Oh, Jackie Collins. I have read countless titles from her, the majority from the Santangelo series, with good ole Gino and Lucky. I was excited when I was offered a review copy of Chances, where readers will see how it all began. This is the first Lucky book to be released as an eBook, and if you haven’t gotten a chance to read it yet – do it! I’ve never quite figured out how to describe a Jackie Collins book, but while I was reading through her bio I saw that she has been called a “raunchy moralist” by Vanity Fair, and I feel like that’s pretty fair. I was trying to describe this particular book to a girlfriend who just got done with the Fifty Shades of Grey series, and the word “filthy” kept being brought up. For sure – if you do not like very explicit sex scenes, foul language, murder, etc., I would keep away.
For those who don’t – wow, this is quite a book! I loved learning the beginning of the Santangelo’s, and I mean the very beginning. The book starts off in the 1920’s and switches quickly between characters and time. We learn how Gino got started in the streets, his family life, how he made “business acquaintances,” to when he fell in love with Maria and had his two children – Lucky and Dario. They both get to tell their POV’s as well, and I had blast reading about Lucky getting kicked out of boarding school and learning where her Santangelo smarts (and balls) came from. The story also follows Carrie and her son Steven. Carrie was forced into prostitution at the age of thirteen by her own grandmother and uncle, and then sold off to a whorehouse where she fell heavily into drugs. It was fascinating to know that Carrie in the present had money, prestige, even fame, and to see glimpses into the past of how she was able to overcome all the horrors of her life. I never minded the switching back and forth so many times, it’s the Jackie Collins style that I have learned to love, and I feel it almost made this (fairly lengthy) novel go by even quicker. The ending was so crazy! I was frantically pressing the “next page” button on my Kindle to see how the story would end, how the lives of all these characters were intertwine – and who would make it out alive. If you can handle these types of book, I would recommend not only Chances but many others from the intriguing Santangelo series.
[Rating: 4.5]More Jackie Collin’s reviews!
Read my interview with Jackie Collins!
I remember reading Chances way back when! I loved it. Once of Jackie’s best!
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I highly enjoy her books Meredith!! 🙂