This is a well plotted and suspenseful novel that is written with confidence, verve and style. It is both a page turner beach ride and a wicked smart take on contemporary social/gender politics, wealth, and tourism. Loved it!

This book was very good Very interesting setting keeps your attention all the way through Thank you to Netgalley for the chance to read and review it early

Lux and her boyfriend Nico have been hired by two college girls, Brittany and Amma, to sail them to a remote and deserted island out in the Pacific. After rocky sail to the island, they find that they are not alone. Jack and his girlfriend, Eliza, are also at the island and quickly welcome the group with food, wine and friendly company.

Let me just say that I LOVED where this book was going. I didn't even know that I was a fan of the deserted island trope until now. Snippets of the island's history are revealed throughout the book and you kind of get a vibe that the book might take a dark turn after reading about the cannibalism and the possible island hermit.

The last last couple of pages of this book had me HOWLING! Without trying to give away too much, I was really wanting the ending that it seemed to be gearing up for before it just abruptly changed. Not a bad ending overall. I just wanted something a little different

Lux and Nico have dreams of sailing the world. When their boat breaks down, they are stuck in Maui until Amma and Brittany come along offering them $50,000 to take them to a deserted island, Meroe, for two weeks. They agree to take the girls if they also pay for the boat repairs needed.

Once they all reach Meroe Island, they are surprised to see another boat already docked there. It was supposed to be deserted, and cursed, and once roamed by cannibals. Why would anyone else be there? Once they meet the occupants of the other boat though, Jake and Eliza, they realize that this could actually be a good thing. Jake and Eliza have plenty of food and large quantities of alcohol. The five of them are having a great time partying, exploring the island and getting to know each other when yet another boat arrives. The guy sailing this boat, Robbie, turns out to be just a mooch looking for free food and alcohol. Soon after, strange things start to happen and everyone looks to Robbie as being dangerous and unpredictable. They want him gone.

After a week of idyllic and beautiful island life, things quickly start to unravel. Lux, as narrator of the story, realizes that nobody is as they originally seemed. She can no longer trust anyone. Her main goal at this point is to flee the island and get back to Maui. But this turns out to be much more difficult than she anticipated.

There are many twists and turns and I read this book in two days, while my housework sat undone. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will recommend it to my friends who enjoy thrillers. Reckless Girls rates 4 stars from me. Loved it!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book. This is my honest review.

A beautiful, deserted island. Six strangers. Booze. Adventure. Betrayal. Danger. Mystery.
I really enjoyed this book! It kept me on my toes until the very end and was oh so satisfying. Give this one a try!

WOW! Such a great read! As soon as I started it I could not put it down. I love books that had twists and turns and this had it all in such a great way! Will be telling everyone to read it!

This was such a good book! The characters stay with you long after you finish the book and I loved all the twists and turns. My first time to read a book by this author but I cannot wait to read more!

Oh how I love to read. This book was fun. The premise was a bit unusual - boating, a mysterious island, several questionable characters. I wondered if the story would lean science fiction - ooooh did it? You'll have to read it. Lol. I enjoyed the wonder and the twists and turns and was left feeling pretty satisfied except for a few question marks I look forward to exploring with my friends. So friends - read it and call me. Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Rachel Hawkins for the ARC in return for an honest review.

Some authors are automatic reads for me, and Rachel Hawkins is definitely on this list. When I saw Reckless Girls, I smashed the request button and was thrilled to be approved. LOOK AT THAT COVER.

When Lux and her boyfriend Nico are hired to sail two rich women to an infamous, yet remote, island in the South Pacific, it seems too good to be true. Money. Freedom. Two weeks in paradise. As they get to know each other, however, the island setting proves to be more tumultuous than they bargained for, and a chance encounter with an uninvited guest sets the course for danger.

I loved this book.

What I like most about Hawkins' writing is the ease in which she creates internal dialogue. Lux's narrative voice steals the show. It's conversational and funny and effortlessly readable. She's got rough edges and morally gray areas and she isn't afraid to show her shortcomings and insecurities. This is probably my favorite character Hawkins has created, and I think many readers will relate to her take-no-bullshit attitude and practical approach to problems.

The other thing that really works well is the toxic friendship dynamic. I'm a sucker for stories that explore the darker side of friendships, the things that bind us together when perhaps we would rather forget. The choices we make that end in catastrophic consequences which go unspoken for fear of conflict. We get plenty of that and more here, and I couldn't put it down. From flashbacks to present danger, there wasn't an ounce of wasted tension.

Reckless Girls is a taut, smart, un-put-downable thriller perfect for anyone looking for adventure, fans of The Beach, We Were Never Here, or gripping travel suspense.

Big thanks to St. Martin's and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for honest review consideration.

This book was gripping. I was sucked in and could not put it down! The concept was so unique, I loved this book.

Nico plans to sail Susannah around the South Pacific Ocean. He met Lux in San Diego invited her along his adventure flying her to Maui where he met her with his boat. The boat arrived damaged. They stayed in Maui to save money when they met college girls Amma and Brittany. The girls hired Nico to take them to Meroe Island. An island with a dark eerie history of shipwrecks, cannibalism, and murder dating back to WWII.
The four of them sail to to paradise. As they get closer they notice another boat. Two more people to join there group of four. Jake and Eliza traveled to the island seeking adventure.
The six of them party on the island together. A few days later another visitor arrives wanting to crash the party. Circumstances change drastically after his arrival.
The story leading up to the arrival on the island was slow and steady. Once introductions were made and the characters arrived on the island I settled in for a suspenseful journey. The suspense didn’t happen right away. The readers were introduced to the new characters and given backstories. The story came alive after the seventh person arrived.
I enjoyed the timeline of the story switching between the past and present for each character it was the logical and simplest choice. Made reading easy and flawless.

This is my first read by Rachel Hawkins. I have been wanting to read her work and now here I am reading Reckless Girls. Before becoming a full-time writer Rachel was a high school English teacher. She’s the New York Times bestselling author of Hex Hall.
Reckless Girls is a gothic suspense set on an isolated island off the islands of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. Gothic refers to the style of writing with elements of fear, death, gloom, and horror. Legend has it that this island is rumored to have murdered the sailors aboard a shipwrecked boat back in the 1800s. The story has twists and turns that will leave you breathless.
A boating murder mystery on an island is a nice change for originality thrill seekers. Who doesn’t enjoy a unique location and a fresh new concept after reading so many murder mysteries?

An island with a dark history
A couple with a boat
Two college friends looking for an adventure on an island
A catamaran and another couple anchored to the same island
One guy crashing the party in the island

I can imagine this was a difficult book to write. The concept was brilliant, but the execution missed its mark a smidge. When it was all said and done I appreciated the way it unfolded. However, I didn’t love every aspect of the story or the way it unraveled. The day to day activities is where my patience began to snap. I get that Rachel was developing these characters creating friendships and bonding moments. I was expecting danger to arrive around every corner. I suppose with his history and legends I had preconceived ideas about the dark and dangerous scenes.
While most things were explained. I still had a few questions regarding some of the characters. They were noted in a subtle way, but I needed some reassurance on the way the scene played out.

Lux is tougher than she seems. She may be a bit anchorless, but she isn’t afraid to get dirty and do what she needs to survive. Her boyfriend, Nico, doesn’t seem to have a care in the world. Lux figures out a way to get his boat, the Susannah, repaired so they can travel the world together. This plan involves charging two strangers for a trip to a deserted island with a murky past. The island of Meroe seems beautiful and pristine, their own tropical paradise. However, with the appearance of others on the island and the overabundance of alcohol and drugs, Lux is not sure their stay on the island is truly a fantasy after all. Is Meroe the garden of Eden it seems or does it hide sinister secrets? And who are the other people on the island and what are they hiding?

I was rooting for Lux. She could be scrappy, but too often she kowtowed to Nico, who only seemed to have his own interests in mind. The story was peppered with fun blog posts, family letters, and news articles that lent Meroe a creepy, mysterious history. The snippets of background for many of the characters provided pieces of a larger mystery that wasn’t revealed until the very end. This story sucked me in and although the twist wasn’t super surprising, the ending was perfect.

Reckless Girls was a fun read, but as I plan my next vacation, I will likely stay away from the beach. 4 stars.

I could not put his book down! Dark, twisted and unexpected turns! Thanks NetGalley for advance copy.

Young love makes you do questionable things. Just like Lux when she decided that she was going to go and follow her boyfriend nico across to Hawaii....but things didn’t go as expected as always.

But this book...oh boy this book. A lot of thrillers do start off as slow burn, hooking you in from the very beginning and forcing you to piece together things that maybe valuable later on. And that’s exactly what this book does and does it do it well. It hooks you in right from the beginning and the sudden twists it takes, I don’t think I could have seen it coming either.

I thought Lux and nico were amazing characters. Flawed, complex and easily drawn to people.

I will say, one of my favourite parts about this book was definitely the atmospheric island. Rachel Hawkins hit the nail on the head absolutely when writing this book and I couldn’t be happier she did that!

5/5 stars this was an absolute pleasure to read!

Reckless Girls was, for lack of a better word, a doozy. The action-packed, fast-paced story kept me hooked and I couldn't put the book down, but I couldn't stand any of the characters, and some of the twists seemed anticlimactic to me. Overall I really liked this book and it was a great binge/popcorn read, but it was not a five-star book for me.

Reckless Girls was a great end of summer read for me. It bought that gothic Jane Eyre feel with the beachy Gilligan’s island atmosphere.
The author definitely has a style and way with the dark and gothic ness of storytelling.
This was second book for the author and I would definitely recommend it to friends.

I was reading this book at the same time I was finishing Outer Banks on Netflix, and one thing is for sure...I've never been an outdoorsy person, much less a "enjoys being on a boat in the open water" person, and after reading this book, I'm 100% comfortable in that decision.

The story centers around Lux, who is adrift (no pun intended) after the death of her mother. She and her boyfriend Nico are both adventure seekers, so when the opportunity presents itself to sail two young women to a remote island in the South pacific, they jump at the chance, especially since the girls are paying $50,000 for the use of their boat The Susannah. The four set sail, and it soon becomes clear that the intended nature of the trip, an adventure, is actually an escape for all four, some in more sinister ways than others.

This story was so compelling and readable, and there is a thread of unease throughout the first third of the story, and then the group lands on the island and soon finds another couple, things start taking some unexpected turns. However, it's the arrival of one lone stranger that changes the mood and atmosphere of the entire book, and the twist at the end was so satisfying and unexpected. This was such a great follow-up to the author's debut novel, and I can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

A deserted island paradise, a luxury boat to take you there, and more wine than you can imagine! What's not to like? Lux and Nico live on Maui and when two girls offer them a lot of money to take them to this island, they can't refuse (nor do they want to)! Upon reaching the island they discover another lovely couple who are willing to share food and wine, and the beaches and water are incredible. They all fall into an easy friendship until the first dead body turns up! Of course nothing will ever be the same again and as events play out, there are more surprises at every turn! Yes, your head will be spinning but it will be worth it; it's faced paced and fascinating!

After the death of her mother, Lux's life was pretty aimless.. until she met Nico. With promises to travel around the world, Lux fell hard. When she and Nico get the chance to make bank by taking two girls to a deserted island, they jump at the chance. However, the deserted island is not so deserted, and strange things start happening...

This book was definitely a page turner, but there were some plot holes by the end. I did love how it ended: sinister, mysterious, and fun.

The reason I gave this 3 instead of 4 stars is that the beginning dragged a little bit. You could see quite a few things coming a mile away about Nico and Lux's relationship.. and it was just not subtle. Other than that, fun beach read!

I was SO anxious to read this after tearing through The Wife Upstairs. It didn’t disappoint. Hawkins sucks you in quickly - and takes you on an adventure with Lix that’s full of surprises.
Very enjoyable, twisty, didn’t want to put it down. I hope to interview her for the book’s release .