Let me tell you, I adored Wrobel’s last book Darling Rose Gold. It was so dark and compelling and I just loved the way everything clicked together in the end. I was super excited to read this latest offering by Wrobel, and while it wasn’t as good as Darling Rose Gold, it was still a worthwhile read.
This Might Hurt is a February 2022 release from Berkley Publishers
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links, see disclosures for more detail.
About the Book:
Welcome to Wisewood. We’ll keep your secrets if you keep ours.
Natalie Collins hasn’t heard from her sister in more than half a year.
The last time they spoke, Kit was slogging from mundane workdays to obligatory happy hours to crying in the shower about their dead mother. She told Natalie she was sure there was something more out there.
And then she found Wisewood.
On a private island off the coast of Maine, Wisewood’s guests commit to six-month stays. During this time, they’re prohibited from contact with the rest of the world—no Internet, no phones, no exceptions. But the rules are for a good reason: to keep guests focused on achieving true fearlessness so they can become their Maximized Selves. Natalie thinks it’s a bad idea, but Kit has had enough of her sister’s cynicism and voluntarily disappears off the grid.
Six months later Natalie receives a menacing e-mail from a Wisewood account threatening to reveal the secret she’s been keeping from Kit. Panicked, Natalie hurries north to come clean to her sister and bring her home. But she’s about to learn that Wisewood won’t let either of them go without a fight.
My Thoughts:
I gave this book 3 stars.
Like many other people, I adored the darkness of Darling Rose Gold. It was twisty in the best possible way for me. This one, unfortunately, doesn’t even come close to that.
In trying to figure out what didn’t work for me, I came to the conclusion that there was just too much build up and not enough payoff.
We have three points of view: Natalie, the responsible older sibling, Kit, her younger sister who has left for a wellness retreat on a remote island for six months, and an unknown (at first) female who we are introduced to as a child being abused by her domineering father. It soon becomes apparent as to who this child is, and although those sections were the most difficult to read, they were the most compelling of the story. I found Kit and Natalie to be rather one-dimensional.
However even with the slow, slow build, the payoff in the end isn’t what it could have been. I was expecting an ending like Darling Rose Gold with everything clicking together, but it didn’t turn out that way, and the ending is a bit ambiguous (ugh).
It wasn’t a bad book, but just not as good as I was hoping it would be. I will still read more by this author because she definitely crafts unique tales.
