A coming of age story, for 15 year old Bess. A YA choice that bends itself to literary fiction at times. With flawed characters and teenage angst. Covering themes of social injustice, the care system, race and class and teenage pregnancy’. This book definitely thought provoking.

I must firstly apologise for the amount of time it has taken me to provide a review of this book, my health was rather bad for quite some time, something that had me in hospital on numerous occasions and simply didnt leave me with the time I once had to do what I love most.

Unfortunately that does mean I have missed the archive date for many of these books, so It would feel unjust throwing any review together without being able to pay attention to each novel properly.

However, I am now back to reading as before and look forward to sharing my honest reviews as always going forward. I thank you f0r the patience and understanding throughout x

Loved this book, wasn't what I expected and it exceeded my expectations. Really recommend, couldn't put it down and looking forward to what Kirsty Capes does next!

The story follows 15 year old Bess, a child living in foster care, as she navigates school, her first boyfriend, meeting her biological mother again, pregnancy, arranged marriages and abortion.
It’s a book filled with heavy topics but still manages to keep a YA Vibe. I didn’t rate it much higher due to the way the book made me feel and whilst it ended on a happier note it wasn’t a book that blew me away, although I’m glad I read it. Thanks to the author and publisher for my advanced copy in exchange for review.

Careless was a poignant read and a great debut by Kirsty Capes.

Capes created characters that the reader could really care about. Although poignant, this was enjoyable and actually amusing in places. I thought that Bess was a great narrator and I really liked reading about the friendship between Eshal and Bess.

As Capes was a care leaver herself, I could feel the authenticity of young people in this situation and how they can feel neglected even when in a long-term placement.

Overall, I enjoyed this and will read more by Capes in the future.

I loved this book so much..It tells the story of Bess who is in the care system and has many problems with her foster family and how she eventually takes control of her own life and problems. It's a fantastic read with great characters and the story holds your interest right from the beginning. Will definitely read more of this author's work and I highly recommend this book

Actual rating: 3.5 / 5

Despite having an e-copy, I chose to listen to this via BBC sounds whilst I was working.

Details:
Read by: Abbie Andrews
Abridged by: Katrin Williams
Producer: Nicola Holloway

The narrator
Abbie's voice was so interesting. She did the voice of Bess so well and made me feel really immersed in the story. She had such an interesting tone to her voice, with excellent inflections. Male voices weren't that great tone wise but sounded believable in the way she brought them to life.

I wasn't a fan of the music that played at the start and in between... it was a bit random and didn't fit the feel of the story.

The story

So strange to pick this up straight after Eleanor Oliphant as it also deals with a toxic birth mother and the care system, and as that also did, it gave me Jacqueline Wilson vibes. I think Careless pulled that off much better. It felt familiar in that way and I think that helped in connecting with the story.

This was such a moving story. I felt for Bess as she was struggling through teenage pregnancy whilst feeling unloved by her Foster family, and ultimately grew to understand and appreicate her own worth. It felt quite uplifting by the finale and I was rooting for her throughout.

Bess has been living with the same foster family for years. She calls her foster parents mum and dad - but they refuse to adopt her because they don't want to lose the foster care allowance they receive for looking after her.

When she finds out that she is pregnant by Boy, who she has not spoken to for weeks, she decides to take matters into her own hands.

Careless is a completely devastating coming-of-age story about what it means to be young and neglected in twenty-first century Britain. You cannot help but feel for Bess - and all young people that find themselves in the same situation she does.

Would definitely recommend this thought-provoking YA read to teenagers and adults alike.

Oh my goodness. It has been such a long time since I read a book where I was so deeply concerned about what would happen to the characters that I couldn't put it down.

I wanted things to work out for Bess and Eshal so badly that I found myself giving up all my Sunday morning plans just so I could find the book and see if they were ok.

While the synopsis (and my review) may suggest that this is a pretty bleak story, it's in fact very warm and amusing. It perfectly captures that moment in our teens where we're just trying to make it through as unscathed as possible.

I adore Bess and Eshal and thought the pace with which the mother's character was revealed was perfect.

I HIGHLY recommend this book.

A raw and thought provoking book about the care experience, and a coming of age story about friendship.
Bess is a vivid narrator and it's hard not to take to her immediately, despite her spiky edges.

I absolutely loved this book from the opening sentence to the final one. I was hooked.

This is an incredible debut and I cannot wait to read more from this author. What a talent!

The plot, central themes and characters all captured my heart. The friendship between Eshal and Bess was incredibly special. This book will require trigger warnings for its content however in my opinion these areas were written sensitivity and with detail that helped me as a reader to fully appreciate the pain turmoil and trauma it can cause.

A bold and brilliant fictional debut from Capes. I truly appreciated the subject she chose to write about by addressing the UK care system and all its nuances she took me on an emotional and moving journey that tugged at my heart strings on practically every page!

I shall advocate for this book always.

I raced through this book - brilliant writing and great characters. It is about an issue not often explored – longterm foster care and the implications of being part of a family but still under the care of the state. I read that Kirsty Capes is a care-leaver herself, so obviously a lot of personal experience and feelings towards the system went into this – our main character Bess feels truly authentic because of this.

My favourite aspect of the story was the friendship between the two girls Bess and Eshal. I think it can be difficult to get teenagers 'right' in novels, but Capes portrays the kind of friendship you would read as a kid in children's books and YA and wish you had. It made me glad I'm not 15 anymore, but there's definitely a nostalgic feel in the story too.

This was a poignant read! I loved the depth the writer used to create these characters--this was a lovely, aching read.

A raw and at times heartbreaking read, this YA novel deals with some tough subjects and always feels real. Kirsty Capes has written some memorable characters that the reader really cares about.

So interesting about Shepperton Studios and the people who live on the estate there..
Bell is put into care aged four as her Mother can not cope, she is placed with Lisa and Roy, they have a natural child Clarissa a year later and Bess feels unloved.
Age 15 Bella is a bit of a rebel, her best friend is Esch who is racially abused. Bella meets Boy who does not treat her well , when Bella discovers she is pregnant she is no longer seeing boy. Bella takes matters into her own hands with devastating results.
The friendship between the two girls is feisty and loyal. The relationship between Bella and her foster parents still needs some explaining. A stand out character is Shelly the social worker, the only one who really helps.
A warm, intense novel with well described characters.

Bess is 15 years old and in long term foster care when she finds out she’s pregnant and has to decide how to deal with it. This is an absorbing and readable book which also comes across as very authentic. The friendship between Bess and her "soulmate" best friend, and her relationships with Boy, the father of her baby, and her foster family, are often heart rending.

Fifteen-year-old foster child Bess finds out she's pregnant in a kebab shop toilet. It's so hot outside and as she waits for friend Eshal to arrive, her sandshoes are sticking to the tarmac. When Eshal shows up Bess decides she can't tell Eshal her news straightaway. She doesn't tell Henry, her social worker, or her foster mum, Lisa, either. Eshal has her own issues - she is an Asian girl with aspirations to become a vet but is anxious at the prospect of an arranged marriage. Meeting up with Eshal, her soulmate, later, Eshal guesses that Bess is expecting a baby.

The main topics are dealt with considerately and as someone who left their teenage years quite some time ago, bought back memories of the feelings that are experienced in those turbulent angst-ridden years. I could certainly relate to the relationship between Bess and Boy, the father of Bess's baby. Bess is besotted with Boy but as his attention wavered I was able to recognise Bess’s thoughts and feelings. This book was thought-provoking début by Kirsty Capes, as well as being an absorbing read from start to finish. The writing was very good, and the plot well developed. A very worthy read.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel from Orion Publishing via NetGalley at my request and this review is my own unbiased opinion.

“You can only understand people if you feel them in yourself.” – John Steinbeck
I was completely blown away by this book which took me by surprise with its originality, its vibrancy, its film like quality. But most of all it’s power to convey experience, to help you ‘feel them in yourself’
This is the story of Bess (Isabelle) who is in long term foster care, and her friend Eshal. At the start of the story Bess is in a kebab shop toilet taking a pregnancy test. She’s 15 and the text is positive. Boy isn’t really a boyfriend, his name isn’t really Boy, he works in Tesco and he steals from her. Eshal’s parents come from Bangladesh; they are arranging her marriage but she wants to be a vet. She smokes and drinks when they can’t see; they call her ‘duck’ and love her without qualification.
This is incredible writing - earthy, free flowing without speech marks, the experience young and contemporary. I was totally absorbed in Bess and Eshal, connecting with memories of teenage friendship which mediated the insanity of a grown up world. when I finished the book it was like the end of a film, the screenplay in my head just switched off.
This book confronted head on any limited understanding I had of the care system. Bess is caught up in a system in which love and care appear to her to be a transaction with the Local Authority, subject to bills and receipts. Lisa, her Foster Mother, offers only ‘conditional’ love, treating her own child differently, referring to the social worker when Bess gets difficult and ultimately holding the power of veto because Bess is fostered not adapted. As Bess sees it, ‘the reason we are in care is because our parents couldn’t care less..’ We experience the fear of the younger Bess arriving at Lisa’s, ‘driven to an unfamiliar house by an unfamiliar person and being left there’; her terror that Lisa might drown her; her attempt to find someone to love her..
At the heart of the story there is the beautiful friendship with Eshal who has her own battles for identity, torn between the expectations of two cultures, the wishes of her beloved parents and her own ambitions, subjected mercilessly to racist taunts and ignorance. Bess and Eshal’s friendship is the raft on which each will float in a perilous sea.
The book is full of life, of pathos and of wonderful comedy and I absolutely loved it.
With thanks to Netgalley and Orion Books for a digital copy of this amazing book.

Careless (Care Less?) is absolutely terrific and a very impressive debut novel from Kirsty Capes, still only in her 20s.

It follows the story of Bess, fifteen, who has been fostered by the same family since being removed from her mother's care at the age of four. Growing up in the late 1990s in the shadow of Shepperton film studios, Bess dreams of a future as a filmmaker, but the story opens with her finding out she's pregnant - a desperate situation which she is entirely unequipped to deal with.

Her saving grace is her friend Eshal, and the relationship between the two girls is beautifully depicted.

While the situations here - a pregnant teenager in care, a Bangladeshi girl rebelling against an arranged marriage - may sound stereotypical on the face of it, the reality is anything but. Bess and Eshal are satisfyingly complex characters dealing with realistic, nuanced and believable situations to which there are no easy answers. The consequences of some of their more ill-advised attempts to deal with the problems (they're so young) are unflinchingly and at times horrifically shown. Eshal's experience as the only Asian girl at their school is never glossed over either - she has a loving family but experiences racism, both casual and otherwise, on a daily basis.

Bess's foster mother Lisa loves her, she believes - she's been her mum since she was four, after all - but it seems there are limits to that love, and Bess knows only too well that she's on a different footing to their biological daughter, Clarissa. After all, her foster parents have to keep receipts for everything they buy her in order to claim it back, and even after all these years have never moved to adopt her because of the financial implications. The teenage years can be hard on everyone, but how much worse is that when you have good reason to feel that you don't properly belong - when there's a very real possibility that you could be handed back to "the system"?

Bess's narrative provides an extremely credible insight (unsurprisingly so, given that Kirsty Capes has herself been though that system) into the workings and shortcomings of the care system from Bess's viewpoint, where her "parent" is the local authority and most of her social workers seem more interested in ticking boxes than finding out about her hopes and dreams for the future.

While various characters (Lisa, in particular) infuriated me at times, there are no out and out villains here - at least, not among the main characters - just people with their own issues, not least Boy, the father of Bess's baby. I loved the character of Keris, Boy's sister, someone who seems genuinely pure of heart despite her own daily struggles.

Careless is a fascinating and highly readable exploration of the (or rather, an) experience of being in care, the right to choose, and the nature of unconditional love. Highly recommended.

Brilliantly visceral and energetic from the off, Careless opens with fifteen-year-old protagonist Bess standing in a grotty chip shop toilet, about to take a pregnancy test. Though Bess’ foster parents live next to Shepperton Studios, her life is no movie: she imagines her ‘Boy’, the father of her possible pregnancy, climbing through her bedroom window to save her, and likens their ‘meet-cute’ to those of the cinematic greats: yet she’s got her eyes wide open to the harsh reality (he steals her bike on their first encounter) and their relationship is described as definitively “not a love story”. Bess is a keen film photographer, constantly capturing the world around her on celluloid, as if she needs physical proof of her perspective on life, backing up her sense of self worth: this is how she sees the world, this view matters. She dreams of a future as a filmmaker, creating documentaries about her friend Eshal, the only Asian girl in their school, set on a career as a vet yet terrified at the prospect of an arranged marriage. Bess’ little sister Clarissa ‘Riss’ – her foster parents’ biological daughter, born after Bess’s adoption – is annoying, sidelined as her parents’ favourite: her social worker Henry is hopeless – but are all these assumptions actually the truth, or just one stubborn-yet-heartbroken take on the situation? Author Kirsty Capes is an advocate for better representation of care-experienced people in the media – and this book deserves all the awards it will undoubtedly receive.

Featured in June’s Book Club in Cambridge Edition Magazine – thanks to #NetGalley for the advance copy! https://online.bright-publishing.com/view/765983352/15/