Felicity, Grace, Hannah and Alice have a very strong friendship but when adulthood happened some things have changed. Hannah became a mom, Alice focused on her teaching job and Grace is just living her simple homebody life-but it seems like Felicity is the only who has that youthful spark in her.
Few years later, Felicity invited her three friends in an all expenses paid trip to Botswana to relive “The Wild Girls” that they were. Nothing is more meta than TWG being in the wild.
But as the 3 ladies stepped into Botswana, things aren’t as it seems and they better start telling the truth to each other before things get out of control.
🐆
One of the first few reads that I had where the setting is in the African Continent! It is usually North America and Europe but this one is really different. The author made the readers feel that they are in Botswana in the very first few chapters. I love how there are many characters and POVs in this novel without confusing me who says what and who is who.
There are some holes in the story that I find strange but all in all this book deserves a 🔪🔪🔪🔪 4/5 knives rating!

3.5 stars

An estranged group of friends invited to a birthday party, out of the blue, by one of their own. Sounds like an invitation for murder to me, but if you are Alice, Hannah, or Grace it may also sound like a chance to reconcile, a chance to start living your life again, a chance for a break and to reclaim the person you used to be? Only Felicity seems to know.

This was enjoyable as the setup was perfect. Luxurious, all paid vacation to a safari lodge in Botswana to celebrate their friend Felicity's 30th birthday. The girls haven't been in communication with each other in 2 years after an outing where the trio met Felicity's new boyfriend didn't play out like any of them expected. However when the girls arrive at the safari lodge, there are warning bells clanging all over. Is there anyone else there? Felicity seems to be playing a game of cat and mouse.

I enjoyed the story, plot and ideas. I think the drama could have been raised a notch or two for bigger impact and memorability. There are flashbacks going back to that night two years ago but it wasn't that scathing for me except for one girl. I enjoyed the scenes at the lodge but again, it was a little subdued and I would have enjoyed a more dramatic discovery of the girls demise (I'm apparently ruthless and gruesome, okay?) I enjoyed it but wanted a lot more.

I thought the book was okay. The main premise behind the characters' two-year-old argument was a bit shaky, I could see why they all might not still be in touch, but for none of the four to contact at least one of the others after such a long friendship seemed weak. Especially after Grace repeatedly talks about how Hannah and Alice were so close. There was no reason for them to fall out of touch. Also, the plotline of Grace being raped by Flick's boyfriend in her own home (and then him being obsessed with her) seemed farfetched.
In addition, there was no point to them being in Botswana as they didn't really leave the lodge. It could have just as easily taken place at a house in remote England or Scotland and had the same effect.

The Wild Girls could be renamed the Mean Girls in the Wild. Four friends that had a falling out 2 years previously are reunited for a destination birthday party for Felicity. Without a backward glance, Grace, Alice and Hannah fly to Botswana, all expense paid by the birthday girl herself.
When they arrive, no Felicity or other guests appear to be at the Safari Lodge. That's when things go wrong for these characters and the reader both. The reader starts to learn about what happened two years previously for each of the women and what, if anything, has changed in their lives. All save one of these women are unsympathetic characters. None seemed to be a true friend prior to the falling out, either. What would possess them to reunite is the real mystery.
Old hurts and traumas that date back way before the falling out party of two years prior also surface during this time. These, too, fuel the murderous weekend and perhaps speak to the deep-seated resentment that each holds toward one another.
A fast read with killer intentions.
Thank you to Scene of the Crime FB group and Netgalley for my early copy. All opinions are mine.

I was so excited to read about this girls’ retreat to Botswana since its one of my favorite tropes. The story was interesting and kept me engaged throughout - the characters are all pretty screwed up - which makes for a page-turner every time.

I felt like the characters were relatable with all their flaws. The girls each had secrets and the plot reminds the reader of that - often.

The plot is suspenseful and even a bit creepy in some spots. An empty lodge in a place where predators could be roaming freely.

But close to the end, the story just became way too unbelievable, and it kind of ruined it for me. I didn’t buy it for a second. Thank you, William Morrow Books for the early copy!

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Four friends who have lost touch get together for Grace's birthday. When they arrive strange things are happening and they are remembering what happened on a night that seems so long ago. This book kept me guessing.

If there is a book about a girl’s trip and something goes wrong which leads to a story of suspense and intrigue, I will want to read it! So I happily dug into The Wild Girls by Phoebe Morgan and enjoyed every page.

This book was absolutely riveting! Something happened years ago to cause these friends to have a falling out, but whats so bad that they can’t talk it out and move on? This amazing vacation is the ideal place to come together and mend friendships. Who wouldn’t go on an all-expenses-paid trip? But when the girls arrive, they sense something is off. Why isn’t Felicity greeting them when she’s the one who organized the trip? WHAT IS HAPPENING? Things aren’t adding up and I wanted to know WHY!

I kept reading, trying to figure out what was going to happen next. The setting was remote, the characters untrustworthy, you know something bad is going to happen….I read this quickly and was left eagerly awaiting more from Phoebe Morgan!

Synopsis:

It’s been years since Grace, Felicity, Alice, and Hannah were together. The “Wild Girls,” as they were once called, are no longer so wild. Alice is a teacher. Hannah has a new baby. Grace is a homebody. Only Felicity seems to have retained her former spark.

Then Felicity invites them all on the weekend of a lifetime—a birthday bash in Botswana. It will be a chance to have fun and rekindle their once bomb-proof friendship… and finally put that one horrible night, all those years ago, behind them for good.

But soon after arriving at the luxury safari lodge, a feeling of unease settles over them. There’s no sign of the party that was promised. There’s no phone signal. They are on their own… and things start to go very, very wrong.

This is exactly the kind of book I love reading. It will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish and I’d love to see it as a series! Coming out on April 15.

This review will also appear on my Goodreads page. This book was enjoyable- if not always believable at times. Felicity, Grace, Hannah, and Alice were friends. Rifts came between them and the girls haven't seen each other for a long time. Then a letter invites Grace, Hannah, and Alice to Felicity's birthday party in Botswana at a luxury safari lodge. When the three girls arrive, Felicity is nowhere to be found. In fact, there's no one around. The beginning was where the story was interesting. Towards the end, the believability went away a little, but the story was still enjoyable and an interesting thriller.

The Wild Girls by Phoebe Morgan
@PhoebeAnnMorgan
Read by Stephanie Racine, Polly Baron, Silvia Presente, Olivia Dowd
Pub date: April 26th, 2022
Duration: 9H 58M
4 stars

Once upon a time there was four best friends: Felicity, Grace, Alice, and Hannah but things came to a crashing halt 2 years ago. Now, three of the four have been invited to Botswana for a swanky birthday party for Felicity, all expenses paid. Each woman has a reason for wanting to reconnect on this trip aside from getting away from their now dreary and unsatisfying lives - they all miss the close friendship they once had. Once they arrive at the gorgeous isolated lodge its luxurious amenities are more than they could have dreamed but it doesn’t take long for the women to realize that things are seriously amiss and that someone knows the secrets they’ve worked so desperately to hide.

I listened to this in just over one day and I loved the dark tense atmosphere that has a fat cat & sneaky mouse twist to it – because really, who do you trust when everyone is untrustworthy? The sense of dread amps up with every chapter and the isolation theme plays so well for this story, making every action or occurrence seem full of malice and sinister intentions.

Narration: This is a full cast audio and is so well done that I felt like a movie was playing out before me. High praises for the entire cast!

Twisty and quickly paced, I’ll be recommending this to the thriller lovers out there.

My thanks to @HarperAudio for this gifted ALC!

*This arc was provided to me in exchange for an honest review*

This was such a fun and quick read. I flew right through it.

I pretty much went into this blind because although I read the synopsis when I requested this arc months ago, I didn't reread it before actually reading the book.

This is told through multiple perspectives and I really like that the author took the time to set the characters up and let the reader get to know them before things went down. That way it was more emotional. The author really set the tone for this book perfectly because I was terrified. I felt isolated, like I was in this story.

The only problem I really had was the order in which things were revealed to the reader. I feel like they should've been revealed sooner because when it actually was revealed there wasn't much of an imapact.

If you're a fan of suspense-filled thrillers, you should check this book out. If you like reading about toxic friendships full of lies and secrets, check this book out. If you like the show PLL, check this book out. This was a wild and fun ride that I would definitely read again. 4 stars!

*look up TW/CW for this book*

This trope has been done so many times that I was wary of reading this. I got it because I love the cover. This book was certainly wild as the title suggests and I loved the characters.

This isolation thriller follows a group of four friends as they reconnect over a long birthday weekend. Grace, Alice, Hannah, and Felicity were best friends until one night, two years ago. After the events of that evening, the friend group fractured and they haven't been in much contact since - until they all receive invitations for Felicity's birthday party at a safari lodge in Botswana. Flying from London to Botswana for a long weekend may seem excessive, but the friends are eager to catch up and maybe even mend their friendship. Everything looks great upon their arrival until they start to realize there's no sign of a birthday party, barely any phone signal, and no other guests or staff. They're on their own and that is when things really start to go wrong.

TW/CW: sexual assault, sexual assault by a family member, miscarriage, forced sterilization, stalking, domestic violence

The first 50% of this book was fantastic. The characters were intriguing, the setting was atmospheric, there was a perfect slow trickle of information as well as growing sense of unease. Then Part 2 opened and all of that building and layering and work that Morgan did in the first half was, for me, basically instantly shredded. I read an ARC, so there is a possibility that things could change for the final version, but based on what I read the first 1/2 was shaping up to be a 5 star read and then the second 1/2 felt like it was still actively being drafted and was a few versions behind the beginning.

My favorite aspect (and the main reason I requested to read an ARC of this) was the messy friend group. Messy friend group + isolation thriller = (almost always) a 4 or 5 star read. It is trope candy for me and I think it is because I do prefer character-focused thrillers. We know that there was some even 2 years prior that caused the friend group to basically dissolve but the reader doesn't know exactly what happened. We do get multi-POV from mainly 3 of the friends - Grace, Alice, and Hannah and each of them have slightly different thoughts about what happened that night. I always like getting multi-POV in these types of books and I think each of the friends were interesting in their own way so I didn't have a preferred character to be following. Morgan did a fantastic job of really giving each of them their own voice so it was easy to tell them apart. I did find it strange that Grace's chapters were told in 1st person while Alice and Hannah's were told in 3rd person and each time we would switch from one to the other it took my brain a page or two before I got back in the groove. I really enjoyed how we got to see the cracks in this friend group even when they are all trying to focus on being happy to be back together but little side comments really needled at their relationship. I really wish we got more of this slow breakdown of the friend group throughout the book instead of the structure that we ended up with (that I'll complain about further below).

The pacing almost killed this read for me. The first 50% of the story was great. We got this slow build up of excitement as these characters were getting ready to leave their normal lives to go on this vacation/birthday party. Then as tensions rise when they realize this vacation isn't exactly as advertised and I was 100% on board. We get more and more hints at what happened on the disastrous night 2 years prior but I felt like I was gathering each new scrap of information and trying to put together the answer before the book could give it to me (which I love!). Bodies start dropping and I'm ready for this book to really kick it up a notch when it grinds to a sudden stop and we flash back to 2 years prior and see the events of the evening play out. Now, suddenly, we're removed from this high-tension setting and situation that we were getting really deep into and we're starting this new part of the book in a pretty mundane place. We do, eventually, get some good tension in this flashback portion, but it takes a long time to build it back up. And, more annoyingly, I felt there were a good many details that didn't really have any impact on the plot. Sure, it was more background info on the characters and their dynamics, but that new information didn't really expand on the characterization or their actions. In this section of the book, we do find out a pretty big piece of information early on but we have to sit through pages of what feels like pretty mundane conversations before that big reveal comes into play. So just when I think the pacing is going to pick up and have some shit hit the fan in the story, it gets dragged out and by the time we actually see the impact play out on page, it doesn't have the same emotional impact. We do, eventually, get back to the present day plot in the lodge but by that point, I had lost my emotional connection to that story line so I didn't really care how things got wrapped up. I think this was a case where if we really wanted to see the whole night in flashback format, having alternating chapters of the different timelines I think would have been much more effective.

Almost all of the CWs I listed above come in in the last 1/3-ish of the book so it ended up feeling like a huge info dump of all these traumatic experiences. And, of course, traumatic things don't always need some sort of big meaning or outcome to them - sometimes shitty things happen. However, the way in which these reveals were framed made me feel like I should have been more affected by them than I actually was. I don't think we got to see enough of the characters to make some of these reveals really hit the emotional point it felt like Morgan was going for. For example, the forced sterilization reveal. When we get this information, it was shocking and surprising, but then the plot moves on in basically the same way it would have even if the character was just infertile through a natural condition instead of a forced medical procedure. So, since the traumatic and shocking element didn't seem to make much of an impact to the character and plot overall, it felt unnecessary. This happened a number of times where we didn't see enough of this character's life to really make these reveals mean anything in terms of the current plot. Also, there weren't any breadcrumbs in the early part of the book that I could point to and say "ah, character X does Y because of A trauma". If these reveals were maybe done earlier as sort of a red herring situation where we think maybe a certain reveal will end up being the reason people are dead, then I could see them working much more effectively. However, since they come pretty close together in the last 1/3ish of the book, I was expecting them to have much more weight to the plot instead of them being more like sprinkles of extra background information for the reader.

I really enjoyed the setting and thought it was a nice way to refresh the typical isolation thriller locales of a snowed in cabin or creepy family manor. The descriptions we got were borderline over-done but I enjoyed them because Morgan was really able to imbue a particular atmosphere with her descriptions. That being said, I wish more was done with the setting. At the end of the day, from a plot perspective, this plot could have happened in pretty much any isolated location. It could have been a birthday party on a private island or in a secluded mountain cabin. The main tension the setting provided was that the characters were far away from their relatives and the cellphone service was spotty. Again, no points that make the setting stand out. I'll admit, I was hoping someone would get eaten by a lion. I was expecting the setting to play a much bigger role in the mystery of the deaths - was character A pushed or did they accidentally fall in the crocodile infested river, as an example. Also, while I could picture the lodge pretty well as far as the decorations and scale, I really could have used a map because what I was picturing wouldn't have exactly allowed some of the plot points to happen. A non-spoiler example would be that when the friends arrive to the lodge that first night, they find a table decked out with food but they haven't seen any staff members or anyone else around who could have laid out such a feast. What I was picturing was a large lodge, where there were only a handful of large rooms but in order for that type of situation to occur, I would think the lodge would have to be either much larger or have many more rooms than I was picturing. This sort of mis-match in my brain made it so I wasn't quite able to latch on to the proper level of creep-factor that I think Morgan was going for.

Overall, I think this book had a lot going for it but it really fell apart for me. I loved the first half and would almost recommend people to read up to the beginning of Part 2 and then stop and just let your imagination fill in the rest.

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC

Expected publication date is April 26, 2022

I received an ARC, of The Wild Girls, by Phoebe Morgan. This book was very interesting. I liked the characters and the story. I did not like the killings but there you go.

Thank you to NetGalley, Phoebe Morgan, and St. Martins Press for an E-arc in exchange for an honest review. Well thriller fans, I found your next bingeable thriller! This thriller gave me locked room vibes even though it was set on a resort in Botswana. The characters in this story were likeable but you also couldn't stop shaking your head at some of their various choices. I appreciated the twists around the end and how everything is brought together for the reader. This one is out on April 26th, 2022!

Solid 4-star thriller!

The Good Stuff:
-old friends that have fallen apart meet up for an all-expense paid celebration in exotic Botswana - the author did a great job of giving readers a sense of the present lives of the 3 girls, and I felt like I was in Botswana with them at the lodge with all the excitement of an African safari adventure
-authentic complexity to their relationships
-everybody has a secret...we get little hints along the way
-the pages turned easily - I wanted to know how it turned out and read this in record time!

The Less Good Stuff:
-The author and the main characters are British...I don’t love the overpoweringly British references (personal preference) so that could have been toned down a bit to be more relatable for all readers
-The first 1/8 was slow, I was having a hard time engaging, and the characters were not terribly likable
-While the premise was good, the details didn’t fill in as fully as I anticipated they would - the plot got a little loose in Botswana, and when it really started rolling, it was rather murky
-The main revelations about that past wild night, and the present situation, didn’t get fully revealed
-The wrap up was disappointing, and I identified most of the twists in advance. There was one more twist I expected which wasn’t delivered, and would have increased the rating for me.

Overall, a very solid premise, and an interesting book once you get about 15% in...but be prepared to be a bit unsatisfied. Ok, but not my favorite.

Thanks to the publishers for providing an advance copy in exchange for my review!

So the summary for this book is a little misleading (these gals really aren't that wild, unless you consider getting drunk a few times "wild," which seems to be pretty commonplace in Brit-lit these days; I was also expecting the African setting to play a more significant role), but for the most part, I liked the read.

Actually, I feel really weird about this book--I have plenty of things that didn't sit well with me at all, yet...overall...I liked the read?

Friends Felicity, Alice, Hannah, and Grace have been friends forever, but it's been a couple years since they saw each other--when everything about their friendship changed.

Now, Alice, Hannah and Grace receive an unexpected surprise--Felicity has invited them to an all-expenses paid trip to Botswana to celebrate her birthday. No one is sure of her intentions, but maybe it's time to lay the past to rest and rebuild the friendship they lost?

But from the moment they touch down on the African landscape, nothing is as they expected. For starters, there's no sign of the planned party--no sign of Felicity at all, for that matter. And with no phone signal, when things begin to go seriously wrong, it becomes clear that no one is coming to their rescue.

Ok, first, the positives. Wild Girls is a quick read, and nearly 90% of the book flows and is mostly believable. I didn't necessarily connect to anyone in particular (the book is told from the POV all all four main female characters, mostly Alice, Hannah, and Grace), nor did I think that anyone is acting rational at any point, but author Phoebe Morgan drops enough hints to make me curious enough to read more. And hey--it's fiction, right?

That being said, eventually, you get to this "get on with it" feeling, as the narrative bounces back and forth between Alice, Hannah, and Grace. They spend a lot of time complaining about their current situations, obsessing over Felicity and That Thing That Happened Two Years Ago and wondering where some Nate guy is, that you're just itchy for them to start answering some questions. It's clear that these women were each experiencing some heavy emotional trauma. Had we gotten a deeper look into that than the filler we were given, I might have had a stronger connection to the book as a whole.

And not having Felicity's voice until well into the book is confusing. By the time we start getting some answers, and Nate and Felicity appear in the most meaningful of their introductions (which is with about 90% of the book done), it's hard to really believe what they're up to. I didn't buy Felicity's motivations (and the whole thing with her dad was just...weird. Not that this thing doesn't happen, but it just always seemed shoehorned into the book. Like I mentioned I wanted more substance) and the Nate situation was awkward as well. I didn't buy his actions. Most of the book was fairly well written (with a few inconsistencies here and there that will most likely be ironed out in the final copy), but his final scene seemed added for shock rather than for one he earned.

I also was left wanting with the setting--I guess it just seemed like Botswana was reduced to a cliché (it's so hot, there's a safari, etc, oh look at the generic African art in the room). It didn't really matter where this revenge plot took place. From reading the summary, I was thinking that location would play a role--are we talking a safari gone wrong, maybe sabotaged? Is this the "fresh approach" to the locked room mystery? Set the glamorous white city dwellers in the African savannah and call it new? I think there was just a missed opportunity to use the setting. Most of the action takes place in an empty lodge--this book could have been set in central Ohio for all it mattered.

Thanks very much to William Morrow for letting me read this ARC in exchange for a review through the Scene of the Crime book club.

CONTENT WARNING: blood, infertility, abusive relationship, murder, rape

This book sounded like it was right up my alley, so I was really looking forward to reading it. However, while it wasn’t bad, it just didn’t quite hit the mark for me.

At its heart, it is the story of four women who grew up as friends since childhood, but have lost touch. When they are all invited to Botswana for an all-expenses paid vacation to celebrate one friend’s birthday. But naturally, it isn’t quite what they expect.

The story begins with an exploration of a crime scene. So we already know that something horrible goes down on this trip that isn’t something the women saw coming. But we don’t know who dies, or why. Then it jumps to the past, as the women learn of the invitation and make their plans to attend. There are POV chapters from Grace, Alice, and Hannah, but Felicity is oddly missing from the narrative for half the book. There are near-constant references to things that happened in the past, and led to the distance between all of these women, but there aren’t really any hints as to what exactly happened. All we know is that it dramatically changed not only the relationship between these friends, but the lives of each of the women involved.

The characters aren’t all necessarily likable, but my thoughts on them changed drastically as I read through the story. They each have flaws and strengths, making them feel much more realistic than I had initially thought. Each woman faces her own struggles, but we don’t really learn anything about that, or the mysterious events that are referred to so often until the second half of the book. Once things hit a fever pitch in Botswana, we are tossed back in time to learn what happened in their shared past.

While the story is fast-paced, I spent the first half mainly wondering what had happened, and then once that was revealed, the rest of the plot twists were easy to figure out. I wasn’t really surprised by any of the revelations, which was so disappointing. There’s just something that is so enjoyable when a plot twist surprises me, but this story was completely predictable. Overall, it wasn’t a bad read, but I can’t really say I thought it was a great one either. It was just okay for me, but at least it was a quick read.

Alice, Hannah and Grace all receive invitations to their friend Felicity’s birthday party in Botswana. The girls used to be best friends but haven’t spoken in years. Eager to get a break from reality and to reconnect, they agree to attend. But once they arrive, Felicity is nowhere to be found and things don’t exactly seem ready for a party. What have they gotten themselves into?

I loved this book! In the first few pages, I kept wondering why did these people agree to attend a party on another continent without getting any details?! The more time they spend together, it appears that maybe they weren’t even as close as they keep saying they were. I enjoyed the multiple points of view to see the events unfolding from each of the girls’ perspectives and kept thinking each of them was hiding something. The past timeline from the night their friendship “blew up” as they said, only made the twists that much more shocking. I thought I had this figured out not once but twice and still didn’t get things right, but I love when a book surprises me like that! It had almost a sinister feel to it by the end and I found myself wanting more! This is the first book I have read by this author but I would definitely read more!

Thanks to NetGalley, Scene of the Crime Early Reads, William Morrow - Custom House and Phoebe Morgan for the ARC to review! The Wild Girls releases April 26th! This review will be posted to my Instagram blog books_by_the_bottle shortly ☺️

This was an entertaining read, especially when the setting was in Botswana. The story unfolds from the different perspectives of four former friends, the wild girls, of the title. They haven't been in contact for two years and the why is slowly revealed throughout the book.

The Wild Girls follows a group of four women on a retreat to Botswana to celebrate and rekindle their friendship… or is it. I found this book hard to put down, as I needed to know what would happen next! I don’t often read suspense/thrillers but the big reveals and twists and turns were interesting, keeping me in the story.