This was a thriller about a woman struggling with IVF. There are serious horror vibes with witchcraft that took this book to not really being my cup of tea. An okay read, but not one I think I’ll revisit. I appreciate the opportunity to provide this review.

I’m apparently in the minority, but I didn’t love “Delicate Condition.” It’s a decent (thriller) book that follows a woman who desperately wants to have a baby and while there is some thoughtful social commentary on childbirth and how women are treated, the supernatural aspects just got a little too weird for me to truly enjoy. It’s not a bad book and it’s an easy read, but the story became too bizarre for my liking. 3 stars ⭐️. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the advanced copy for review

I couldn't resist requesting "Delicate Condition" on Netgalley after hearing it would be a central theme for American Horror Story - my fascination with all things gore drew me in. The added reference to it being compared to The Silent Patient sealed the deal. To my genuine surprise, I was selected, and what followed was an intense two-day read that could easily be devoured in one sitting. This book evoked such raw and visceral feelings, simultaneously frightening and compelling with its beautiful prose. Anna's grief and paranoia became my own, making me feel as though I was descending into madness alongside her. The book also exposed the infuriating history of downplaying women's physical and mental health as mere hysteria, a fact highlighted even more in the author's poignant note at the end. Skipping it would be a mistake; it will truly touch your heart.

One aspect I loved was the withholding of real explanations until the end. The different female perspectives interspersed with Anna's lightly touched on the plot, leaving me constantly wondering and piecing things together. I almost passed on this book but learning that it inspired AHS season 12 changed my mind, and I'm so grateful for that discovery. This book is unputdownable, and I highly recommend it to all readers.

I want to extend my sincere gratitude to the author, SOURCEBOOKS Landmark, and NetGalley for providing me with digital access in exchange for this honest review.

I can’t thank @bookmarked enough for the advanced reading copy and to @netgalley for the advanced listening copy. Since I found out about this in April, it’s been one of my most anticipated books. I devoured this in 3 days and truly enjoyed the wild ride this book was. For starters, this is one of my favorite covers of the year. It's so ominous yet beautiful. The story centers around Anna Alcott, a celebrity dealing with infertility and IVF (trigger warnings). Then she gets pregnant. Unfortunately, Anna suffers a miscarriage yet is convinced she is still pregnant. What happens when no one around you listens to you? Including your husband. This book felt a lot deeper than just a thriller/horror novel. It feels real. And the author note at the end? Please read it. Because it gave me chills just like the rest of the novel.

I audibly gasped at the twists and turns this story took. The ending was incredible and in true AHS fashion, gives you a run for your money. BTW did you know this is the inspiration for American Horror Story Season 12: Delicate?! Such an incredible feat for Danielle and now that I’ve gotten the chance to read this, I can definitely see why! So, until we get an update on when season 12 comes out - you should DEFINITELY pick this book up when it publishes TOMORROW AUGUST 1ST!

@hillaryoutloud was the narrator of this audiobook and she did such a great job portraying Anna. Every emotion was felt, whether it was fear, anger, frustration, or exhaustion, I felt it all. When I wasn’t reading the physical copy, I was thinking about it and trying my hardest to listen to the audio. I just couldn’t put it down until I was done.

This book.kept b me guessing and on the edge of my seat. I would say if you're sensitive about miscarriage to maybe prepare yourself. I am so thankful to Net galley for giving me.the opportunity to read this book.

I really wanted to read Delicate Condition based on the premise and that the new American Horror Story would be based on it. Although I loved the plot it took too long to get to the mystery surrounding Anna’s pregnancy and was wrapped up way too quickly. I also found most of the characters rather annoying including Anna. I’d also like to have had her character fleshed out a little more. Nothing about her made me feel like she’s was an Oscar nominated actress. She seemed weak and gullible. After reading the Author’s Note I do think I see a little bit more of what the message was that she was intending however I really wanted this to be a freaky and scary book with an awesome plot twist. It wasn’t. I’ll still watch AHS and I hope they give it the “horror” I was looking for.

𝐃𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
𝐁𝐲 𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞
𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐫: 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤
𝐏𝐮𝐛 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝟖.𝟏.𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑 𝒞𝑜𝓂𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒮𝑜𝑜𝓃!

Thank you @bookmarked for the gifted copy.

Thank you @dreamscape_media for the complimentary audiobook.

Okay, wow! This book did not go where I thought it would - but it was a wild read!

Anna Alcott is a successful actress with a loving husband, but now in her late thirties, she wants to be a mom. She and Dex have been going through the IVF and Anna starts to notice, well Dex first points out, that she is forgetful. Anna misses appointment dates and forgets medicines but swears she is not at fault.

When she finally conceives, Anna and Dex are ecstatic, only to be devastated when they lose the baby weeks later. But… Anna swears she feels something still stirring inside her, and strange symptoms are increasing. But the doctors tell her it's all hormones.

Then Anna starts having visions that something else is growing inside her… but what?

This started much like a thriller where you sensed someone might be messing around with Anna. You don’t know who to trust; I even started questioning Anna’s mental health. There is a lot of gaslighting, lies, and deceit. And then, as the story progressed, an element of horror/fantasy was mixed in! I don’t want to say too much because I don’t think you’ll guess the ending. I sure didn’t see that coming!

Besides being an edgy, twisted, and chilling thriller, this one speaks loudly to female reproductive rights and care. So if you are uncomfortable with descriptions of IVF, miscarriage & pregnancy, please be aware.

I want to start out by saying that I have no interest in ever having kids, so that might be swaying my thoughts on this book a little. I have also never seen or read Rosemary's Baby, so I can't speak to any similarities there. All of that being said I was utterly captivated by this book. It was compulsively readable, while being uncomfortable and thought provoking, so basically everything you want a horror novel to be. I also will straight up say that I didn't see the ending coming AT ALL. I can already tell that this book is going to make some people mad, just because of it's subject matter, and I have no doubt that there are going to be people who read it (mostly men, but some women I'm sure) that will disregard the central message here, which is a shame. Because at it's core this book is about how women aren't believed enough, especially by the medical community, but also just by society as a whole; their pain, their experiences and opinions on things are ignored because they are seen as lesser or weaker. And honestly to me that's one of the things a great horror story should do well, is touch on something real and find the horror in that. Valentine has done a great job of that here, and it really makes me want to read her other works, because I really did find myself enjoying the story here. No doubt I will be recommending this book to anyone at the store who even shows a slight interest in it, and I will almost certainly be writing a shelf-talker for it too. Valentine's adult debut was a home run for me, and I can't wait to see what she comes up with next for adults, because this one was spectacular.

What a great book. The true pain of pregnancy articulated so us guys have a better understanding. An amazing thriller with a supernatural twist. This is the first book I have read by Danielle Valentine and won’t be the last. Looking forward to seeing how this story plays out on AHS. Highly recommend 😎💀

4.25*

Anna Victoria Alcott is an actress, married to her wonderful husband Dex Harding, living the life she’s always dreamed of in New York City. She’s only missing one thing: a baby.

I’m a huge fan of Rosemary’s Baby, so I requested this book on a whim. I’m glad I did. Body horror gets me pretty badly, and what’s more horrific than pregnancy? The descriptions of something seemed so normal made me really question why people do this all the time. Hormones are truly a feat in evolution.

This book also features one thing I really enjoy: little historical tidbits of people who have also gone through certain events. I enjoyed this with Sylvain Neuvel’s Take Them to the Stars trilogy, and I’d love to see more of it in other books.

I was also surprised to learn that Danielle Valentine is a pseudonym for Danielle Vega, who wrote The Merciless series. I am curious to see if she’s going to write more adult books, because I enjoyed this.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the chance to read this advanced review copy.

CW: pregnancy, medical content, bullying, cancer, stalking, miscarriage, racism, blood, dead animal, infidelity, medical trauma

I flew through this book! So creepy, so timely, so relatable. I was eager to find out what came next. I loved the twist plot, especially the ending which I genuinely did not see coming. I was nervous to read with the content warnings (especially the animal harm) but ultimately felt like all of the more disturbing moments were necessary to the plot and handled with care.

When I say I COULDN"T PUT THIS ONE DOWN. I literally read this EVERY FREE SECOND OF THE DAY I HAD... I NEEDED to find out what happened!

I was hooked on this book within the first few pages. I especially appreciate the descriptive language used by the author, I truly felt like I was viewing this as a movie in my head. Not only did we get a view from a women's perspective on the struggles of IVF and conceiving, but it was extremely well-crafted.

This was my first book from this author, and I am sure it will not be the last! Extremely excited to see what more this author has in store for the readers! A big thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an ARC copy of this masterpiece.

Not the most fast paced thriller but still good.

All Anna Alcott wants is a baby. Her husband Dex and her having been trying for years and IVF is there last resort. When she finally gets pregnant, it’s a miracle until she miscarries, but Anna believes the baby is still there…

This is a journey about a mother who is desperate to have a baby. It starts out slow but once you hit the 60-65% of the book everything starts going and it doesn’t stop until the end.

You can’t tell if Anna is really experiencing these things or if the pregnancy hormones are making her see these things.

There are scary / horror factors of this book that I’m going to be thinking about even after I’m finished with this book. So glad I’m done having babies

This is the book AHS Season 12 is based off and I hope Emma can do the character Anna Alcott justice.

Content Warnings: Infertility, Miscarriage, talk of late term abortion

No spoilers from me for this page turner! Ana and Dee have been struggling with infertility and finally, finally, she's pregnant thanks to IVF. Oh, and her movie is doing unexpectedly well. And then,,,,,a miscarriage shakes her. But she feels something, something like a living child inside her, which no one else believes in. She's being stalked, there are weird things happening and....I'm not going any further, This does indeed have Rosemary's Baby vibes but Valentine has created an entirely new horror. She's got great storytelling skills. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC, Great read.

Wow! This kept twisting the angles and I didn’t know where this story was going to go, even at the end.
Delicate Condition follows a woman who believes others - possibly evil forces — are trying to make sure her pregnancy doesn’t happen. Anna Alcott has been through the hurdles of IVF and when she finally learns she’s pregnant, it seems they’re in the clear. But after a devastating miscarriage, she can still sense a baby growing inside, and it becomes apparent other forces are at work, especially as the hallucinations make it hard to tell what’s real and what isn’t.
This was a wonderful, intense thriller that constantly left me wondering what twist was around the corner. While giving some Rosemary’s Baby vibes, this story holds its own. And for American Horror Story fans, the new season is rumored to be based around this novel!
Thank you to Sourcebooks for the ARC. This releases 8/1!

This is a hard one for me to review. I'm a huge fan of The Push and The Silent Patient, and those comps sold me on this story even though I don't often lean into body horror.

Anna Alcott is a relatively successful actress who has been struggling to have kids with her husband Dex. They begin an IVF journey and strange things start happening to Anna. Medication she knows she put in the fridge are left out on the counter and spoil, and she starts missing appointments that she swears she put the right time in her calendar. Then, after she miscarries, she starts to feel like she is actually still pregnant. Things start to escalate into scarier and scarier events, until she must face what is growing inside her.

A lot of people love this book, and I can see why, I just think I wasn't the right reader for it. Some reviews have said Nightbitch would a better comparison than The Push and The Silent Patient, so if you loved that, you might love this one!

This is not my typical read and I definitely went out of my comfort zone by choosing this one. I am new to horror and this book was the creepiest and most suspenseful book I have ever read. It had the right amount of horror/thriller with so many twist I got whiplash. Definitely a must read.
The Netgalley fairies sprinkled their fairy dust and I was given the audio and the ebook so I switched between reading and listening. The narrator did an amazing job she gave this book a chilling listening experience I won't soon forget. Thank you Netgalley and Dreamscape Media, and SourceBooks Landmark for the ARC in exchange for my review.

I could not stop reading this! Engaging, engrossing, and intriguing - I finished this the same day I started reading it. And, wow, wow, wow, was it fantastic!

Gave me strong Rosemary's Baby vibes throughout.

I had my own ideas of who was causing Anna trouble and was completely wrong - the twists definitely caught me off guard (and I love when that happens 🙂)

I’m so glad I had the opportunity to read this!

An absolute recommendation!



Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for the DRC!

Thank you, NetGalley.

I liked the overall story, it was very similar to Rosemary’s baby. It seemed at times a retelling not a new story. And including all the other women that the “cult” has helped seemed pointless to me. It didn't give us any insight to the group or their motivation. It was also hard to keep track of the characters.

The book felt like it was in between genres, not scary enough for a horror book, not enough mystery for a thriller. I wish the author would have leaned into one of the genres more.

This was such a different type of read than what I normally pick up but sometimes stepping out of my comfort zone works well for me and it paid off here. It had such a creepy and unsettling vibe from the moment it starts and I was here for it. It was super tense, totally dark and depraved and at times it was hard to read but I couldn’t put it down. It also had so many powerful things to say about women, motherhood and pregnancy that were so valid and written in such a bold and in your face way. If you like thrillers with a side of horror this was good.