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.

Thanks to the publisher for an advanced ecopy of Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins.

This was my second book by the author, the first being The Wife Upstairs. I can't believe how unique these two books are from each other, yet there is SOMETHING that is consistent between them that identifies Hawkins voice and style. I really liked them both. This one, to my knowledge wasn't modeled after another book (unlike The Wife Upstairs, which winked and nodded toward Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre). As such, I was not comparing it to anything, so I feel I enjoyed the experience of reading it more than I did The Wife Upstairs.

Make no mistake: Reckless Girls has holes in the plot and ending that COULD ruin the experience for some people. For me, however, the ride was worth it. I love a good "closed room" mystery. In this case, it is a closed island. When scary things start happening, there are only 7 options to point toward....or are there more hiding on the abandoned island.......? In any case, Lux is the clear lead in the novel. She is a somewhat aimless spirit of a twenty-something, looking for adventure and identity after the death of her mother. She thought she had found it in her hapless boyfriend, a hottie that comes from a super rich family, but is determined not to rely on their money. They are going to sail away on an adventure around the world until they get marooned at their first stop, Maui, too broke to fix the boat and sail on. After 6 months of grueling work as a maid at a luxury hotel, Lux's luck changes when her boyfriend is paid by two recent college grad women to charter a trip to a deserted island. Tight quarters are claustrophobic, but it COULD be the adventure Lux has been looking for.

Upon arrival, they find a luxury boat already anchored at the island and a gorgeous couple with it, ready to party and share their spoils. Soon Lux realizes there is some shady stuff happening on the island and lots of secrets among the vacationers. Unfortunately, an act of sabotage means they are stranded there together for longer than expected and Lux's apprehension turns to horror as one-by-one, secrets and betrayals turn into dead bodies.

The ending is a weak spot as there is no way it could happen, but I was willing to look past it as the book was entirely satisfying insofar as it was super fun and entertaining. You can bet I will be in line to get the next book Rachel Hawkins publishes as she writes amazing guilty pleasures.

This book had you on the edge of your seat trying to figure out what was going to happen next. I very much enjoyed this book. I shook my head several times as I was reading - saying ‘I wasn’t expecting that’. The pace of the book was perfect. It kept your interest throughout the book. When I had to stop reading for awhile, I was always excited to get back to reading. The characters all had a back story that eventually was revealed one at a time that really helped to tell the current story and why each of them was where they were and why.

The characters in the story were all very interesting - I could relate to each of them in some emotional way based on their back story. The descriptions of settings in the book was very realistic - you felt like you were there sometimes - feeling the surroundings. The walks through the jungle I thought were the best from a description perspective. I felt like I was hacking away the vines and jungle growth myself.

What I liked about the book - the unexpected twists and turns; the suspense that was added by the diary entries or writings from people in the past that had visited the island making you think there’s something that’s going to happen but what is it?

What I would change about the book - I felt confused sometimes by Lux - I felt there were times she was someone who wanted to be on the high seas in a boat and times when she didn’t so I was slightly confused by that aspect of her character. I also was confused sometimes by Amma and Brittany - in some parts of the story it felt like they had no money or were running out of money and then other times (like paying $50 thousand for the boat trip) they had a lot of money. It didn’t impact the story per se but I was just a little unclear since there were other mentions of money from insurance policy, stealing, Amma coming from a wealthy family maybe, etc.

3.5/5 stars rounded to 4
RECKLESS GIRLS was just the suspenseful and tropical story that I didn't know I needed in my life. Yes, a lot of the drama didn't feel necessary, and yes it felt kind of ridiculous at times, BUT I really enjoyed every minute of it. I loved the mystery that comes with the setting of Meroe Island, and the creepy feel of the novel set on an abandoned island with a dark history and how that plays into the plot. You keep waiting and waiting for the shoe to drop and Hawkins's writing is the type that just keeps you reading. Normally, being left waiting for so long doesn't work for me, but it worked here. Lux's POV is a great choice because, although the choices that bring everyone here ultimately have nothing to do with her, she's the one who changes the most as the novel progresses. The reader experiences the plot twists, secrets and betrayals as she does. It's a choice the author made that was worth it. The ending was one I didn't really see coming, Hawkins had me guessing about who could be trusted and what on earth was really going on on Meroe Island until the very end. Themes of moving forward with life in the aftermath of loss, feminism, and privilege are all explored in this book and I was definitely here for it. I am not sure I would market this as a thriller because most of it is drama, but there was a good amount of suspense that kept the ball rolling, so it was a fun read for me.

This tropical tale was the perfect escape from my New York winter!

This book jumps off the page. From the first chapter you can't help but picture it being a movie. The way this is told-- part in the 'now' and part 'before', you get to see little glimpses of how each character came to be on this deserted island and it's woven together in a way that makes it impossible to put down. I looked forward to every single lunch break, every time my son went to bed at night, so I could dive back into this book.

Initially, the story seems kind of fantastical, with a bunch of good looking 20-somethings sailing off to an island in the middle of the Pacific...but Hawkins manages to ground it impossibly well. You buy every single aspect of the book and it all works. Just masterfully done.

My only criticism is that the very last part, in the 'after' starts to venture a little into the implausible. I can see that it was probably meant to demonstrate that the story has come full circle, but I think the ending would have been more impactful if it ended with the transcript.