A review by yvo_about_books
The Right Side of Reckless by Whitney D. Grandison

3.0

Finished reading: June 14th 2021

"Don't deny yourself a better shot because you messed up in the past."

*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and Inkyard Press in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***

There was just something about the blurb of The Right Side Of Reckless that caught my attention immediately, and as I don't seem to read nearly enough YA books in recent years I couldn't resist getting an ARC. I had really high hopes for this story, thinking that it might turn out to be a new favorite, so imagine my surprise when I ended up having mixed thoughts instead... I'll try to explain my contradictory feelings briefly below.

Part of me still finds it hard to put the finger on why exactly this story didn't work as well for me. I still love the premise of The Right Side Of Reckless with the power of opposites attract and second chances. I think this is part of the reason I did keep reading, as the story had an interesting message. I liked the Mexican influences and diversity in general, which I can always appreciate... And I loved just how big of a role dogs played in the plot.

BUT. And here comes what didn't work for me: I really did feel that the story was overlong and dragged in certain parts. It took me a lot longer than expected to finish The Right Side Of Reckless, and I started to struggle to stay invested in the story... Especially as certain details of the plot were repeated a lot. I can't say that I appreciated the whole cheating and love triangle angle either, which both really put a damper on things for me. I understand the need to make things 'more complicated', but I would have enjoyed this story so much better if it had just been the opposites attract theme with Regan and Guillermo... And especially Regan could get really annoying as she continued to let everyone walk all over her.

In short, there were things I liked and things that didn't work for me in The Right Side Of Reckless, and I do still like the premise of this story. It might just have been the wrong time for me to read this book though, as most people do seem to love Regan and Guillermo's story.