Tricky Girls Review (Holly Thorne): Is It Worth Reading?

Updated on October 8, 2026

Verdict: A slow-burn sapphic why-choose that runs on banter, found family and one ferocious enemies-to-lovers thread, set at a “mafia-run” British university where the mafia barely matters — warm and addictive for most readers, and very much half a story.

Best for: Readers who want a “straight girl” awakening, butch love interests competing for her, a hostile third with a secret, and a duet they can finish straight away.

Heat level: ★★★★☆ (4/5 — romance.io’s readers say 5, “explicit and plentiful”; readers describe a long slow burn, with the spice arriving late and one counting seven scenes)

Rating: ★★★★☆ (3.7/5 — a 4.16 Goodreads average from 1,182 ratings, adjusted for a high share of advance-copy reviews, a thin plot and a cliffhanger ending)

Tropes: Why choose (F/F/F/F), queer awakening, enemies to lovers, roommates and forced proximity, found family, slow burn, hidden past, masc/femme, duet opener.

Tricky Girls is the first half of Holly Thorne’s Girls of Hazelhurst duet, a dark sapphic romance self-published in February 2025. Its narrator, Matilda — Tilda — is a scholarship student who intends to keep her head down at Hazelhurst University, until she ends up living with three women: two who want her, and one who seems to hate her.

It has 1,182 Goodreads ratings averaging 4.16 and 174 written reviews, 822 Amazon ratings averaging 4.5, and a 4.20 from 23 romance.io readers. More than three in four Goodreads readers give it four or five stars. The reviews are warm, but a noticeable number come from advance-copy readers, and the complaints that do appear are consistent: the plot is thin, the British slang loses some readers, and the book stops just as things start.

What Is Tricky Girls About?

The author calls it part one of a sapphic why-choose duet, with enemies to lovers, sapphic awakening, found family and hidden identity, and she prints the content warnings inside the cover. It is told in first person from all four women’s points of view. Romance.io readers tag it dark romance, queer awakening, slow burn, college, poly and FFF+, and list drug abuse, self-harm, suicidal ideation and past child abuse among the content warnings.

Tilda believes she is straight. Elly, gentle and dominant, and Haz, sweet with a possessive streak, are two butch women who set out to change her mind, competing with each other as much as pursuing her. Nic is the fourth: hostile from the first page, and clearly connected to something in Tilda’s past that Tilda cannot remember. The university is described as mafia-owned, but readers say that element barely touches the plot in book one.

What Makes This Dark Why-Choose Romance Work

Elly: The most loved character by a distance. Several readers say she has their heart, and one argues the book should not be a why-choose at all, because Tilda should simply be with Elly.
The banter: Haz and Elly’s flirtation and rivalry are the fun of the book, and readers call it funny, flirty and oddly cosy.
Nic and Tilda: The enemies thread is the one readers say they cannot stop thinking about — one calls the hatred the deepest they have read.
The found family: Readers describe four damaged women who own their pain and look after each other, and readers single out the friendships and the cuddling as the warm heart of the book.
Tilda’s awakening: One reader praises a coming-out story that does not insist on a label, and another says past trauma is handled authentically.

Book Synopsis

Tilda has fought hard for her place at Hazelhurst, and she means to keep it by staying out of the way. The university has a reputation — old money, questionable lecturers and rumours of something criminal underneath — and none of it is her business.

Then one night three women step in when she needs help, and afterwards they will not leave her alone. Elly is kind and steady. Haz is all charm with something darker beneath it. Nic is furious with her for reasons nobody will explain. Living alongside them, Tilda finds her certainty about herself wearing thin.

The closer she gets, the more she senses that something is wrong with Nic, and that the answer is tied to a past Tilda does not remember. Staying safe at Hazelhurst may depend on working out what that is.

My Review

The best thing in Tricky Girls is its people. Elly and Haz are distinct kinds of pursuit, warm and gently in charge against chaotic and possessive, and the scenes where they compete for Tilda while ribbing each other are why readers keep recommending the book. Behind them sits Nic, whose hostility gives the book its tension. It is a smart structure for a why-choose: two pairings that are fun and one that hurts.

Where it struggles is plot. Readers who came for dark academia and a mafia-run university say both are set dressing — one says the mafia “doesn’t really play into the plot,” and another that there wasn’t much plot at all, only relationships. Nic’s secret is the one mystery, and the book withholds it so firmly that some readers lost patience with her. One calls her a child for refusing to explain; another found her repeated thoughts about Tilda tedious.

The prose is the second sticking point. At least three readers say the British slang and vocabulary lost them, one calls the book confusing and poorly written, and a three-star reviewer found its Harry Potter references jarring. These are minority complaints, but they recur. The darker side is real but secondary: one fan says you have to get past “the predatory, toxic” behaviour to enjoy it, and another felt that Haz gave off predator vibes.

Then there is the ending. This is part one of two, and readers say it ends just as the heat and the mystery arrive. That is the most common reaction in the reviews — four- and five-star readers demanding book two.

My honest note: A fun, character-led why-choose with real chemistry and a slow burn that works, for readers who will read both books. Treat it as the first half of one story.

Element	In Tricky Girls
Central relationship	Tilda with Elly, Haz and Nic — a why-choose (F/F/F/F), with Nic’s arc barely begun
Core tropes	Queer awakening, enemies to lovers, roommates, found family, slow burn, hidden past
Setting	Hazelhurst, a British university said to be mafia-owned
Heat level	4/5 — romance.io’s 23 readers say 5, “explicit and plentiful”; readers describe a slow burn with late, explicit scenes
Series	Girls of Hazelhurst book 1 of 2 — ends on a cliffhanger; concludes in Vying Girls
Content notes	Drug abuse, self-harm, suicidal ideation, past child abuse, betrayal, a predatory dynamic flagged by readers; the author prints content warnings in the book

How Dark and Spicy Is Tricky Girls?

A 4/5 on heat, with a split between the sources. Romance.io’s 23 raters give it five of five, “explicit and plentiful.” Readers describe something slower: one says the denial lasts until about 70% of the book, another expected a why-choose to be all smut and found a very slow burn instead, and one rates the spice three chillies “when you finally get to it.” One reader counts seven spicy scenes. The scenes are explicit; they arrive late.

On darkness, it is at the mild end of what this site files as dark romance. The darkness is mostly in the women’s histories and in the content warnings rather than in on-page violence, and the mafia setting is largely backdrop. If you want a darker sapphic why-choose, Kylie Cross’s To The Bone is more explicit and more violent.

Who Should Read This Book?

You’ll likely love it if: you want a slow-burn why-choose, a “straight girl” who isn’t, butch love interests, found-family banter, and an enemies-to-lovers thread with a mystery underneath.

You may want to skip it if: you want plot as much as romance, British slang slows you down, you dislike a love interest who withholds the truth for a whole book, you want spice early, or you hate cliffhangers.

In short: a character-first why-choose opener that is more cosy than dark.

What Readers Are Actually Saying (October 2026)

This is one of the better-read sapphic why-choose books on Kindle Unlimited. It came out in February 2025 and has 1,182 Goodreads ratings and 174 written reviews. The distribution is 45% five stars, 32% four, 16% three, 3% two and 2% one. On Amazon, 87% of its 822 ratings are four or five stars. Among the most visible Goodreads reviews, roughly a quarter say they received an advance copy, which is worth knowing when you weigh the praise. We found no audiobook edition on Amazon or Libro.fm.

Why readers love it (according to the discourse): Elly, first. Then the Haz-and-Elly rivalry, the banter and the found family. The Nic-and-Tilda tension is the third draw, and the one that pulls readers into book two. Readers also praise the four points of view, and one values a queer awakening that does not force a label.

What readers argue about and complain about: Thin plot is the most repeated complaint. British slang and an unusual vocabulary are second. Nic’s refusal to explain herself is the third, and Tilda’s “straight girl” antics annoy a few readers. The predatory edge in the pursuit is flagged by a small number. Readers who liked Kylie Cross’s Road to Ruin will find a similar “straight heroine” setup with much less violence.

The series question everyone should ask first: Tricky Girls does not stand alone. It ends on a cliffhanger with Nic’s secret and most of the relationships unresolved. The good news is that the duet is complete: Vying Girls is out, in Kindle Unlimited, and averages 4.3 on Goodreads from 660 ratings and 4.6 on Amazon from 451.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Tricky Girls end on a cliffhanger?

Yes. It is part one of the Girls of Hazelhurst duet and ends with Nic’s secret and most of the relationships unresolved. The story concludes in Vying Girls, which is already out.

How spicy is Tricky Girls?

Explicit, but slow to arrive. Romance.io’s raters give it 5/5; readers describe a long slow burn, with one counting seven spicy scenes. We rate it 4/5.

Is Tricky Girls a mafia romance?

Only in the background. Hazelhurst is described as mafia-owned, but readers say the mafia barely affects the plot of book one. It reads as a campus why-choose and an enemies-to-lovers mystery.

Is Tricky Girls F/F/F/F?

Yes. Tilda’s love interests are Elly, Haz and Nic, all women. Elly and Haz are butch, and the book is a queer awakening for Tilda, who begins by calling herself straight.

Is Tricky Girls on Kindle Unlimited?

Yes. As of October 2026 both books in the duet are in Kindle Unlimited. We found no audiobook on Amazon or Libro.fm.

If You Loved Tricky Girls, Read These Next

Go straight to Vying Girls to finish the story. For more sapphic why-choose, read our reviews of To The Bone, a far more explicit sorority revenge story, and Road to Ruin, which shares the “straight heroine” setup. For more campus settings, browse our sapphic college romance books. For hostile love interests, see possessive and obsessive sapphic romance and books like Tryst Six Venom. Our 25 dark lesbian romances cover the wider shelf, or you can explore lesbian romance books by trope and mood.

The Bottom Line

Tricky Girls sets out to be a dark sapphic why-choose and ends up as something warmer: a found-family slow burn with one painful enemies-to-lovers thread. It succeeds on Elly, on the banter, on Nic and Tilda’s tension and on a queer awakening readers find affirming. It is weaker on plot, on prose that does not travel well for every reader, and on an ending that stops halfway. With the duet complete and in Kindle Unlimited, it is an easy recommendation for readers who want characters first, and a cautious one for anyone who came for the mafia. Check Tricky Girls on Amazon →

The Eikna Overall Ranking

On the Eikna scale, Tricky Girls ranks as a well-loved indie why-choose opener — strong on characters and chemistry, light on plot, and complete only with its sequel.