This post contains affiliate links, meaning I’ll receive a small commission should you purchase using those links. All opinions expressed are my own. I receive no compensation for reviews.

Review: The Lovely Reckless by Kami Garcia

My Thoughts

An edgy, sexy, page-turning romance.

Order Now: Amazon | Amazon hardcover | iBooks | Barnes & Noble

Synopsis

Oct-04 ★ 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 public school in the Downs, where fistfights in the halls 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?

Your own heart will race with each page turn of this heart-stopping star-crossed love story.

My review

With The Lovely Reckless, Kami Garcia delivers a story rife with grit and edge. Threads of suspense and emotion make the novel fun and fast-paced as we unravel the story of seventeen-year-old Frankie Devereux, a girl left reeling after the brutal death of her boyfriend Noah.

Frankie had always followed the rules until the night everything changed. Flashes of what happened to Noah haunt her, but the memories are blurry fragments. She couldn’t recall the one truth everyone was after—who had killed him. Her grief sent her into a tailspin and soon she’s forced to live with her dad—an undercover cop—in a rougher side of town.

“I hoped you would snap out of this and go back to being the girl you were before.”

With an appetite for recklessness, Frankie finds herself with people of whom her dad would not approve. Fast cars, street races, money changing hands and bad people who collected with interest—her life resembled nothing of its former self.

“Ever since Noah died, I’ve watched you take bigger risks, walking closer and closer to the edge. I won’t watch you jump.”

But when Frankie meets Marco, a cocky, good-looking street racer, an instant connection ignites. She can’t seem to stay away, despite the turmoil within.

“Our bodies melt like they belong together. Like we belong together. But I can’t belong to anyone again.”

There’s more to Marco than meets the eye, but everything she feels with Marco is more intense than anything she’s felt before. The deeper she falls, the deeper she’s pulled into more than she’s bargained for. Something far more dangerous.

“What are you so afraid of?”

“Everything.”

Before too long, Frankie is forced into choices that strip away the freedom she’s longed for, all while getting closer to the ugly truth her mind can’t seem to remember—who killed Noah.

Author Kami Garcia injects edge and excitement into this romance that both YA and NA readers are sure to love. Marco and Frankie’s story is sexy, suspenseful with an addictive thrill that keeps you devouring one page after the other. It’s a different side to Kami and you won’t want to miss it!