“In a luxury lodge on Botswana’s sun-soaked plains, four friends reunite for a birthday celebration…

THE BIRTHDAY GIRL
Has it all, but chose love over her friends…

THE TEACHER
Feels the walls of her flat and classroom closing in…

THE MOTHER
Loves her baby, but desperately needs a break…

THE INTROVERT
Yearns for adventure after suffering for too long…

Arriving at the safari lodge, a feeling of unease settles over them. There’s no sign of the party that was promised. There’s no phone signal. They’re alone, in the wild.

THE HUNT IS ON.”

Hello and welcome to damppebbles. Today I am delighted to be sharing my review of The Wild Girls by Phoebe Morgan. The Wild Girls was published on 15th April 2021 by HQ and is available in paperback, audio and digital formats. I chose to read and review a free copy of The Wild Girls which has in no way influenced my review. My grateful thanks to HQ and First Monday Crime for sending me a review copy of the book.

The fabulous Phoebe Morgan will be appearing alongside a host of other brilliant authors later today – Monday, 10th May 2021 at 7.30pm – over on the FM Facebook page. More information further down this post!

Four friends torn apart by one fateful night two years ago. Their lives have taken very different paths. Grace has become a hermit, hiding away from everyone and everything. Alice is drowning in debt and if truth be told, is unhappy in her relationship. Hannah is finally a mum to Max after years of trying and lots of heartache. And Felicity has moved to New York and is living a perfect, glamorous life (no surprise there!). When an expensive looking invitation arrives for each of the women, they’re shocked to discover that Felicity is offering them an olive branch in the form of an all expenses paid long weekend in Botswana to mark her 30th birthday. After careful consideration, all three friends accept and board the 11 hour flight to a different world. But when they arrive, exhausted, at their exclusive lodgings something doesn’t feel right. There’s no sign of Felicity, there’s not another soul to be seen. They have no idea where they are and their phones aren’t working. This dream holiday could turn out to be the death of them…

What a thoroughly entertaining book The Wild Girls is. I found it to be very readable and quite the page-turner. I admit, I initially took a bit of a dislike to the main characters but that didn’t stop me from enjoying their tale. I warmed to Grace the most over the course of the book, despite the fact she’s quite naïve and timid at times. Each of the four friends has a very defined role in their group, as you would expect, and as the story progressed she came out of her shell more and more. The more I read, the more I liked her.

The Wild Girls is full to the brim of secrets. I really enjoyed the uncertainty the author packs into the story. The reader finds out early on that something went wrong between the four friends to shatter their very tight-knit friendship. It’s not until later on in the story that you find out what happened and why. It was very clever the way the author put blame in one way or another on all four characters (although the blame on one character was self imposed – I don’t think anyone else would blame her for what she did!). I also really liked the way I was never 100% certain about anything.

Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. The Wild Girls is a very readable psychological crime thriller which I can see being a huge hit. This is the second book I have read by Morgan (the first being her debut – The Doll House) and I would happily read more of this author’s work. I loved the setting which gave the story a wonderful isolated edge. It was different and a hook in itself for me. I had hoped for a slightly different ending but it wasn’t to be – it felt a smidge flat after everything that proceeded it (perhaps I missed something). Still a very entertaining, compelling read. Recommended.

I chose to read and review a free ARC of The Wild Girls. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

The Wild Girls by Phoebe Morgan was published in the UK by HQ on 15th April 2021 and is available in paperback, audio and digital formats (please note, the following links are affiliate links which means I receive a small percentage of the purchase price at no extra cost to you): | amazon.co.uk | Waterstones | Foyles | Book Depository | bookshop.org | Goodreads | damppebbles bookshop.org shop |

First Monday Crime
Phoebe Morgan will be joining the panel for May’s First Monday Facebook event on Monday 10th May 2021. Phoebe will be appearing alongside Tina Baker (author of Call Me Mummy), James Delargy (author of Vanished), Marion Todd (author of What They Knew) and asking the questions will be William Shaw. The event is FREE of charge and will be held at 7.30pm on Monday 10th May via the First Monday Facebook page.

Phoebe Morgan is a bestselling author and editor. She studied English at Leeds University after growing up in the Suffolk countryside. She has previously worked as a journalist and now edits commercial fiction for a publishing house during the day, and writes her own books in the evenings. She lives in London and you can follow her on Twitter @Phoebe_A_Morgan, Instagram @phoebeannmorgan, Facebook @PhoebeMorganAuthor or find her blog about publishing and writing at http://www.phoebemorganauthor.com.