their final concert ever. Meanwhile, Rowan has his own problems. His parents are getting a divorce and they're making him choose who to live with, but he doesn't know which parent to choose since they've put him in the middle of their arguments. With Addie and Ian's arguing, though, he's able to help them rebuild their relationship. He also develops feelings for Addie, nicknaming her Queen Maeve after Ireland's warrior queen because he thinks she's brave.

• Lina: Addie's best friend forever who flies to Ireland with her boyfriend to be with Addie when she's missed her flight to Italy and very upset about the Cubby incident. Despite Addie ignoring her calls and texts for several days (or weeks?), Lina still does what she can for Addie. 

• Guidebook Lady: Excepts from Addie's book Ireland for the Heartbroken: An Unconventional Guide to the Emerald Isle break up the main story. In the book, we're never given her name, but the Guidebook Lady calls the reader by many pet names including, buttercup, dove and chickadee. Each excerpt talks a bit about a landmark of Ireland and the Guidebook Lady connects them to the reader's heartache. She also gives the reader an assignment to do to help them mend. 

Photo by Hannah Reding on Unsplash

What I Liked

Starting things off with an excerpt from the fictional guidebook is a nice touch. The Guidebook Lady acts as a sort of all-knowing character that helps Addie and Rowan manage their emotions and pain. She also has an interesting way of writing.

I love the opening chapter because it puts us right in the action of Addie and Ian rolling down a hill, which made me think of The Princess Bride. I laughed out loud when Walter brings up the reference later on. 

The characters jump off the page! The family car scene when Mom delivers her ultimatum and Addie's first meeting with Rowan as she fights Ian for the car keys are two scenes that were highly entertaining and written so smoothly that I could see them as if it were a movie. The family car scene also helps to quickly establish who's who in the family. Additionally, as the scenes unfold, we're given details about the characters that makes them feel like real people. From Walter's love of true crime shows to Ian's habit of always fidgeting to Archie's laid-back attitude, these characters have so many intricacies (Archie is an exception, however. More on that later). 

I like that besides dealing with her broken relationship with Ian, Mom's ultimatum, the Cubby incident and the road trip in a broken-down car with Ian and Rowan, Addie is also worried about seeing Lina again. It's been about 90 days since she's seen her and Addie has been ignoring her calls and texts, so she can speak with her in person. Addie is afraid that things won't be the same between them after this time. She also afraid that she and Lina's boyfriend may not like each other. A lot of pressure on her shoulders!

Addie is a cool character with her impulsivity and her love to help people and fix problems. She's also someone who gets things done. Rowan sums up that Addie is her mother, which is strikingly accurate with the scene of Addie tackling Ian in the parking lot in juxtaposition with her mother railroading through the music concert crowd to get everyone to the front of the stage. 

Welch does a great job of dropping hints throughout the book about the Cubby incident to keep readers interested in the story, as well as guessing what the incident was. I kept thinking, "What's the big deal?!"

No race to a destination in Ireland would be complete without a tractor blocking the road, so I'm happy Welch added it in. 

I love that this story throws out the old stereotype of men knowing about cars. When the tailpipe of Rowan's car needs fixing, both Ian and Rowan are standing around asking Addie what could be used to work. 

The message of being worthy and valuing one's own abilities is so modern. Every since I joined the ASMR community last year, I've started seeing positive affirmations everywhere and it's reflected in this book. Addie continually presents us with "facts" that she's not a great athlete like her brothers, she struggles with her grades, etc. She is in the habit of comparing herself to her brothers because she feels everyone around her does the same thing. She claims her brothers got the "natural athlete genes," whereas she got the "enthusiastic athlete genes." On top of which, when it's Addie to the rescue during the road trip, she doesn't put any value on her actions. But when the trio finally reaches their destination after 3 days, Ian and Rowan say it's all thanks to Addie because without her there to fix the car, Ian would never had seen his favorite band do their last live performance or written his awesome article, and Rowan would still be suffering from heartache from his parents' divorce. Lastly, Addie assumes that Ian is naturally lucky because everything always seems to turn out right for him. Once Addie sees everything from Ian's perspective, she is able to realize that Ian doesn't have the perfect life she thinks.   

Photo by Lili Kovac on Unsplash

What I Didn't Like

This is just formatting and my preference: I wish each chapter said Chapter 1, Chapter 2, etc. It makes it harder to keep track of story elements as I write notes and even when I'm reading. 

Out of all of the characters, Archie feels under-developed in comparison to his siblings. I don't recall what he is studying in college or any of his interests. He has one scene with Addie, but it's used to explain the characters of their mother, as well as their aunt and her new husband. Archie kind of gets forgotten. 

I didn't come across any story discrepancies and there wasn't anything that seemed out of place or confusing for me.

Photo by Vishnu R Nair on Unsplash

Conclusion

Addie and Ian are true to themselves and open up to their family who aren't happy about the secrets they kept, but their parents accept their decisions and changes of heart.

I honestly can see the book as a movie. It has all the right elements and the characters come alive with all their quirks, actions, annoying habits and opinions. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it, especially for lovers of Ireland and people who may need a reminder of their own worth! 

Check out my other book reviews in the library.

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