I love grit lit so I was dancing when I got an ARC of The Reckless Oath We Made, and started it at 10:10 pm. It could not wait. I stayed up hours past my bedtime willing myself to love it, keep an open mind and enjoy the ride. But I just couldn’t. I could not reconcile grit lit and medieval fantasy, the chasm was too wide.

What’s crazy is I loved it and hated it simultaneously. I loved Zee. I loved Gentry. The two concepts together just......

This book simply wasn’t for me. I’m clearly in the minority. But that’s okay.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for and ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

After reading All the Ugly and Wonderful Things I knew when I heard that Bryn Greenwood was about to release another book my face started doing this right here.........


I loved that book. Hard.
But now? I'm having a hard time choosing a favorite between that book and this one.

I have a problem though. I can rant for hours when I hate a book...but when I love it? I turn into a big old hot mess and can't word for nothing.


Here goes my rambling though. (And it's not really a synopsis of the book. You can read that yourself.)

I'm going to just tell you all the ways I'm in love with this book.
1. Bryn Greenwood's writing. This woman is one of the very few authors I read that just comes up with completely fresh new ideas. She has this gift of not falling for the usual tropes and I LOVE that. She writes real world to me...the endings aren't cookie cutter. Shit happens. You deal. You learn or you don't.
She also doesn't write perfect, gorgeous characters either. Her characters have flaws. They are not the typical book characters with wonderfully perfect bodies and easy lives.
Which leads me to number 2.

2. The female main character in this book. Zee aka my favorite female character in a book in years. This character is so real. She comes from a childhood where her dad spent almost a lifetime in prison and her mom is a hoarder who finally filled the house to the point to where Zee was left no option but to make it on her own. She isn't beautiful in the traditional sense. She even sells and partakes of few drugs. Her choices are not always the best. She does love her family though. I could be this girl. In fact I am in so many ways that we won't discuss on this review because I blab too much anyways.
The fact that I connected so well with this character totally brought this book to life in my head.
*sigh*

3. The main male character. I'm gonna admit..the first chapter from Gentry's viewpoint had me wondering how this book was going to vibe with me. He speaks old king's English...has voices that talks to him and thinks he is a k-night.
I should learn to just shut the fuck up and read because I loved this guy.

4. The whole storyline. I saw every single bit of this book inside my head. Does that make me crazy? Probably. Do I care? Not. It's rare when I can completely lose myself in a book and it happened here. I'm just so mad that I'm done reading it and I don't have any more pages in which to spend with these people.

Now for the wrap up. Is everyone going to love this book? Probably not. It's alright though...I love it enough for 342 people.

Booksource: Received a copy from the publisher. I would have and will buy a copy.

Greenwood is a gifted author who doesn’t shy away from hard topics. This is on par with her first book. Just so good.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book

Bryn Greenwood does it again. Her writing style blew me away with All the Ugly and Wonderful Things and topped itself with The Reckless Oath We Made. The subject matter in this one was a lot more bearable than her first novel, focusing more on the love story and how strong bonds are between people, rather than being vulgar to emphasize the impact of those bonds. I absolutely LOVED the autistic male protagonist, Gentry, in this novel, as the author handled him with grace and sensitivity while making sure he was realistic. Most readers probably won't believe that his actions and the way he talks (in Olde English) is realistic but it is and is done so perfectly. I loved the bond I felt with the female protagoinist of Zee and I loved following her in her journey of finding her inner strength and confidence that she had been missing out on her whole life.

Greenwood is an author that doesn't shy away from writing about the underbelly of society. Nothing is tied perfectly with bows in her novels, they are brutally honest and in your face and I understand people sometimes prefer the unrealistically happy novels. I beg you to give this one a chance. Experience life in completely different shoes from your own. Plus, she adds in an adorable pit bull rescue named Leon in the last quarter of the book and he doesn't die for all the people like me out there who have a trigger for such things.

One thing I know for certain after finishing The Reckless Oath We Made, I absolutely love how Bryn takes two unlikely people and always brings them together. In some way or another, they bond and attract and I love the way she does this. It never ceases to amaze me. It’s beautiful.

As with All the Ugly and Wonderful Things— I love all of the POVs in this story. Bryn is so incredibly talented when it comes to this. Keeping a story going through multiple and continuous POVs. Strategically placed. It is wonderful. I think with having this, the characters become much stronger and three dimensional. We are able to see how they are coping with situations, what they’re thinking, etc. I love that!

But I’m just going to say it: I struggled with the medieval talk. I did. Not my cup of tea. I could not stand it. Nope. (If you do like it, I’m in no way knocking you. Nor would I ever.) I just didn’t like it. Plain and simple. I thought it took away from the story. I was spending way too much trying to decipher what Gentry was saying and meaning that I couldn’t focus on the plot/story on hand.

It took me way longer to get through this than I had originally anticipated. Especially since I zoomed through ATUAWT. But with The Reckless Oath We Made, you take this wild ride that you just don’t expect. Bryn has this magnificent talent of telling stories that get you lost in the world you’re reading about and I think the multiple POVs help with that aspect.

I love a book that makes me think how in the world did they come up with this? I live for books like this. When you read 50 plus books in a year, it has to really stick out to remember a book. This will be one that I remember! I love how the characters were developed and how much I felt for them.

Bryn Greenwood is a voice to be reckoned with. Like her previous novel, this should be a first purchase for all adult fiction collections.

Greenwood weaves the best stories and creates amazingly real characters. I will forever read her books.

When I first started this book I was like what in the holy weirdness is this and then it just clicked. Greenwood os a master at taking some weird stuff and turning it into a thoughtful, engaging, at times intense story. A few minor things nagged at me like I thought the ending was wrapped up a bit too hastily and whah happened to dirk? I also was thrown off a bit by the amount of detail she’d go into on an intimate subject then when it came to the deed boom done no detail.

Where to start with this beautiful story? There was a lot going on, and it all worked together perfectly. I must admit I pushed this book to the top of my list, as I loved Bryn Greenwood’s previous book, All The Beautiful and Ugly Things.
The Reckless Oath We Made is a heartbreaking and tender story of Zee and Gentry. Zee is out of luck, out of money, and out of ideas. She is barely surviving with her waitressing job and small time pot dealing. She takes care of her mother, sister and nephew, leaving her little breathing room. She meets Gentry, who is not like anyone she ever met before. While at first glance he appears to be stalking her, we quickly learn that is not the case. I don’t want to give too much away about Gentry, because his character is written so well.
Zee’s sister finds herself in a lot of trouble, and Zee allows Gentry to help her. But at what cost? Is she using him, or is he fulfilling his purpose?