This Might Hurt by Stephanie Wrobel

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When Natalie's sister Kit tells her she's going to a six-month wellness retreat, Natalie thinks Kit is just making another crazy impulsive decision in the aftermath of their mother's death. But when Natalie receives an email threatening to reveal a deep secret to Kit that could tear the sisters apart once and for all, she heads to the isolated retreat, run by the secretive "Teacher," and immediately feels that something is "off." Her sister seems happy, but aloof, and someone seems to be tracking her every move. With a storm bearing down on the island and no way of communicating with the outside world, Natalie tries to get through to her sister, while Kit continues to work through the issues that brought her to this isolated locale in the first place.

There are various stories weaved throughout the book: Natalie's in the present, trying to figure out what's going on with the email and her sister at the retreat; a story about a young woman as she grows up and develops into her own person (don't want to give too much away, but it's relevant); and then Kit's perspective applying and driving at the retreat and her journey through the program. It sounds complicated but the author makes it work really well. I really enjoyed getting to see all the perspectives and get the whole story from all the angles possible. The story was able to build and build that way.

The tension and atmosphere in the book just really made the whole story and you could just cut it with a knife - there was such a great feeling of almost being able to cut the air with a knife waiting for the other show to drop. It was absolutely so cool. Very much like waiting for the cult - because the retreat has a very heavy cult-like feel - to finally drink the kool-aid and begin the meltdown.

I just wish that when the big reveal was "revealed" it had a little more "oomph" if you now what I mean. It was more gradual, and with all the build up, it could have been more of a bang. A bit more of a punch rather than a scratch.

But other than that I loved this book. It has so many great elements that come together beautifully to create a tense, chilling read. I would definitely read more from this author!

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