Book Review: Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins
So this new novel by Rachel Hawkins is the first that I’ve read from this author. Today, the Reckless Girls review will go over the plot, the mystery, and the thrill (or lack thereof).
Book Information
After her mother’s death, Lux follows her new boyfriend Nico across the country to meet him in Hawaii so that they can sail away on his boat around the world. The only problem is that when Lux gets to Hawaii, Nico’s boat has broken down and the two must save up money to fix it.
When two girls ask Nico to bring them to a deserted island a three-days sail away (with a large monetary payment), Lux jumps at the chance to get the boat fixed. She has finally found her escape with Nico. After the island, they can finally sail around the world. However, when they all travel to the island, they learn that things aren’t what they seem and the island just might not let them leave.
Review | Heidi Dischler
So, I was expecting a lot from this book because of how hyped up it’s been, but to tell you the truth, it was a little of a disappointment. Don’t get me wrong, the characters were all fully developed and the writing was beautiful, but the plot really wasn’t all there.
As a reader, I felt like I was misled so many times. When I first started reading this book, I thought the island would be this haunted place with deep, dark secrets. It had secrets, but not ones that seemed to fill that need I was searching for as a reader. Not to mention, the plot was just lacking the whole entire time.
This book felt so slow to me. Once they all leave Hawaii to go to the island, it just feels like a series of parties with tiny misfortunes that don’t really add up to what I would call a “thriller.” What made it a little slower than it already was is from the before chapters. You get to see a little bit of background from all of the characters, but, to me at least, these chapters dragged on and offered little in terms of building suspense.
I don’t want to talk about the spoilers today because there wasn’t anything that really wowed me about the reveal (that’s how you can tell that I really didn’t enjoy this book because I don’t even want to write about it).
Overall, I don’t know if this is necessarily a book I’d recommend to someone because I really didn’t like it myself. The other thing that bothered me was the fact that either this author (or the characters in her book) had a serious problem with men. I was disappointed to find out that the counterpart for misogyny is not as fun to say out loud. Misandry is the hatred of men, and it just doesn’t have the same ring to it as misogyny sadly.
Source: Personal Copy
