These books never disappoint. Not only was this book delightful, it was also a quick enough read that it allowed me to finish the long weekend having read more books than my 11 year old.
If you ask her, she'll say my lack of enforced bedtime allowed me to win. That might be true. I still won.
Dates read 1/19/2020-1/20/2020
A special thank you to Edelweiss and Penguin Publishing Group for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
At almost six feet tall with the redhead temper, Zee is an unlikely fairy tale princess for Gentry. She was in an accident that shattered her hip, and as a result goes to physical therapy. It is here that she met her knight (complete with a sword and armor). Zee has a long list of problems: money woes, her beautiful and gullible sister, her five-year-old nephew, her hoarder mother that is housebound, and her boss that is a drug dealer.
Gentry is a knight with a code of honour—he was told two years ago, by voices that only he hears, to be Zee's champion. He is not only autistic, but shy, and keeps a vigilant watch over his princess. He is always ready to rescue her.
When Zee's sister goes missing—is perhaps kidnapped—she turns to her champion. The ripple effect not only changes their lives, but connects them until 'The End' of their fairy tale.
Greenwood's The Reckless Oath We Made is a slow burn and I'm not sure that it is worth the patience. Let me clarify what I mean by that. As an English major, I thought I was going to love the way Gentry speaks—he speaks in Middle English, believing he's a knight—but I found it completely slowed the pace of the narrative, and certain readers will be alienated by the use of this speech. On one hand, the character is autistic, and he is being true to himself and how he chooses to live by what he perceives to be as a knight's code of conduct. But on the other hand, too much time is wasted on his speeches and reenactments. Unfortunately, this is also where she's going to lose more of her audience.
While this book didn't immediately suck me in, I did push through it in order to be able to objectively review it. After giving it much thought, I just don't think the book was for me and was mildly disappointed. Perhaps Greenwood should have abandoned the whole romance aspect, as well as Gentry's reenactments (less is more), and focused more on the mystery. She is clearly a talented writer, and for that reason, All the Ugly and Wonderful Things will be added to my pile of books to read.
Keeping Lucy isn't normally my kind of read, but I remember the scandal that inspired this one, so it drew me in. The story absolutely broke my heart while simultaneously infuriating me to no end. I know that places like Willowridge existed. As I said, I remember the scandal, but that didn't make it any easier to read. Ginny's visit to Willowridge doesn't take up as much space on the page as I had expected, but her problems with getting Lucy well and reasonably fit do, and none of it was easy to read about. There were things that happened that bothered me - Marsha's actions and language even around children, Ab's father and his high-handed treatment of his family, that kind of thing - but the things that bothered me the most were Ab's and Ginny's actions at the beginning. I really wanted to give Ab a good shake and tell him to just man up, and it was equally hard to understand Ginny and the way she bent to Ab's wishes, or more accurately, Ab's father's wishes. And then there's Marsha. She's a little over the top in that she's almost everything we think about in a bad role model for children. So much so that she's almost caricature-like, which was the biggest drawback for me. Marsha aside, when I stopped to think about the generation of people here, I wasn't quite so upset with Ab and Ginny. I still wanted to shake Ab, but Ginny's action made a little more sense given the circumstances. The stigma surrounding children like Lucy was a huge factor in life in that time, and certain things were expected of people. That doesn't excuse any of it, but it was what it was, and I believe that stories like this one do have their place. We should always remember our history lest we repeat it. I think Keeping Lucy is going to be one of those books that you either like or you don't. I don't think there's going to be much straddling the fence on this one, especially in this day and age when we know so much more about what's good and bad for a child, or at least we think we do. In the end, I do wish there had been a little more peeling back the layers surrounding Willowridge, but the author has still written a compelling story that I found hard to put down.
Ginny felt anxious. Ab had called earlier to let her know he’d he’d be late but he’d been late every night for the last six months. But tonight, like every night she and their son Payton sat at the table alone. Payton would be in first grade this fall. Than Ginny got a call from her good friend Marsha who still lived back home, and she said things were going on at Willowridge. Ginny had been pregnant and had a little girl with Down’s syndrome two years ago and Ab and his dad had Ab Sr. had sent Lucy to Willowridge right after she was born without Ginny’s consent. Ginny had wanted to raise Lucy herself but wasn’t given the chance. Ginny kept Lucy in her heart. Now there was very bad things going on at Willowridge. After the first thirty days Ginny had wanted to go see Lucy but Ab changed the subject and brought up maybe trying for another baby- it might even be a daughter. But Ginny replied they had a daughter -Lucy. Ab said they had to choose but Ginny knew the choice had already been made Lucy was gone. Marsha came to Ginny’s house the next day and had a four page expose on Willowridge on how horrible it was there and the horrible way the children were treated. Ginny packed a bag and her and Peytom went with marsha to see Lucy. Ginny got to take Lucy for the weekend and when she first changed her daughter she saw a horrible case of weeping diaper rash on her two year old daughter and she wasn’t clean on her bottom. Ginny was determined Lucy wasn’t going back to that horrible place. Ginny called her mother and found out Ab had signed all parental rights away when he signed Lucy over to the state that was the only way Willowridge would take her. If she didn’t return Lucy the next day she could be arrested. Instead Ginny and Marsha headed to her aunt Virginia for an overnight stay on their way to Florida where Marsha’s sister lived.
This was a great read but had some very harrowing information about the state institution where Lucy had been taken and how the kids were treated. It pulled at your heart strings and I was able to picture the horror that was Willowridge. My heart broke for Lucy and I choked up several times. But I loved the mom Ginny was and how she refused to take Lucy back to that place. She knew she could go to jai; for a long time but her daughter was the important person here. I loved how Loyal Marsha was to Ginny and helped all she could with Lucy and getting her away knowing she could get in trouble also. I loved the pace and plot. I loved that Ginny refused to give up on Lucy. This shows how deep a mothers love can be and the strength to do whatever she had to do to make sure Lucy would be okay. I loved the ending. This was a very special book but at times was very hard to read. But also brought tears to your eyes at the people going out of their way to help Ginny for Lucy. I loved the characters and the book and I highly recommend it.
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