This book wasn't a favorite of mine. I found it kind of boring and I found the middle english spoken by Gentry as particularly annoying. I am impressed with the author's writing - its just the plot and characters were not for me.
I should really stick to my Mysteries and Thrillers.

Girl meets knight in shining armor and they live happily ever after? Bryn Greenwood's latest release takes you on a journey with each character who are all experiencing some kind of stress, sadness or tragedy. She makes each of the characters relatable in their own way. While the Old English dialogue with Sir Gentry was a little tough to get through at times I found myself pulling so hard for him and Lady Zhorza.

I loved this book! I was completely mesmerized by the story and found myself thinking about even when I was wasn't reading it. I was a little hesitant to pick up this book because I didn't love the author's first book, All the Ugly and Wonderful Things, like so many did. I had nothing to worry about because this book worked for me on almost every level. I am so glad that I gave this book a chance.

Zee and Gentry were wonderful characters. I don't think that I have read about a more unlikely hero than Gentry which was one of the things I loved about him. Gentry is a present-day knight. He isn't really a knight but he lives like one. He speaks in Middle English and is often seen wielding a sword. He is loyal beyond measure and has sworn himself to be Zee's champion. Zee does what needs to be done to take care of her family. She lives with her sister and nephew and isn't above moving a little weed if that is what it takes to pay the rent. She is a little rough around the edges but she takes care of those that she feels responsible for.

I loved Zee and Gentry together. Zee might think that Gentry is a bit strange but she takes him as he is and can't imagine him any other way. Gentry was so determined to do whatever Zee needed him today and I loved how fiercely protective he was of her. I loved watching their relationship grow over the course of this story.

This was an exciting story at times and a really emotional one at others. It has been a long time since I found myself as emotionally involved in characters as I was with this book. There was a point where I not only worried about the characters but I was mad at their behavior as well. I pretty much flew through this book because I had to know what happened to Zee's sister and how this pair would get to the bottom of things.

When I saw that the audiobook was narrated by a full cast, I decided to go that route with it and I am so glad that I did. There are a lot of different points of view in this book and each one uses its own narrator. and I thought that they all did a great job. The bulk of the story comes from Zee and Gentry's perspectives and I thought that those two narrators really nailed their characters. I think that Gentry's Middle English may have had a bigger impact on me since I heard his character saying the words. I am pretty sure that I liked this book just a little bit more because I decided to listen to it.

I highly recommend this book to others. It was a really unique story that I found almost impossible to put down. This is a book that will stay with me for a long time and I can definitely see myself revisiting it in the future. I will definitely be reading more of Bryn Greenwood's work.

I received a digital review copy of this book from Penguin Publishing Group - Putnam via NetGalley and purchased a copy of the audiobook.

**** 3.5 stars rounded up to 4. *

I excitedly jumped at the chance to read another Bryn Greenwood novel when I saw it come up as an ARC for request on NetGalley. The Reckless Oath We Made started out going in a direction I was completely unsure of, but the characters and the writing kept me interested.

It is the story of Zhorzha (Zee) Trego, a relatively aimless young small-town Kansas women trying to stay afloat amidst generational family drama (hoarder mother, late father who spent his life in prison for murder, sister & nephew whom she lives with and tries to keep on the straight & narrow).

One night, Zee's sister LaReigne doesn't come home from her volunteer shift at the prison, and Zee is forced to take her nephew on a run as a drug mule from Colorado to Kansas. Upon her return, she quickly realizes something is amiss when she sees police swarming her apartment. Arriving at her mother's home, inundated by the press, Zee learns that her sister has been taken hostage by 2 escaped KKK murderers and is missing. But the cops seem to think that LaReigne might not be an innocent bystander.

Enter Zee's (literal) protector, Gentry, a young man she met in the waiting room while she was doing PT following a motorcycle accident. Gentry speaks in medieval English, carries a sword and talks to multiple voices in his head. Nonetheless, he is always there to protect and help Zee.

In the days that follow LaReigne's disappearance, Zee loses her job, her apartment, her nephew to his paternal grandparents, and her mother doesn't' want to see or speak to her. Gentry takes her in to his family's home in an attempt to become her true protector. Zee comes to see all of his traits as charming, but can't help but use his naivete to her advantage and accepts his offer to come along on her harebrained scheme to rescue her sister from her captors.

I enjoyed this story, the unusual characters and especially the writing. I'd recommend it to fans of Rainbow Rowell.

This book gets one of my rare 5 stars.

You can read all of my reviews at https://www.NerdGirlLovesBooks.com.

I loved this book. I read it in about 1.5 days and couldn't put it down. I couldn't wait to finish it, and I never wanted it to end. I loved this book just a little bit less than All the Ugly and Wonderful Things, but it's a close second. This author is quickly becoming one of my favorites. She has the ability to create characters and write their truths, even when you'd rather they'd develop into altruistic people that do the right things. It's hard to read sometimes, but it's right.

Zee is a hot mess. She's almost 6 feet tall, has bright red frizzy hair, and a busted hip. Her family is also a hot mess. Her beautiful sister is too trusting, her 5 year old nephew and housebound hoarder mother need to be cared for, and Zee barely squeaks makes ends meet by supplementing her income selling and transporting marijuana. The last thing she needs is her "stalker" Gentry following her around.

Zee may not be a lady or a princess, but Gentry is a true knight, complete with a sword, armor and a code of honor. Gentry is shy and autistic. Two years ago the voices he hears in his head told him to be Zee's champion, and though he's barely spoken to her since they first met, he's watched and waited to come to her aid.

When Zee's family faces a serious crisis, Gentry is there to help. Although it's the last thing she ever expected, Zee finds herself relying on Gentry to help her get through it. As the crisis comes to a head, Gentry and Zee get closer than either ever expected, and both their lives change forever.

Some people will have trouble with the way Gentry speaks. (He speaks in Middle English throughout the book.) Give it time. It may be annoying at first, but be patient and let the story unfold. It will make sense and stop annoying you. Seriously. Trust me. :-)

Like her previous work, the author writes real characters with real flaws. Sometimes in life people surprise you and act out of character, but usually they don't. The author embraces that, and I love her for it. Sometimes we read books to see a character change, "see the light", and get that happy ending. But not all of our books need that. So while I wanted some of the characters to make different choices, it was right that they didn't. That's not to say that I didn't like the book's ending. I did. :-)

As I said before, I loved this book. Even though the overall concept is tried and true, the way it's done is completely original. I cannot recommend this book enough. Just read it already!!

I was privileged and honored to receive a copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Zhorzha "Zee" Trego is on a train with her five year old nephew Marcus, smuggling weed, when she hears that her sister LaReigne has been kidnapped. A volunteer at the local prison, she has been taken by two inmates who escaped during a riot.
Life is already tough for Zee. Her father died in prison serving his sentence for armed robbery. Her grossly overweight mother is a hoarder that forced her out of the house when her "treasures" filled up every available space, including Zee's bedroom.
Zee is struggling financially, in constant pain from injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident, stuck in dead end jobs.
After meeting at physical therapy sessions, her "stalker" Gentry Frank, comes to her rescue. Bashful and autistic, he believes he is a knight, his mission is to serve and protect Lady Zee.
When Zee realizes the police aren't doing enough to find her sister, she and Gentry decide to undertake a rescue operation to save LaReigne.
This book blew me away. It captivated me from the beginning. Magical, enchanting, unflinching and real. With flawed, eccentric characters that I cared deeply about.
The best book I have read in a long time. What a powerful writer Bryn Greenwood is.
Words cannot express how much this story moved me.
Thank you to Penguin Group Putnam for the e-ARC via NetGalley..
"

This book was a little hard for me to really get into for a few reasons. The characters were hard for me to relate to and also the character of Gentry who spoke only in middle english I felt was difficult to understand. I think if you're into stories that involve some mideval fantasy, you'd probably enjoy this book. However, it just wasn't really my cup of tea.

I was over the moon to get this ARC from Netgalley after reading All the Ugly and Wonderful Things. Although I don't feel as strongly about this book, it is still a unique blend of characters and story. Greenwood has a way of using dark topics and difficult situations and telling a story unlike anything else I have ever read.

With that being said, I found myself not being as emotionally invested in this one. The characters weren't as pulling Greenwood's previous work. I found myself not connecting and being drawn in even though the story packed the same disturbing situations that make you question what you would do if faced with the same circumstances. Overall, still a wonderful book. Greenwood is quickly becoming a new favorite author for me, one I will return to time and time again.

A knight, drug trafficking, autism, hoarder, family, loyalty, heroics, and a unique cast of well thought out, multi-demensional characters, there is something in this tale for everyone.

Okay. *deep breath* Let’s do this. The Reckless Oath We Made is one of those books that, when I turn the last page, I sit for a moment and let it all sink it. I marvel at what the author was able to convey. And then I wonder how in the world I am going to write a review that does it justice. (Confession: it’s been 2+ years since I read Greenwood’s All the Ugly and Wonderful Things and I still haven’t managed to articulate my feelings about it. In the simplest terms, it was phenomenal.) But I’m going to try.

Zee (real Name: Zhorzha) is brash and rough-around-the-edges and it seems as if it weren’t for bad luck she’d have no luck at all. A motorcycle accident left her with a shattered hip, chronic pain, and a mountain of medical bills. She also helps support her hoarder mother, her older sister and her five-year-old nephew so her waitress income is supplemented by occasional drug trafficking. She meets Gentry while at physical therapy and his odd demeanor is impossible to ignore. While their interaction is short-lived, he remains a fixture in her life over the next two years, constantly keeping watch over her.

Gentry is a knight. On the autism spectrum, he hears voices (Gawen, Hildegard, and the Witch), speaks in Middle English, spars with swords and is building his own castle. Gentry is single-minded in his duty as Zee’s champion, and the oath he has taken to protect her. When Zee’s sister is taken hostage by prison escapees, Gentry is by his Lady Zhorzha’s side, ready to aid in battle when she decides to recover her sister on her own.

Zee and Gentry were an improbable pairing that still managed to make perfect sense. Zee accepted Gentry in every way and allowed him to express himself in the way that was uniquely him. She did not patronize him or mock him or expect him to change. Her immediate sense of belonging (or at least a wish to belong) with Gentry’s adoptive family was understandable since her own family fell apart (and did not recover) after her father died while serving a prison sentence for armed robbery. Zee wasn’t always a sympathetic character. She was single-minded in her efforts and used whatever means necessary to get what she needed. I found myself railing at her capriciousness while still recognizing the weight on her shoulders. In fact, my only quibble throughout the book had to do with Zee. (view spoiler)

In Gentry, Bryn Greenwood has created one of my favorite fictional characters ever. His chapters, written in his Middle English manner of speech, were among my favorites. With a moral compass that guided his every decision, a desire to prove himself worthy, and an innate kindness and compassion that melted my heart, Gentry is truly unforgettable. His surprising sense of humor always made me smile and his unwavering sense of right and wrong, in a world where doing the easy thing is so often chosen over doing the right thing, was inspiring.

The Reckless Oath We Made is a breathtaking mix of literary fiction, social commentary, modern-day fairy tale, and love story. Greenwood’s gift at creating utterly unique, fully-realized characters is astounding. And I lost track of the number of times I came across a sentence or phrase that captured a feeling so perfectly that I would just sit and stare at it. Like with All the Ugly and Wonderful Things, Greenwood employs multiple narratives to weave her tale. Told mainly from Zee and Gentry’s points of view, there are also chapters from Zee’s nephew, Gentry’s mother, and more, which serve to create a story that comes to life and is truly mesmerizing. Greenwood is able to infuse this story with themes of family loyalty (which is stretched to its limits), mental illness, chivalry, and love in all its many forms. I could go on (and on) about all this story has to offer, but suffice it to say: The Reckless Oath We Made is among the best of 2019.

VERDICT Themes of chivalry, loyalty, family, and personal responsibility, along with a recognition that people don’t need to be perfect to be worthy of love, make this latest from Greenwood (All the Ugly and Wonderful Things) a good fit for those looking for gritty contemporary realism in their romance novels.

THE RECKLESS OATH WE MADE by Bryn Greenwood begins strangely with a main character, Zee, making a drug run and bringing her five-year-old nephew, Marcus, because she cannot find his mother, LaReigne. Zee has a "stalker," a young man named Gentry who is on the autism spectrum and narrates his chapters in Olde English, fancying himself a knight and her protector. There are several other narrators, including hoarder Dottie, mother of Zee and LaReigne. Turns out LaReigne is a volunteer at a prison where a breakout has occurred ... and Zee goes looking for her sister; Gentry joins the quest. THE RECKLESS OATH WE MADE is written by a New York Times best-selling author and received a starred review from Kirkus, along with plenty of other positive comments. However, this rather lengthy novel just didn't seem to click for me in part because I do not think it will have much appeal for students. For now, I am giving it a neutral rating of 3 stars.

The story not only covers topics like hoarding, which honestly fascinates but also creeps me out. It also includes an autistic main character, and no, it's nothing like anything that has ever been done before. And it also touches on rocky family dynamics. Love is not always a solution for everything. And sometimes love is just not enough. Surprisingly it also was partially about living during the Renaissance period. Which really caught me unprepared but is something I rather enjoy reading about.

I'm not going to lie, I was hesitant about picking it up. After so many years of adoring ATUAWT I didn't know what to expect, what I actually hoped for, and I was definitely worried to be disappointed.

Fortunately all that was unfounded. I was enthralled from the very minute I opened the book.

Here are the thoughts that even days later are as fresh on my mind as the day I finished the book.

Gentry is one of the most unique characters I ever read about. Like Eleanor and Don, he struggled with society and had to carve out his own special place. It's bittersweet to see the love and support Gentry got, but also that in private most people didn't accept him 100% like Zee did.

Family can suck!! The saying 'blood is thicker than water' stands, but it's also noteworthy that blood can bring family members down. Both Zee and Gentry had some bad apples to live with. And in Zee's case, it would have been better to just let them be.

I loved the combination of Zee and Gentry. They clicked in an interesting way. I also loved how the author portrayed Zee. Unapologetically real, authentic and flawed. Zee, as Gentry, were the highlights in this book. Although I didn't approve of every of Zee's decision, but that's just me, in the end she was exactly the person she was supposed to be. True to herself.

I really enjoyed the Renaissance aspect of this book, not only Gentry in all his knightly glory, but also how deeply many of the other characters were immersed into that particular period of time. The depth of the story and also its direction was rather unexpected. In a good way - I love anything unique.

The only reason why I'm not giving this book more stars is that one specific part of this book was rather hard to read for me - and I mean literally hard - it took actual work to get through certain chapters. I'm really intrigued by the possibility of the audiobook. I might have to check it out just to hear the narrator speak old english.

So, if you want to read something unique, different, captivating, and thought provoking - this is your book!!!

The Reckless Oath We Made is Bryn Greenwood's sophomore's novel. After the massive success of her first novel, All the Ugly and Wonderful ThingsAll the Ugly and Wonderful Things (which I personally loved), the expectations on this new novel are incredibly high. Bryn Greenwood delivers. No question about it.

This is a very different book from her first novel. I read a few other reviews before typing my thoughts about my experience with the story. Yes, it is a love story. It is just not an ordinary love story. Zee is struggling to survive in Wichita, KS in any possible way. Her family was marked from the start, as her father spent life in prison until his death. Her mother is dysfunctional, her sister enmeshed in an unhealthy relationship with the father of her son, Marcus.

Zee meets Gentry one day, and he introduces himself in a peculiar way. Gentry is not an ordinary man. He has his own quirks and perks for you to discover, but above all, Gentry speaks in Middle English. This is where the book almost lost me. I do not have an issue with that kind of language after reading all the Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) books. I just found it a bit mind-bending to swap from modern English to Middle English in the same book. I hesitated for half a day considering to continue or giving up. I did not want to give up! I have been waiting a while for this book, and I was given an ARC from NetGalley. I decided to trust Bryn Greenwood, and I kept going. I should have known better than to doubt the Lady Greenwood. I was rewarded with an outstanding story about love, loyalty, and acceptance.

In Greenwood's universe, princesses can be waitresses with frizzy hair and thick thighs, and champions do not require to be "oh-so-hot" and filthy-rich. She writes about real people struggling with real issues (including drugs, jail, mental health), and still is capable of delivering a fairy tale. Don't fool yourself thinking All the Ugly and Wonderful Things was not a love story as well. It was, just like her new book. There is abuse, there are drugs, there are criminals, just like in her first book. The romance part is just more prominent, and the characters are both age-appropriate.

If you are on the fence of reading this book due to the Middle English part of it, I invite you to give it a chance. She is so talented and made it work using a lighter version of it well adapted for modern readers (English is my second language, and I got it. I believe you can get it too). This story is filled with real emotions and struggles. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.



I received an ARC from NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons in exchange for an honest review.

#BrynGreenwood #TheReclessOathWeMade

We don’t think a lot about feudalism or fealty much these days. We just don’t organize our societies that way anymore. So it’s no wonder that Zhorzha (call her Zee) has no idea what to do with Gentry in Bryn Greenwood’s amazing, beautiful novel The Reckless Oath We Made. At first, she thought Gentry was a stalker. It turns out that Gentry is her self-appointed champion. And Zee is definitely going to need a champion.

We meet Zee under less than auspicious circumstances. She’s on the train (with her young nephew, since her sister didn’t come home) to deliver two suitcases full of marijuana to a dealer. After she returns, with said nephew, she finds out that the reason her sister didn’t come home was because she got caught up in a prison break. As if Zee’s life wasn’t complicated enough (perpetual pain from a motorcycle accident, job that doesn’t pay enough to get her own place, mother who is a severe hoarder with health problems), now she has to deal with nosy police, keeping an eye on her nephew, and figuring out what the hell happened to her sister.

I don’t think Zee would have made it out the other side without Gentry. Although Zee is a strong woman, who has weathered a lot in her young life, Gentry is doing his best to be an actual night in shining armor. He speaks in archaic English and is a fan of knightly legends. When his foster parents introduced him to the Society for Creative Anachronism, it was all over: Gentry had found an identity and a purpose in life. These two things help him deal with his neurodiversity and the voices who guide and advise him (for better or worse). The two are certainly an odd couple, but they learn that they need each other. Their personalities, strengths, and weaknesses compliment each other.

Not only do we get to see two very different characters work out how to be together, we also get a chance to think about obligations and what we owe each other. It might seem nice to have a knight at our beck and call, who really can beat the crap out of other people if we ask. But, as Zee learns, that is a lot of power to hold. While Gentry says that he is Zee’s champion and her servant, she also has some responsibilities to keep him safe. This is how a solid, good (considering that we’re talking about feudalism) feudal relationship is supposed to work. The vassal follows their liege’s commands…but their liege is supposed to try to keep their vassals out of harm’s way as much as possible.

The Reckless Oath We Made is an amazing ride of a book and I adored the vibrant characters. Zee and Gentry are incredible and I loved watching them negotiate them their relationship and boundaries. To be honest, the larger plot sometimes disappeared from my attention as the two worked out how to be together. I genuinely loved this book and I’m glad I got a chance to read it early, so that I can tell other readers about this.

Many thanks to NetGalley, GP Putnam's Sons, and Bryn Greenwood for the opportunity to read and review her latest novel. I was a HUGE fan of All the Ugly and Wonderful Things and was so excited to read this book. It's just as wonderful, but different, and might not be for everyone. But it was a 5 star read for me!

Zee is down on her luck once again and is living with her sister and her young nephew. She has a tough relationship with her mother, who is a hoarder, and her father died in prison. An accident sends her to rehab where she meets Gentry. Gentry is autistic but is also a knight, speaks only in Middle English and hears voices. One of those voices told him that he was to be Zee's champion and be there for whatever she needs. Zee's sister is abducted when she volunteers at the prison, leaving Zee to try and care for Marcus as well. Gentry steps up yet again to help her, following her as she tries to rescue her sister.

You will fall in love with these characters as nothing seems to go right - but you will definitely fall in love with Gentry! Plus so many things to think about - family, loyalty, mental illness.

"People talk about having an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other. I had a pair of imaginary bill collectors, so no matter which way I turned, there was somebody to remind me I needed money. That's how I ended up on a train at four o'clock in the morning with my nephew and a hundred pounds of weed."

Bryn Greenwood met acclaim with All the Ugly and Wonderful Things, which I also read and reviewed, and I liked it a lot, but The Reckless Oath We Made is special, possibly the best novel we’ll see in 2019. The charm of the narrative voice is just as strong as the last if not more so, but there’s greater character development. It’s quirky and groundbreaking, and I will love this story until the day I die. My thanks go to Net Galley and Putnam for the review copy. You can buy it now.

Zhorzha—you can call her Zee—is in a state of perpetual crisis. Her father is in prison for robbery, and her mother has fallen apart, become a hoarder, massively obese, and agoraphobic to boot. At age 12, Zee was forced to leave home, and has been sofa cruising ever since. Recently she’s been staying with her sister LaReigne, but now LaReigne has been kidnapped. Zee and her nephew Marcus are stranded with nobody left to call for a ride; then her stalker steps forward and offers them a lift, and she takes it.

It’s the beginning of something beautiful.

Gentry has been following Zee for years; he saw her at physical therapy when she was recovering from a serious accident, and the voices in his head told him that he must be her champion. He doesn’t harass her, but he is always there. When all hell breaks loose, Gentry transports her to her mother’s house, but it’s even worse there. She is humiliated to have him—or anyone—see what kind of squalor her mother has chosen, but Gentry sees her mother entirely differently, and since his narrative is peppered alternately with Zee’s and occasional glimpses of side characters’ perspectives, he tells us:

“There, in the inner chamber, reclined upon a throne of red leather that scarce contained her serpentine hugeness, was the dragon Lady Zhorzha called Mother. My lady was blessed with a great mane of fire that ne comb ne blade might tame. Mayhap in the dragon’s youth, she had worn such a mantle, but in her age, her hairs weren grayed.
“Fearless, Marcus approached the throne and flung himself upon the lady dragon. For a time, there was kissing and lamenting, for they weren greatly distressed with the fate of my lady’s sister…I would go upon my knee, but the dragon’s hoard was too close upon her.”

At one point someone asks Zee whether she talks like Gentry too, and she replies, “Honestly, I don’t always understand what he says. I got a C in English in high school, and we never got to Shakespeare. I wasn’t in the advanced class.”

In fact, the juxtaposition of Gentry’s old world speech and Zee’s contemporary, frank responses that keep the story hopping. I laughed out loud several times when we moved from his speech to hers, for example:

“’Lady Zhorzha! Art’ou well?’
“’Oh, thank fuck, Gentry. Yes. We’re okay.’”

But as much as I love Gentry, I love Zee harder. Zee is utterly believable, and she is unlike any other character I have read anywhere. She explains, when she’s asked whether she goes hunting with Gentry, that she wouldn’t know how; she comes from generations of “citified white trash whose main food-related struggle has to do with “opening dented cans of off-brand Spam from the food bank.”

Zee is a large woman, and I am so heartily tired of tiny-firecracker female protagonists that I am cheered tremendously. She’s nearly six feet tall, and her uncle says she is “Built like she could hunt bear with a stick.” When she is leaving the emergency room after a scare involving her mother, a staff member advises Zee to lose weight herself. One of Gentry’s friends notes that “Honestly, if she dropped fifty or sixty pounds, she would be pretty hot.”

And the thing I appreciate the most about this is that her weight not our central problem. It isn’t a problem at all. Zee is a romantic heroine who is fat, but this is an incidental part of her character. The problem is the kidnapping, and it’s complicated by all of the other challenges faced by poor people, challenges that Zee has to face without much of a tool kit; but between the kidnapping and the point when LaReigne is found, other life-changing events take place, and the Zhorzha we see at the story’s end is both wiser and happier than she is at the outset.

Greenwood doesn’t just avoid stereotypes in recounting Zee’s plight; she knocks the knees from beneath them and gives us breathing human beings and real world plot points instead, and she does it without being obvious about it. This is no manifesto; it’s more like a magnificent modern-day fairy-tale.

Take Gentry again, for example. Gentry is autistic, but he is not friendless, and he has some mad skills that take bullies unawares. Also? Gentry is adopted. He is white; his adoptive mother is Black. Again, this is incidental to the story, but readers cannot miss it; there’s a very brief spot that brings it front and center, and I cheer when I see it.

Those that read my reviews know that I seldom gush, but this story is perfect in so many ways that I cannot help myself. By this time next year, I will have read roughly 140 more books, but I will still remember Zee, and I will still remember Gentry. This is among the sweetest stories of 2019, a new favorite.

I highly recommend this book to everyone that has the literacy skills and stamina to brave Gentry’s prose. Get it at full price or discounted, from the library or stolen. You won’t be sorry.

I struggled with this one. I loved All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood and while I knew this was a different book, I wanted more of the same: characters that seemed genuinely good at heart but made some poor decisions throughout a story. This one didn't get there for me. I couldn't relate to Zee as she made some very poor decisions and possibly was taking advantage of Gentry. Gentry is described as having autism, but really only exhibits some of the characteristics of the disorder. He speaks only in Old/Middle English, which to me, distracted from the story.

This was nearly 450 pages of getting through a weak plot line, minimal character development, and pages of nearly unreadable Old English. I wanted more and I didn't get it, even at the end. The resolution was weak (it focused on Gentry's mom, who hadn't had a narrative section until the end) and didn't tie back to Zee, who we had unfortunately followed through 400+ pages.

Similar to Greenwood's previous book, the narrator for each chapter changed. It was primarily Zee with some Gentry and then a ton of other characters (some relevant, some not). I felt like all the characters taking a turn at narration took away from the story instead of added to it. There were too many different ways this could have gone and by having a character tell their perspective it added paths to the story that were not mentioned again or took away from what we were trying to follow.

I appreciate the effort in writing something that is definitely different, but it came up short. I also wouldn't classify this as a romance (as some other reviewers did). It was a relationship of some kind, but it seemed very one-sided.

Bryn Greenwood tells the story of Zhorzha and Gentry. Zhorzha is a too-big, too-loud woman with white trash relatives who shame her, and drag her down. Gentry is a knight. He is also autistic, and the foster child of a loving family who have managed to accommodate his passion for chivalry and the voices in his head.

Gentry has fallen hard for his Lady Zhorzha, and has sworn a vow to protect her and do her bidding. At first, Zhorzha finds all of this as weird as it sounds, and avoids him. She doesn’t need a protector/rescuer and Gentry just feels like a stalker. But Zhorzha’s life is about to become much more complicated, and a knight turns out to be just exactly what she needs.

I fell in love with these two characters, and with their families. The story is crazy and twisted and I stayed with it through every turn, racing to learn the outcome.

I hope this book gets all the acclaim it deserves!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Okay - Lets get this out of the way... I did struggle with the medieval talk in the beginning but it passed quickly and before long I didn't even notice it.
There is a flow to this story that seem very natural. Bryn take people you would not normally root for and makes you feel for them. She tackles deep subjects that make some people uncomfortable, like schizophrenia, and does it in a way that is real and not contrived. It's an extremely well written book