The Reckless Kind

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The Reckless Kind

Carly Heath

A genre-defying debut, this queer historical YA centers a wild and reckless trio who fly in the face of small town tradition—full of compassion, love, and determination to live the lives of their choosing.

It’s Norway 1904, and Asta Hedstrom doesn’t want to marry her odious betrothed, Nils—even though a domestic future is all her mother believes she’s suited for, on account of her single-sided deafness, unconventional appearance, and even stranger notions. Asta would rather spend her life performing in the village theater with her friends and fellow outcasts: her best friend Gunnar Fuglestad and his secret boyfriend, wealthy Erlend Fournier.

But the situation takes a dire turn when Nils lashes out in jealousy—gravely injuring Gunnar. Shunning marriage for good, Asta moves with Gunnar and Erlend to their secluded cabin above town. With few ties left with their families, they have one shot at gaining enough kroner to secure their way of life: win the village’s annual horse race.

-Excerpt taken from Goodreads.

Check Goodreads to see the book’s ratings.

My Opinion

(3 / 5) “If you are going to be different, you have to be perfect.” 

Three outcasts find each other and thrive when together. Society continuously tries to pull them apart. For two gay teens, and a half-deaf and “different-looking” teen, life is never easy. 

 In 1904, Asta doesn’t want to be forced to marry. If her and her best friend and his secret lover could just all live together, life would be good. So they fight for their happiness.

Many tragedies occur but only seem to bring the 3 together. They need to win a horse race to have enough money to save a family farm so they persevere making their story admirable. 

The romance was sweet with 2 young men deliriously happy with each other. I liked their devotion and Asta’s determination to find her own happiness, not relying on a husband.  While the story was cute at times, it didn’t hold my attention like I wanted. I wanted more historical aspect and less depression details of one of the characters. His depression made sense to me but it was so intense that it changed the feel of the book at times. It did have a positive view on disabilities and how to work with them and their limitations.

Content Summary:  The language was higher but with no F words, there was sex (everyone was 18 or younger) but there were few intimate details. There is a relationship between two young men that is intimate. The violence was low but the potentially intense themes had quite a few deterrents for sensitive readers.

Thank you to SoHo Teen for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

The book releases November 2, 2021.

Detailed Content Review

Language 

F***-

H***- 32

S***- 2

A**- 2

B****-

D***- 40

Bas****- 3

Religious Cursing

J****-

Chr***-

G**- 10

L***-

Derogatory terms etc-

Hussy 

Miserable cabbage wart

Alcohol, Drugs, Smoking

A man is rumored to be a drunk. 

In the summer, teens weekly get together to drink. 

A man is drunk. 

A young man drinks vodka. Another drinks too. 

A young man takes a lot of pills (dyspepsia), regularly, for a stomach upset that he refers to as his anxiety. 

A young man now regularly drinks vodka and gets drunk. 

A man drinks cup after cup of vodka. 

A young man drinks whiskey. 

A man drinks from a flask. 

A young woman drinks a shot of whiskey. 

A young man drinks from a flask. 

Intimacy, Sex, Immodesty

*Major LGBTQ+ aspects included* 

Two young men kiss, pressing into each other. One slides his tongue into the other’s mouth. One tears at the clasps in the others trousers, the other pulls off his suspenders then they are together on the floor. (Sex implied)

A young man sneaks into a young man’s window and kisses him. The young man says, “Really? You want to go again?” He snuggles next to him on the bed and kisses his neck. 

A young woman tells a young man that she saw a young man “elbow deep” in another young man’s pants. 

Two young men sleep in the same bed. 

A young man kisses a young man then takes his hand up the inside of his own thigh. One unbuttons the others pants. “…he didn’t need to stifle his rapture when it finally erupted.”

Because two young men are gay, people have called them perverts. Some have wondered if they were alone with children and if anything sexual happened. 

A young woman deals with her menstruation. 

A young woman and young man are in a barn, naked, kissing and touching. They both mention it’s their first time. She grabs a form of contraception. (Sex implied) “… nothing hurt as I’d been warned… I’d be happy to indulge you again…after the thrill of the second one subsided.” She asks his name afterward. 

A story tells of a transgender man being with young men and married women. 

Two young men take off their clothes and are in bed together, kissing and touching. 

Two young men kiss. They sleep in the same bed. 

Two young men and a young woman sleep in the same bed. 

Violence, Weapons, Crime, Blood

Two young men are fighting. One is on the ground with the other holding him down. One stabs the other. A young man grabs the offender and smashes his nose, jaw and side of his head.

A young man throws a dog, a young woman bites him and then throws the young woman down an incline, where she breaks her collarbone. 

A young man’s “palms were raw meat” from handling a scared horse. Blood dripped down his wrists onto the ground. 

Potentially Intense Themes

A young man has lost part of his arm. His friend lives what must have been his terrible moments of pain and more. 

A young man’s mother has been killed, his brother injured, his arm amputated. All from the same incident. A horse dragged the young man with the reins wrapped around his arm.  The mother fell off her horse, hitting her head on stone. 

An injury leaves a young man paralyzed from the waist down. 

A young man talks about overdosing and killing himself. He later jokes about putting a bullet in his head. Or putting arsenic in his drink and many many more. 

A young man gets kicked in the head by a horse. He is bleeding and unconscious. 

A woman falls into an icy river. Many try to reach her as she is caught. 

**Any quotes from the book may be taken from the advance copy and therefore may not be fully accurate or correctly compare to the final copy of the book.

**As an Amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases.