Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins did not disappoint! What could possibly go wrong on a deserted island with a sketchy history?

Lux and her boyfriend Nico are hired by two girls, Amma and Brittany, to sail to a remote Meroe Island. When they arrive, another boat is already there and they meet Eliza and Jake. They all become friends but soon, things start going awry and what happens next will make your head spin!

I totally got The Beach and Lost vibes with this one but that's not a bad thing since I loved both (except the ending of Lost-- but we won't go there!). Get this on your TBR list asap if you enjoy reading about people stranded on islands and the chaos that will definitely transpire.

Thank you to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for the e-arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Lux is ready for adventure. After losing her mother and uprooting herself to Hawaii, she is ready to take off and travel the world. So when her boyfriend is presented with the opportunity to sail 2 20-somethings to Meroe Island on his boat, she is ready to go. But Meroe Island is known for its devastation during World War II and its bad luck. So when they pull up to the island and find people already there, is it fate, or Meroe Island working its magic? As their island life unravels, secrets are spilled and nothing is ever the same.

This was quite a twisty story. I figured out some of it by the halfway point but the rest had to fall into place.

There is a little bit of a Gilligan’s Island feel but modernized.

There is a lot going on in this story and I feel telling you anything about it would spoil it. Just get it and enjoy its twist mind games.

So another quick thriller read! I've been having a really neat and fun habit of jumping into a new book while I am recovering and this book did the trick! I was interested and kept on the edge of my seat for the most part!
Let's start at the beginning Lux is kind of just floating through life, she's had a tough road, and she is ready to travel and go on an adventure! So along with two girls Gamma and Brittney to a remote island with Nico (Lux's boyfriend). While everything seems to be playing out how it's supposed to when they finally get to Monroe Island weird things start happening and then It becomes pretty clear that not everything is as clear-cut as originally thought. The group of four meet a couple who is on the adventure too but as the party keeps going and going when another stranger shows up on the island things more sinister start happening and then to make things worse they find a skull and the relationships the group had worked to build slowly start to shatter!
I love Lux's voice and her narrator style, she really tells the story, and when everything starts twisting and turning she is really great at it all!
If you are looking for a twisty, thrilling adventure of a group of people going to a mysterious island then this is your next read! It will keep you hooked and it's a pretty fast read!
Thank you Netgalley and St. Martins Press for the opportunity to read and review this book!

Reckless Girls is everything I never knew I needed in a reading experience. I was stuck in a book slump, and this book snapped me out of that slump just like that. It was an excellent distraction; the perfect getaway, which makes sense seeing as how the story mainly takes place on a (mostly) deserted island…even if it was an island that masqueraded as paradise, with a dark history and eerie present.

This eerie, paradise deserted island with people ending up stranded on it storyline may not be anything new, but there was something about this specific story that managed to feel fresh and captivated my attention from the very start. I soaked up the entirety of this book in less than a day, and it managed to make its way to the top of my favorite books of 2021 so far. I even jumped onto twitter immediately upon finishing this story, so I could tweet Rachel Hawkins to thank her for this awesome reading experience. I very much needed an escape from my own mind, and oh, what an escape it was!

Everything about this story was alluring and intriguing. The island and its intriguingly dark history, the characters and their own dark histories/backgrounds, and the way in which all of the aforementioned came together and weaved an unputdownable story.

The writing was immaculate. I got a perfect sense of what this remote, creepy island looked like, and I even had an eerie sensation trickling down my spine the entire time I was feeling, as I got the sense I was being watched, just as i’m sure some of the characters felt being on that island.

I’m not going to delve too much into what this book is about (I mean that’s what summaries are for anyways! Right?) because I feel you’ll get the best possible reading experience by just jumping right into the story, and sailing headfirst into it, much like the characters did as they set sail for the dark oasis in the middle of Pacific nowhere.

If you love atmospheric, eerie stories with shady characters and A+ writing, then this book is an excellent choice for you. And if you love stranded on deserted island stories, then you especially will love this one.

Fellow mystery/thriller fans: ADD THIS BOOK TO YOUR TBR ASAP!

my name is Lux and i am a fucking survivor. Honestly the book did not flow very well for me. It took a long time to get where it was going.. then i was REALLLY interested half way through their island tour and then boom its over.. what? I wish i loved this becuase this author is amazing!

I was looking forward to this book but it felt flat. The twists felt derivative and forced. It is an acceptable addition to the locked room mystery type of books. The end of the book was especially weird and the storyline wobbled and crashed. Overall not bad for a gothic dark type mystery.

Wow! What a trip this book is! It’s a fun, quick, twisty read that has a satisfying ending (even though I feel a little bit bad about enjoying it!). Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.75/5

Lux is on the adventure of a lifetime. The only problem is, it was supposed to just be her and her boyfriend, Nico. Instead, the couple is sailing two girls to an uninhabited island for two weeks of an off-the-grid vacation. They quickly discover that they will not be the only ones on the island; however, the glamorous other couple, Jake and Eliza, are friendly and the group settles into a nice routine. Until a mysterious stranger shows up rocking the dynamics. Then, one in the group goes missing. Another is found dead. Lux isn't sure how long she will last on the island, but she has no way of leaving...

This was a solid mystery/thriller that gave Lord of the Flies vibes. The pacing felt a bit off. About 50% was mostly suspense and developing the dynamics of the original six people, and then another person shows up. The second third of the book really picked up in pace and is where most of the plot points happened. The twists were a bit predictable, but that didn't make the story less enjoyable. The characters could be a bit grating, but that also helped keep them all unreliable narrators.

The story was creative and Hawkins was able to keep me hooked by adding in different perspectives and sprinkling in clues throughout the story. The correspondences home added an eerie aura to the island as vacationers and travelers recounted their time on the island, but I think the story could have been fine without these too. I would have preferred more in the main plot and resolution.

This was another good thriller from Hawkins that will have you longing for a tropical vacation, but also remaining wary of your travel companions.

Rachel Hawkins is generally a favorite, but Reckless Girls just didn't capture me like her other stories have.

Fast and fun with suspense and creepy vibes. A boat, an island full of legends, lovers, new friends, strangers, secrets, murder...it has it ALL. A fun read that makes you want to keep flipping through the pages until 4am. Twists and turns and what the hecks yelled out loud. The kind of book that would be perfect for a vacation or beach/summer read. Enjoyable and entertaining.

A solid 3.5 star read for me! Reckless Girls follows the couple Nico and Lux as they set off on a great adventure in Hawaii. Their dream is to travel the world together by boat, and they are getting their first taste of adventure when two college-aged girls in Hawaii ask them if they would accompany them to the remote Meroe Island, While the island is extremely beautiful, it has a sinister history.

This is a locked door mystery, but nothing sinister really happens until about 80% of the way through the book. All of the thriller action is packed into the ending, and that is where I really felt like the book began to veer off course. I really liked the twist at the end, but I thought it felt out of place with the character development throughout the rest of the book. Even though nothing "thrilling" happened in the first 200 pages, I still really enjoyed reading it. It's a great escapism trip book and I was just enjoying reading about boating and their adventures at sea.

After reading The Wife Upstairs, I could not wait to read Rachel Hawkins next book.
I was a little let down. This book started out with high hopes, but quickly let me down.
I didn't find one person in this book that I liked. I received a ARC copy from the publisher, St. Martin’s
through NetGalley, and also a won copy from Goodreads.

Who doesn't dream of a getaway to a beautiful deserted island in the middle of the South Pacific? The lush vivid green jungles, endless white sand beaches, crystal blue water, and just you and your love walking hand in hand. How amazingly dreamy does that sound? But what happens if your destination is Meroe Island, an island with a stained past. A World War II refueling station that has a history of shipwrecks and cannibalism. When one sails up, you are filled with dread, and a touch of fear, that something sinister is running through the island. Rachel Hawkins delivers a spine-tingling suspense. That will leave you gasping in shock, as you read at the edge of your seat.

Lux is a lost soul since she lost her mom to cancer. Bouncing from one dead end job to the next. When she meets Nico, an exquisite example of a man. His dream, quickly becomes hers. Sailing to faraway lands on his boat, The Susannah. Their relationship rockets from that first day and she follows him to Maui, to another thankless job, and sleeping on a friends living room floor. Lux gets through her days by waiting and lusting for their adventure to begin. Finally, two girls make that dream happen, by hiring Nico and Lux to sail them to the deserted island of Meroe, for a two week long adventure. When they finally arrive, they find another boat already there. A feeling that their dream trip is slipping through their fingers like sand. Until they lay eyes upon Eliza and Jake. A seemingly fun-loving couple who are rich and love to shower them with drink and food. The six of them become fast friends, exploring the island, taking in every magical moment in their very own paradise. That all takes a turn when a third boat arrives on the horizon.

Rachel Hawkins has penned a fun, suspenseful, tension building, adventure ride. The amazing details of the Pacific draws you into this atmospheric read. You feel the gentle ocean breezes, the salt coating your skin after swimming in the warm ocean waters, and feel the oppressive humid heat blanket you as you explore the jungle. There are twists and turns that will leave your mind spinning and keep you guessing until the end. Thank you to Rachel Hawkins, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for sending me this addictive, intense read. I highly recommend you add it to your reading list!

Rachel Hawkins is a great author which drew me to this book. In Reckless Girls the characters, their voices, and their interactions all feel very genuine and compelling. The mood is set incredibly well.

Lux and her boyfriend Nico are hired to sail two women to an island in the pacific. What starts off as a trip of a lifetime, fun opportunity quickly spirals out of control after they get to the island. Lux is a very fun character in this story, and you get to see the background of how a lot of characters met. This is a very atmospheric read, which Rachel Hawkins excels at creating. Meroe Island is not all that it seems.

I think this book starts off great and lost me a little toward the end. It is a nice and quick read, easy, and again the characters are very enjoyable. To me it wasn’t an extraordinary book beyond that. I don’t want to give anything away, but I want to say that if I knew even more of the characters and their past or if we just had a bit more in the way of breadcrumbs to piece together everything would be more believable in the end.

Thank you to Rachel Hawkins, St. Martin’s Press, and Netgalley for the copy of this arc.

This book follows Lux and Nico on a journey to an island with a dark history, with two strangers who paid them to sail them to the island. They connect with another couple on island and the six of them form an unexpected friendship. But when a seventh stranger arrives, things take a dark turn. Secrets unfold and you’re not sure who to trust. You start to think if the island is really cursed or if some of the islanders have ulterior motives.

This story had my full attention from the beginning. Rachel did a great job of packing in the story, backstories, and history of the island and still kept it relevant and interesting. This was a fun fast-paced mystery thriller that had me flying through the book in a day

Thank you Netgalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.

This was a very intriguing story! Reckless girls follows Lux as she finds herself on a trip to a deserted Pacific island with her boyfriend Nico and a couple of women they met in Hawaii. While the first half of this book follows a predictable story line, the second half leads you through twist after twist. The reader gets to know each character many of them hiding a darker history behind their sunny personalities. I could not put this book down once I got into it!

Rachel Hawkins is the author of the The Wife Upstairs, she's hit it out of the park with this vacation-gone-wrong style novel!

Lux is a young woman without a plan. She is still reeling from the death of her mother and doesn;t have strong connections with friends or family. She followed the very good looking Nico on his boat to Hawaii and works as a hotel cleaner while she waits for him to save enough to continue their sailing. The pressure builds when she is fired and realized that Nico has no intention of moving on from their supposed pit stop in Hawaii.

Fortunately, two college friends, Amma and Brittany approach Nico with a too-good-to-be-true opportunity. They will pay top dollar for Nico and even Lux to take them to an abandoned island in the Pacific. Nevermind that Meroe island is supposedly haunted and there will not be a way to communicate with the outside world once they arrive.

A fast moving, highly engaging thriller ensues. There are other visitors to the island: Who are they? And why are they there? Why did the college friends really want to visit this small island? Hawkins keeps the plot moving and the reader guessing as you move closer and closer to what can only be a disaster.

I really enjoyed this novel. I would recommend it to any thriller reader, as well as those that enjoy the locked room genre and the vacation-gone-wrong style book. Lots of surprises, tension and a satisfying ending!

*Thank you, NetGalley, for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

"Salt water and blood taste the same."
And just like that, you have one of the quickest hooks in my recent reading history! This novel expertly combines mystery with enticing characters and a pinch of laugh out loud dialogue to keep the ride entertaining.

Lux and her new boyfriend Nico are eager to the hit the high seas but damage to their little sailing vessel prevents them from getting off that air mattress on a buddy's floor. Until, Brittany and Amma show up, two college friends traveling the world and looking for a ride out to an abandoned island rich in historical intrigue.

With repairs to their boat a part of the deal to escort Brittany and Amma, Lux and Nico are set for a 2 week getaway with nothing but sand and sea for miles.

Upon arrival, and much to their chagrin, they meet Jake and Eliza, a uber rich young couple on a mega yacht. Enticed by there stock of booze and yummy food (obviously beating the plethora of spam they brought themselves) this party of 6 become fast friends. Between exploring abandoned WWII airstrips, and secret water falls they have it made but not all is what it seems when a new arrival quickly makes themselves at home.

A few "before" and "now" time hops provides us with some context and background to these couplings as we weave our way to an exploding and surprising ending you just don't see coming.

Special thanks to St. Martin's Press, Netgalley and of course the wonderful Rachel Hawkins for a fabulous read.

I really should read more mystery/thrillers cuz man, I enjoyed this book. I'd been looking forward to reading it ever since the author started talking about it on Twitter (as the "Boat Murder Book") and it did not disappoint.

Our main character is Lux, a twenty-something living in Hawaii with her boyfriend, Nico. She followed him to Hawaii based on his promises of sailing around the world in his sail boat, but so far all they've done is sleep on the floor of his friend's house while she works for money to repair said sailboat. In comes the opportunity of a lifetime: two recent college grads with a ton of cash are looking for a boat to take them to a deserted island in the Pacific as the capstone to their world trip. They hire Nico and Lux, and Lux immediately befriends the two other girls. However, when they arrive at the deserted island, they aren't alone. And it quickly becomes apparent that everyone is hiding something, and things are about to get real bloody.

This book is told in two timelines: our main story on the island with flashbacks told in the perspectives of multiple characters. I loved how the flashbacks kept the intrigue going. The island story line dragged for me at times, but the flashbacks kept me intrigued because I was suddenly learning things about these characters that made me wonder how it was going to play in to the eventual mystery. There were also a couple of points to the mystery that didn't full make sense to me, which is why I knocked it down a star. I'll have to go back and re-read it now that I know everything and see how I feel the second time around!