This Might Hurt follows sisters Kit and Natalie. Kit has entered a cult, and Natalie receives a mysterious email from someone at the cult threatening to tell Kit a long held secret. Natalie uses this as a call to get her sister out of the island commune upon which she has lived for the last 6 months. But when Natalie arrives, she realizes that not only is Kit in deeper than she thought, but that the island holds many dangerous secrets.

If you are interested in cults (and I am), this gives some good insight as to how a "normal" person could easily get sucked in. The first third of the book follows Natalie and a mystery perspective, and I devoured those parts - the mystery of what Natalie did and what happened to Kit is super compelling. But then, we get Kit's perspective on the island, and by then I had figured out the mystery perspective and for some reason that portion dragged pretty heavily. But at about the 60% mark, stuff picks back up, and I finished the book quickly from there. On the whole, I liked it! In the way of many psychological thrillers, it has a somewhat ambiguous ending, which I sometimes love, and sometimes doesn't work for me. I didn't love it here.

So, this is not at all my genre, but I enjoyed it! Fans of psychological thrillers or folks interested in cults will find a lot to love here - 3.5 stars.

I’m absolutely fascinated by cults, so I knew this was a book I’d be gripped by, and I was not disappointed! This book draws you in slowly, peeling back layers a little at a time, until the last quarter which takes hold and doesn’t let go until you turn the final page. While the way the narration is set up could have gotten confusing, Wrobel delivered it flawlessly with just enough mystery to keep me wondering how the different timelines and stories tied together. I love the way this book gets down to the core of where our fears come from and how they manifest themselves in our daily lives. It definitely got deeper than most thrillers and (dare I admit it? 😬) had me looking at my own fears and how to let go of them. This would be a perfect pick for a book club, but I’d recommend this to anyone who wants a creepy atmospheric thriller with some unique twists!

I have recently become obsessed with reading stories about cults. This Might Hurt satisfied the itch I didn't realize that I had. I loved the exploration into human manipulation and how it made me reflect on human nature. The only issue I had with this title was that the multiple timelines had me confused at points. I would have to re-read the start of the chapter to try to get my bearings on when I was reading. Maybe the addition of some chapter headers would help solve this issue?

This was a dnf at 31% for me. I think I am dnfing purely for the poor formatting and confusing narration. I cannot tell at all who's talking at any given time. Had the POV been more clear and concise I think I could have gotten into this book.

I think I'm just not the right audience for this author. I see others obviously enjoy the books, but they're not for me. This one, for example, was just tedious. The writing was fine, but I didn't find the story that interesting.

I love a great hook right at the beginning of a book and This Might Hurt by Stephanie Wrobel certainly fits the bill. I was immediately drawn in and ready for a wild ride. The novel is told in alternating perspectives, which adds to the suspense and rising tension throughout the novel.

As the novel opens, Natalie is traveling to Wisewood an isolated retreat center on an island off the coast of Maine. She received a cryptic email from an unknown sender at Wisewood and has decided to visit her sister Kit who has been at Wisewood for six months with no communication. Once Natalie arrives she quickly realizes Wisewood is not your average self-improvement retreat and she worries that her sister has gone down the rabbit hole of this creepy cult. In addition to the voices of Natalie and Kit the novel includes an unknown narrator who is later revealed as the plot develops.

All three perspectives go back and forth from past to present to reveal more and more of the story behind Wisewood. This is an insightful and chilling look at the allure of cult leaders. The novel also explores family secrets and childhood trauma. If you're looking for a suspenseful read with jaw-dropping moments, This Might Hurt just might be the next book for you. This one hits shelves on February 22, 2022. Thank you to Berkley Books and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This Might Hurt had so many twist and turns it’s like being on a roller coaster. I like the backstory of Rebecca and her sister Jack and how their relationship growing up was some what the same as Kit and Natalie. Jack and Natalie who can’t wait to leave the house they grew up in and leave their younger sisters, Rebecca and Kit behind. I liked that Madame Fearless aka Rebecca beloved in mind over matter and was not afraid of what she wanted to create or accomplish with her shows. Rebecca has the perfect personality to run a place like Wisewood. She is manipulative person with everyone she comes in contact with once she becomes Madame Fearless. From her assistant Gordon to her staff and the people that attend her 6 month program on a remote island. Which is more like a cult than a retreat. Kit ends out to be the same first by dropping Teacher off on another island when she was running from harm from Jeremiah who is Gordon’s brother and also by sending Natalie the email with the cryptic message. What got me at the end was the cliff hanger when Kit ask Natalie If she wanted to take a ride on the Hourglass just the two of them while they are waiting for Gilbert and Jeremiah to arrive. Now I don’t really like cliffhangers in books because it feels unfinished or it puts the ending in the readers hand. I feel Natalie’s fate is probably going to end up like Rebecca’s. That was the only reason I gave it 4 stars.

Thanks to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing for an advance review copy in exchange for an honest review.

I have not read Darling Rose Gold, but I've heard enough good things about it that I wanted to give this one a try. An Instagram account I love recommended this one as well. There are two different storylines going on - workaholic Natalie trying to check up on her sister, Kit, who has gone off to a retreat center that seems very much like a cult. There's also two sisters with an incredibly awful father who psychologically/emotionally abuses them and a mother who stays out of the way. I got almost 60% into the book and I could not take it any more - I know from reading other reviews that all is revealed, but the intensity just dialed up throughout the novel with a bunch of dips in pacing when we were at the retreat center learning about the teachings and schedule. I was not happy with the pacing, and the book just kept getting darker that I found myself hate-reading. The characters were interesting, but the pacing and confusion became too much for me to continue.

The narration is somewhat confusing in this book. It alternates between Nat and an unnamed character for most of the book. This had me thinking the unnamed narrator was one of the sisters the entire time. So that really threw the story off for me. I typically do not enjoy psychological thrillers but this one did keep me wanting to read. I read it fairly quickly but only so I could just find out what happens. The characters aren’t likable at all. And the ending was just out there.

This book centers around Natalie, a successful career-driven businesswoman, and her sister Kit, who seems unable to get her life together. Kit goes to Wisewood, a retreat on a private island of the coast of Maine to try and get her life on track, but basically disappears. After six months of not hearing from Kit, Natalie goes to Wisewood to tell Kit a secret that is threatening to get out, but once she arrives at the retreat she realizes that Wisewood is not exactly what it seems.

The story in This Might Hurt unfolds with the POVs of mainly Natalie and Kit, with the occasional sprinkle of some of the other characters in the story. It toggles between the present and the past, to get to the backstory and how it relates to what is going on in their lives now.

I will admit, I neither liked nor disliked the main characters in the book, however, I did enjoy the story. The writing was very engaging with plenty of surprises and twists, making this psychological thriller one that will keep you turning pages. I had no problem following the dual timelines of the story or staying entertained.

If you are a lover of thrillers. mysteries or cult books give This Might Hurt a try, it is a riveting tale of family abuse and its long-term effects.

In This Might Hurt, Natalie is a workaholic with no life outside her job. But when her sister, Kit, disappears for months into a “self improvement retreat”, Natalie feels forced to get involved. Especially after she receives an email threatening to expose a long held secret to her sister.
The POV changes between Natalie and Kit. There are also chapters told from the perspective of a daughter of a tyrannical, diabolical father. Imagine having to accrue enough activity points to be allowed to sleep at night. It takes awhile to figure out who this daughter is.
There are several mysteries here. What did Natalie do to her sister? Why is Kit so messed up she needs this retreat? Whose history are we reading? And what exactly is going on at this retreat? One by one, it becomes obvious what the answers are.
I struggled to stay engaged once the story moved to the retreat, which spends way too much time on the retreat’s teachings. It quickly becomes obvious this place is some sort of weird cult.
I am starting to realize that psychological thrillers just don’t work for me anymore. I found this story uneven, even annoying at times. I had no respect for any of the characters. The ending, in particular, really didn’t work for me.

“We have become accustomed to violence. When we hear that more than one million people have died in a war, we hardly flinch. Are we proportionately more upset over one million than one hundred thousand casualties? No. Should we be? What number would it take to make us put an end to this senselessness?”

Natalie hasn’t heard from her sister since she left for Wisewood. Kit headed there after realizing her mundane life was just that…mundane. To come to wise wood, you commit to 6 months on the island, no phone, no outside contact, no touching. Just fully embracing your dears and learning how to live your life. When Natalie gets an email threatening to tell Kit her secret, she knows she needs to go and track her sister down ate tell her herself.

I’m not sure if it’s my mood recently or not, but the dad in this book made me cringe so hard, it was hard to read. I just can’t imagine someone treating a child that way, though sadly I know it happens. Whew, I don’t even know where to start. Cult books absolutely fascinate me and this one was no different. I like to think I would never fall into that trap, but these books always show how easy it is for them to grab you. The characters in this one, especially Rebecca were so well written, I could just feel Rebecca’s trauma and issues through the pages while reading. If you like a super messed up story, and cults galore, you don’t want to miss this one.

Oh my gosh. This story is captivating, original, and so unputdownable. I needed to know everything about Rebecca, Nat, and Kit.

An intriguing thriller with a storyline that will keep you guessing, This Might Hurt, is perfect for fans of cults.

This one was wow. As a sister who also lost a mom I have to say if I hadn't heard from my sister half a year I would move Heaven and earth to find her, and wouldn't let anyone stop me. Though unlike Natalie I'm not keeping any secrets from younger sister.

This book caught my attention from page one and really didn't let go. Stephanie Wrobel caught readers' attention with her debut Darling Rose Gold, but I actually think this sophomore effort is even better. This one is cleverly plotted, giving readers breadcrumbs on the way to revealing all its truths, and the author does a really excellent job keeping that up from page one to the very end. It's quickly paced and the characters are intriguing, and overall one I thoroughly enjoyed.

The author did not do a good job with the back and forth point of views making you think it was one character's back story but then revealed at the end of the book that it wasn't. So basically you find out at the end that you know nothing about the main character. The ending was one of the worst endings I have ever read. I would give 0 stars but thats not possible so I give you a 1.

→ 2 stars

i am starting to believe books about cults simply aren’t for me. this might hurt had such an interesting premise, but the execution didn’t amaze me. the story was lackluster, with a pace i found annoying and characters that i did not care about. the ending especially was awfully bland for what the book set up to do.

i did like the parts about the mystery narrator at first, but after a while her monologue got annoying and it was obvious how the novel tried a bit too hard to make us realize she’s insane. the leader of this retreat played such a tiny part in the story that i was a bit disappointed – i had expected a huge fight at the end, something as dramatic as her life, but nothing really happened.

the two sisters i simply didn’t care about. the huge “secret” we kept hearing about ended up being so underwhelming. i didn’t quite get why kit was so hell-bent on ruining her life because the book didn’t really prove much of a why for any of my questions. the other sister barely had a personality besides being a workaholic, so i can’t say much about her.

overall, i don’t think this is a bad book, it’s just not the book for me. i have to say i did like the author’s writing style – you can definitely tell she’s a very talented writer. i will probably try other books by her in the future!

→ thank you to netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review!

This book had a lot of potential, but it missed the mark for me. It just felt disjointed. I never really got into the flow of the story, several plot points made no sense, and I was confused by the ending. While I like stories told from multiple POVs, I just couldn't stay engaged with this one.

This Might Hurt is a chilling, dark tale that explores the long term effects of family abuse and the price of happiness.

Kit is Natalie’s younger sister, and she has been incommunicado for 6 months at a wellness retreat. When Natalie received an email from the facility threatening to spill a long kept secret of Natalie’s to Kit, Natalie drops everything and goes to the secluded island retreat to talk to her sister. Strange things happen to her on the island, and Natalie doesn’t understand how her sister can be happy in this environment. Kit’s loyalty to the retreat, Wisewood, seems cult like to Natalie.

A young girl grows up in a house with seemingly arbitrary rules - you must accumulate a certain number of points before you are allowed to sleep, and points are subtracted for weaknesses like crying, faltering, or mistakes. The point system changes, and the girl is always on edge, not knowing how Sir, her father, will treat her each day. He says he wants to push her to endure and succeed, but all she can think about is when she can escape his domineering rule.

These two stories are told in alternating chapters, and the reader must grasp at clues to see how they are connected. Will Natalie come clean to Kit? What is Natalie’s secret, anyway? And how does the mysterious girl play into the storyline? If you enjoy domestic thrillers with suspense and twists, This Might Hurt is for you.

Stephanie Wrobel has come up with another dark, chilling tale that will keep the reader engrossed and eagerly turning pages. Thank you to Ms. Wrobel and Berkley Publishing for the advanced copy!

Pre-order your copy now, and check out Darling Rose Gold by Stephanie Wrobel in the meantime!!