Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins

26 reviews

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

robin_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Infidelity, Drug use, Murder, Death of parent, Death, and Gun violence

Moderate: Grief, Medical trauma, and Gaslighting

Minor: Vomit

kshertz's review

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.75

This was a good mysterious thriller! There’s some parts that are slightly eye rolling because people just need to talk for like 5 minutes and clear this up but otherwise, it’s a cool setting on the island. There’s a ton of twists and turns and I was interested in how it was going to end!

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Content Warnings

Minor: Violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body horror, Sexual content, Infidelity, Bullying, Death, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Body shaming, Drug use, and Toxic relationship

oflifeandstuff's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-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

2.5

Kind of disappointing.. there was a lot of repetition and stuff that didn’t really make sense. I also thought it was a shame that there wasn’t a single character I wanted to root for. Robby was unnecessary and the island didn’t feel creepy until the last couple of chapters because the flashbacks were kind of random

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Car accident and Terminal illness

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

laurenkristine's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Death

Moderate: Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Infidelity

Minor: Car accident, Cannibalism, and Cancer

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