ARC Review: Reckless by Elsie Silver

Reckless by Elsie Silver was beautiful and poignant and heartbreaking all at the same time. I’m not sure I’ve ever read a book that was quite as realistic as Reckless while also managing to create a “book boyfriend” that will be hard to beat.

I’ve never live-reacted a book before this one, but I desperately needed people to talk to and I’m lucky to be part of a book club where they get the ups and downs of my emotions because Reckless isn’t just a romance about a one-night-stand-turned-more, and you WILL need people to talk to when you read it!

• It’s Winter’s redemption arc. Elsie paints a perfect photo of what it’s like to live your life crushed by those around you until you finally snap, and how difficult it is to put yourself back together.
• It’s Theo’s coming-of-age story. That poor man suffered loss and disappointment with a smile on his face until he was faced with what happened after his night with Winter. I didn’t know heartbreak could be felt through the page, but I was weeping for that man – after threatening bodily harm upon him just pages earlier – and everything he missed.
• It’s a look into motherhood and how society and other mothers try to tell you what a Real Mom is. Every thought Winter had raising that baby had me clutching my chest and nodding adamantly. I was a single mom for almost 8 years, and Elsie captured the struggle to perfection.
• It’s about healing and finding someone who loves you for your thorns not just your pretty petals.

I bow down to the greatness that is Elsie Silver’s writing! Reckless kept me up all night when I should have been studying for a final and I’m not mad about it. If I could give it a million stars, that still wouldn’t be enough!

Thank you, NetGalley and Bloom, for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.