Book Review: Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins

 SUMMARY:

When Lux McAllister and her boyfriend, Nico, are hired to sail two women to a remote island in the South Pacific, it seems like the opportunity of a lifetime. Stuck in a dead-end job in Hawaii, and longing to travel the world after a family tragedy, Lux is eager to climb on board The Susannah and set out on an adventure. She’s also quick to bond with their passengers, college best friends Brittany and Amma. The two women say they want to travel off the beaten path. But like Lux, they may have other reasons to be seeking an escape.

Shimmering on the horizon after days at sea, Meroe Island is every bit the paradise the foursome expects, despite a mysterious history of shipwrecks, cannibalism, and even rumors of murder. But what they don’t expect is to discover another boat already anchored off Meroe’s sandy beaches. The owners of the Azure Sky, Jake and Eliza, are a true golden couple: gorgeous, laidback, and if their sleek catamaran and well-stocked bar are any indication, rich. Now a party of six, the new friends settle in to experience life on an exotic island, and the serenity of being completely off the grid. Lux hasn’t felt like she truly belonged anywhere in years, yet here on Meroe, with these fellow free spirits, she finally has a sense of peace.

But with the arrival of a skeevy stranger sailing alone in pursuit of a darker kind of good time, the balance of the group is disrupted. Soon, cracks begin to emerge: it seems that Brittany and Amma haven’t been completely honest with Lux about their pasts––and perhaps not even with each other. And though Jake and Eliza seem like the perfect pair, the rocky history of their relationship begins to resurface, and their reasons for sailing to Meroe might not be as innocent as they first appeared.

When it becomes clear that the group is even more cut off from civilization than they initially thought, it starts to feel like the island itself is closing in on them. And when one person goes missing, and another turns up dead, Lux begins to wonder if any of them are going to make it off the island alive. 

TEE'S THOUGHTS:

a short little intro…

Basically Lux meets Nico in San Diego and follows him to Hawaii, where they get stuck due to problems with Nico’s boat, keeping them from their plans to sail the world.  Soon Nico is offered a job to charter Brittany and Amma to a remote island, which includes them paying for Nico’s boat repairs, so of course Lux and Nico jump at the chance.

The story is written with several points of view, however the main voice is Lux. The story is told in the present and also in flashbacks. You also learn the history of Meroe Island through emails, letters, and diaries.

I enjoyed the book, but I felt that the beginning and middle dragged in places. My favorite part of the book took place on the island, so much tension and suspense takes place there. You feel something is just off about the place, and it gives you a bit of a creepy feel. 

The location is written wonderfully, you will feel the stifling heat and the tension, plus I love any thing that takes place on a beach or island. The characters  were a bit of a negative for me, none of them really had me rooting for them, but I wondered many times as I read if Hawkins wrote them that way.

The ending gives you a very twisty surprise, one I did not see coming at all. However, I am still not sure how I feel about it.

Reckless Girls releases January 4th but I think it would make a fantastic beach read. If you have to read it asap then do so, but if it can sit a bit on your shelf, grab it and throw it in your beach bag for vacation.