Ellen Hagan

Representation: Biracial (half Black and half white) and implied Latina and Asian characters
Trigger warnings: Death of a father in the past
Score: Six points out of ten.
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It turns out that a library I went to hasn't ran out of poetry. Yet. That's when I thought when I found out that Reckless, Glorious, Girl was in verse so I picked it up alongside another one. Unfortunately, both of them were only okay and not without flaws. Neither of them were as outstanding as similar texts like Alone by Megan E. Freeman or Under the Broken Sky by Mariko Nagai.

It starts with the first character I see, Beatrice Miller, living with her mother and grandmother during the summer before seventh grade. Reckless, Glorious, Girl has a tedious beginning spanning half of the text but it soon picks up when Beatrice goes to seventh grade but worries about the events that could happen there, as well as all the physical changes she must experience. Reckless, Glorious, Girl shines in its quick chapters and engaging pacing. It was unputdownable.

I liked that Beatrice was flawed and experienced character development and her dynamics with her mother and grandmother. However, my most frustrating gripe with Reckless, Glorious, Girl is the writing style, because it's like what happens when someone presses the Enter key many times. It's so repetitive. The author doesn't need to repeat herself several times to prove her point. It's like she needed a sledgehammer to do that. The middle 200 pages were only about Beatrice journeying through seventh grade when another character, Chloe, invited her to a sleepover. The last 100 pages were dramatic, but there's a high note at the end.… (meer)

First sentence: "Mom, can I borrow your earrings?
The diamonds? I think they'd match,"
I say, twirling, my new dress
swinging just above my knees.
And throwing myself back onto her chaise.

Premise/plot: Chloe Brooks is RICH-rich. But her oh-so-fabulous life among the rich-and-wealthy is about to slip away--and it's a long, hard fall. Her and her mother watch "helplessly" as her father is arrested and charged with crimes. Her old life being forfeit and her friends mostly being brats, the two brainstorm to find a way to start over...together. Fortunately, her mother has a little of her own that was not shared property...and it's an apartment complex on "the wrong side of town." Can Chloe survive her social missteps long enough to find true love and new besties?

My thoughts: Most of the book is Chloe apologizing for saying the wrong thing in the wrong way to the wrong people and offending just about everybody just by existing. I get that this is supposed to be a feel-good young adult romance, but it has all the makings of a made for TV movie. In my opinion. That could be a good thing for some readers.

I didn't love this one. I found Chloe insufferable at times. Not because she WAS rich and now isn't. But because she's literally apologizing every other page for saying something "wrong" and "offensive." But what she is saying is what she actually is thinking. I also found it very sitcom-ish in that the resolution happens EXTREMELY quickly and without as much groundwork as would be necessary. In a movie with a montage scene to a great song, it would definitely work better.… (meer)

This novel written in verse was a nice change of pace for me from what I usually read. I enjoyed this one a lot, and it was beautifully written. This was an emotionally charged piece of literature that shares a lot about the emotional journey of the main character, Eliza, who is trying to figure out how to deal and cope with lingering trauma from 5 years earlier when a hurricane disturbed her home and life.
Eliza has grown up and become more into and passionate about climate change. She tries to do more good in her community and with her family and others. She meets a guy, who's a rich tourist that comes to visit her quiet town and she wants to hate him but instead falls for him.
This is about how Eliza has to continue on with life, deal with PTSD, go to therapy and still live her normal life with friends, family, and romance among other things as well. This is a quick and easy read with a lot packed into it that is great for all ages not only Young Adults. I would definitely recommend this one to everyone to check out.
Thanks so much to NetGalley and Bloomsbury USA Children's Books/Bloomsbury YA for letting me read and review this wonderful story. All thoughts and opinions are my own.… (meer)