The Lovely Reckless

Cover image and summary from Goodreads:

I’ve become an expert at avoiding things that could hurt me—which means I will figure out how to stay away from Marco Leone.

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 a public high school in the Downs, where fistfights 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?

I love Kami Garcia’s series The Legion (Unbreakable and Unmarked; I am desperately waiting on news of a third book in the series). Those are two of my favourite books. However, I haven’t read anything else Kami Garcia has written, despite owning the first couple of books in her Caster Chronicles series. So when I had the opportunity to borrow this ARC from a friend, I decided to check it out (I also received an e-galley of this book, but it expired before I could read it).

Contemporary YA is not something I read a lot. I feel like I say this every time I write a review of a contemporary book; I don’t know why I feel like I have to say this every time. Maybe to explain why I don’t read a lot of contemporary? Or something. I don’t know. Anyway, I went into this not really sure what to expect, but I found it to be a quick, light, easy read. I liked the writing, most of the characters, and the story, but I didn’t think there was anything exceptional about this book.

The thing that really kept me reading was wanting to know what happened the night that someone close to Frankie was killed. She initially couldn’t remember, but I really wanted to find out what happened.

Overall, this was a good book and I liked it. Recommended for YA contemporary readers, but I would much rather read Kami Garcia’s Legion series!! Fingers crossed for an announcement about the release date of a third book in that series!