How many grudges do you currently hold? How long have you been angry at a specific person? It is expected for humans to be resentful towards others who wronged them; this is a common known fact. However, most of us never overcome the anger, and we live with it for years. In Reckless, not only is anger and grudge-holding demonstrated, forgiveness is, as well. Reckless is the second installment of the Powerless series, which I have already covered in a previous review. Continuing Paedyn and Kai’s story, this book is more focused around romance than the fantasy aspect these books contain.

I cannot fully explain the plot of Reckless without spoiling the ending of Powerless; however, I will give a brief overview. The book revolves around the relationship between Paedyn and Kai. It shows both their love and hatred, their compassion and coldness. For most of the book, they are angry at each other and try their hardest to keep a flame of hatred burning. After a while, they couldn’t keep up that facade any longer. Reckless contains an element of adventure and exploration, giving you a glimpse of various settings in their world as Kai attempts to complete a quest the King assigned to him. All I can say is that you will want to read this book after Powerless. Overall, there is a lot more to the book than I’m disclosing, but you’ll have to read it to discover the events that occur.

As mentioned previously, Kai and Paedyn made an effort to resist each other, but in the end, forgiveness triumphed over hatred. This is a perfect example of the pointlessness that is a grudge. Just because I say this does not mean I don’t hold grudges, because I do. I hold grudges, but I’m working on letting them go, and I believe that is what Reckless truly conveys. We don’t want to forgive someone who hurt us, someone who put us at our low points. As humans, we want to stay angry, but what good will come of it? Keeping hatred in your heart will only drag you down. How are we meant to be happy when anger consumes us? We try so hard to stay resentful of our enemies, similar to the characters in this book, but there is no point. Why force yourself to be a hateful person? Do not squander someone who is not worth squandering; learn to let the anger go, and replace it with the satisfaction of forgiveness. We oftentimes cannot forgive immediately, but we can work up to it. Consider this: will you be the person who releases themselves from the restraints of a grudge, or will you be the person who lives with a heart full of envy that is void of forgiveness and enjoyment?