I love, love, love it! Chances has the perfect amount of drama, violence, sex, glamour, intrigue and complications to constantly keep me on the edge of my seat. I look forward to the next time I can pick up where I left off, and I always find myself thinking of the characters and what will happen to them in the next pages even when I'm not reading.

I haven't been this emotionally invested in the characters of a novel since my forever idol Sidney Sheldon, and you can bet your bottom dollar that I won't stop reading until I've finished all the books in this series. I'm excited to read Collins' other books as well!

I was asked to review this book in celebration of the re-release of Chances for ereaders.
Chances is the first book in Jackie Collins Lucky Santangelo series. This book literally has everything you can ever want in a story. There is family drama, mystery, murder, suspense, romance, and a lil comedy.

The story starts with Gino Santangelo as a young boy. Continues telling his story with his wife, Maria, their 2 children, Lucky and Mario, and many of their thug like friends.

My favorite story line is of Lucky, even though she is a female, taking over Gino’s empire when he is forced of the country by the IRS. To see Gino’s daughter grow into a very tough, hard, core woman made me envious. She truly made it to the top of a man’s world in a time that women mostly were stayed home and behind the man.

The side story of Carrie, a young lady, who grew up as a hooker and drug addict intertwined perfectly with Gino and Lucky’s story. It kept me curious as to how the stories were going to mesh together over and over again. I loved how Carries son, Steven, and Lucky met and cannot wait to see where that story heads.

Usually I am a fast reader with Chances I slowed way down so that I would not reach the end too quickly. Now that I am finished I want to read it again and again. I definitely will read the next book in this series.

I remember reading this when I was younger, possibly early 20’s. I don’t remember there being so much in it. It covers so many years and people, I don’t want to call them characters as they feel like real people to me.

So much death in it, but that was how enemies were dealt with. Lucky seemed to have suffered so much in her life and now she wants vengeance for everyone who hurt her. People she trusted the most, hurt her the most. She is a Santangelo, they make people pay

I look forward to reading the other books in the series

At first I thought that the sheer size of this novel would have me quitting pretty swiftly, but the depth of character, the plot progression, the plot twists - these almost gave me whiplash - the interweaving of characters stories and their connections... absolutely brilliant.
The style was similar to that of Sidney Sheldon in that you practically live the life of your hero/heroine and basically react how they react as you know them better than you know yourself.

Very glad I have an entire back catalogue to delve into!

This was my first Jackie Collins...and it's not going to be my last!
I loved it...so trashy and raunchy and scandalous! But the motivation is there, with both the men and women so, although there are several one-dimensional people in the book, the people who matter are fleshed out. The four main characters are Gino, Carrie, Lucky and Steven, I felt that Steven was the weakest and least interesting of the four even though his upbringing was eventful.
Lucky is a brilliant character...a feminist icon! She gets frustrated at being surrounded by men, including her father, who don't believe she can run a business, and she claps back every time she's judged for being a single woman who enjoys casual sex. She is smart, determined, strong, beautiful and proud, and I found her relationship with her father to be very compelling. It's no wonder Ms Collins went back to her for several "Lucky Santangelo" sequels.
I liked the varying perceptions of certain characters...for example Enzio is seen as a friend, godfather, mentor but to others he's a ruthless and cruel drug pusher and pimp. The way the book follows the two halves/ four quarters of the story means the way we view certain people can flip quickly. There are many interesting relationships in this book, such as Gino and his women, sibling love and rivalry between Lucky and Dario, and also parental relationships and how people can screw up their children by trying to protect them.
Such a compelling world and I can't wait to get started on the sequel!

Feb 20, 2021

DNF at 23%

I couldn’t take it anymore. This was full of sex and violence and I was bored ... imagine

I think it was because there wasn’t much progression in the story. Each chapter had more violence and sex and I didn’t see the point. Especially the chapters with Carrie which showed on page rape and assault. Nope

I am dropping the rating to 2 stars as I’m sure this works for people but I could not sit through it. It was giving me a headache.

The chapter alternative between Gino and Carrie and despite a lot happening I didn’t see much story tying it together. Maybe it’s just this book because I remember Ms Collins having a lot more content plotting

I may check out the other books in the series to see if the books pick up. I remember enjoying book 2 at least.