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A review by boldbrilliantandbeautiful
Does It Hurt? by H.D. Carlton
4.0
Please read trigger warnings: SA, child abuse, incest, non-consensual consent.
This is my first H.D. Carlton book but not my first dark romance and I really enjoyed it.
Sawyer is on the run and has made her way by staying undetected using stolen identities, until she takes the wrong one.
Enzo cares only for the life he has built himself, working with the sharks he rescues and releases.
He takes Sawyer out on his boat, completely unplanned and they are caught in a storm which capsizes his boat. They end up marooned on an island with an out of use lighthouse, which they find is inhabit by the old caretaker who never left his post.
Holding onto the hope of getting off the island, they think their biggest concern is trying not to annoy the caretaker enough that he'll continue to let them stay in the spare room (queue one bed trope). Only they don't even get through the first night before odd things start leading them into the depth of mystery surrounding the lighthouse and it's caretaker.
I loved the atmosphere of this story, you could feel the tension or the spike of panic in a scene. Being given little details, which at first felt like we were leading to one story line until pieces fall together and we end up somewhere else completely. The story evoked a lot of emotions and kept me captivated wanting to know what happened next.
I liked the passion between the main characters but I couldn't quite love them together. I understand the relationship building around one broken soul being drawn to another, then the need to protect each other but Sawyer and Enzo didn't quite mesh in my head. (That could just be me). The spicy scenes were very spicy and with the inability to escape each other, there were plenty of them. I would say this was more of a pure hatred to lovers because the initial toxicity of this relationship took some time to get through.
The last few chapters were amazing and honestly delivered in the thriller category. All the little details start making sense and were so much more disturbing than you initially thought. I would honestly re-read this book just for those last chapters and the end of this story.
This is my first H.D. Carlton book but not my first dark romance and I really enjoyed it.
Sawyer is on the run and has made her way by staying undetected using stolen identities, until she takes the wrong one.
Enzo cares only for the life he has built himself, working with the sharks he rescues and releases.
He takes Sawyer out on his boat, completely unplanned and they are caught in a storm which capsizes his boat. They end up marooned on an island with an out of use lighthouse, which they find is inhabit by the old caretaker who never left his post.
Holding onto the hope of getting off the island, they think their biggest concern is trying not to annoy the caretaker enough that he'll continue to let them stay in the spare room (queue one bed trope). Only they don't even get through the first night before odd things start leading them into the depth of mystery surrounding the lighthouse and it's caretaker.
I loved the atmosphere of this story, you could feel the tension or the spike of panic in a scene. Being given little details, which at first felt like we were leading to one story line until pieces fall together and we end up somewhere else completely. The story evoked a lot of emotions and kept me captivated wanting to know what happened next.
I liked the passion between the main characters but I couldn't quite love them together. I understand the relationship building around one broken soul being drawn to another, then the need to protect each other but Sawyer and Enzo didn't quite mesh in my head. (That could just be me). The spicy scenes were very spicy and with the inability to escape each other, there were plenty of them. I would say this was more of a pure hatred to lovers because the initial toxicity of this relationship took some time to get through.
The last few chapters were amazing and honestly delivered in the thriller category. All the little details start making sense and were so much more disturbing than you initially thought. I would honestly re-read this book just for those last chapters and the end of this story.