Publication Date: September 8, 2026
Twenty-two was just a lucky number.
Until it wasn’t.
Ella Rose Holt believes in magic. Not always the fairy-tale kind, but the quiet kind that shows up when you least expect it. On the brink of her golden birthday, chasing acting dreams in Los Angeles, Ella’s life feels full of possibility…and just a little unfinished.
Christian Lucas has built his world on discipline, dedication, and the game he loves. As a professional baseball player, his life is carefully scheduled, a bit guarded, and rarely spontaneous.
When a chance encounter, a lucky number, and a not-so-blind blind date bring them together, neither is prepared for the connection that follows.
What starts as an unexpected meeting quickly becomes something deeper-an easy friendship, a steady trust, and a romance that grows quietly but undeniably. As their worlds collide under bright stadium lights and red-carpet flashes, Ella and Christian must decide whether love has a place in lives already full of ambition, sacrifice, and dreams in motion.
Because sometimes, the most extraordinary love stories aren’t loud or dramatic.
They’re built on faith.
On timing.
On believing that when the moment comes, you’ll be brave enough to say yes.
And a little bit of luck.
Sometimes life is actually stranger than fiction, at least when it comes to the true-story inspiration for Lucky 22.
Ashley Eckstein teams up with author Samantha Chase to serve up an inspiring slow-burn relationship between actress Ella Rose Holt and professional baseball player Christian Lucas, inspired by Ashley’s own relationship with David.
Written with a solid dose of humor woven in, the story centers around Ella’s favorite number (22), which just happens to be Christian’s jersey number.
How someone not into sports manages to land an unconventional date for a movie premiere proves to generate the ingredients for a slow-burning love story where the couple must rely on their close bond to navigate challenges with location, time, and life in the public eye.
Along the way, there are plenty of disruptions, but this is one memorable love story just waiting to inspire others.
Lucky 22 delivers a home run for the characters while celebrating the couple who inspired it.
Ashley Eckstein has been widely recognized and honored as an actress, entrepreneur, author, designer and influencer. Most known as the voice of Ahsoka Tano in Star Wars (Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker), Ashley founded Her Universe in 2010 – the groundbreaking fangirl fashion and lifestyle brand. Ashley is an accomplished actress with numerous film and television credits to her resume. She is also an in-demand host and inspirational speaker for major studios, networks and Fortune 500 companies. In 2022, Ashley will be extremely busy hosting, producing, writing and starring in new videos and stories for the Disney company. Ashley is best known as a trailblazer with a powerful voice in the fandom community, and she uses her voice as a passionate advocate for mental health awareness and is a champion for the Nationwide Children’s On Our Sleeves movement.
Samantha Chase is a New York Times and USA Today bestseller of contemporary romance that’s hotter than sweet, sweeter than hot. She released her debut novel in 2011 and currently has more than eighty titles under her belt – including THE CHRISTMAS COTTAGE which was a Hallmark Christmas movie in 2017 and THE WEDDING SEASON which was a Hallmark wedding movie in 2023! She’s a Disney enthusiast who still happily listens to 80’s rock. When she’s not working on a new story, she spends her time reading romances, playing way too many games of Solitaire when she should be writing, wearing a tiara while playing with her sassy pug Maylene…oh, and spending time with her husband of 32 years and their two sons in Wake Forest, North Carolina.
