Evening Everyone,

Hope you’re all having a lovely weekend and getting everything done that you want to. First weekend in June I would have hoped to be out and about in some sunshine. Instead I’m still wearing hoodies and thick socks and questioning whether it’s acceptable to put the heating on or not. And that’s all I have to say about this ridiculous weather we’re having in the UK at the moment.

Book 📖

After reading the first book from @stephaniewrobel (The Recovery of Rose Gold) I was eagerly awaiting another book from this author. And so came This Might Hurt. I was kindly given an ARC of this book, but never got around to reading it in time, therefore I bough the audiobook to listen to.

Description 🔖

Kit Collins isn’t having a great time of life. She knows that something needs to change and this is how she hears about Wisewood. It’s a drastic change; a six month residential retreat on a remote island in Maine where no contact with the outside world is allowed. But maybe it is what she needs.

Kit’s sister Natalie knows that she isn’t contactable. However she knows that something is wrong when she receives an email from Wisewood. “We know what you did. Would you like to come tell your sister – or should we?”

Natalie sets off to try and find her sister and it soon becomes apparent that they’re both in danger. Will they manage to keep their secrets secret and more importantly, will they make it out of Wisewood?

General Thoughts 🤔

I had a constant creepy feeling whilst reading this book. It always felt like I had something lurking or hovering around me. It had such a steady build of tension that made everything feel eery and made me question everything that was happening and all of the characters.

The story was an interesting one that at a high level has been done before, but the specifics of This Might Hurt made it unique. I liked the loop around from childhood to adulthood which made me think of a concept that always interests me; nature or nurture.

Characters 👫👭👬

I found the characters a little bit difficult to follow at first as I was getting confused about who was who and timelines, but I think that was likely down to a couple of lapses in concentration as opposed to the book. However once I was clear on the characters, I was able to become invested in them.

The character I could relate to most was Natalie. Partly because she was the only one that I thought was sensible and not completely insane. She sacrificed her time and safety by going to Wisewood in search of her sister and unfortunately got herself wrapped up in something she probably wasn’t anticipating. I felt like she carried a lot of guilt and that was the reason for her rescue mission. It was unfortunate that Kit wasn’t able to see past her own feelings to realise this.

Writing Style ✍️

The story was told via multiple characters and different timelines. It was one of those books where I know the stories are going to come together at some point, but can’t quite work out how until it hits me right in the face. I think this helped in keeping me so engaged as every time I started a new chapter it felt like I was returning back to another story.

There were some pretty heavy going subjects covered in the story and there were a few moments where I felt quite uncomfortable, but I got the impression that it was supposed to make me feel uncomfortable. It was all done in taste and never felt like it had been taken too far.

Conclusion & Scoring 🎖

Overall this was a dark and eery book that gave me the chills whilst I was reading it. There were a few little surprises thrown in to keep me on my toes and the ending has left me with thought bubbles popping out of the side of my head. It didn’t quite hit the spot for me like The Recovery of Rose Gold did, but I would definitely still recommend.

😍😍😍😍😩