Does It Hurt follows Sawyer, a woman who’s spent the last six years on the run, surviving by stealing identities from strangers. She winds up in a remote coastal town in Australia, where she picks the wrong target—Enzo Vitale. When he discovers she’s opened a credit card in his name, he decides it’s time for payback. Enzo lures her onto his luxury boat, and what starts as a tense confrontation quickly spirals into something far more dangerous. Think great white sharks, a violent storm, and a shipwreck that leaves them stranded on a tiny island with a run-down lighthouse, a creepy old man, and a few ghosts who aren’t exactly resting in peace.
While Does It Hurt is classified as a dark romance, I’d argue it leans heavily into erotic mystery thriller territory. The lighthouse keeper, Sylvester, is clearly hiding something sinister, and in between Enzo and Sawyer’s steamy escapades, they’re trying to piece together the eerie secrets of the island—and the spirits that haunt it.
What I really appreciated about this book is that even if you dialed the spice down to PG, you’d still be left with a gripping mystery. The pacing is tight, the suspense builds steadily, and the twist at the end genuinely caught me off guard.