Jackpot Summer

By: Elyssa Friedland

Narrated by: Thérèse Plummer

As Seen on GMA

USA Today bestseller

A Skimm Reads Pick

She Reads—Most Anticipated Contemporary Fiction 2024

After the Jacobson siblings win a life-changing fortune in the lottery, they assume their messy lives will transform into sleek, storybook perfection–but they couldn’t be more wrong.

The four Jacobson children were raised to respect the value of a dollar. Their mother reused tea bags and refused to pay retail; their father taught them to budget before he taught them to ride a bike. And yet, now that they’re adults, their financial lives are in disarray.

The siblings reunite when their newly widowed father puts their Jersey Shore beach house on the market. Packing up childhood memories isn’t easy, especially when there’s other drama brewing. Matthew is miserable at his corporate law job and wishes he had more time with his son; Laura’s marriage is imploding in spectacular fashion; Sophie’s art career is stalled while her boyfriend’s is on the rise; and Noah’s total failure to launch has him doing tech repair for pennies.

When Noah sees an ad for a Powerball drawing, he and his sisters go in on tickets while their brother Matthew passes. All hell breaks loose when one of the tickets is a winner and three of the four Jacobsons become overnight millionaires. Without their mother’s guidance, and with their father busy playing pickleball in a Florida retirement village, the once close-knit siblings search for comfort in shiny new toys instead of each other.

It’s not long before the Jacobsons start to realize that they’ll never feel rich unless they can pull their family back together.

©2024 Elyssa Friedland (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“Funny, wise, and heart tugging, Jackpot Summer mines every nuance of familial relationships. It left me with a renewed reverence for what matters and a huge smile on my face.”—Annabel Monaghan

“Jackpot Summer is everything I want and have come to expect from Friedland’s books: quirky characters, laugh-out-loud dialogue, and the drama! I’m calling it now—this is the feel-good read of the summer.”—Colleen Oakley

"Filled with laugh-out-loud scenes, ten­der famil­ial moments, and relat­able fights, Jack­pot Summer is a beau­ti­ful sto­ry about ties that can nev­er real­ly be bro­ken."—Jewish Book Council

I enjoyed the story

The storyline is very well written. The family dynamics are very true to life.. This book is very good!

Cute but not worth the price.

I was looking forward to having a fun summer read after watching a morning interview. It was predictable and drag out. The writers point was visible from the start. Wait till its a budget read

Fantastic and fun read

I’ve read/listened to all of Elyssa’s books and this one is one of the best! It’s so wholesome and made me want to go New Jersey and have siblings like that. Alas, I’m only child…

So fun!

Fun summer read. I love the author. Her first book was great too. Charming but not sappy.

Every family’s drama - but in a good way

Much like diets, a huge sum of money can increase or shrinks parts that you didn’t want to grow or reduce. You can’t have the good without the bad. In this book, a Jewish NJ family members who always pondered “what would I do if I had all the money in the world?” actually has a chance to act accordingly when they win the lottery. At the absence of their dominant, loving mom, they need to grow up and make decisions on family and money that they never really needed to consider; and find out that it’s financial comfort that drives them out of their comfort zone.
I found the book funny, heartwarming and interesting, and liked the fact that everyone was essentially a good - not flawless - person, trying to carve their way in the world.

Realistic scenarios

This book kept me engaged the whole time. Narration was great! A few plot twists — which is always nice.

Easy summer read

Did not like any of the Jacobson siblings by the end of the book. Pretty predictable plot and sibling drama but easy summer listen

Fun Summer Read

Family dysfunction, greed, love, secrets and a lottery win…what more could you ask for? Another great book by Elyssa Friedland!!!

predictable

terrible narrator. characters and story childish don’t waste your time even if you are an LBI fan.