This Might Hurt by Stephanie Wrobel
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
**2.5-stars rounded up**
Hoping for a fresh start, Kit Collins signs up for Wisewood, purportedly a Wellness Retreat, set on a remote island off the coast of Maine. This could be just what she needs to get her floundering life in order.
Initially, her stay was to be 6-months, where she would be completely cut off from the outside world, including from her older sister, Natalie.
Natalie, pretty much her younger sister’s opposite, is a successful business woman with a fairly structured life.
All that gets thrown for a loop, however, on the day Natalie receives a seemingly threatening email stemming from Wisewood: We know what you did. Would you like to come tell your sister – or should we?
That’s enough convincing for her. Natalie packs her bags and off she goes on a mission to save Kit; and let’s be honest, to save her secret too.
Over the course of this story, we follow both Natalie and Kit’s perspectives, but we also get a historical perspective from an unknown third character.
Eventually, the person’s identity is revealed, but basically, this perspective is following a charming little girl being psychologically abused by her domineering Father.
Most interesting to me was following along with Natalie as she arrives at Wisewood and slowly deciphers what it is all about. The whole-vibe is quite cultish and I feel like Wrobel did a nice job with that.
I also really enjoyed the historical perspective of the little girl, growing up the way she did and what she chose to do with her life.
In other areas though, this fell short of my expectations. The pace was quite uneven for me, with my interest level waxing and waning heavily throughout. By the end, I really couldn’t be bothered to care anymore.
I finished this 2-weeks ago and already have completely forgotten what the big secret was. That’s not a great sign.
Wrobel definitely has a knack for exploring complicated familial relationships. They certainly abound in this story.
Truthfully, some of the circumstances are difficult to read, so if you feel like you could be sensitive to any plot involving significant mental abuse, and at times physical danger, you may want to proceed with caution.
Overall, I personally could have used higher stakes with a lot more suspense and intrigue. This is still a solid story, if a bit lackluster. With this being said, I’m sure many Readers will enjoy it. Sadly, it just wasn’t my cup of tea.
Please don’t take my word for it though. As we all know, reading is highly subjective. If the synopsis sounds interesting to you, pick it up and give it a go!
Thank you to the publisher, Berkley Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review.
Even though this one didn’t quite knock it out of the park for me, I still enjoy Wrobel’s writing and ideas. I would definitely pick up future works from her.