Luxe and her boyfriend Nico are just killing time in Maui, working dead-end jobs, trying to scrape together enough cash to fix up Nico's boat, the Susannah. Their dream is to sail it around the world. When two college age girls, rich tourist types, want to hire Nico to sail them to a remote island for a real off-the-grid experience, to Meroe Island, it seems like the perfect opportunity to bring their dream within reach. Luxe can even come along. When they arrive, it's the paradise that they dreamed of, but they're surprised to find another boat there, the Azure Sky. They make fast friends with the boat's owners and relax into their days in paradise. But soon cracks begin to show in the group dynamics. There are secrets being kept, and everyone is not who they seem.

I'm not saying I didn't enjoy this book, because I did. It provided some great escapism. I loved the setting and the gorgeous tropical imagery was very well done. There was a great atmosphere of unease and tension created on the creepy island. However, I had some believability issues with the plot. Too many coincidences for my taste. Also I didn't find the characters especially likeable. I get it, bad people do bad things, but I personally enjoy a book more when I have someone to root for. For a thriller, I just didn't find it that thrilling. But it was a fun, soapy escape from this cold PA winter.

Stuck on a gorgeous island in the pacific with a group of young strangers, what could possibly go wrong??

I LOVED The Wife Upstairs last year, so I could not wait to get my hands on Rachel’s newest release! I didn’t disappoint. This was such a fun and fast paced read! I flew through it in no time! I was really rooting for Lux throughout the book and while the ending was shocking, I was so satisfied!!

Read if you like:
•Sailing and travel
•Rich people behaving badly
•Girls out for revenge
•Lord of the flies vibes
•Surprise endings!!

The narration was perfect for the book and really added to the experience for me!

Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins is a fun and compulsively readable mystery set on a deserted island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Two boats containing 6 people total embark for the remote island known for its tragic past and beautiful but harsh surroundings. The story is told in alternating timelines for each person and we realize they all have secrets and why they have ended up there. The engaging story moves swiftly with short chapters. It was a really fun, quick read though sometimes you had a suspend disbelief. The audiobook narration by Barrie Kreinik was great and I especially enjoyed the different character's accents. Recommend if you're looking for something light and fast-moving!

Thank you St. Martin's Press / Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for providing this ebook/audiobook ARC.

Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for this ARC of Reckless Girls by @ladyhawkins ! I absolutely loved her first book, The Wife Upstairs and was so excited to be approved for this one!
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Lux and her boyfriend are hired by two tourists to set sail to a remote island in the South Pacific. Everything is going great and Lux remembers what it’s like to have women friends. But when they arrive on the island…they are met with some other explorers and then things go terribly wrong.
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-This one hooked me from the beginning. And I loved the twists. Snag this one on January 4. 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

Reckless Girls is a slow building thriller with so many twists and turns you’ll get dizzy by the end. I TRULY did not see any of this coming. Judging from the cover you’d expect a nice, chill beach read. That assumption would be wrong. Sure, the main characters spend a lot of time on the beach, but it is in no way a laid back vacation.

I loved this book, however it took me a while to get into it. I really was unsure where the book was going in the beginning. The creepy, thriller vibes didn’t start to show up for me until mid-ending. I suppose I could have not been paying enough attention though. When the red flags started to pop up, I grabbed right a hold of them though.

I did also find some of the characters obnoxious. Lux was always overly anxious, but by the end for good reason. The others were just hard to like. However it does make sense in the end. The title confused me as well, but it plays a big role in the book. Pay attention or you’ll miss something!

I DNFed this book about 8% in. Couldn’t get into it, the plot is slow and uninteresting. Main character keeps mentioning her boyfriend’s family money. 8% in and literally nothing has happened.

I liked it, but I didn't really like it until about 75% , and that's the only reason I didn't give it a higher rating. There was just so much setup about this island, and it just took forever to get super interesting. We've all seen or heard of the Island of Dr. Mureau, and I'm guessing this is where the author got the idea. There was just so much build-up for something crazy. I needed all the things to happen faster. The setting was very eerie, and I wasn't sure if it was going to turn into a Lord of the Flies situation or what. I did enjoy the ending very much and I would recommend it.

Thank you so much to @Netgalley and @RachelHawkins and @Macmillianaudio for this advanced listening copy for an honest review.

I love Rachel Hawkins and all of her work. I was so excited to see she had a new work of art. We start off with some history about Meroe Island and it's dark history. How is such a beautiful island full of so much ugliness? We learn about a couple living in Hawaii who take a pair of women to the island. The trip is a little rough but once they reach the destination, things are off to a great start. They event meet another couple. What could go wrong? Well, once we get a climpse into the pair of women and their twisted friendship, we start to assume what may happen. This was such a fantasitc story. I found the transition between the characters' back stories, the time on the island and the history of the island smooth. I listed to the audiobook version and read the e-book version. I really loved the audio version as it helped with the media clippings and helped give me an idea of where we were timewise.

I enjoyed listening to the audiobook of Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins. It was very well narrated by Barrie Kreinik, a narrator who has narrated a number of books I have enjoyed. I did like the way she gave personality to some of the different characters. This book is a perfect beach type of read and I was quite engaged with the storyline and wanting to see how everything turns out. This is a fairly quick read - had it not been for the holidays - I would have finished it much quicker.. The cover of this book is stunning and perfectly fits this book.. I think this would make a good movie to watch - probably not big screen but maybe Lifetime or Netflix or prime video. Thank you very much to MacMillan audio and NetGalley for an advanced listening copy of the audiobook.

Reckless Girls

Felt
Reckless

I don’t think there’s a better word.

I 100% recommend it for that upcoming vacation trip to the island you planned for this year.

It would be a perfect beach read.

It’s quick, somewhat painless and there is NOTHING to hold onto here.

The characters are flighty and unstable and the plot feels like oil in your belly. Settling into an adrenaline dump-type, ungrounded reading experience.

If you do pick it up, I imagine you’ll fly through it and forget it before the next sun rises.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for this advanced alc!

What starts as an easy-going beachy trip, turns on a dime and becomes one heck of a wild ride! A boat, lovers, new friends, beach parties, secrets (so many secrets), and murder. Hawkins has set us up for a wondrously written (and beautifully told in the audio) story.

It all begins like a careless summer day on the beach. Hawkins paces her story piece by piece and then she slowly unravels it. Imagine being locked on an island with no way out as you discover the people with you aren't who you thought them to be. It's pure insanity and I was completely sucked into their world. The dual timelines with multiple viewpoints definitely had me wondering how it all connected.

And while the cast of characters wasn't all likable, I have to admit I enjoyed watching their world implode bit by bit. And while the story was sometimes predictable, its also immensely enjoyable. There's just something about a vacation gone wrong story.

Many thanks to Netgalley, the author and McMillian Audio for the enjoyable advanced listen.

Can we stop for a minute to just admire the cover? With just a few colors and blossoms, the reader envisions a luxurious, tropical, and serene setting. Well, Reckless Girls is a thriller, so serene it is not, but two out of three ain’t bad, right?

I listened to the audiobook with my husband on our drive from the freezing Midwest to the beachy coast, so the setting of this novel was perfect for our travels. The narrator, Barrie Kreinik, had a tough lineup of characters to portray from American frat boys to wealthy Aussies to an English Lord from the 1700s (seriously) to bitchy pretty girls to a weak and shrieking people pleaser. This narration could have gone wrong so many times but Kreinik is very talented and she pulled it off effortlessly. Her distinct voice also helped ensure that the listener was able to keep track of the multiple media sources that supplemented the main storyline, a narrative tactic that usually works best in print form, but was woven nicely into the narration.

So the cover is gorgeous, the narrator engaging, but how about the actual story? That’s where it didn’t quite live up to my expectations. I love Hawkins and The Wife Upstairs was a top read for me, but Reckless Girls was just so obvious to me. I wasn’t surprised by any of the twists and turns, although my husband, who doesn’t read thrillers, was utterly shocked when I paused the audiobook as we went along and predicted the next move. So maybe I’ve just read so much that my mind now automatically works like a thriller and I figure out the plot lines before any normal, sane reader! I also really disliked the main character, Lux. Her people pleasing, pushover, I just want somebody to accept me personality fueled by daddy issues felt so stereotypical. I think we were supposed to view her as strong and capable but I found her actions and dialogue weak. She constantly shuts down her internal voice to avoid conflict and it gets old quickly.

I appreciated the fleshed out backstories of the side characters and I think the pacing was great! It definitely kept our attention on our long drive and we were both engaged and interested, even if only one of us was wondering what would happen next. A fast read for a beach vacation or if you just want an escape to a tropical locale. The way the island treats its visitors in Reckless Girls might just have you wanting to head back to the safety of the frigid cold.

Many thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the advance audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

✨Book Review ✨

Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I think I’m the only one on this planet
who hasn’t read “The Wife Upstairs.” I’ve heard such great things about Rachel Hawkins and I immediately jumped for the opportunity to review one of her books.

Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for giving me thhe opportunity to review “Reckless Girls” in exchange for an honest review.

My Thoughts:

First of all, I really enjoyed this fast paced book. I loved the “Castaway” vibes that this book portrayed. Being stuck on a tropical deserted island would really freak me out and being stuck with a psycho would be the worst scenario ever !!! That’s what made me love the plot even more!!! The characters were great too!! A few of them gave me the creeps. I was also curious about what secrets they were all hiding from one another. I definetky did not know what to expect from one moment to the next. At times I felt that the plot lagged but it made up for it by having a twisted ending, Now I really feel the need to read the “Wife Upstairs.” I have no excuse since I already have it sitting on my shelf!!!!!

Synapsis:

Luz and her boyfriend are hired to sail two strangers to Mercoe Island. When they arrive tomthe remote island they find another couple already there. Their adventure turns into long nights of drinking and partying. The fun soon ends as someone ends up dead and another missing.

If you were stranded on a deserted island name 3 items you couldn’t live without.

Read More Books

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Before I jump into my review I have to openly admit that the cover was the only thing that attracted me to this book. (Huge kudos to whoever created the design for this book!)
With that being said, Reckless Girls is everything you expect from a typical popcorn thriller.
Hawkins does a fantastic job in creating an island that anyone would want to venture off to on a whim. While on the surface, the island seems picturesque, there is always that lurking feeling something is off. With all the suspense and alternating story line between the present and past of the main characters, the ending fell extremely flat for me.

I would definitely recommend going the audio book route with this one. Barrie Kreinik brings each character life with her talent of nailing male and female characters effortlessly.

With Reckless Girls being the first book I have read by Rachel Hawkins, I am looking forward to adding her other titles to my TBR list.
Thank you to St. Martin's Press/Macmillan Publishers Reading Insiders Club and NetGalley for this ARC.

Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins
Releasing Jan. 4th, 2022

I listened to the audio of this…again while shoveling snow…I swear Mother Nature said, “You’re moving to warmer pastures? Well then. Enjoy your last true winter.” She and I are not on friendly terms right now.

The thought of a beautiful secluded island helped distract me though! People were dropping like flies in this novel and I caught on to what was happening, but it was still fun.

Things seemed amiss from the beginning and I found myself wondering why people made the choices they did. That’s a common theme with characters in thrillers though 🥴 otherwise they’d probably all survive and that makes for a boring book!

Last thought, I didn’t connect with any of the characters so I didn’t care when they died. That sounds awful, but maybe that was the point 🤷🏻‍♀️ it also made it just an okay read for me.

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the arc! ❤️

I began listening to this on audio but ended up reading it on my Kindle. The narrator was good but I had some time to actually sit and read. Below is my review of the e-copy.
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{Thank you to @stmartinspress and @netgalley for this ALC of 𝘙𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘎𝘪𝘳𝘭𝘴 by Rachel Hawkins.}⁣⁣
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I've been putting this one off but let's just pull off the band-aid and get it over with. ⁣⁣
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Sailing towards a deserted tropical paradise with a history of horrific events...potential, potential, potential. But what started off with intrigue, quickly digressed into a downward spiral of meh.⁣⁣
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Incredibly unlikeable characters all around. Not one male character with any redeeming qualities. It was basically impossible to care about anyone. ⁣⁣
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The ending just got more haphazard with every turn of the page. Finally, ending with a character having to literally explain what was going on because it was all so random. ⁣⁣
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3 ⭐ because while it wasn't great...it wasn't the worst thing I read this month.

Thank you to the publisher allowing me access to this audiobook in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoy this narrator’s voice, even at 1.25 or 1.5 speed, which made the listening experience quite pleasant. The plot felt more like a character study in a pretty place than the thriller I was expecting. I do enjoy the way this author tells stories - revealing backstory a needed. But in this book there was one plot point that just kept sticking in my brain that held me back from fully enjoying it. Who would rekindle a romantic relationship with someone when one person’s parent was responsible for the other person’s parent going to prison for ten years???? I just don’t see how anyone would put themselves in that situation.

So, you travel with your boyfriend to a deserted island in the pacific, what you would imagine paradise looks like, when he is hired by two friends looking to escape life for two weeks. When you approach this island, there's another boat there, with a very friendly, nice couple. It's two weeks, what could go wrong? Two weeks, it turns out, is long enough for everyone's secrets to come out, and do they ever! I really enjoyed the way Rachel Hawkins unwound this story and the narrator did a great job. #netgalley #recklessgirls

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book from Rachel Hawkins. I love how she makes the twist and turns in her books to keep you guessing on the outcome. This was very easy to get into and kept my attention through the whole book. I will continue to be a fan of Rachel Hawkins books as this did not disappoint.

#RachelHawkins #MacmillanAudio

The Wife Upstairs was a five-star read for me. I was excited to read Rachel's book Reckless Girls. I loved Reckless Girls even more.

Pay close attention to the characters Brittany and Amma. I was getting some of their details confused. The backstory plays into the ending.

I liked the audiobook reader. However, it would have helped to have more of a difference between the characters.

I received this galley from NetGalley.