From Powells.com
Our favorite books of the year.
Staff Pick
Starting a new Bryn Greenwood book is like the best first date — all butterflies and promise. I fell immediately and hopelessly in love with Zee and Gentry, just like I did with Wavy and Kellen in All the Ugly and Wonderful Things. Greenwood writes characters that I feel in my soul, and I very nearly cannot bear to see them hurt. Recommended By Emily F., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
A provocative love story between a tough Kansas woman on a crooked path to redemption and her unlikeliest of champions, from the New York Times bestselling author of All the Ugly and Wonderful Things.
Many things can bind two people: love, a common enemy, a dangerous promise.
Zee is nobody's fairy tale princess. Almost six-foot, with a redhead's temper and a shattered hip, she has a long list of worries: never-ending bills, her beautiful, gullible sister, her five-year-old nephew, her housebound mother, and her drug-dealing boss.
Zee may not be a princess, but Gentry is an actual knight, complete with sword, armor, and a code of honor. Two years ago the voices he hears called him to be Zee's champion. Both shy and autistic, he's barely spoken to her since, but he has kept watch, ready to come to her aid.
When an abduction tears Zee's family apart, she turns to the last person she ever imagined — Gentry — and sets in motion a chain of events that will not only change both of their lives, but bind them to one another forever in one of the most moving and complicated love stories of our time. The Reckless Oath We Made redefines what it means to be heroic, revealing the strength, honor, and power that lie at the heart of love.
Review
"The story draws together themes of desperate poverty, the complicated bonds of family, mental illness and unlikely (but no less deep) love. Like Zee herself, Greenwood's fourth novel is sharp, unexpected and undeniably powerful." Shelf Awareness
Review
"Leave it to Bryn Greenwood to find loyalty and love in a world that seems devoid of both....Captivating, complex, and relentless, the story of Zee and Gentry is the reason we read, the chance to take a journey we'd never dare in real life, one that changes our perspective forever." Brunonia Barry, author of The Lace Reader
Review
"Themes of chivalry, loyalty, family, and personal responsibility, along with a recognition that people don't need to be perfect to be worthy of love, make this latest from Greenwood. . . a good fit for those looking for gritty contemporary realism in their romance novels." Library Journal
Review
"Unforgettable...Greenwood depicts an unconventional romance with honesty and tenderness. [This] upside-down contemporary fairy tale captivates with its wonderfully inventive storytelling and its compassionately drawn, flawed characters." Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
About the Author
Bryn Greenwood is a fourth-generation Kansan, one of seven sisters, and the daughter of a mostly reformed drug dealer. She earned a MA in Creative Writing from Kansas State University and continues to work in academia as an administrator. She is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels All the Ugly and Wonderful Things, Last Will, and Lie Lay Lain. She lives in Lawrence, Kansas.