Cinematic, The Reckless Kind is atmospheric, transporting readers to the frigged fjords of Scandinavia. Heath’s ability to write a cast of unique characters, who feel reel and tenderly brought to conception, is exceptional. A debut filled with love and warmth, this novel is one you want to read.

Haunting.

The Reckless Kind will seep into your memory like water into a sponge, holding you captive, soaking up all the loveliness of each luminous character. Until Heath squeezes all the water out.

From the opening pages, the momentum of this story is like trying to catch a wild mare. Impossible to put down, The Reckless Kind has a rapidly beating pulse.

Where Heath’s novel plays its own soundtrack. One that has the eerie and foreboding notes found in a Hans Zimmer score. Heath propels the reader into a cold (literal and figurative) town on the fringes in Norway, taking three unique teens and pitting a town against them.

Seeing how each of these characters, Asta, Erlend, and Gunnar will define themselves and who they love.

Every turn of the page had me anxious.

Lined within every pages is this feeling of unease. That something awful is going to happen. Wanting desperately to know what Heath will put these characters through next. It is nail biting, edge of your seat, apprehensiveness that you can’t quite shake.

I wondered, if any of these precious humans that I was frantically rooting for would make it to the end.

A tender story about friendship and love (platonic and otherwise) Heath’s debut The Reckless Kind is an engaging read with characters you will hold close even after the story ends.

Happy Reading ̴ Cece

In 1904 Norway, three disabled teens run away together and enter a horse race after a dire incident. Asta doesn’t want the life that’s been set out for her: marriage and domesticity. She prefers performing at a local theater with her best friend Gunnar and his secret love Erlend. After Gunnar is gravely injured, the three carve out a new life for themselves while bucking society’s rules. But can they find happiness in the face of discrimination and hatred from the surrounding community?⁣

The Reckless Kind is not a bad book. I just didn’t enjoy it, and throughout, especially around 200 pages where I thought something would finally happen, I was left bored and uninterested. After more than half of the book, there was still no plot. The annual winter race isn’t even mentioned by 45% or so, there’s no storyline at all, it’s just people going to work and people visiting. Erland Aand Gunnar’s relationship made me a bit uncomfortable and if you’ve read the book, you know why.

A particular scene I didn’t enjoy was Erlend telling Asta that since he’s Gunnar’s boyfriend, he should be the one whose opinions matter more! Why is that? Friendships and relationships should be valued equally, especially in YA fiction. I was thrilled to learn that this book had a disability and diverse rep but there were no people of color in this book and while I did appreciate the disability representation, especially when it came to Erlend who has anxiety and stomach problems, the character development was poorly executed which led to it all being for naught.

Overall, it wasn’t my favorite but I see why people like it. In the end, it did have a good plotline and the characters were OK. Thank you to TBR and Beyond Tours for having me and to the publisher for sending an ARC my way. While I didn’t enjoy this book myself, I’m sure there are many out there who will love this book and I recommend it to you.

I just finished this and THAT ENDING!!!! Wow, I need the next book asap.

As someone whose favorite HP book is the Goblet of Fire and who also grew up during the Hunger Games craze, I was pumped for this book. Thankfully, this book lived up to the hype. The plot and characters kept me reading, and there were some good twists. I also loved the different viewpoints for each chapter.

This is an amazing debut! It's about a queer trio who want to live a reckless life of their choosing. When it comes to historical books, I'm not a huge fan of it unless it's an adult historical romance. After reading the summary of this one, I knew I had to check it out also the cover is very promising that it would be a great read. I enjoyed most parts of the writing where I really thought the old fashioned type writing was amazing but also very difficult at times to understand. It does give it the historical fiction vibe but for some readers like me, it could be hard to understand or slow. Well for me it wasn't slow as the pacing was great with all conflicts and actions thrown in at the right time. The plot was well structured and very original. This book is written in Asta and Erlend's pov which was hard to figure out as my copy didn't have the narrative names at the top of the chapter.

One of the great factors I enjoyed about this book was that all the main characters were queer and disabled. I have never seen a combination of both in a character in a book and it shows we need more books like this. There are three main characters: Asta, Erlend, and Gunnar who are all different and unique. Each character has an amazing character development and I loved going on a journey with them. There were also some great side characters but not many and I wish there were especially some diverse characters as I thought there will be some in this book. There is LGBTQ+ romance between certain couples but I didn't really enjoy it. It felt a little forced to me. I did enjoy the main character friendship group but the romance was not it.

The ending was well done and expected. This book was overall a great read with a few minor problems. I really enjoyed the queer and disabled characters in this book who weren't that perfect character we always read in books but had a different journey. This book didn't disappoint and I really enjoyed having the opportunity to reading this book. I can't think of any books like this from the top of my head but I can say it's kind of perfect for fans of A Spindle Splintered and Cemetery Boys.

The Reckless Kind is a story of a group of young outcasts who find each other and form their own family. It's a sweet and compelling novel that features a wide range of representation, from anxiety, to disability, to queer characters.

The book follows our four main characters, Asta, Gunnar, Erland, and Fred, who are all on tough times. Asta does not want to follow through with her betrothal, Gunnar and Fred have both been recently injured, and Erland's parents will never accept him for who he is. When another accident gravely injures Gunnar, they retreat to a small home away from town and declare they will do what they can to save Gunnar and Fred's farm from being taken from them, which will involve the teens racing in the annual Christmas race.

The story started out a bit slow in my opinion. It took a while for me to really get into it, but once it did pick up, I was hooked. At about the halfway point, I could no longer put the book down because I had to know what happened to these characters. I think the writing style kept me from getting fully invested in the beginning, and at first I thought I wouldn't like it, but by the end, I found myself rooting for the four of them and hoping beyond hope that they would pull through.

I loved the representation of disability and the inclusion of found family. Found family is one of my favorite tropes, and is what initially drew me to this story. As someone with hearing issues in my one of my ears, I loved the inclusion of Asta's deafness in her own left ear. I feel like it's not something we see as often as we should in books, so I loved seeing it here. I only wish Fred had been included just a little bit more, because while I felt like he was a main character, at times he got pushed to the side a bit, which made me sad cause I really liked Fred, and I would have liked to see his condition explored a little further.

I also wish that Gunnar and Erland had been in an established relationship before the book began. I think it would've made some of the events that followed a little more believable, but either way, I was totally convinced by the end.

I debated between giving this a 3.5 and a 4 stars for a long time, but ultimately decided to go with the 4 stars, because I was completely enraptured by the end of the story, and the last few chapters made me so emotional. I'm really glad I read this one, and I definitely will be recommending it.

This book had a lot of potential. All queer main characters, all with some form of disability, had me set up to love it, but I just did not. Everything in this book happened extremely quickly with little to no development - we never really got to explore how & why some things happened and the consequences of that.
The characters were mildly developed, but some parts - for example, Asta's relationship with her family, Gunner's father's alcoholism and how that impacted Gunner, Erland's parents just as a whole - were left lacking and were not developed at all.
I just couldn't get myself to like this book, unfortunately. In all honesty, I'm not a huge fan of historical fiction, especially how queer characters are treated in it, and I feel like this could've been made better with fantasy elements (that's what I was expecting, especially with the cover).
I think others may find this interesting, but it was not the right fit for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for supplying me with this ARC.

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc and arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: The Reckless Kind

Author: Carly Heath

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 4/5

Diversity: HOH Asexual MC, Disabled MC with depression, Anxiety side character, m/m romance, queerplatonic triad

Recommended For...: young adult readers, LGBTQIA+, historical fiction

Publication Date: November 2, 2021

Genre: YA Historical Fiction

Recommended Age: 15+ (forced marriage, classism, homophobia, child abuse TW, violence, slight gore, suicidal ideation, parent death, grief, sexual content, romance)

Explanation of CWs: An MC is in a forced arraignment with another and is almost married off to them. There is classism that is discussed and shown, as well as homophobia. Child abuse is shown. There is some violence and slight gore. There is suicidal ideation at one moment. Parent death is shown in the book. The book is sex-positive. There is some romance.

Publisher: Soho Teen

Pages: 336

Synopsis: 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.

Review: For the most part this was a good book. I loved the message of found family and I absolutely loved all of the diversity in the book. The book was well written and had amazingly well done character development. I loved the world building and the plot kept me reading the book.

However, the book is slow in a lot of parts and it’s hard to read sometimes with the author’s use of old-fashioned words and phrases. It can be read as poetic, but it just made me stumble in my reading.

Verdict: It’s ok, love the rep and want more of it, but it was a struggle to read.

i liked this one overall but i think i need more time to write an actual review so... 3.5 stars, review to come sometime soon

thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book.

"Maybe this is the nature of adulthood," Fuglestad considered. "Coffee and headaches. Parts that stop working."

Norway is very near and dear to me. I used to learn the language. It's still one of my dream countries to visit. So a historical fiction, set in Norway, with LGBTQ+ characters? That should've been perfect for me. So it broke my heart that I couldn't love it.

It's 1904, and the Fuglestad family is struck by tragedy. Two brothers, Gunnar and Fred, are severely injured in an accident. Their mother, Sigrid, dies. Gunnar's best friend Asta and boyfriend Erlend all come together to escape societal expectations and religious influences, to build a little family of their own and save Gunnar's home by finding a way to win the biggest event of the year - the Christmas horse race.

This book had some lovely moments of prose. It had sparks. The queer representation was lovely. The disabilities the characters live with don't magically disappear at the end. All these details I'm very appreciative of.

But for me, the pacing was the biggest problem. The first fifty pages are so fast you get a whiplash from everything that's happening. Then by the middle, it slows to a halt. And once you get to the final page, the epilogue feels like an afterthought.

I wish Gunnar had been a POV character. The back and forth between Asta and Erlend's POVs started to feel samey, especially when it stopped being Asta-Erlend and it was two or three chapters of just Asta-Asta-Asta in a row.

The side characters felt underdeveloped. I felt nothing for Mauritz or Oskar, or any of the names listed in the last paragraph. They were there to move the plot along, and I saw no true bond between them and the main trio.

The religious conflict got very uncomfortable at times, especially with the rampant homophobia that the townspeople shared.

Another reviewer I saw called it a trauma lasagna. And it really did feel like it. Tragedy after tragedy, in a very short amount of time, to the point where it got exhausting. I honestly feel that knowing from the getgo the kind of ending it'll have ruined it for me as well. At one point, during the race, one particular event that should've had emotional impact, only had me rolling my eyes. It could've done without the double physical injury for one person and the double concussion for the other. I know we all like torturing our characters sometimes, but that was a lot even by my standards.

There were good things in here. And it'll find its target audience. Unfortunately, it wasn't me.

Thank you to Soho Press and Netgalley for the early access.

When I originally heard of the story, I was very excited. A queer found family historical novel, with emphasis on platonic relationships? Sign me up! Unfortunately, this ended up being a bit slower than I anticipated, and it just didn't end up working for me.

I think it's important to note that this is an extremely character-driven story. If you're looking for an action-packed plot, then this is probably not the novel for you. For me, personally, I much preferred the side characters to our two narrators, which made it hard for me to enjoy this.

I think that lovers of classics will definitely enjoy this book. The style is very old-fashioned, and, to be frank, despite the fact that it is a YA novel with teen protagonists, a younger audience might find it a bit boring.

Overall, this simply didn't click for me the way I hoped it would. But if you're looking for a character-driven story with great queer and disability rep, then you might want to check this out!

I received an advance copy from NetGalley and Soho Teen, all opinions are my own.

Thank you so much, NetGalley, Soho Press and Soho Teen, for the chance to read and review this book in exchange of an honest review,

TW: child abuse, violence, alcoholism, self-harm, suicide ideation, homophobia, sexism, PTSD, xenophobia

Asta Hedstrom has an unconventional appareance and she is deaf from one ear. Her mother believes she’s only suited for a domestic future, disregarding her ideas and feelings, but Asta doesn’t want to marry her odious betrothed, Nils. She wants to perform in the town’s theater with her best friend Gunnar Fuglestad and his secret boyfriend Erlend Fournier. When Gunnar is almost killed by a jealous Nils, Asta decides to shunning her marriage and starts to live with Gunnar and Erlend in a cabin above town. The only way to survive, have their own life, and save the Fuglestad’s deep into debt farm, is to win the village’s annual horse race. Even though they have the whole town against. Or so they think.

I LOVED reading The reckless kind. Set in a small rural town, in Norway 1904, The reckless kind is a wonderful, intense and brilliant story, with complex and well written characters, determined to do anything in their power to live their own lives and protect their loved ones. Told by two POVs, Asta’s and Erlend the story follows how Asta, Erlend and Gunnar defy the restrictions imposed upon them by the society, against family’s expectations, village’s rules, deciding and wainting a different life for them.

It’s a book with outsiders, outcasts, as main characters, people that don’t fit in and the strong bonds they forge. Asta is a queer and disabled young woman, Erlend is the rich son of the theater’s owner and fights everyday with his anxiety disorder and he’s deeply in love with Gunnar, who lost his arm in an accident and can’t walk after a violent aggression. Each of them defy what the town and the sociey expects from them and they are stubborn, brave and brilliant to follow their own paths, choosing themselves and their loved ones again and again, even though it’s not always easy.

Asta is one of the main characters, she lives in a heteropatriarcal society and she fights to be herself, to navigate her sexuality, her asexuality and desire of a platonic relationships. In a society and town where women were expected to act in a certain way, to marry, to have children, to choose a domestic life, mostly if poor, Asta refuses to marry, to be owned, to be without her freedom and fights to help the boys who became her family, to learn a profession, to be free.

Erlend, the other POV, is very different from Asta, but he’s an outcast like her and Gunnar and he struggles against his family’s expectations, to marry a good girl, to have a “proper” life and career. His love for Gunnar is indomitable, able to survive fights, misunderstadings, family’s rage and disappointment. Erlend chooses to leave everything behind, the life he was used to, refusing to lose his love.

Gunnar, the third main character, doesn’t have a POV, but the reader is able to know him and his struggles and pains through Asta and Erlend and with care and sensitivity the author addresses his struggles, his pains, his guilt and doubts, after the spinal injury. Gunnar struggles both with his physical symptoms, being in pain and being forced to adapt himself to a new life and with his guilt because Erlend left everything behind for him.

Carly Heath did an outstanding job with these characters. They are relatable, fierce, human, in their thoughts, struggles, ideas, hopes and dreams. It’s a book about all types of love and their strengths. The reader faces Gunnar’s love for Asta and Erlend, familial and romantic, his depression and dark thoughts, his fighting using sarcasm and irony, Erlend’s fierce love and stubborness to protect his newborn family, Asta’s love for the boys, and her devotion to animal companions. I love their strong bonds, how much they love and would do anything for each other. It’s also really beautiful how the author talked about different kinds of love and how each of them is important.

It was also really interesting reading the historical and medical notes, about Asta’s syndrome and how she, in that time, didn’t have the language to define parts of her identity, like her asexuality, about Gunnar’s spinal injury, the language’s limitations and so on. It was very intriguing and I loved it.

With care and sensitivity the author addresses traumas, violence and young love in a beautiful historical queer tale about love and all his types, like romance, friendship, devotion, about fighting to be themselves, to love who you want and against ignorance and violence.

I was sold when I realized there was a character in this with Waardenburg Syndrome! I really enjoyed the fact that all of the main characters in this story are different... it was a real treat to read something so diverse.

I did feel as though the plot took a while to get into full gear, but the writing was quite lovely.

Probably the best thing for me, remained the relationship between the three young people. Such joy, friendship and loyalty.

Looking forward to more by this author.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the opportunity to read an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Unfortunately I was only able to read the first part of this book before the file said it was not supported. (I think there may have been an error with NetGalley.) Anyways, what I was able to read, I LOVED. I really appreciate the author's strong, descriptive writing and was super excited by the diverse representation. (Hooray for queer and disabled characters!) I especially love that from what I've read, the characters embrace their identities without being defined by them. We need more of that in literature—especially YA. I've already pre-ordered a physical copy and I am very excited to read the rest.

Set an 1904 Norway. Three young people become fast friends because of their shared love of theater but also because they do not quite fit in in their small village. They are ostracized by town folk and family, experience tragedy and love, and ultimately make a life for themselves. Good writing and good character development. Very unusual.

A novel that demonstrates how queerness has always been a part of history and shows the power of community and acceptance

The central characters in The Reckless Kind are the sorts of people I wish I could have found in YA literature back when I was YA. Gunnar and Erland are gay; Asta is asexual; fifteen-year-old Fred, Gunnar's younger brother, is responsible for the family horse shoeing business, now that their mother has died; all are disabled. Together—and in the face of a great deal of pressure from the local "Godly" community—they fight to turn themselves into a family. Set in 1904 Norway, The Reckless Kind is a sort of non-binary, non-abelist Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates.

It quickly becomes clear that the only hope this group has of building a life together and saving Gunnar and Fred's family farm is winning the annual Christmas sled race, but an evil town councilor has brought in a whole herd of thoroughbred racing horses. How will the newly formed family's semi-wild pony compete against them?

When I was in YA territory, there was an absolute dearth of non-heteronormative reading material—so I spend those years reading Tennessee William's short stories and Colette's Claudine novels. They kept me going, but being able to spend time with a crew like Gunnar, Erland, Asta, and Fred might have made my vision of my future life much more hopeful and healthier.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher; the opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. In 1904 Norway, three disabled teens run away together and enter a horse race after a dire incident. Asta doesn’t want the life that’s been set out for her: marriage and domesticity. She prefers performing at a local theater with her best friend Gunnar and his secret love Erlend. After Gunnar is gravely injured, the three carve out a new life for themselves while bucking society’s rules. But can they find happiness in the face of discrimination and hatred from the surrounding community?⁣
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The representation in this book is based on the author’s experience with hearing loss, post-concussion syndrome, and spinal cord trauma. ⁣
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I’m very excited to see more disability reads, especially historical fiction, but unfortunately I did not enjoy this book. While I appreciated seeing disabled characters (especially Erlend who has anxiety and stomach problems), I didn’t feel like there was enough character development. The epic friendship between the main characters was not fleshed out enough.⁣
⁣
I also really struggled with the level of bodily harm and violence in this book. There was just one injury on top of the other to the point where it felt gratuitous. <spoiler> Was it really necessary for Asta to break her collarbone at the end? Was the stabbing after the beating after the accident really necessary?</spoiler> I didn’t like how many of the characters continued to take risks while suffering from extreme pain and injury. Also, I felt like Gunnar, who experiences the most violence, needed a narrative voice so we could understand his perspective.
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I liked the themes of found family and the unusual historical setting. I just wish there had been more than a few rays of light in the middle of utter bleakness. My heart hurt and I didn’t connect with the story.⁣

Trigger/content warnings: bodily harm, sexual content, graphic injuries, suicidal ideation, threat of animal harm.

This was a really heartwarming story about three friends in a queerplatonic relationship: Asta, a hearing impaired, asexual badass female lead, her best friend and gravely injured and disabled Gunnar, and his secret boyfriend turned heathen husband, an anxiety riddled Ereland. This story has so many positive themes, like sexual positivity, plan tonic friendships, creating your own family when one has been rejected from their own, animal saving, and mental health.

There are some triggers such as violence against women, suicidal thoughts, and a few deaths, but not to worry because the note from the author, Carly Heath, in the beginning of the novel assures the reader that despite these things, the book ends on a happy note.

I walked away from this book feeling warm and satisfied. It was nice to not have to read about yet another typical heterosexual relationship or love triangle, but instead to read a powerful story about the true power of friendship and making your own family. That kind of love, the book stresses, is most important.

Despite other historical novels I have read, this one reads fast. It is good and bad that it reads so quickly. Sometimes the scene changes so quickly, it takes me a minute to reacclimate myself to what is happening. It is a good think though, because the book definitely does not drag.

This was also a really good fall/wintery read as it takes place at Christmas time so if you are look for a good atmospheric book to snuggle up with when the snow starts falling, this is a great choice that will keep you warm and make you feel all the feels!

DNF- I was so excited for this book, but unfortunately it just fell flat for me. There is so much to love in terms of queer and disabled representation, but I just could not get into it.
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Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

The main characters in The Reckless Kind are immediately likeable. Even though they each have something that keeps them out of the mainstream, they are understandable and relatable. The setting is very interesting, since I'd imagine that society then was completely intolerant of homosexuality (and most villagers just classify it as sin or an affliction) and I I'm surprised that Gunnar's father isn't more like the rest of the townspeople. The bond between the 3 young adults is palpable - and I found myself invested it the outcome of the story. Sometimes love really does prevail!