Wild Reckless

By Ginger Scott

Rating

3.5 stars

Date Read

13/6/16 - 17/6/16

Age Group

17+

General Thoughts

Such a cute cute book! Everything about it screams YA to NA and it fits into its genre neatly, with the nice girl meets bad boy theme. And yet it's not exactly a peaceful read. It scratches the surface of serious problem like family issues addiction and mental illness (without being too heavy since the genre itself wouldn't permit that).

Kensi

At first Kensi is very... childish. Naive. Petty. She doesn't really have a lot of concerns in her picture perfect life. Yes, her parents are a bit distant and the move to the middle of nowhere for her senior year of school is annoying to her. But she hasn't had to deal with mental issues or diseases or accidents (Oh, Will...). She's a very normal, if a bit self centered teenager, whose biggest concern is what to wear to school and who dreams of getting out of the small country town, escaping to a big city to study her music. Bottom line is, she really needed Owen in her life. Even if she didn't know it. To ground her, to introduce her to real life. Support her when it becomes too much. And, well, the romance was a nice plus.

Instead of saving him, he saved her.

Owen

Gorgeous, sensitive Owen. Bad rep, good big brother, perfect boyfriend. That is, when he doesn't alienate himself from Kensi when his life crumbling all around him. Unfortunately, that happens too. It's a way for him to cope. Underneath the disinterested gaze, dead eyes and careless, reckless behaviour is someone to fall in love with.


WARNING Raging about Kensi's behaviour (at least at first) you probably shouldn't read if you want to give the book a shot

"I match the dare in his eyes, take one step back, and drop the ball down to my foot. My kick is swift and purposeful, and despite my lack of any athletic ability at all, the ball flies down the street, into the darkness,"

Uhm, rude much? Who does that?! I'll tell you who, rich, privileged goody two shoes characters who want to show how badass they are (while trying too hard to go for that honest, confident, defying, no-bullshit thing) so that the author will get her opportunity to hook them up with the bad boy next door and explain his otherwise unjustifiable interest in them.

Owen hasn't really acted cruel or rude towards Kensi, just maybe quiet and unfriendly. That gives him an air of mystery but in no way justifies her treatment of him. Do you know what normal girls do when their neighbour suddenly appears in front of them, the first few hours after they have moved into a new house? They introduce themselves! But oh, hey, why should Kensi go for that? No, she'll just glare at him, somehow blaming him for her dropping her stuff and then blame him some more for not helping his grumpy teenaged new neighbour with her things. And what do normal girls do when the kid next door is being mildly annoying, playing basketball while they're playing the piano? They withstand it for politenes's sake, acknowledging other people's right to doing what calms them, or, if it really gets too loud, they go out there and calmly talk to said neighbour about their problem! What does Kensi do? Oh, that's right, she marches down, glaring and yelling at him, takes his basketball and kicks it to the next town over!

There are so many things wrong with that: a) those things are expensive and Owen, being one of three sons of a widowed woman, might not have money for another one b) he has every right to play, just as she has every right to her music etc.

Also, his reaction? He doesn't yell back at her, or curse at her and demand she goes bring his ball back (which would have been completely justifiable). He just looks at her and goes back into his house. And instead of having the decency to feel bad about acting like a bitch, Kensi actually worries about having "woken a sleeping dragon", as she put it. What dragon?! All you know about Owen is the rumors your one new friend told you! Rumors that your new friend's friends looked hesitant to accept.

But, hey, why show your privileged upbringing by being the better person and making an effort to communicate? Accepting that your gorgeous teenage neighbour spends his weekends playing Russian roulette is so much more FUN.

In her defense, she doesn't know any better and she really matures through the book, makes some good friends, goes through some serious family problems and is there for Owen when he needs her the most.

All in All

Bottom line is, these two deserve each other, are perfect together and if it wasn't for their different backgrounds and reputations would have gotten off on a less rocky start. Owen needed the innocent, caring and impulsive girl as much as she needed the wild, reckless, sensitive boy.

And on we go for another summer read!

Ps Song Tired of Being Sorry Enrique Inglesias

XOXO

Aggie Pearson