Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins

17 reviews

chanlo1994's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Violence, Cannibalism, and Car accident

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I liked this story and really any one where the girlies fight back. I liked how the story all came together, and I was really interested in the fictional island. Lux is a wild name for a character, though haha

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Bullying, Gun violence, Infidelity, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Drug use, Abandonment, Alcohol, Murder, Sexual content, Death of parent, Blood, Grief, and Death

Minor: Car accident, Classism, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, and Emotional abuse

elzibub's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Bullying, Grief, Death of parent, Death, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Infidelity and Drug use

Minor: Murder and Abandonment

amanda_reads13's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Lux and her boyfriend Nico are hired by two women, Brittany and Amma, to sail the to the deserted Meroe island in the South Pacific. There they meet Jake and Eliza. The arrival of a creepy stranger changes everything as secrets are revealed and lives are changed. 

Majority of the book follows the 6 people while they run amuck on a deserted island. All of the mystery/thriller elements are left to the very end. 

I did like the bits of flashbacks we got, it helped to shed light on everyone's motives. 

There are some gigantic plot holes...

 I had a feeling early on that Eliza could have been Chloe, but dismissed this idea because Amma has MET Chloe, she knows what she looks like. There is no way that Amma didn't know that Eliza was Chloe. This made no sense at all. 

Also, how did Lux get off the island by herself? She didn't have a radio and she doesn't know how to sail? Again, makes no sense.

I don't think that the epilogue added to the story. We are just meant to believe that Lux has continued what Brittany and Chloe schemed? It makes sense for her to make off with the cash and start new, but not this vigilante thing.  

The narrator for the audio is very good. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Infidelity, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Car accident and Death of parent

vanella's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Death, Alcohol, Cursing, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Car accident, Infidelity, Stalking, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Cannibalism, Blood, and Drug use

Minor: Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, and Vomit

svangleboyer's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Reckless Girls is a great thriller with some interesting twists that I did not see coming, intriguing characters, and a fantastic plot that I couldn't put down until I finished.
 
Rachel Hawkins does a great job building up the tension through the novel though it is a little bit slow in some places.  I love the descriptions and felt like I was right there on Merone Island with the characters.  I really enjoyed the theme of strong women who have overcome tragedy seen throughout the novel.  I also loved the plot twists because there were a couple, I DID NOT suspect which is always nice to find.

I didn't like all the characters, but I did find them to be well-developed and enjoyed seeing all the various flaws each one had.  I also really enjoyed learning all their different backstories throughout the novel.  

I highly recommend Reckless Girls to thriller fans, to anyone who likes themes of strong women, and/or anyone looking for a good "locked room mystery" just set on an island instead of a building.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Classism

Moderate: Alcohol and Drug use

Minor: Car accident

booksbytheglass's review

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

do you know when you’re watching a terrible horror movie and you’re literally screaming at the television screen to see if the MCs will listen to you instead of being their dumb ass selves? 

yeah, that’s basically how this one went. 😬

as soon as nico practically blackmailed and gaslighted his girlfriend lux to take two strangers sailing on his boat to a DESERT REMOTE ISLAND, I said uh uh these people cannot be this dense. 

dense would be a nice word to describe the brain cells between all six of the main characters. 

while I will admit that there were a few twists that I didn’t see coming, they didn’t pack a punch for me. the characters were inconsistent in their ways of lying so by the time the twists came, I wasn’t even sure who was telling the truth. 

I absolutely loved the picturesque slightly spooky island off the coast of hawaii! it made me want to sail out there ASAP (except I definitely wouldn’t pick a rumored haunted one with no cell service 🥴🥴🥴)

the ending was as much of a left down for me as the rest of the book was, and the only redeeming quality for me was how quick and easy the chapters were to read. I read this one in like three hours!!!

if you’re into an easy cheesy thriller, I would definitely recommend this. otherwise, I’d mark it as a skip. 

rating: 2 stars
wine pairing: hawaiian sweet pineapple wine 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Emotional abuse

booksnbones13's review

challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Grief, Alcohol, Death, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship

chandranolynne's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Violence, Confinement, Cursing, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Car accident, Classism, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Drug use, Gore, Grief, and Toxic friendship

taelights's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This book was such a slow burn and didn't even have that good of a payoff. Basically nothing happens other than relationship drama until the last 2 hours of the book. There were some slightly creepy moments I guess if you squint but honestly I felt this wasn't creepy at all and barely qualified as a thriller until the last hour of the audiobook but even then… 

The writing was good and it was interesting enough to listen to during work but if I had read the physical book I probably would have definitely dnf it. 

Also the whole twist of the story is built on a giant plot hole so…. yikes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexual content, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, and Grief

Minor: Cannibalism and Car accident