In a light-hearted, easy-to-read novel, author Kate Brian tells the story of sophomore Carrie Fitzgerald, who has the perfect life: she’s a pretty, popular, straight-A student who’s dating the cutest guy in the school. However, this is all because of the lucky T-shirt her father bought her in Morocco. As soon as her mother donates the shirt to a clothing drive, everything starts to fall apart. Could life be worse? The shirt, of all places, is now in India. Carrie must of course track it down, even if it means traipsing across the world, with her worst enemy and terrible luck, to get it. The book is a combination of certain predictability and strange, crazy, unpredictable circumstances, but somehow works. It’s not great literature, but it’s an amusing, feel-good story — ironically, about not being shallow.

Reviewed by Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com

Have you ever cleaned your room/closet and decided to donate your excess clothes to charity? Maybe it was a mother-ordered mandate to get rid of the clutter? Whatever the reason or inspiration, did you ever give away something you didn't really mean to give? What would you do to get it back?

Carrie's mother does just that. She gives Carrie's favorite T-shirt to the Help India foundation. Unfortunately, the T-shirt is not just a T-shirt. It was given to Carrie by her father, and she superstitiously believes it is the reason for every success in her young life. She must get it back.

Since the T-shirt is traveling to India, Carrie makes arrangements to travel there, too. Carrie arrives at the Help India headquarters to find herself bunking with several roommates in a hostel. The roommates are horrible, and India is nothing like she expected. She is assigned to the group building homes in Calcutta. Needless to say, Carrie seriously lacks building trade skills. From dropping a hammer on her flip-flop-exposed big toe to dropping a boxful of nails in wet concrete, Carrie is not very popular at the building site.

Much to her relief, Carrie meets Dee, who tells her about his work at the Calcutta Children's Shelter. When she's offered a chance to start volunteering there, she decides anything is better than her current situation. Her work with children is the beginning of a new understanding for Carrie. Maybe the T-shirt isn't that important after all.

When I started LUCKY T, I was frustrated with the whining of main character Carrie. As the storyline began to unfold, though, it gained depth and purpose, and everything fell into place. Kate Brian gives readers a chance to watch the growth of Carrie and what her experience teaches her about exactly what things/people are important in life. ( )

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG! I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH! I recommend this book to ANYBODY! I LOVE IT SO MUCH! EEEEK! ( )

Oh please. Could this heroine be any more full of herself? "Oooh, I can't help that I'm all legs." Oh well, I can't help that I'm all vomit. Go shoot yourself for being too pretty, why don't you? ( )

Carrie is a typical teen – boyfriend, divorced parents, big future plans. Shes also very superstitious. This started when her dad sent her a lucky t-shirt. It seems like everything in her life just fell into place once she got that shirt – the school hottie asked her out, she got the lead in the play, and she aces every test. Then her mother donates her lucky t to Help India. When this happens, Carries luck vanishes-Jason breaks up with her, she fights with her best friend, her dad doesn't visit. Carrie sees one solution--go to India to track down her t. There, she learns that there may be more to life than boys and tests (maybe) and there may be more to luck than a t-shirt could ever bring. ( )