Review by You: The Lovely Reckless by Kami Garcia

Title: The Lovely Reckless
By: Kami Garcia
Published: 2016
Call #: YA Fiction Garci.K

The Lovely Reckless by Kami Garcia (co-author of Beautiful Creatures) was absolutely amazing!!! It doesn’t come out until October; I received an ARC of it from the author at BookCon. The first twenty or so people in line at Kami’s signing got one.

The Lovely Reckless follows a girl named Frankie and a boy named Marco. Frankie is a super rich girl from the Heights, and she has it all… except for a living boyfriend. Her boyfriend, Noah, was beaten to death in front of her, and she has been haunted by his death ever since. So Frankie screws up and his sent to live with her dad, an undercover cop, in the Downs, where she meets Marco. Marco is a bad-boy street racer, who Frankie feels an instant connection to.

But this book is not all contemporary romance. Who killed Noah? for example, is a prominent question that adds tons of mystery to this book. In addition, as a high schooler who has to really think critically and dig really deep into themes and the meaning behind the stories being told, I really found and identified with what I believe to be the prominent theme of the book: Is it okay to do the wrong thing for the right reasons? (We can talk more about this in detail when the book comes out in October) I also really liked the friendship and relationships within this book, not just the romantic ones. For example, I loved the relationship that Marco has with his younger sister, and I really liked the friendship that developed between Frankie and a girl from the Downs, Cruz. I also really identified with Frankie herself, and how she was a girl from the Heights, but pops the bubble of privilege to branch out into the real world that is more than fancy houses, sports cars and country clubs. As someone who goes to school in a fancy city with students who live in multi-million dollar houses with private beaches. It was really enlightening to see a girl who is very similar to the students I go to school with pop what I call the bubble of privilege. Kami Garcia did an amazing job of portraying this in a realistic and identifiable way, and she should really be proud of that. Also, I applaud the diversity in The Lovely Reckless, because we need more diversity in YA literature!

Needless to say, I loved this book! It kept me hooked from start to finish, and it is definitely one of my favorite books of 2016 with a 5/5 star rating.

(Isabella, Evanston Teen)

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