This Might Hurt

After reading Stephanie Wrobel’s breakout novel Darling Rose Gold, I was excited to grab a copy of her new book This Might Hurt. The book is about two sets of sisters. The first pair of sisters, Natalie and Kit are very different in terms of lifestyle; Natalie is a corporate icon and Kit is more of a salt-of-the-Earth kind of girl. Kit checks herself into a self-improvement resort in Maine and Natalie doesn’t understand how her sister can drop everything to go away for several months. She ends up receiving a cryptic e-mail and decides to go find out what her sister is really up to. Then there is the story of a girl told in the first person. Her sister is nicknamed “Jack” and their father is extremely strict to the point of being abusive. Characters at the resort are taught to practice pushing away fear and finding the strength to overcome it through “Teacher”‘s methods.

This book starts off with a fantastic storyline and interesting, intricate characters but then gets messy once Natalie reaches Maine. There are several unexpected reveals that happened but the ending falls flat and the last half of the book seems to lose focus.