Daphne Elise Green is a girl with dreams too big for the boxes people try to put her in. Plus-sized, sharp-witted, and soft-hearted, she’s chasing a future as a teacher—and maybe, just maybe, a kind of love she’s only ever drawn in the margins of her notebooks.
Kaito Tanaka is a man who keeps his past tucked behind a lawyer’s collar and a war hero’s silence. He’s focused, respected, and utterly unprepared for the way Daphne makes him want things he thought he’d buried—like belonging, laughter... and her.
When a chance meeting becomes something more, their worlds begin to tangle—race, class, ambition, and scars old and new. In a city that isn’t ready for them, Daphne and Kaito must decide whether what they feel is too dangerous to hold on to… or too powerful to let go.
Because falling in love is always a risk. But some hearts are just built to be reckless
Reckless swept me away. Daphne and Kaito’s love story—set against 1943 San Francisco—was tender, defiant, and everything I didn’t know I needed. Seeing a curvy Black woman chasing her dream of teaching, and a Japanese American Navy man fighting for dignity in a world stacked against them, made me soft in the best way. Ten chapters and an epilogue of pure, necessary storytelling. Beautiful, brave, and unforgettable.