Does It Hurt? is a dark romance novel by international bestselling author H. D. Carlton that incorporates horror, suspense, and supernatural fiction elements. Dark romance is a literary genre that features a central romance with darker themes and more mature elements, such as complicated sexual dynamics. Published in 2022, Does It Hurt? was ranked #1 on Amazon’s list of Ghost Thrillers. Carlton’s other works include the Cat & Mouse Duet, a two-book series that includes Haunting Adeline and Hunting Adeline.

Carlton frequently utilizes the “enemies to lovers” trope, which Does It Hurt? employs: This involves the two main characters slowly falling in love after initially disliking or working against each other. The novel follows Sawyer, an identity thief fleeing persecution after killing her abusive brother. She robs Enzo Vitale, a stoic Italian man, in Port Valen, Australia, and the two are shipwrecked on Raven’s Isle after he takes her on his boat to exact revenge. The island is solely occupied by lighthouse operator Sylvester, who exhibits suspicious and threatening behavior. Sawyer and Enzo, though enemies, grow closer as they struggle to survive Raven’s Isle and escape from Sylvester’s clutches. The novel uses themes of The Transformative Power of Love and Relationships, Identity and Self-Discovery in Survival Situations, and The Complexities of Human Nature and Redemption to highlight the journey of Sawyer and Enzo from enemies to lovers.

This guide uses the 2022 Kindle e-book edition of the text.

Content Warning: The novel and this guide contain discussion of rape, sexual assault, incest, pedophilia, and situations of dubious consent.

Plot Summary

Sawyer waits to board a flight to Indonesia, but a distant relative spots her, forcing her to change flights. Sawyer flies to Australia, purchases a van, and settles in Port Valen. She meets Simon, an older man who gives her a tattoo on her thigh that reads “Fuck You.” Later, a shark researcher named Enzo Vitale flirts and argues with Sawyer in a bar. Sawyer uses a fake name, revealing that she has survived as a fugitive by stealing identities. Sawyer tells Enzo that her family—including her twin brother, Kevin—died in a car accident. The two have sex. In the morning, Sawyer finds Enzo’s personal information before he wakes up, using it to steal his identity and open a credit card in his name.

Enzo quickly realizes that Sawyer stole his identity, and he tries to find her. Sawyer fights with the ghost of her brother Kevin in the mirror of her hotel bathroom. Enzo finds Sawyer, coercing her to come with him on his boat, the Johanna. On the boat, Enzo uses bait to call sharks, and he proceeds to sexually assault Sawyer while holding her head underwater. A storm appears and capsizes the Johanna, forcing Enzo and Sawyer into the water. Sawyer saves Enzo by swimming his unconscious body to the beach of an island with a lighthouse. When Enzo wakes up, he is upset that Sawyer survived the storm. The two investigate the lighthouse and find that someone lives there.

Sylvester, the lighthouse attendant, appears with a shotgun. After explaining the situation, Enzo, Sawyer, and Sylvester discuss how to live together until help arrives in about a month. Sylvester claims he does not have a working radio, and he sets a bedtime, during which Enzo and Sawyer are not allowed out of their room. Enzo’s nightmares wake Sawyer up at night, and they hear chains dragging throughout the lighthouse. Sylvester explains that ghosts inhabit the lighthouse and island, some of which are the ghosts of prisoners who were shipwrecked on the island. Enzo hates Sylvester, but Sawyer tries to placate both men.

Enzo is violent with Sawyer, criticizing her for stealing his identity, though the two begin to have sex more consensually as time passes. Sawyer finds a cave on the island populated by glowworms, which makes her feel safe. Sawyer continues to fight with the memories of her brother Kevin, implying that Kevin abused Sawyer. Though Sawyer and Enzo’s relationship is complicated, they similarly distrust Sylvester. Enzo grows jealous of Sylvester, who insists on touching Sawyer on the leg or shoulder.

Sylvester’s version of Raven’s Isle’s history is that he came to the island in 1978. He had a wife, Raven, and two daughters, Trinity and Kacey. When Trinity was 16 years old and Kacey was 14 years old, Trinity wanted to leave the island with Raven, but Sylvester refused. Trinity died by suicide, and Raven took Kacey away from Raven’s Isle, leaving Sylvester. The lighthouse was decommissioned, but Sylvester chose to stay on the island alone. According to Sylvester, people shipwreck on the island. The ghosts, in Sylvester’s story, are the spirits of people who died on the island from shipwrecks, disease, or when Sylvester had to defend himself against attacks.

Enzo reveals that he was raised by nuns in Italy after his mother abandoned him. He moved to Australia and studied marine biology, after which he opened V.O.R.S., or Vitale Oceanic Research for Selachians, an offshore research institute. Sawyer laments how she wronged Enzo. Sawyer shares her own story, telling the men how Kevin sexually abused her through to early adulthood. No one believed Sawyer when she accused Kevin, and Sawyer was trapped with her abuser following her parents’ deaths. She tells them she fled to get away from Kevin.

Enzo is upset by Sawyer’s story, which forces him to face his feelings for Sawyer. They both love each other, but they are unable to communicate that love without sexual violence. They become obsessed with locating the lighthouse beacon, which they think they can use to call for help. Tension between Sylvester, Enzo, and Sawyer grows, and Sylvester tries to convince Sawyer to stay with him on Raven’s Isle without Enzo once the supply ship arrives. Sylvester threatens to turn Sawyer over to the police if she refuses, and he hits her in the face. Sawyer flees to the caves, and Enzo traps Sylvester in the lighthouse basement, spending the night with Sawyer. Enzo confesses his feelings for Sawyer, and the two have sex. Sawyer confesses that she killed Kevin, and the police are after her.

The next day, Sylvester is gone and armed, but Enzo has Sylvester’s shotgun. Enzo and Sawyer board up the lighthouse and search for the beacon, but they cannot find it. After following the sounds of chains, Sawyer discovers a bookcase that hides a door. Behind it, Enzo and Sawyer find a staircase to the beacon room. In the beacon room, they find Kacey, Sylvester’s younger daughter, whose mouth is sewn shut. Kacey manages to communicate that Sylvester killed Raven after Trinity’s suicide, and he has kept Kacey hostage in the lighthouse since. Sylvester returns, and Enzo confronts him while Sawyer tries to call for help using a radio in the beacon room. Feeling loyal to her father, Kacey attacks Sawyer, who escapes and runs downstairs to find Sylvester. Enzo is missing, and Sawyer stabs Sylvester in the stomach before being knocked unconscious.

Enzo wakes up in the lighthouse basement and realizes there are graves all around him, meaning Sylvester has killed many people. He starts a fire to force Sylvester to open the door to the basement, at which point Enzo charges up, knocks Sylvester down, and takes his gun. Enzo finds Sawyer chained in Sylvester’s bedroom, and he saves her. A fight then ensues between Sylvester, Sawyer, Kacey, and Enzo. Feeling a change of heart, Kacey pushes Enzo out of the way when Sylvester tries to shoot him, and she is shot instead. Enzo kills Sylvester, and Kacey dies of her injuries. They call for help on the radio. Enzo and Sawyer plan to pretend that Sawyer is Sylvester’s other daughter, Trinity, allowing them to claim that Sawyer died on the island.

Back in Australia, the police are suspicious of Enzo, but they believe Sawyer is Trinity. Sawyer gives the police a letter from “Sawyer,” in which she reiterates that Kevin abused her, she killed him in self-defense, and she regrets stealing identities to survive. Following the news of Sawyer’s death, evidence emerges that Kevin abused other women. Sawyer and Enzo get married, and they live together in Enzo’s home, working together at V.O.R.S.