If you liked The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins, I think you’ll enjoy Reckless Girls—another page-turning thriller that will keep you guessing until the end! Six 20-somethings find themselves on small Meroe Island—a place with an interesting, and also kind of creepy, history. Just a few days sail from Hawaii, all visitors either love the beauty and remoteness, or get a weird vibe and never set foot on the island. As the six become friends and settle into enjoying their deserted island, a stranger shows up and ruins paradise. Throughout the story, clues are woven in as to why the six have found themselves on this remote stretch of beach and as secrets are revealed, the isolation of Meroe becomes much more sinister.

Interesting story and I was definitely surprised by the ending! Quick and entertaining read for people who like thrillers/suspense.

Reckless Girls is the new thriller by Rachel Hawkins, author of The Wife Upstairs. A fast-paced read that blends the luxury of boat/island living with the fear of a killer in your midst.

Publication Date: January 4, 2022

Synopsis:
Lux McAllister and her boyfriend, Nico, are hired to sail two women to a remote island in the South Pacific. Meroe Island is the paradise they expected, despite a mysterious history of shipwrecks, cannibalism, and even rumors of murder. This is an opportunity of a lifetime for Lux who is stuck in a dead-end job on Hawaii and no family. Lux is eager to climb on board The Susannah, a boat her boyfriend Nico signed away to her, and set out on an adventure. She also becomes fast friends with their passengers, college best friends Brittany and Amma. The two women say they want to travel off the beaten path. But like Lux, they may have other reasons to be seeking an escape. Once on Meroe island secrets come out and mysterious events start to happen. What is really going on on Meroe Island?

Thoughts
I loved the tropical feel of the setting, especially reading it in the wintertime.

The story line jumps from the present to the past to give background information on the characters. Since the characters were interesting, I looked forward to the "Before" chapters.

A few twists and turns, not as many as I typically read in a thriller.

The ending wrapped up brining everything together, even if I wasn't too happy with the way things ended.

Overall, a great read that I would recommend to others.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Reckless Girls is a psychological thriller about some people who decide to go to a deserted island that has a mysterious past. As the story moves foward, it is interspersed with the back stories of the female characters, as well as stories about things that have happened on the island in the past. I was a little confused about how all the pieces fit together until I got to the very end. I enjoyed the deserted island theme and found the story entertaining. I received a complimentary copy from the publisher through Netgalley.

This is only the second book by Rachel Hawkins I’ve read, but she’s a new favorite author for unputdownable suspense.

Lux’s boyfriend, Nico, is hired as a charter captain to take Amma and Brittany to the infamous Meroe Island in the Pacific. Lux is immediately concerned—his boat is small, the island is remote, Amma and Brittany are young to have such a fortune. But she goes along nonetheless.

To their surprise, another couple is already anchored off the Meroe But Jake and Eliza have good food, good booze, and a good time attitude. When another boater shows up, so do fissures in their little group. Soon Lux is doubting everything and suspecting everyone.

Rachel Hawkins skillfully interweaves the characters’ backstories with the current story, while creating a memorable, evocative setting.#RecklessGirls #NetGalley

Im not sure what’s gothic about the book but it’s def a fun read. The atmospheric writing places you right in the middle of a hot, secluded island. You can feel the sea breeze and crustiness of living in a bathing suit. Many plot holes aside, it’s a soapy read that easy to get through in one sitting. Lux and her boyfriend (hate him) are commissioned to take two other beautiful girls to a deserted island where they meet another beautiful couple. Everything is going fine on This burning man type of trip until it all goes very wrong. We’re coasting along this fever dream until the body count starts and doesn’t stop. The ending did wrap up a little too nearly while still leaving some glaring plot holes but it’s a fun read if you’re into whimsical island murder mysteries

A great follow-up to "The Wife Upstairs," Reckless Girls is so much more than I could have expected. Hawkins once again shows her skill in diverse character development and creating complex characters with dark and mysterious backgrounds. I wasn't as thrilled with the flashbacks (but that's a personal preference) but they did add to the story in this case. Reckless Girls had me hooked from fairly straight away and made me want to find out exactly what was going on.

4/5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A totally immersive thriller that I read in less than 24 hours. It’s the typical age old tale of men wronging women and women taking things into their own hands…except taking it to a whole different level.

A mysterious island, unexpected friendships, relationships gone wrong, and girls who are willing to get a little or a lot reckless to avenge those who’ve been wronged.

The end was somewhat predictable and the epilogue left a little to be desired, but was unable to put this book down, desperate to find what would happen next!

Reckless Girls is a slow-burn thriller that kept me swept away until the very end. Four people head out from Maui to a deserted island for an off-the-grid experience far from all the tourists. What they get is a gothic-style trip that is nothing like what they had in mind. Fans of Reckless Girls will love Rachel Hawkins' latest novel.

Thank you to St. Martins Press and NetGalley for this eARC.

I really liked 'The Wife Upstairs' by Rachel Hawkins and knew the author could write thrilling, intriguing stories. This wasn't it though. This story didn't work for me but will try the next book she writes and attempt to forget this one. I realize it may appeal to many readers.

I found their dialogue crude, jolting and not necessary in the least. Almost every sentence they uttered, no matter how mild, was peppered with profanity. It seemed the author believed these were typical conversations held by those in their 20s to early 30s. If it was meant to add authenticity, it became annoying to me very quickly, as in the first couple of chapters. I don't mind a few curse words in a story when they add power to a person's anger or shock, because I can usually skip over those words (I see them, but don't read them in my head). There was everything from the "f" word all the way to the "c" word which I loathe. I almost DNF'd several times: several times for language, several times for infidelity, as well as drug use, but I wanted to be able to give this an full honest and accurate review since I was given the eArc.

So in case this doesn't matter to you, if you read this book, go into it knowing it is NOT a thriller. I would say it's more akin to a super slow-building suspenseful mystery. While this is not a modern retelling of And Then There Were None, it definitely gives a nod to that story.

Lux and her boyfriend are from very different backgrounds. We see a bit of their Before and how they got together and wound up where they are now. Nico, Lux's boyfriend, is hired by two young women to sail them to a supposedly deserted island/atoll which a history based in World War II. It's a paradise all its own until it's not. We also get background on the two young women in their own Before sections.

I hated the ending, hated the characters, and hated the character motivations (steal from the rich because "poor me, I deserve it; they won't miss it."). Frankly, I don't think there was much of anything I liked about this book.

First let me tell you what a snoozefest I thought The Wife Upstairs was. I did not have super high hopes for this one based on that, but was still intrigued by the premise. Luckily the publisher took a chance on me, and I fucking LOVED every second of this adventure. I blew through it in less than two hours, I could not put it down.

With a title like Reckless Girls, how can one NOT expect lots of alcohol and terrible decision-making? That's exactly what you get here. And murder. Don't forget the murder.

I consider myself pretty well-versed in thrillers; I can usually figure out where things are going, even if I don't have all the pieces, or the whys worked out. Half the fun is seeing if I am right, but I am also trying reeeeeally hard now to not think about it and just take things as they come. Otherwise I will keep spoiling books for myself forever and that's just no fun.

Lux and her boyfriend Nico are living the not-so-dream life in Hawaii. He works at a marina (despite being from A LOT of money back home) and she's on the hotel staff cleaning up after tourists who don't seem to understand they have no privacy when it comes to staff taking care of their rooms. After an incident where Lux inadvertently mocks a couple's plethora of sex toys, she finds herself jobless.

Prior to this stint in Hawaii, Lux was adrift in San Diego, waitressing after caring for her mother, who passed away from cancer in the recent past. She and Nico had met at the restaurant and after a month of him prepping his boat, The Susannah, he was ready to sail off to Hawaii and asked Lux to come with him. With nothing to tie her to California any longer, Lux agrees. Their plan is to sail the world together, finding adventure after adventure, the sea their home.

Yet six months after arriving, the couple is still in Hawaii. Nico's boat was damaged and instead of asking his father for help (his family is loaded), he and Lux are working to earn the money themselves. Things look kind of bleak, but then Nico is offered just the thing they need to get back on their feet: $50,000 to sail two college best friends to a little known island in the South Pacific. Lux encourages Nico to ask that fixing the damaged hull be part of the deal, to which the young women agree. Soon they are off on their first real adventure.

Brittany and Amma at first appear to be just another pair of twenty-somethings enjoying carefree days after college, traveling the world before settling down into the real world. That's what we are lead to believe anyway, and there is a much darker history to the friendship between the two women, which is uncovered in bits and pieces. It is unclear until the end just how much who knows of what, but the readers find out in a decent enough pace to not feel cheated.

Upon arriving at Meroe Island, the four discover someone has beaten them to this hidden paradise. Jake and Eliza welcome them warmly, and soo the six are bosom buddies. They share food and drinks, explore together, and make the most of their off-the-grid vacation. It helps that Jake and Eliza appear filthy rich, and all too happy to share.

A major strength of the book is the atmosphere created once they arrived on the island. The boats are anchored in the bay, they either swim or use dinghies to travel back and forth. This gives such an air of vulnerability, despite all the fun in the sun that they're having together. There is a constant undercurrent of tension, even when things are going well. This is due in part to the history of the island, as the narrative is interspersed with old diaries, letters, chats/emails, and such pertaining to things that happened many decades before. Stories of shipwrecks, murder, and cannibalism abound, according to the lore. At one point the island was also used as a refilling station during WWII and on a rather difficult trek through the jungle, the group discovers the old air strip. Finding an old weathered skull certainly gives credence to those aforementioned stories.

Sometimes it feels like the island is alive, that it is slowly driving each person a little closer to some kind of madness. Lux alludes to this time and time again, how she feels like she is being watched, that it feels like the island is surrounding them, the jungle creeping closer and closer to their beautiful beach.

The narrative jumps around in time; we see how Lux and Nico met, get more of Eliza and Jake's backstory, as well as what Brittany and Amma were up to before finding themselves in Hawaii and asking to charter Nico's boat. An arrival of a lone sailor Robbie, who gives off major creep vibes, disrupts the façade that all is well on their little island paradise and pretty soon everyone begins making really questionable choices.

Eventually arguments ensue. People and boats begin disappearing. One by one they start dropping dead and I truly enjoyed the conclusion. I have some questions that would be lovely to have answered, but I think that would take away from the thrill of the book. You don't always need to now HOW, just that it DID. Sit back in your beach chair, sip your Mai Tai, and enjoy.

Just don't forget the sunscreen and machete.

Highly, highly recommended.

I think Reckless Girls is going to be a big mood-read book for most readers, but I loved it! Maybe it's exactly what I needed at this moment, but I truly devoured this book. I finished in less than 24 hours and it's the first book that kept me up at night reading in a long time. 

First of all, huge bonus points for the setting. We have an island with reports of cannibalism, making people go crazy, and a WW2 history. Bingo. I literally could not ask for a more exciting background for this plot. 

You will hate every character. Literally. But I loved hating them so much! Lux is probably the character I liked the most and thankfully she's the main character. Lots of entitled men. Women with vengeance on the brain. Cheaters. Drug dealers. You name it, this book has it. 

I've seen some say this book was predictable, but I was pretty surprised by the ending. There are lots of hints throughout the book for certain plot points, but I found that adding to the suspense and my own curiosity. 

I also really enjoyed the writing style. The flashbacks from each character showing how they made it to the island was really interesting. It was a nice touch to see articles, conversations and excerpts about the island. I went on a really long web-binge on research after I read this book. 

If you want to know what happens when people vacation on a remote island for a little too long you'll want to check out Reckless Girls.

I received this an ARC through Netgalley. Your life can change in a blink in an eye. Sometimes because of choices you make and sometimes because of choices others make that have a life long impact on those around them. How do you live in the after? Lux, Brittany, and Eliza have all had their lives changed and find themselves wanting to escape and get away. What happens when you get five strangers together on a deserted island? An island that has a history of bringing out the worse traits of those that find themselves there? Rachel Hawkins has written delicious mystery and keeps you guessing until the end. A must read!

Thank you so much to St. Martin's Press for the digital review copy in advance of publication. This book comes out January 4, 2022!

Reckless Girls starts out in Maui, where Lux and her boyfriend, Nico are working to save up enough money to repair their sailboat and travel the world. The meet Brittany and Amma, two twenty somethings, who are looking for a captain to take them to the remote Meroe Island for a two week stay before returning to Maui.

When they reach the bay of the island where they plan to stay, they find another boat is there, with Jeremy and Chloe on board. They quickly become one group, eating and partying together on the island.

This was an astonishingly fast read for me, with a total reading time under four hours. The setting and adventure aspects kept me engaged. I really enjoyed the descriptions of the island and the scenery, and reading about the things they were finding from previous inhabitants of the island.

As much as I want to, I have a lot of trouble calling this a thriller. Some of the setting was on the spookier side, but until the last few sections, there was very little conflict or suspense. At the end, there was a set up for a major reveal, but most of it was told not shown, and happened outside the book.

I didn't like the way Lux's story ended. Her final actions seemed very out of character. I'm also stuck on one major plot hole, based on how this story was written I can't see much of it playing out this way.

Definitely pick this one up if you're looking for a lighter summer read, that leaves you dreaming of summer vacation.

This is the second book I’ve read by rachel Hawkins, and it’s official - the girl can WRITE. So much so that she can get me interested even in plots I might not otherwise have been looking for. Generally, I am not a huge fan of “stranded on a deserted island” or “sailing the high seas” or “looking for haunted treasure” type suspense books. This book is a little of all these things, but the characters and writing are so compelling that I was sucked right in.

The book looks at a variety of characters who end up together on an island, both before and after the trip. The main interesting characters I liked right away are Lux and her boyfriend Nico, who decide to make a little money taking some people on a sailing expedition. (Lux is a little perturbed that Nico names his boat after another woman, even though he assures her this was all in the past.)

And it turns out the island is a great setting for some plot twists…like a destroyed boat radio…a mysterious set of missives from previous shipwrecked visitors….a dangerous ex-boyfriend…and a cheating current boyfriend, and a boatload of potential drug runners. And of course, can murder be far behind?

The book has a well-written setup and really shines in the last third when things descend into nightmare territory. The ending is surprising and fun. And the book got me thinking about ex-boyfriends I had who might have actually cheated on me on a nearly deserted island.

All this to say, Rachel Hawkins is a fun and dishy thriller writer to watch. I’ll be reading her next book as soon as I can get my hands on it.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press, NetGalley, and the author for the fun, escapist read!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing me with a DRC!

Hawkins’ latest thriller transports the reader to the sandy shores and tropical waters of Meroe Island. Lux and her boyfriend, Nico, have been hired by besties Brittany and Amma, to sail them to Meroe- a small, deserted island in the middle of the Pacific. What starts as a jaunt to an island paradise turns sinister as they realize that the island has character of its own. Dark, dense jungle blankets the interior of the island, sharks patrol the waters, and the brightly colored tropical fish that populate the bays and lagoons will kill you if eaten.

I went into this one not quite knowing what to expect from Hawkins’ followup to 2021 release, THE WIFE UPSTAIRS, and this was pleasantly new and different. I enjoyed the juxtaposition of the islands beauty with the darkness and suspense typical of the thriller genre.

This is definitely a slow burn- I think I was three quarters of the way in before any sort of action started to ramp up. On the plus side, this is a quick read, so it doesn’t take you long to get to that point. I was interested in the characters and their backgrounds, but overall this wasn’t super remarkable to me, and I don’t think I’ll remember much of it down the road.

Reckless Girls is available from SMP on January 4, 2022!

3.5 stars rounded up to 4 for Goodreads/NetGalley

Reckless Girls tells the story of Nico, Amma, Brittany, and Lux as they embark on a journey to Meroe Island for some much needed adventure. When they arrive, it seems that others have beaten them their. Jake and Eliza are the picture perfect couple looking for a getaway. Is Meroe all they think it is or does trouble lurk in the shadows?

This book was more of a slow burn than a thriller. The first half you could tell was building but it was slow getting there. The second half, on the other hand, was action packed and intense. My only problem was that I called something very early that gave away the ending for me but that still didn't take away from some of the ending surprises that were thrown in there. It was a very enjoyable read and the descriptive writing was phenomenal. This was a solid 3 star for me since I did end up picking up on something.

I enjoyed reading Rachel Hawkins' first book, The Wife Upstairs, and this new book did not disappoint. Reckless Girls was a real page-turner from the beginning to the end. I loved the island setting and the descriptions that brought it to life. The characters were loveable/hateable and kept me engaged in the story. It was an afternoon sit and read for me and just when I had it "figured out" and was down to the very end of the book,... wait...WHAT!?

Rachel Hawkins is back with another twisty thriller in Reckless Girls.

This book reminds readers that when things seem too good to be true, they probably are. Unmoored, when Lux and her boyfriend Nico are given the chance to take a pair of friends to remote Meroe Island on as a chartered boat service, it sounds like a good idea.

Initially upset to have another couple join, the foursome quickly bonds. But, the island has a dark history, and similar to Lord of the Flies, as time goes on, people will do desperate things when left in the wild.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me. All thoughts are my own.

Meroe is a deserted island, sorry atoll, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with a mysterious history of shipwrecks, cannibalism, and even rumors of murder. Lux and her boyfriend Nico are offered $50,000 to take two college girls Brittany and Amma there for an “off the beaten path” vacation. When one person goes missing and another turns up dead, the remaining friends wonder if their island getaway is really as idyllic as it seems.

While a little slow to start, I found Reckless Girls to be very suspenseful. After the halfway mark, I had a consistent knot in my stomach. Truly could not put it down. With the beginning pulling 3 stars and the ending a solid 5, I’d average Reckless Girls to a respectable 4 stars. Highly recommend!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book is an amazing story that will keep you guessing until the very last page!!!!!!! I was enthralled throughout the story and never figured it out until the big reveal of how it all comes together. I highly recommend this book.