Book review: A Fondness for the Reckless tells the story of a Canadian boy band
Originally published on Medium on Jan. 6, 2026.
What, me read a novel about a boy band from Canada? One geared to young adult readers?
This isn’t my typical cup of coffee, I admit. But sometimes, the most rewarding reads are the unexpected ones. (A recent example: a paperback copy of Don Winslow’s Savages that my daughter bought for me during her recent trip to Paris’s famous Shakespeare and Company bookstore. It was a blind book deal where the cover is concealed. My daughter was mortified when she unwrapped it, thinking I would not like the novel. She was wrong. How could I not like a book whose first chapter is simply, “Fuck you”?)
But I digress. Besides, Winslow is an American (although a principled writer who’s turned his poisonous pen against Trump which makes him my cup of coffee) and this review is about the book A Fondness for the Reckless which is pure Canadiana. And this, after all, is part of my series of reviews of Canadian titles which I call Reading, ‘riting and Ravin’ About CanLit.
A Fondness for the Reckless is Jennifer Jacoby-Smith’s first novel but it probably won’t be her last. Or even the last in a series as it’s subtitled, “A Ten Past Midnight Story.”
First, a full disclosure: I work with Jennifer at Postmedia Content Works. When I learned she was writing a book about a band, I knew I had to read it because, well, music! But a book about a boy band? That’s never been my thing. I know nothing about K-pop music other than it’s supposedly some kind of sensation and the last boy bands I listened to were Backstreet Boys and NSYNC when my kids were young.
It’s the mark of a confident, competent and compelling writer though who can make the reader care about her subject matter and story even if it’s not the reader’s thing. And Jacoby-Smith is fully in control of her story about the fictional band Ten Past Midnight.
When the story opens, we learn the band is on the verge of possible musical stardom when they are about to be interviewed for their first major television interview. The only problem: One of the band members Indie (Indigo Lee) is not there. As the story unfolds, we learn he’s at Toronto Pearson International Airport about to literally fly the coop and pursue a solo career and we don’t know if he’ll change his mind.
From there, the scenes shift settings and time periods as Jacoby-Smith keeps the tension and suspense going: What became of Ten Past Midnight? What will become of Ten Past Midnight? What’s their story?
Till the end, she keeps the story taut with tension as the reader falls for her characters and their stories. Yes, even this reader who never imagined he would fall for a book about a Canadian boy band.
Jacoby-Smith’s characters are well-rounded and engaging. They are realistic in their strengths and flaws with the possible exception of Nate (Nathaniel Sky). Is he the real deal or just another user in the music industry? Also, her descriptions of Nate’s near-perfect looks and body sometimes feel over the top.
Indie is the main character and he’s fascinating. He’s neurodivergent with colourful hair and a habit of holding an elbow with one hand. Indie’s Korean lineage perhaps bring out the K-pop elements in the band. He’s a musical prodigy but struggles with Ten Past Midnight’s complex dance moves, and with his own sexuality. He’s from Saskatoon and comes from a troubled family background until he moves in with his grandmother and aunt in Toronto. Much of the story is set in the big city and Jacoby-Smith does a great job in describing its music scene; Toronto’s fictional spots like Encore House and real places like Leslieville and Danforth Music Hall.
Jaxson (C.J. Jackson) is Indie’s best friend and co-founder of Ten Past Midnight. His family life has been more stable (although loud with chaos) but he too has issues with his father.
Early in the novel, Indie looks at photos on Jaxson’s wall showing his family members. “It was a world Indie couldn’t grasp. How could so many people be connected so closely?” he wonders.
Jaxson has his run-ins with Indie but knows him best when he declares, near the end of the novel, that his friend “has always marched to his own beat — usually one he’s programmed himself.”
Rounding out the band are: Will Pavlovski, who gave up an acting career to join Ten Past Midnight; Mac who lived in Edmonton with his evangelical Christian parents and is the youngest member; and Bear, whose real name is Luc and comes from Montreal. Casey Reynolds is the band’s manager.
I won’t divulge the pain points that led to the cracks in the band as that would give away too much of the plot. Suffice to say they feel realistic and the self-realizations and revelations that come out at the end are believable. Again, that’s the mark of a writer who’s in full control of her characters and scenes, and of her LBGQ2+ readership. (The one possible exception is what appears to be an anachronism in one flashback scene from 2012 where Jacoby-Smith writes of Nate as someone who could have been “AI-generated by a ‘create Adonis’ prompt.” Did anyone know about artificial intelligence images back in 2012?)
What I can say about the book is that it does justice to the art of music. We learn early about what music does to Indie, how playing the piano stills the “intense hum of noise in his head,” Jacoby Smith writes. “The sounds became tones — like the notes of a chord — and if he played long enough, the sounds arranged themselves into layers. Layers that made sense, sounds that made music. He loved the feeling. But he never told anyone.”
The author explains how the music business can sometimes work, for bad as well as good. I especially liked how the characters sometimes struggle with being authentic and honest, with their music and themselves. “What if a performer can’t be honest?” Indie wonders at one point.
Honesty and authenticity is also a quality I admire in an artist. Jacoby-Smith delivers a work that is about as true as you can get in fiction which, strange as it may sound, may be truer than real life.
Final note: Kudos to Alexis Patoine whose cover art for A Fondness for the Reckless hits all the right notes.
A Fondness for the Reckless is available online and at McNally Robinson.
Claudio D’Andrea has been writing and editing for newspapers, magazines and online publications for about 40 years and has published a book of short fiction, Stories in the Key of Song. Visit him at claudiodandrea.ca or read his stuff on LinkedIn and Medium.com and follow him on Bluesky.
Claudio D'Andrea 
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