Does It Hurt?

Lighthouses and sharks were never viewed the same way again!

A lot of suspense and twists throughout. Same feel as the Adeline books but a bit less intense.

Just because I absolutely love the work of H.D. Carlton, I had to read her haunted lighthouse standalone, Does It Hurt?. As is standard of all of Carlton’s works, this story does have a lot of dark elements so please read the triggers before proceeding. That being said, I almost didn’t think this story was dark enough for me. It’s not that it wasn’t dark, it just was a different level of dark than I was expecting. The story follows Sawyer, a runaway who will do anything to keep from being found, and Enzo, the quick-tempered marine lover who she scammed, as they try to survive being shipwrecked on an abandoned island that is hiding more sinister secrets than either of them could have imagined What I loved? 🦈 The PLOT. While to me, it doesn’t compare to Haunting Adeline. It does have similar themes such as Enzo hunting down Sawyer after she betrays him, the use of sex as a punishment/reward system, and the beautiful mystery of the decrepit lighthouse. I undeniably loved the mystery and that I would have never predicted the extent of the true nature of events that had and were going to transpire. As with all other H.D. Carlton novels, nothing is ever what it seems, and she certainly loves a dramatic ending 🦈 The pacing of the story. The amount of suspense present was so intense I felt that I was reading faster than the speed of light especially the last hundred or so pages 🦈 Favorite quote: “’Being loved by me will hurt like hell. It’s everything you deserve.’ Then, he declares passionately, ‘I love you, and you will love me.’” What I wasn’t as much of a fan of: 🦈 The spicy scenes….its not that they weren’t creative, they just didn’t do it for me 🦈 Sawyer at first was very hard to relate to. She is incredibly impulsive with taking up smoking, her sexual partners, and getting a “F*ck You” tattoo from quite literally a random person on the street one day. At the beginning of the story, it seemed that her personality was constantly changing. That being said, she does grow on you especially when you discover what she is running from Star rating: ⭐⭐⭐.5 Spicy rating: 🌶🌶🌶

6/10

"You are a thief, baby. You stole my name, and now you’ve taken my heart, too. Demand anything else from me, and I’ll give it to you."