The original post can be found here on Sandra's Book Club.
“Sara, her wild card best friend, Zoe, and her adorable dachshund, Mauzzy, find themselves entangled in a high-stakes contest of wits alongside an array of distinctively portrayed contestants. Each character brings their own quirks and challenges to the table, keeping the competition as unpredictable as it is intense.” -Carol W, Authors Reading
To give you a taste of the mystery and intrigue that is Lucky Secrets, I’d like to share with you one of many compelling scenes in the story as the plot unfolds, refolds, and unfolds yet again. So as not to risk any chance of a spoiler, I think the best scene to describe begins in Chapter Four, called “El Sueño,” and continues through all of Chapter Five, called “The Meeting.”
Lucky Secrets is set outside Birmingham, Alabama, in a fabulous and sprawling mansion called El Sueño. The story opens with the protagonist, college student and amateur sleuth Sara Donovan, receiving a mysterious package from a law firm with two sealed envelopes and a jewelry box holding a cut diamond worth fifty-thousand dollars.
The first envelope contains an invitation to an exclusive contest that will drastically change the winner’s life for the better, with an orientation meeting being held in two days, leaving Sara little time to decide.
The second envelope contains “interesting” photos of Sara over the past two years plus two doctored photos with chilling implications. Included with the photos is an unsigned note strongly recommending she participate in the contest, the message being clear: participate or suffer the consequences.
The scene at El Sueño starts in Chapter Four when Sara and her best friend, Zoe Harp, arrive at what they call a “ritzy castle.” This early part of the scene sets an atmosphere of extreme wealth and opulence with detailed descriptions of the estate’s grounds, grand foyer, and music room, along with the butler who greets them at the door, the fussy Percy Pembarton. However, it also portends there is more than what meets the eye when an armed refrigerator-of-a-man frisks Sara and Zoe and takes their phones before they can enter the music room where the meeting will take place.
Chapter Five is a continuation of the scene and is pivotal because it introduces the reader to the contest’s lawyer, Creighton Winston, and the eight other contestants and their backgrounds; lays out the eight specific ironclad rules of the contest, including it being an “all-or-nothing contest” with only one winner; states the mind-boggling amount of money up for grabs—a minimum of $500M; and provides some early interplay between the below group of eclectic attendees.
Karsh Azarian, financial asset manager and billion-dollar hedge fund manager
Jessica Doerr, mortgage lender specializing in refinancing services for seniors
Sara Donovan, University of Alabama business major and recognized amateur sleuth
Jimmy Dougal, real estate agent specializing in high-end luxury properties
Olivia Fantucci, attorney specializing in large class-action and personal injury lawsuits
Spencer Fernsby, founder/CEO of the telecom giant, CLATEL Communications
Burl “Scooter” Jablonsky, owner of five car dealerships including two luxury franchises
Rodney “Rod” Toft, cryptocurrency exchange investor and technology venture capitalist
Frederick Volkov, highly successful financier, stock trader, and arbitrageur
Prior to introducing each of the contestants, Creighton Winston advises the group he has no knowledge of what is in each of their second envelopes, only that the contest’s founder felt some of the people in the room might have needed a little push to participate. As Winston puts it, every person was personally selected because each had a secret that needed to remain a secret. Especially from law enforcement. He ends with, “Since the winner of the contest will become fabulously wealthy, it would seem, everyone is here because of a potentially—lucky secret.”
By the end of the chapter, it is clear Sara is up against people with unsavory yet mysterious backgrounds, even if not readily apparent from their appearances, who, like Sara, have been blackmailed to participate.
The question hanging in the air: Why?
Thank you so much to Sandra’s Book Club and Goddess Fish Promotions for letting me share my book and thoughts with you all!