Really fun audiobook, I heard this was going to be the new AHS season with Kim Kardashian in it so my interest high. I never really loved AHS, but I thought having it based on a book would be a game changer. Honestly I tried to watch the show and I couldn't get into it. The audiobook to me was much more entertaining than the show.

If you are pregnant proceed with caution on this one. Other than that I think this is a great one to go blind into and an excellent audiobook. It will creepy and sinister and thought it had a great ending as well.

I liked this book a lot—I think it’s borderline horror and thriller and literary fiction. The only thing I wasn’t crazy about was the ending. I would recommend this to feminist horror seekers

(duplicate review due to being approved for audio and eARC)
Very quick read, but derivative and often silly. The great ending doesn't redeem the rest of the book.

What makes this a horror is that it's so real. I've talked to a number of people who have felt "ghosted" by the medical system here in the US and that's what makes this novel poignant. And so, so scary, especially if you've been pregnant. Loved it.

Audiobook was well narrated and easy to follow.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ALC of "Delicate Condition" by Danielle Valentine. I normally shy away from books about the challenges of pregnancy and childbirth but I had heard some buzz about this one so I gave it a try. It was a book I had to digest in small doses with a realistic and supernatural mix. It sure kept me guessing right up to the never-saw-it-coming ending. I heard it is/has been adapted to a tv show-should be a good one.

This book was the perfect mix of unsettling and disturbing, which is exactly what I look for in a thriller/horror. First, I really enjoyed the connections to Rosemary's Baby, like "Dr. Hill," the smoothies, and the sus actions of the husband! I went through IVF last year, so that element of the book was particularly disturbing (in a good way) because of how close I am to that subject matter. I appreciated how accurate the depiction of IVF was too, both literally in terms of the medical aspect and the emotional weight! I think the book was written well, especially with the disturbing and gross scenes which really came to life.

I look forward to what this author does next and to watching the AHS adaption!

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect as I started listening to DELICATE CONDITION, but it was definitely giving me creepy vibes.

Compared to The Push in the synopsis, I knew going in that pregnancy would be a theme. It was slow burn with plenty of twists and I enjoyed this as well as the narration overall.

*many thanks to Sourcebooks and Netgalley for the gifted copy for review

This was an absolute wild ride start to finish-i couldn't stop until i was done! Each character adds such complexity and twists to the plot that by the time you finally arrive at the whirlwind conclusion, you're the most satisfied. Impeccable read.

This book moved very slowly and took far too long to go anywhere. I did enjoy the twist though. If you liked Rosemary's Baby or are enjoying AHS: Delicate, you might enjoy this book.

As someone who has gone through IVF, I loved this horror thriller. The details of the experience were right on, making me wonder if this was a personal story for the author.

Beyond those elements that hit me on a personal level, this one was simply a solid story. I loved the twists and turns of the plot. This one walks the line between horror and thriller and it's best to go in as blind as possible.

I will give a warning that this story could be very triggering to anyone undergoing fertility treatments or currently pregnant. This story brought back some intense memories and I'm grateful that I'm past years.

I would highly recommend this one to readers who love smart thrillers that plays with the classic themes of Rosemary's Baby.

Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

This book was seriously twisted. Please check trigger warnings, because there are a lot. It was not at all what I expected. I’ve never read a horror, but this one felt more horror than thriller to me. There were plenty of points where the experiences were so graphic my stomach turned and I wondered why on earth I was still listening.

I enjoyed the narration. She did a good job making us feel the main character’s feelings and reactions to all the things that happen to her.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for my ALC of this book.

This book is the definition of “I loved everything except the twist”. The last 10% of this book brought it from a 5 star down to a 3 star read because I felt it came out of left field and didn’t make any sense with the rest of the story. It seemed like the author just added it in for fun and not because it works.

Well narrated, and well done creepy factor. This story tugged on my heartstrings as a person who has experience with infertility and the desperation that one feels. It also has a creepy factor and does a great job of maintaining suspense right up to the end!

Delicate Condition is a thriller with horror elements about a pregnant woman. You have an unreliable narrator and unlikeable characters. Anna, the MC, is an actress who is finally making it big and also desperately trying to get pregnant. Odd things keep happening to her - her medication is left out to spoil, her appointments in her phone keep changing, and she sees things outside. No one believes her and they all think she is just stressed. She has a miscarriage but can still feel the baby moving. She escapes to a friend's house secluded away from others. I enjoyed this book a lot.

Check the trigger warnings on this one if you are a sensitive reader.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and Netgalley for the ALC!

Anna has been desperate to start a family. Being in the public eye while also going through her IVF journey has been grueling. When she finally manages to get pregnant, bizarre things start happening- medications are lost, appointments are swapped without her knowledge and she starts receiving cryptic threats. Anna is at her breaking point and can’t handle much more. To add insult to injury, her doctor then tells her she’s had a miscarriage-but she’s convinced she’s still pregnant. She’s having horrifying pregnancy symptoms that make her wonder WHAT she’s carrying inside of her. No one will listen, especially not her husband. Is she going crazy or is there something sinister present?

Well, I never knew pregnancy horror could be SO GOOD. There’s also a psychological suspenseful element to it that is really well done. The author explores the gaslighting that occurs all too often from men AND doctors, leading women to become unhinged.
There are chapters from the POV of women in past years/decades and their experiences with the same pregnancy complaints and it was a harrowing touch.

While it’s a slow paced story, I was captivated by the mind blowing twists. The writing is dark, disturbing and at times, gory. If you can past the triggers and enjoy horror, this is THE book for you! The audiobook narration is SO entertaining as the narrator gave a brilliant performance!

I CANNOT wait to watch this book come to life in American Horror Story: Delicate when it airs on 9/20!

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing mate to review this audiobook. It was very well presented. Topic of novel is timely as there are topics coming up in daily news, but there are many threads that didn’t create a solid tapestry. I wanted to really love this one, but it fell short. I read this while several friends where posting about the IVF treatments or pregnancies, so maybe this has jaded my view or otherwise my feelings about the novel. Appreciate the trigger warnings from the beginning.

After hearing so many good things about this one, I was a little disappointed honestly. It just wasn’t really my cup of tea but happy to give this author another try!

Any residual desire for children I might have had has been thoroughly eradicated by this jewel of a horror novel, thank you. While I had gradually become aware of the literal body horror that is pregnancy and childbirth during med school, this novel really drove the idea of a parasitic body invasion home. Sorry, it's just not for me. (Obviously, related trigger warnings abound, please stay safe while reading).

Delicate Condition revolves around a celebrity woman's eerie encounters with an online stalker, a house intruder, and an IVF pregnancy that starts feeling somehow wrong - but I'm sure many women struggling with fertility issues can identify with the fear, and the superhuman expectations, women have of their bodies. While the protagonist's paranormal (question mark) experiences are frightening, what seemed scariest to me were the graphic descriptions of "women's health" issues.

Anna's narrative, framed by short stand-alone chapters from women's POVs of diverse backgrounds, constitutes the heart of this novel, and as privileged and sometimes outright bratty as she can be, she is also incredibly interesting to read about. Her single-minded focus on the protection of the embryo inside her, the money and work she invests into its upkeeping, the priorities in her life were so foreign to me, I could sometimes lose my patience with the character.

The narrator did unfortunately repeat the words "my baby" or "the baby" with exactly the same intonation one too many times for me to take her seriously anymore - I'm not sure if that narration style was applied on purpose to establish the protagonist's weakening grip on her mental health as the plot moves on? Other than that, I believe the voice actor did a decent job of getting the unspeakable horrors of human reproduction across.

As far as my interpretation goes, not every detail of this thriller is explained by the end of the book, leaving things unsaid... and it's better that way. Some things should be left to the imagination, or to a thorough reread, which I am much inclined to do in search of more details.

I loved this book!!!! My husband and I love It Happened One Night film with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert!!

Both of the characters of this book were so interested, multi-faceted and had a beautiful enemies to lovers romance. Old Hollywood, the stars and the gossip was perfect.

Highly recommend.

⭐️: 3/5 (Audio Quality: 5/5)
⚠️: Fertility Issues, Loss of Pregnancy, Explicit Language, Curses/Witchcraft, Stalking, Violence, Unstable Romantic Relationship, Cancer, Death, Stalking

*This audiobook was received as an ARC. This review is voluntary.*

1. Audiobook: The narration for this novel is spot on! The voice actress is phenomenal and portrays FMC perfectly. She enunciates clearly, so those of us who listen on 1.5x or higher will have no worries understanding.

2. Book Overall: *Sighs* This book was underwhelming. I don’t know if it’s because I truly don’t care for any sort of pregnancy trope or if I expected so much more after reading How to Survive Your Murder. Obviously, this book was more for an adult audience, not a YA horror/thriller novel. However, I assumed the same nerve racking, book throwing, yelling at imaginary character vibes would follow suite in this novel. It was extremely well-written! Let’s not get that confused. The plot was solid, very few continuity issues. The characters are well developed and have their own flaws that make them believable. BUTTTTT…the FMC is just so…whiny. And, SPOILER, the infertility group was witches the whole time?!?! Lead with that! That would’ve made it so much more intriguing. All in all, pregnancy tropes just aren’t my thing. However, this is definitely written well and should be given a chance!