For some reason this was not a thrilling book for me.

I loved the setting and the idea. But the suspense just wasn't there for me. I could not feel the danger radiating from the group or the island. Only when Robert showed up did it mix things up, but still this didn't feel as sinister as I hoped.

The whole idea of Reckless girls, and the secrets they were hiding felt boring. The plot moved pretty fast, but nothing really exciting happened. This will definitely not be a memorable book for me.

Thrillers are hit or miss for me and this was a miss. It wasn't for me but some may like it. I maybe needed a little more plot and character development to be able to dive in and enjoy fully.

5 stars for enjoyment

I have to say that I didn't expect to love this book as much as I did, I knew I was going to like it, because Hawkin's debut thriller was a crazy ride I thoroughly enjoyed.

In Reckless Girls we follow some people who find that it would be a great idea to sail to this desserted Island with a somewhat eerie reputation. What I great idea, right? Gets better when they get to their destination, trust me.

The women in this book are fantastic - layered, grey, unreliable, some are kind of a hot mess, and completely magnetic. I wanted to be friends with them, even though I probably wouldn't trust any. The relationships between all characters as the tension rises is so thrilling. I really couldn't put it down. Unfortunetely, I feel that the men weren't as well fleshed out - they were very similar and honestly the kind of men I do not respect.

Hawkins narrative is so addicting and enjoyable. She has a natural ability to draw the reader in and keep them immersed in the world she creates. Her plotting is tight and even though she throws some fun twists, she always play fair.

Closed Circle. Isolated Setting. Strong Female Characters. Yes, please.

Disclaimer: In exchange for an honest review, I am thankful to St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of Reckless Girls.

Wow I read this fast. Not sure how or why but something was done right, and I had just really minor issues. Really enjoyed the experience throughout.

Thanks for this opportunity.

I am a big fan of Rachel Hawkins and follow her on Twitter, so I had heard about her BOAT MURDER book as she was writing it. To say I was excited to read it is an understatement. This was such a fun read and had such great components: a deserted paradise, 20 somethings frolicking without responsibilities, hot men, a creepy dude, mystery, twists, and MURDER. Seriously, it was a great read and I loved it.

Bounce this up to 4.5 for me, because even in 2022, Goodreads ignored the needs for half stars.

Right. This novel is a lot of things, and even though I could see this combination being overwhelming, I feel like it came together well

A love story, an adventure, a change of pace, new friends, a deserted island, sand, sun, and secrets - this novel had it all.

I'll be real - I figured out a few reveals ahead of time, but that should not detour a reader who has always wanted to go on a dangerous quest and has always been grateful for never finding a corpse.

Lux is tired of being stuck working a dead end job in Hawaii while waiting for her man-child boyfriend Nico to get his boat fixed so that they can literally sail off into the sunset and travel the world. It isn't until Nico meets BFF college students Brittany and Amma that he actually gets off his butt and gets his boat fixed because they want to hire him to take them to Meroe Island.

Meroe Island is the stuff of legends. Stories of shipwrecks, cannibalism, and murder abound all of which only serve to draw the four out and onto the open water. Once they arrive, they find Jake and Eliza. Wealthy, beautiful, and up for anything Jake and Eliza fall in with Lux, Nico, and company. As the days drag on, Lux finally begins to feel like she belongs for the first time in a long time. However, when a 7th person shows up, their group begins to fall apart and they begin to discover that they aren't all being honest with each other (or themselves).

As their time on the island drags on things begin to take a sinister turn and it becomes clear that no one can be trusted.

I've really come to enjoy Rachel Hawkins writing, and this book was no different. So when she started posting about her "sexy boat murder" book on social media, I was here for it. This book was full of twists and turns that I didn't really see coming and then unreliable narrator of it all was well crafted.

This book functions as a kind of "locked room" (...locked island?) mystery/thriller and I think that locked room mysteries can either work out really well and create a sinister, claustrophobic mood for the reader OR they can be predictable and slightly boring. For me, Reckless Girls was a very successful attempt at this kind of story. Even though they had an entire island to explore, the setting feels small and intimate until it takes a turn once the 7th member of the party arrives on the island.

While it took me a while to get to reading, once I started reading the book I didn't want to put it down because I needed to know how things were going to end up.

This book was a hit for me and I can't wait for Rachel Hawkins' next book.

I wish I had better things to say about this one but really it’s one of those books that pisses you off once you get to the end. All that build up...and that’s how it ends. It felt much more like a character regression than development. So much of it made no sense. I enjoyed the storylines I was making up in my head better! 😬

A friend had some pretty interesting thoughts on the book:

🐚This book is basically Lord of the Flies with trust fund assholes.
🌴If I wanted a mediocre island thriller I’d watch The Beach.

This book has a few redeeming qualities.
1) how gorgeous is the cover. I don’t even care sometimes I get a book just cause the cover is cute. Sue me!
2) The writing was captivating and I loved reading it, until things started to unravel. For a thriller, the ride was exactly what I expected: up late reading, couldn’t put it down, heart racing.

I loved Reckless Girls. It kept me interested the entire time. Kind of a modern day Gillian’s Island mixed with murder. The only complaint I had was that the ending was like lacking with the build up.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for a copy of Reckless Girls in exchange of an honest review

A vacation on an isolated Pacific island sounds appealing, but add in brackish water, minimal edible food (poisonous fish in the lagoon), and a history of stranded sailors resorting to cannibalism, and the island sounds less appealing. However, the fictional Meroe Island is where our protagonists end up. Lux has had a difficult life, but things seemed to be looking up when she hooked up with Nico and they sailed on his boat to Hawaii with plans to explore various Pacific islands. However, the "Susannah" needs repairs that Nico cannot afford (at least not without asking his wealthy father for money), and so Lux and Nico have been stuck in Maui, with Lux making most of the effort to work and earn money. Some of the funniest moments and lines in the book are in the first chapter when Lux is working as a maid at a resort, and the opening of the second chapter, after she is fired.

Nico is approached by two college girls, Amma and Brittany, who have bonded over tragedies and have been traveling the world together, with their latest plan involving visiting Meroe Island. That is not a typical tourist destination, but the young ladies say they want to do something different and special. The girls want Nico to take them to the island for two weeks, and they invite Lux to join them. When they arrive at Meroe Island, they discover another boat is there, the "Azure Sky", and meet its occupants, Jake and Eliza. Initially, everyone gets along fairly well, but tensions soon develop, and only worsen when a third boat arrives, with its lone occupant, a skeevy guy named Robbie. Robbie's presence and behavior triggers a series of events that result in relationships unraveling, secrets being revealed, and multiple deaths.

The book alternates between the past and present, providing the backstories for Lux, Amma, Brittany, and Eliza and Jake, explaining how some of the characters actually met (which is not the story they tell others) and how they ended up on Meroe Island at the same time -- it was more than the coincidence it appeared to be. A major theme of the story is rich guys skating through life without having to face the consequences of their actions, and the people (often young women) whom they harm in the process. However, some of the victims are "survivors" and will ultimately come out on top. I expected most of the characters would not leave the island (at least not alive), but the machinations were more involved and more sinister than I had anticipated.

I received a copy of the e-book via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

Thanks so much to the author, Netgalley, and St. Martin's Press for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts. All opinions are entirely my own. All of my reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on my blog at tacklingtbr.home.blog

TW: death, murder, some violence/gore, mention of cannibalism, drunk driving, drug use, heavy drinking, misogyny

Oh my gosh, this book got WILD! It started a bit slower than I had expected - I listened to The Wife Upstairs on audio last year, and I seemed to remember it getting a bit of a quicker start into the thriller portion of the story, so that's a bit more what I was expecting from this one as well. But the slow start really gave me time to deep dive into the characters (and get in my early predictions for who I think the guilty party or parties were going to be), and gave it a very Agatha Christie-on a deserted island vibe!

Let's jump in to the characters. I do like Lux as a main character, I thought that she was written in an interesting way, and I found her a bit more relatable than heroines in thrillers often seem, but I didn't want to jump head first into a story just about her and fully inside of her own head - so I was really glad there were so many other characters to get a taste of too! Even from the word go, I think the characters that intrigued me the most were Brittany and Eliza, because they were the ones that I was looking forward to getting more back story from in the Before chapters. I also liked Nico in a "love to hate him" type of way, which is always really fun to read! I would say that the characters are interesting and well written, and I love the diverse cast of characters on the island, but I think that it definitely benefits from having a good number of them instead of really focusing on one single person.

Story-wise this felt very reminiscent of And Then There Were None, and I am a sucker for a good Christie mystery! It didn't really feel like it started leaning in to the thriller side of the story until about 2/3 of the way through the book, but it did have a few minutes of good suspense before then too, so I didn't mind too much. However, I also really love a character-driven novel and the lack of concrete thriller or suspense meant I could lean heavily on those characters, so if that isn't necessarily your jam maybe take that with a grain of salt.

Overall I would definitely recommend this book to friends and fellow readers, and honestly already have once or twice and it only came out today! Definitely a worthy first read of 2022 for me. I think that the perfect place to read this book would be sunbathing on a beach with a tropical drink (or two) in your hands! But, ya know, maybe a beach full of other people. Better not to feel like you're too far into the world of a book sometimes, right?

<b>**FULL REVIEW**</b>

Whoa. Talk about a humdinger of a story!

Totally a slow burn in how everything unfolds but the writing is superb and I found myself intrigued with each turning page.

Definitely a thriller, a little mysticism, and a whole lotta unresolved issues (ie emotional baggage). There’s a rich man/poor man vibe that didn’t sit well with me, a victim mentality that justifies actions that are wrong…which the premise is the only reason this didn’t make 5-stars.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story as a whole and love the cover. (This is a new thing, these bold, colorful bindings!)

*Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this title.*

<b>**4 Murder Island, Stars**</b>

After reading the Wife Upstairs, I knew Rachel Hawkins would become a favorite of mine. I loved Reckless Girls just as much! After a romance binge, I needed a good thriller to keep me on my toes, this one did it.

This book is a quick read and really sucks you in. The concept is compelling, and there's a lot of potential in the story. Unfortunately, I think we're left with too many loose ends, and some important character development feels skipped over.

The author sets the tone for this story fairly early on. Your reading instincts will tell you that when it comes to the thriller genre, a deserted island setting is probably the last place you want to visit if you are living in a fictional world. Having read and enjoyed the author's previous book, The Wife Upstairs, I was eager to see what tricks she had up her sleeves with this book. It was a quick read that held my interest although I can't say the ending was 100% satisfying but at least it wasn't completely dull or ordinary.

This is the type of book you don't want to know too much ahead of time. Half the fun is the anticipation of something bad going down on the island. In my opinion, the publisher synopsis divulges a lot of details about the plot. Knowing I was going to read this book no matter what based on my previous experience with the author, I'm glad I didn't read the publishing blurb before I finished the book. I was able to sit back and enjoy the show without a clue as to what could unfold.

I don't think it's giving away anything to mention the characters aren't people you feel super invested in. And that's perfectly okay with me and it's probably what makes the story work so well. It makes it more of a light read in that you can just roll with it and not feel bad if something terrible happens to the characters.

This was a great read. I am a fan of Rachel Hawkins. The setting of this story became more bizarre as the it went along. The characters were very diverse and harbored many secrets. It was a great suspenseful read.

2.5 stars

This is the first book I have read by Rachel Hawkins, I found her writing to be very compelling and I had a hard time putting down this book for long periods without wanting to pick it back up immediately. It kind of felt like an accident where I just had to keep watching. overall the story was just ok though, there were lots of plot holes and inconsistencies. I went into this book with some high expectations because of all the buzz from her previous books and seeing the early reviews of this one and I just felt a little let down. The book as a whole was fine but it was just that fine. I don't feel like shouting from the rooftops about it or telling people that they have to read it. I didn't find myself connecting with the characters, which as a character-driven reader is hard. I look forward to trying another one of her books in the future.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for an early copy of this book in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Reckless Girls is filled with all the things I love. There’s beautiful rich people doing beautiful rich people things while a non-rich person looks on in awe. It’s filled with characters who seem fine on the surface but you can tell that they are hiding a deep, dark secret that will blow up everyone’s world if anyone discovers it. And as these characters are seeming to just live their lives, you can tell that something big is brewing and when it’s finally time for the big reveal, hold your butts!
Hawkins really drives home the sense of freedom and adventure her characters have. Lux, our main character, has had a rough life but finally feels like she can begin to relax and enjoy life with her wealthy boyfriend Nico. Her growing up in a different social class from Nico, as well as the other four characters, is very apparent in their interactions and how the other four really take to the lazy, lounging life of the island. Add to that dynamic, the dark and mysterious history of the island they sail to really amps up the tension and drama. The entire novel feels like a ticking time bomb where you can feel the pressure building amongst the characters, even in the most mundane of activities, and when it finally blows, it’s truly explosive!

If you’re interested in dark, slow-burn thrillers, you will love Reckless Girls!
Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title. All opinions and mistakes are my own.

Lux’s life is stalled. After following her boyfriend Nico to Hawaii, she is still waiting for her great adventure. When the couple gets an offer to sail two young women to the deserted Meroe Island for $50K, they jump at the chance. But the island is full of secrets and their new friends may not be friends at all.


This book is such a fun thriller! It gives off serious vacation vibes which this Canadian girl NEEDS in January. The combination of the island setting and the juxtaposition of fancy yachts and posh people with a deadly jungle and murdery characters really hit the spot for me as we enter lockdown one million here in Toronto.


I’ve mentioned before that I love well-written unlikable characters. You may not like our leads, but they have great development and backstories.


This book is pure escapism and fun. Warning: it will inspire the desire for a beach vacation. Just maybe not to Meroe Island …

Thank you to St. Martin's and Netgalley for the gifted arc for an honest review.

This was just what I needed to refresh after a run of books that I struggled through. A fun, desert island thriller that was more mystery than thriller and kept me entertained. This is one of those you have to disregard some far fetched plot lines for the sake of being entertained.

Story follows Luxe who followed her boyfriend to Hawaii to travel the world and is beginning to feel stuck with the unexpected long stay. Her boyfriend gets a job to sail a couple of girls to a remote island. When they ask her to tag a long it seems to good to be true. The adventure she's been craving, connections with other woman, and beautiful surroundings. When they arrive they run into another couple and the fun begins. Until a solo traveler arrives and things start to unravel.