4 stars purely because this book was a blast to read, the atmosphere was wicked, and I read it in one sitting. The ending came as a surprise as well!

A huge thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s press for the opportunity to read and review Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins. As a huge fan of The Wife Upstairs, I knew this book would be good. I just didn’t know it would be THIS good! I honestly stayed up way past my bedtime last night completely riveted by this story. Perhaps it was the romantic scenery or the descriptive story telling that had me tasting the saltwater as I read. Whichever the combination, it was magical. I was completely swept away to a remote island off the coast of Maui and wrapped into the story of Lux and Nico.

Lux, who has recently lost her mother, has followed Nico to Hawaii from San Diego with the promise of sailing to far off destinations in search of adventure. Unfortunately, the boat is in disrepair and Lux has just been fired from housekeeping job at an upscale Maui resort. The one job that supports them both. Their luck changes when two young girls approach Nico in the harbor and propose fixing the boat in exchange for a ride to Meroe Island, a remote atoll seeped in mystery and adventure. Nico is aware if the island’s history, but thrilled at the opportunity to finally be sailing again. Lux is a bit Leary of the strangers, but trusts Nico’s judgement. She knows he’ll protect her. What’s the worst that can happen?

Sit back and strap in for an incredible island adventure. While not much of an ocean adventure enthusiast myself, this story works! My only complaint is I wanted more. Strap on your life vest and check out Reckless Girls, February 2022!

Reckless Girls is a fast paced drama with lots of twists and turns.

Lux followed Nico, a man she met while waitressing, to Hawaii. Timing aligns perfectly when Lux is fired from her job as a maid at a local hotel and Nico is offered a good sum of money to sail a couple young girls, Amma & Brittany, to an exotic and remote island. They set sail on what is surely to be the adventure of a lifetime! Meroe Island holds more secrets than they expected, but so do the clan of visitors to the island. How will these relationships and lives weather the storm of truths coming their way?

Lux is our narrator for most of this book, with flashbacks to both her past as well as Amma & Brittany's leading up to this wild adventure. As a reader you'll surely start to piece a few things together on your own but lots will shock you! I was definitely left wanting a tiny bit more out of the ending but overall I enjoyed it!

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review. Title will be released January 4th, 2022.

I absolutely loved The Woman Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins and so I absolutely had to get my hands on a copy of Reckless Girls. It was filled with twists and turns and an ending I never even seen coming! I would recommend this to readers who love a good thrill and are looking for an island escape read! I wouldn't want to be stranded on an island, but Rachel made the island's beauty really come to life and also haunt you at the same time!

I was on the edge of the chair for this entire book and didn't put it down once until I was done! A truly suspenseful novel and I had no idea what was going to happen next. The characters weren't ones you love, but it didn't matter because of the setting, the interactions between them, and the tone of the book.

Lux and her feckless rich-boy-trying-to-make-it-on-his-own boyfriend have been stranded in Maui for six months, trying to save up the money to fix Nico's boat so they can take and sail wherever they want. They receive an offer they can't refuse when college best friends Brittany and Amma offer them $50k to take them to Meroe Island, a deserted atoll once used by the US Navy in WWII. They arrive at Meroe to find that it isn't as deserted as they'd hoped--a luxury yacht is there already. The four of them become quick friends with Jake and Eliza and everything is amazing...until a third boat arrives.

Reckless Girls is...twisty and turny and dark, which is hard to do considering it's set almost exclusively in tropical paradises. No one is really who they appear on the surface to be--except maybe Nico. Nico's a spoiled rich boy whose idea of making it on his own is refusing to call his parents for the money to fix his boat...but he seems content to smoke weed all day while Lux appears to be the only one actually *earning* any money working housekeeping at a luxury hotel. I really enjoyed this book, but it also makes me want to steer clear of deserted islands!

My only critique is we could probably have done fine with not having the Epilogue. Sometimes it's nice to not have all the lose ends tied up and to use our own imaginations to decide what happens after the book ends.

I LOVED IT!! Rachel Hawkins has officially made it to my auto-buy authors list! I read The Wife Upstairs and loved that one and I think I enjoyed this one even more!

First, it has one of my absolute favorite thriller premises... Six people visit an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with quite the history! Shipwrecks, cannibalism, murder?? I'm not sure if I would want to visit this place but they seemed to think it would be a good travel destination.

In true thriller fashion, once they arrive, someone goes missing and someone is found dead. Commence the madness! This would be a great beach read!

Easy five stars from me for this unputdownable thriller!

I was on the edge of my dead with this book. I couldn’t wait to see what happened next. There are a number of characters, some with name changes that required a bit of rereading sections, but overall a great book!

The combination of the sea, a remote tropical island and murder fascinated me so I was really excited to read this novel. It did not disappoint! I couldn't put it down, between learning about the characters and their backstories, the tropical island, and the mysterious things that had happened on it!
I highly recommend it. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this advanced DRC..

On the surface, it's a perfect excursion. When Amma and Brittany hire Nico and his girlfriend, Lux, to get them to Muroe Island, they jump at the chance. They don't think about the island's history of shipwrecks and cannibalism. They don't think about spending two weeks alone with strangers. It isn't until they arrive at the island and find another boat already anchored there that Lux feels her first twinge of unease. On the surface, they're all getting along and having fun, but beneath that things aren't what they seem. I enjoyed this one. The plot alternates between "before" and "now" and gradually fills in what's really going on in these relationships.

My Thoughts
I enjoy a good thriller and this synopsis had me hooked. Here are my pros and cons for Reckless Girls:

Pros

1. The atmosphere of the island, island life, and the camaraderie between well-to-do twenty-somethings was well done. I would never describe myself as a beach bum (I can’t stand having sand on me in every nook and cranny) but I felt like I was on an interesting deserted island experience.

2. The island itself was set up to be a “character” in the novel and that is probably what intrigued me the most about the story… however, (see Con #2).

3. There was a lot of tension! A lot of things were happening between the characters and, as the synopsis unfortunately tells you, some of them go missing and turn up dead. I was definitely invested in figuring out what in the world was going on!

4. I appreciated that there was a plausible reason provided for why they had no communication with the outside world. One of my biggest pet peeves in thrillers is when authors seem to forget that we live in the world of cell phones and constant connectedness!

5. I like the way Hawkins writes. It is very easy to read her stories and they are immediately captivating.

Cons

1. The synopsis, while not wrong, is a bit misleading in my opinion. It personally made me think I was getting more than I actually got.

2. The island is set up to be this remote and mysterious place that has a history of shipwrecks, cannibalism, and murder. People apparently go crazy there if they stay too long. There is an aura of supernatural attached to the island, but alas (yes, I used “alas” because you need to picture me swooning from sheer disappointment)… that entire potential plot line completely disappeared from the story.

3. There was not enough character development for anyone in my opinion. Amma was particularly underdeveloped for me. I have no idea why she did the things she did either in her past or in the present on the island. It honestly felt like she was simply a plot device to move the story along in a certain direction. I wasn’t invested because I didn’t know what her motivations were at all.

4. The ending! UGH! The author ended this book in a way that introduced plot holes for me! I already felt like I didn’t know the characters well enough, but when I got to the ending I KNEW I didn’t know nearly enough about any of them at all! I’m all for a shocking reveal, but I really dislike it when a book suddenly goes off the rails just to finish the story! It was a messy and downright absurd ending.

Summary
Despite my cons, I still generally enjoyed this book (although I have to admit the ending dropped it a full star for me). I felt similarly about Hawkin’s previous book The Wife Upstairs. Both were interesting enough for me to finish, but neither had enough substance overall.

I believe I am in the minority by not gushing over this story, but this is my honest opinion. If you are at all interested in this book, I absolutely encourage you to read it. Your opinion may be very different from mine.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an electronic ARC, which I reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

I had high hopes for this book and felt like it was definitely a journey, but then it went south. I loved the girl finding herself and the mysterious past in most of the characters. The spooky island was epic, but it just felt like the ending was rushed for me. I honestly do feel like this at the end of a lot of suspense books, so it could just be me reading too many books, but I was disappointed.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for an ARC of this book.
I loved the Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins so I was really excited to read this book. However, it just wasn’t as good in my opinion. Many of the characters were down right unlikeable and quite frankly were rather mean to each other. I found it hard to believe that Lux had the ability to sail to Thailand on her own so it just fell flat for me.

It pains me to even write this review because I had such high hopes for this one. I absolutely loved the author’s first book. It is one of my favorites. I was so excited to get a copy of Reckless Girls. The cover is beautiful but the story just fell flat for me. I didn’t find any of the characters likeable and just finally had to skim to get through it.

I have seen several 5 star reviews for this one so I recommend you give it a try. I would definitely read more books from her.

Doesn’t sailing off to a secluded, private island in the South Pacific sound amazing right about now? Not another single person in sight. Ah yes…just you, the sand and the sea.🏖

Lux has followed her boyfriend Nico from California to Hawaii. Their grand plan was to set sail to their heart’s content, island hopping with no agenda whatsoever.⛵️

Not so fast, Captain! Just an itty-bitty issue or two to iron out first. Problems with the boat and lack of money left them dry-docked in Hawaii indefinitely.

In the meantime, Nico was just hired by two young women wanting to sail to a remote island with a haunting history. Of course, he jumps at the chance. It will bankroll the necessary funds to repair the boat. And the two gals are quick to invite Lux along for the sail. Interesting, right?! (I thought so!)🤣

Only paradise turns out to be far less tranquil than anyone may have expected!

This was a quick read that hooked me from the start. It was nearly impossible to put down. I kept wondering what goodies Rachel Hawkins had in store for us, knowing there would be a delightfully twisty ending! And yes…there it was!

My second read by this author, and enjoyed this one even more than her previous book, The Wife Upstairs.

More, please! Thank you.

A buddy read with Susanne.

Posted to: https://books-are-a-girls-best-friend...

Thank you to NetGalley & St. Martin’s Press.

3.5 stars

Lux, the main character with the unfortunate namesake, experiences a series of disappointing life circumstances coupled with bad choices that lead her to a small, secluded island in paradise. There, all hell breaks loose.

It's important to know that Lux is untethered. After her parents' relatively unpleasant divorce, she moves with her mother to Southern California. Her mother dies while she is in her early 20s, and this leaves her feeling alienated and without grounding, particularly in light of her father's terrible behavior (and her - to be fair - not excellent response). When she meets Nico at her job (she's a server), she's immediately smitten and doesn't think much about quickly following him to Hawaii.

One of my favorite parts of this novel is the exploration of the many different faces of socioeconomic status within relationships: romantic and platonic. There is some interesting commentary on this point, and it drives a lot of the decisions and plot points throughout the novel. I expect that many folks will find this relatable at least in terms of tangential folks in their lives if not within their own immediate experiences.

The central series of events takes place on a creepy little island. In addition to Lux and Nico, Brittany and Amma - the young women who pay Nico for the trip - and Eliza and Jake - two randos with a lot of money and a really nice boat - all end up on the island together. Whether it's the insidious creepy vibes of the island (which various characters reference in the present and also in other interjections) or the true selves of these folks as they lose their connections to social norms cannot be stated for sure, but what can be determined is that these are some troubled individuals, and the sailing isn't exactly smooth (pun intended).

Lately, I've been exhausted by highly rated "slow burn" mysteries that aren't even showing me hints of smoke at the halfway mark, and this novel is a refreshing change of pace. It's quite readable, speedy, and intriguing, though I expect that many readers will find it rather predictable in some central areas; I certainly did and found this a bit disappointing. Though I wanted a bit more creativity and some different messaging near the end, I found this entertaining overall and am already looking forward to my next read by Hawkins.

Rachel Hawkins said writing this book, “a boat murder” story, has been her dream since she was 12 years old. That alone makes me not want to give this book a bad review. It’s her baby & is always going to be one she loves a little more than her others. Unfortunately, I just didn’t love it. It’s Survivor meets Lord of the Flies meets Gilligan’s Island with a mystery woven in.

The characters in this story are difficult to connect to, and I was honestly confused by a lot of what was going on…because there was *so much* going on. So many characters and story lines, all of which were woven together, but I had a hard time keeping up with all of it. It just fell short for me & needed to be simplified or streamlined somehow.

The epilogue was also a little too vague. I think I know what the author was trying to imply, but I wasn’t totally sure.

Again, I feel bad saying I didn’t love it because it’s her dream story line, but I just couldn’t connect with it. I am sure there will be people who will love this one, so if Survivor meets Lord of the Flies meets Gilligan’s Island is your thing, then check it out next year when it’s released!

Thank you to NetGalley & St. Martin’s press for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. This book is slated for publication in 2022.

✨ Review ✨ Reckless Girls
Lux and her boyfriend Nico embark on a quest to sail around the world, only to end up on Maui with a broken boat and two dead-end jobs. When Amma and Brittany appear with loads of money, enough to fix the boat, in exchange for taking them to Meroe Island (an abandoned, possibly haunted island in the middle of the Pacific), Lux and Nico jump on board. However, they arrive to the island to find two people already there - Jake and Eliza. This thriller details their time on the island while also delving into their back stories, showing us how each person ends up there. As they struggle with the haunted island and their own haunted lives, who will leave the island alive?!

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Genre: thriller, "gothic suspense"
Location: Maui, Meroe Island
Release Date: Jan 4, 2022

I've been drawn to Hawkins' work because of her gorgeous covers, but this is the first time I've picked up one of her books. I really loved how she constructed the story, gradually revealing the backstories of these characters. She did a great job setting the scene - of the frustration of Lux with their life in Maui, of the haunted scene of the island, of the clash of different characters. I was engaged and excited to find out how it all ended. There were definitely places where I was on edge, and couldn't wait for the tension to be resolved.

Despite all that, there was something about this that just didn't grab me all the way. I'm not sure if it's because the wealth of Jake and Nico made them a little annoying, or the subtle tensions between the characters frustrated me, or if it was just the slow gothic vibe, but I couldn't get fully invested in this. I also wish that there'd been a bit more scene-setting with the hauntedness of the island.

Overall, I enjoyed this book though and if you like her writing and/or gothic suspense / thrillers, it's definitely worth checking it out!

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and #NetGalley for an advanced e-copy of this book.

I enjoyed this new book from Rachel Hawkins. Not quite as good as the wife upstairs in my opinion but overall a very entertaining read. Perfect mysterious setting with lots of twists. I did figure things out as it went along so not really many surprises. I was a bit confused by the letters and messages in between some of the chapters. Felt out of context and unnecessary to the story. Good pacing made the story an easy and fun read.

It took we about 30 pages to get into the novel and to see where it was heading. After, I was completely hooked and refused to put Reckless Girls down. I didn't expect to be so drawn into the narrative and waiting impatiently to see what happens next. While I figured out one of the twists at the end, it in no way compromised the story and enjoyment of the story. I loved how this novel held my attention and made me truly feel for the main character.