Another great book from Rachel Hawkins! This book was thrilling and addicting. I cannot recommend this enough!

I loved the overall vibes of this - beachy atmosphere with a twist! Characters were well developed and I was content with the ending. Pacing was perfect. Overall enjoyable and fun summer thriller (though I'm reading it in the winter).

4 stars

Isolation makes these 7 travelers stuck on a deserted, exotic island, reveal their true selves. This story is intriguing to say the least. The secrets and lies and just not knowing what is going to happen next kept me glued to the pages. This is a perfect cold winter book to curl up and read under a fluffy, warm blanket. 4.5 stars!

Solid 4 star read. I love watching lux discover her self, and try to figure out those around her. I did figure out the twist before it came, but that happens constantly, and if I gave a book about rating for that reason, then I would hate every book 😂. Definitely recommend this for the younger generation of thriller readers (like me… the “internet” generation? Is that what people call us? 😂)
Rachel Hawkins has officially made me a fan. I was worried with her second mystery thriller she would fall off some, but I loved this one just as much!

I think the problem with this one was the marketing. There wasn't any real mystery and there wasn't enough intensity for a thriller, and the book is marketed as both. The characters were even dreadfully dull but I persevered only to see how things unfolded. There was a flurry of excitement at the end that almost made up for it, but I fear that readers won't be able to survive the dull bits. Also, you shouldn't have to "survive" the dull bits just to get to something worthwhile.

Color me tan and pour me all the wine - Oh, Susannah - don't you cry for me Meroe Island! Do I sound messy... well, welcome to last fourth of this binge popcorn thriller of a read. POP POP!

My second Hawkins read and, even if this one didn't quite do it for me as well as The Wife Upstairs did, I can plainly say that I will always pick up Hawkins. Always. There's just something about her writing style that just pulls me right in. The obsessive need to know what's going to happen next. The moderate to quick pacing with short chapters - I mean, once you pop, you just can't stop!

4 people head to what is supposed to be an isolated island, clear of people and only full of history and potential creepiness set in a gorgeous beach with much to explore. But, to their disappointment, two other people are already on there. Things escalate when a seventh person shows up later and then right towards the end, we take a sharp turn left at Albuquerque.

I really enjoyed the "locked island" feel of this thriller. Getting to know each character and their backgrounds was educational and you find yourself not rooting for any of them... and yet, I was also extremely fascinated with them. Just taking off on a whim, taking chances, falling so easily in love and friendship. The creepy, suspenseful feel was engaging and I loved the tone. There were even a surprise or two that I don't know how I didn't see coming but I do love it when that happens. But allllll of this leading up to an end I just couldn't compute? And an epilogue that was unnecessary and all too often done. A solid 4 star for me right up until this ending. One of the rare times I think I would've preferred an ambiguous ending.

A couple take 2 girls they just meet onto a 3-day sail to a deserted island...what could go wrong? Nico and Lux think this is a great island adventure. Others arrive at the island and tensions start to heat up. Mysteries about the characters' past unfold. I really enjoyed this book and finished it quickly. The only negative was that I kept confusing the characters Amma and Brittany. I would definitely recommend this book to my fellow readers.

Well, this was a good read! Very fast paced and easy to fly through. I liked the twists and the way the story came together. I loved the gorgeous island setting! And the fact that on such a beautiful place, such strange and horrid things could occur was pretty interesting. I genuinely disliked pretty much every character. Not in a way that made me dislike the book. I just hated them all! I felt like I couldn't really relate to them and they made some pretty terrible decisions at times!

Everyone was shady and unreliable. So many secrets and lies, which I actually really like in a book. So if this sounds like it's up your alley, pick it up!

Good beachy read. Fast paced and would be perfect to bring on vacation. It’s suspenseful and gave me a chilling sense of impending doom the entire time I read it. It would’ve been 4 stars for me had it not been for the ending that left me questioning a bit of a plot hole. Up until that point, I really liked this this book and found it hard to put down.

Many thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Lux and her boyfriend have been hired to sale two women to a remote island in the South Pacific. This island has a dark past though, and suddenly their Paradise is a place of nightmares. 🌺🏝️🦈🥥⛵🎣

This book was sooooo good! It grabbed my attention from the beginning, and was impossible to put down. I lost so much sleep last night because I simply had to finish it! I cannot recommend this book enough! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I love the summer vibes of this cover, and it definitely has me longing for warmer weather! The snow was fun, but now I am ready for warm weather and sunshine! ☀️☀️☀️

Secrets, retaliation, and survival on a not quite deserted island

“Reckless Girls” is the story of an “island in paradise” vacation that terribly went wrong, but perhaps it was doomed from the start. Lux McAllister and boyfriend Nicholas Johannsen III, Nico, live in Hawaii; the narrative unfolds mostly in Lux’s narrative and occasionally in other voices. Chapters alternate between events “before” and events “now.” These flashbacks show how people got to this time and place and what baggage they brought with them. There are also interludes containing unsettling reports of past tragic events on Meroe Island.

Amma and Brittany charter Nico, and his boat to take them for a two-week on exotic Meroe Island, a getaway from everyone and everything. It should be exciting, restful, and fun, but it turns out to be something quite different. The trip to the island is dangerous as storms pound the ship, and that is just the start of the drama. The island that should provide rest from the traumatic journey and a peaceful respite from the world holds surprises. Another boat with another couple arrives, and suddenly nothing is going as it should; no one can be trusted. Secrets from “before” come crashing into “now” with disastrous results. Dark currents of evil float beneath the playful, shining surfaces of the beach waves.

This vacation was not supposed to an adventure, a good time on a tropical island; it was something very different. I received a review copy of “Reckless Girls” from Rachel Hawkins and St. Martin’s Press. Accidents happen so easily on a deserted island; there are a million different ways to die. I read with trepidation as they perished one by one, wondering who would be left.

Thank you to the publisher for my copy - all opinions are my own.

I honestly super enjoyed this mayhem of a reading ride. This was so obsessively addicting to read, it was actually impossible to set down. And being in year 2 of the pandemic with no travel yet in sight, this was the perfect island escape I needed.

While this story goes so wildly nuts and takes some crazy turns, it never stops being 100% entertaining, and I think that is the key thing. It had a fantastic mix of characters who you dislike to varying degrees, layers of secrets that slowly reveal themselves through flashbacks and perspective jumps. It has a fun closed door mystery aspect taking place on a boat/deserted island. It has murder and drama and it was just fun. Fun to read, fun to guess what was happening, fun to finish.

If you just need escapism in a book.....this is it.

Reckless Girls is a fast paced read that kept the momentum from beginning to end. It's a twisted beach read meets haunted island thriller and no one is who they first appear.

The plot line is a little unbelievable at times but it kept might attention and was especially fun for a winter weekend read. If you enjoy plot lines with imperfect (and sometimes unlikeable) characters and plenty of suspense, this one might be for you as well!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for my gifted copy.

A deserted island, beautiful young people, and copious amounts of alcohol-what could go wrong? In Rachel Hawkins latest release, Reckless Girls, the reader is taken on a fast-paced journey to a remote island several days away off the coast of Maui. Lux is at loose ends-losing her mother after years of taking care of her during cancer treatments, she meets handsome sailor Nico in a bar in San Diego and they head to Maui together. Six months later they are crashing with friends while trying to save money for their next sailing adventure. When two young college-aged girls approach Nico with an offer to sail them to the deserted island of Meroe-and $50k for his efforts-he jumps at the chance and convinces Lux to join them. The island has a haunted, grisly history and after a few idyllic days it is clear they may be in the fight for their lives as the reckless girls are hiding deadly secrets.

Reminiscent of Agatha Christie, Lucey Foley and Ruth Ware-if you love psychological mysteries, pick this one up today!

Thank you the NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

This book was sent to me by Netgalley for review…who wants a vacation with stress? This group of young people get what they did not ask for…although this is not the story I love to read, younger readers…in twenties…might be engrossed…

Nico and Lux want to sail the world, but lack the funds to fix their boat. Enter Brittany and Amma, two college girls who want a different kind of adventure- they want to charter Nico's boat to Meroe Island, a deserted atoll in the middle of the Pacific. What could go wrong? Let me tell you- this is a wild ride! The suspense slowly builds as the book unfolds, with several "Before" chapters that show that each person on the island is not quite how they appear to be. I loved how the book slowly becomes more and more creepy until everything starts happening. I couldn't put it down!

Lux and her boyfriend Nico are hired to sail two friends to a secluded island. When they get there there is already another boat anchored. The foursome now becomes a group of six and they all settle into the island and have a good time. But of course, things eventually turn deadly as someone new joins them on the island, someone goes missing and another turns up dead.

This is a fast paced thriller that was a lot of fun, even if you can predict what's coming next. I really enjoyed the setting and atmosphere of the remote island they were on. The characters were ones you were never quite rooting for because you knew they were bad people and you wanted to know why.

I do wish the ending was a little better. It was kind of lackluster but it’s not a deal breaker, I still enjoyed the book!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 stars- I found the first half rather slow. I didn’t feel the characters had any real personalities. The descriptions of what was happening on the island made me want to finish this but the ending was such a letdown. I reread the last few chapters twice and still didn’t understand what really happened.

This book had me from page one! When Lux and her boyfriend are approached by two strangers who want to hire them to sail to a paradise island, how could they say no? (Ok, they probably should have said no.....but anyway....). Hearts are broken and lives are destroyed when the island of paradise turns into an island of terror. It's Agatha Christie meets Outer Banks. I loved it!

Life in Hawaii isn’t quite living up to the dream that Lux and her boyfriend Nico imagined when they set sail for Maui. She has had to take a job as a maid at a high end hotel, and he seems content enough to let her clean rooms and pay the bills while he works on the docks.

Their boat-“The Susannah” is in need of repairs they can’t afford-the adventures they planned are on hold.

Until, college friends Brittany and Amma, arrive and offer Nico $50,000 to be their Captain. They want to travel to Meroe Island-named for a shipwreck where 32 sailors lived-but only 8 survived. It’s beautiful, and off the beaten path but some say it’s cursed- which makes it seem just dangerous enough to be alluring…..

But, when they get there-they aren’t alone.

A beautiful Catamaran, “The Azure Sky” is anchored offshore and now, with Jake and Eliza, they become a party of six on the exotic Island.

How many will survive this time?

I don’t know why the synopsis calls this “gothic suspense “-I don’t think it fits that description at all.

It reminded me of Samantha Downing’s “He Started It” in style. That one was a road trip-this one a sailing adventure and both were a “may the best man win” kind of book. If that is appealing to you-grab a life vest and set sail with this bunch..I could practically smell the suntan oil, and feel the heat of the sun.