Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Reckless Girls

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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martamae77's review

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tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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alona_reads's review

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adventurous dark hopeful 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

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elizabethgreads's review

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adventurous mysterious 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? No

3.0

A fun isolated closed circle mystery set between Hawaii and a deserted island in the pacific ocean. I enjoyed the first 3/4 of the book and it was a fun ride. However I didn't feel like the ending about the last 1/4 of the book was done well. It felt a bit well and the conclusion wasn't satisfying for me personally. This is a great beach/ vacation read, or readathon read but I think its forgettable once the fun of reading is over.

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danileah07's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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michellemaas's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

2.5

* Beware of minor spoilers

2.5 - ⭐⭐💫

Standalone Adult Thriller with island vibes, dual timelines, and multiple point-of-views. Also deals strongly with themes of privilege and loss.

It was a great study on human nature, but marketing it as a thriller is a bit of a stretch.

"Dreams were for people who had choices, opportunities. I didn’t believe I had any of those things."

Lux and her boyfriend, who are in dire need of some money, offer to accompany 2 college girls to a deserted island for a thrilling adventure. While things are nice, even relaxing at first, the discovery of a dead body causes them all to question whom they can trust.

"The truth is, when your world is falling apart, you stop having 'a thing.' You get so focused on just making it through each day that 'interests' or 'ambitions' kind of go out the window. You definitely don’t have time for passions."

First and foremost, I think marketing this as a "thriller" is a bit of a stretch. There were legit maybe 4 thrilling scenes in total, and even that's me being a bit generous. Now this was my first thriller so maybe I'll come to learn that that's just how it is, but I don't think so. This felt a lot more like a contemporary or speculative fiction book with a heavy emphasis on sociology.

The whole point of the book was to explore people. How they interacted, the things they did to be accepted by others, how loss affected them but also how isolation affected them. Being on a deserted island with no connection to the modern world gave everyone the freedom they needed to justify their baser human instincts. The jealousy, the possessiveness, the sexual urges, everything was dramatically heightened because there were no other people to subconsciously keep them in line with the threat of not fitting in and being accepted. It was a great study of human nature and I really enjoyed it but thrilling, it was not.

All that being said, I still think Hawkins is an amazing author. She has this way of using stylistic devices (which is not something I ever notice) to enhance the story and make the characters super realistic. Things such as her narrating past events in the third person as opposed to the first person of current events to create distance between the people our main characters were and currently are, for example. She also delivers a very slow and mundane start to the book so we can see how fast things escalate in the end. It was all just really well done.

"What am I when you strip everything else away? I’m a motherf*cking survivor."

Overall, I unexpectedly really enjoyed reading this book, especially the social commentary Hawkins made, but I wish there were more heart-pounding scenes and a bit more of a plot since things only really started happening at 65% in. The ending was pretty mind-blowing and expertly done though. Would recommend it if you are in the mood for a book that is slightly thrilling and has a cast of amazing characters.

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