Review: "Lucky Girl" by Allie Tagle-Dokus

Lucky Girl by Allie Tagle-Dokus
Published November 2025 via Tin House Books
★★★★

This dance was my technical peak. I was eleven. I was perfect. All downhill from here. (loc. 545*)

For a moment, Lucy has it all. When she's cast on a new dance reality show, she sees her chance—and when one of the judges takes a shine to her, she's catapulted into a whole different world. If it's not a normal world or a healthy one, well. Was that ever the point?

There is reality TV, and then there is the reality behind the reality TV, and that's why people watch, poised for the moment the visage slips. Reality tastes better after diet reality. (loc. 830)

I've never watched the type of show that Lucy lands on, but I think anyone who's at least a little plugged into western culture is familiar with the concept—talent being a prerequisite but much less the point than all-day drama. Lucy knows this going in, kind of. But she's a child, and there are limits to how much she is able to advocate for herself—for her career, for her mental health, for being set up for current and future success.

Reality TV is Lucy's "in", but it's not the point of the book, and Lucy understands it as...well, something of a pivotal blip, I guess. More lasting is the fallout. You can see it coming early on (which is intentional; there's a lot of foreshadowing and a sense of Lucy looking back), and one thing that is clear from the beginning is how much Lucy's relationships will suffer from the shape of her career—sometimes because she is an ambitious child who doesn't have the social and emotional skills to develop and hang on to healthy relationships, sometimes because (again) the adults around her are not setting her up for success.

This ends up being messy and sad, with a trajectory that isn't satisfying for Lucy (or for the people around her) but that makes for a great book trajectory.

*Quotes are from an ARC and may not be final.

Thanks to the author and publisher for inviting me to read a review copy through NetGalley.