by Stephanie Wrobel
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 336
Format: eARC
Buy the Book: Amazon
Goodreads: Welcome to Wisewood. We'll keep your secrets if you keep ours.
Natalie Collins hasn't heard from her sister in more than half a year.
The last time they spoke, Kit was slogging from mundane workdays to obligatory happy hours to crying in the shower about their dead mother. She told Natalie she was sure there was something more out there.
And then she found Wisewood.
On a private island off the coast of Maine, Wisewood's guests commit to six-month stays. During this time, they're prohibited from contact with the rest of the world--no Internet, no phones, no exceptions. But the rules are for a good reason: to keep guests focused on achieving true fearlessness so they can become their Maximized Selves. Natalie thinks it's a bad idea, but Kit has had enough of her sister's cynicism and voluntarily disappears off the grid.
Six months later Natalie receives a menacing e-mail from a Wisewood account threatening to reveal the secret she's been keeping from Kit. Panicked, Natalie hurries north to come clean to her sister and bring her home. But she's about to learn that Wisewood won't let either of them go without a fight.
Kritters Thoughts: A pair of sisters, each responded differently to the childhood they endured, one tried to overcome it and one was drowning until she found a safe place to recenter and work on creating a new path.
Coming from a pair of sisters, I love to read books about sisters as I may be partial but I think a sister relationship is quite unique to the other two kinds of sibling relationships. Having two females that can sometimes be compared to each other and are in the same family competing for time and attention can be very difficult. I love when the sisters have the same childhood, but come out very different and then must figure out how and why they are who they are.
Another storyline wove in and out of the Kit and Natalies. A young girl who is unknown until the connection is made, tells the origin story of a woman who also had a hard childhood and once the reader finds out who is who, all the pieces come together. I didn't love the chapters of this young girl as much as Kit and Natalie story, but once I found out who this person is, it definitely made the puzzle feel complete.
This book also had a creepy mystery element to it that kept the pacing moving forward. I would recommend this to readers, but with the warning that if you are sensitive to stories with cult like vibes, then this may not be up your alley. I studied religion in college and love reading books about a group of people getting behind a person or idea and becoming a following and what all that looks like! This was an interesting one!!
Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row
Ebook 2022 Challenge: 17 out of 100
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one copy of this book free of charge from Berkley. I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.
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