The Reckless Oath We Made
Bryn Greenwood
Zee is nobody's fairy tale princess. Almost six-foot, with a redhead's temper and a shattered hip, she has a long list of worries: never-ending bills, her beautiful, gullible sister, her five-year-old nephew, her housebound mother, and her drug-dealing boss. Zee may not be a princess, but Gentry is an actual knight, complete with sword, armor, and a code of honor. Two years ago the voices he hears called him to be Zee's champion. Both shy and autistic, he's barely spoken to her since, but he has kept watch, ready to come to her aid. When an abduction tears Zee's family apart, she turns to the last person she ever imagined--Gentry--and sets in motion a chain of events that will not only change both of their lives, but bind them to one another forever. A provocative love story between a tough Kansas woman on a crooked path to redemption and the unlikeliest of champions, from the New York Times bestselling author of All the Ugly and Wonderful Things.
No posts yet
Kick off the convo with a theory, question, musing, or update
Your rating:
4 stars
OVERALL: We follow very different and interesting characters in this book (which I'd call literary fiction with romance subplot), and it handles serious topics. The writing was captivating and exciting to me, and I want to read more by this author.
Content Warnings: drug use, drug business, language, sexually explicit scenes, violence, chronic pain, kidnapping, hostages, prison, gun violence
My thoughts on this book are odd, considering I was trying to read it at a break neck speed for the entire thing, even switching between the audiobook and the ebook in an effort to consume in every spare moment. I was actually really enjoying the reading experience overall, and I was super intrigued with our main characters and also the plot was pulling me along. At a peak of action ~70% I was flabbergasted, and was listening rapt, unable to continue to do my work for a little bit because all my attention was on the book.
I see other reviewers have called this a romance, and while I don't exactly disagree, I don't fully agree, either. To me, this is maybe a romance the way the movie Speed is a romance: a bunch of plot, characters thrown together and who work together during action sequences, and who end up together at the end. I want much more emotional development and proper interactions than happened in The Reckless Oath We Made.
I thought the element of the Old/Middle English was a fun and unique thing, that made Gentry a character that I won't soon forget. I also liked how Zee handled that--she just kind of shrugged and accepted it, without trying to change or do anything.
I started reading this book less than 48 hours before I was due to have the book club meeting, and I knew I'd never make it with my schedule, so we pushed the meeting a week. And I again, picked it back up and was trying to frantically finish with not enough time before the rescheduled meeting. So I was at ~80% at the time of the meeting, but the other two members had either not read it or just skimmed their way through, uninterested in the writing.
I chose this book after seeing it highly recommended by Melissa from Libraries and Labradors, and I thought it'd make a good book club choice.
0 0
