Review of The Reckless Oath We Made
The Reckless Oath We Made | Bryn Greenwood
Publication Date: 8.20.19
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Page Count: 448
Why I Picked It Up: Like so many people, I loved Greenwood’s last novel All The Ugly and Wonderful Things and couldn’t wait to read more from her!
Synopsis: (From Goodreads)- 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.
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.
Opening Sentence: “People talk about having an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other.”
My Thoughts: Question: what's the last book you read whose characters made you want to throw the book across the room? Yet- somehow you still loved it? That was my experience with THE RECKLESS OATH WE MADE.
Zee has not had an easy life. She's getting over a motorcycle accident that left her with chronic pain. Her father went to prison when she and her sister were young and never made it back. Their mother coped with her grief with objects and food, until she was housebound. To top things off, Zee's naive sister has been kidnapped by escaped inmates and the police think she had something to do with it.
So when Zee meets Gentry, a neurodiverse man who believes himself to be a k-night (hard K), she goes with it. After all, even if Gentry does have nefarious intent, it could be better than dealing with everything else in her life.
Are you still with me? Good, because I loved TROWM. (TROWM works right?) Bryn Greenwood is a fantastic author who gets you to take a deep look at characters and their choices. This story was not traditional but affected me in a way tha's hard to describe. One of my biggest pet peeves in a book is if it has too many narrators. And this one has NINE- but I still loved it! The main story line stays consistent so the sub characters added up the story by driving the narrative and bringing more context to their relationship. Gentry does speak in Old English, but it wasn't nearly as distracting for me as I was expecting. You come to understand that's just who he is.
All in all, I was a big fan of this one. The story will not be for everyone but I suspect it'll work for more people than not. If you have terrible getting into it, try it on audio. The full cast really brought the characters to life. If you're looking for a unique story with characters to remember, give this one a go.
Rating: 4.75/5
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