The Lovely Reckless by Kami Garcia | Book Review

Title: The Lovely Reckless
Series: standalone
Author: Kami Garcia
Publishes: Oct. 4, 2016
Edition: ARC
Pages: 371
My Rating: 4 / 5
Goodreads page

I was sent an ARC in exchange of an honest review. Thank you to Imprint/Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group for sending me a copy.

ATTENTION: There are no spoilers in this review.

Synopsis

I’ve become an expert at avoiding things that could hurt me—which means I will figure out how to stay away from Marco Leone.

Seventeen-year-old Frankie Devereux would do anything to forget the past. Haunted by the memory of her boyfriend’s death, she lives her life by one dangerous rule: Nothing matters. At least, that’s what Frankie tells herself after a reckless mistake forces her to leave her privileged life in the Heights to move in with her dad—an undercover cop. She transfers to a public high school in the Downs, where fistfights don’t faze anyone and illegal street racing is more popular than football.

Marco Leone is the fastest street racer in the Downs. Tough, sexy, and hypnotic, he makes it impossible for Frankie to ignore him—and how he makes her feel. But the risks Marco takes for his family could have devastating consequences for them both. When Frankie discovers his secret, she has to make a choice. Will she let the pain of the past determine her future? Or will she risk what little she has left to follow her heart?

(This synopsis is from Goodreads.)

Thoughts

The Lovely Reckless by Kami Garcia is going to be released on October 4, 2016.

I’ve read Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, and didn’t enjoy it that much. Does that mean I’m not willing to try either of the authors’ other books? Heck no! When I saw this in my mailbox, I thought why not? Just because I had a mediocre experience with one of Kami Garcia’s books doesn’t mean that I think all her books are bad.

If you like books about a “good girl” falling for a “bad boy”, then you should give this book a try.

In this story, the protagonist has rich parents. In the YA world, rich parents almost always mean bad parenting. This book is no exception. To be fair, a good portion of YA protagonists have really bad parents, if any.

The protagonist sees her boyfriend being beaten up to death (this isn’t a spoiler, I promise) and her parents expect her to be okay afterwards. Like, yo parents, you need to wake up! She’s obviously not okay, and she never is going to be if you keep on acting that way.

If I could compare the romance aspect of this book with another YA romance novel, I would pair it up with Poison Princess (The Arcana Chronicles, #1) by Kresley Cole (minus the fact that in The Lovely Reckless it isn’t a love triangle).

It’s not a bad book, but it isn’t mind-blowing either. I’m not a huge contemporary fan, but I surprisingly finished this book in under two days. It was nice to take a break from all the fantasy I’ve been reading.

One thing I wished was different perspectives. Like in many other romance stories, I always want to know what the other party is thinking about the situation and relationship.

Other than that, this book was good. It’s your typical good girl falls in love with bad boy story.

Characters

Francesca “Frankie” Devereux

Her situation sucks. Big time. No one is listening to her at the time she needs it the most. She comes from a very wealthy family and has parent issues.

Marco Leone

His situation sucks even more. At first, his story is all mysterious, and I don’t want to spoil anything so I’m not going to say any more than that.

Isabella “Cruz” Vera Cruz

She reminds me of a more badass (and morally better) version of Regina George from Mean Girls. Her life also sucks.

Lex Rivera

This is starting to become a pattern. Let’s just say all the main characters have lives that could be a lot better than there are at the moment.

Abel Ryder

Bro. You are a sucky friend.

Conclusion

I give this book 4 / 5 BBC Sherlock heads. I actually found myself enjoying it.

Until next time….