Audio review: The narrator was accomplished and easy to listen to, and made even the repetitive parts of the book engaging.



Main review: This is as much psychological thriller as horror. In fact a lot of the actual horror comes literally from the body horror aspect of human pregnancy with the dial turned up. I would recommend that if you are trying to have a baby, you give this one a miss for now. It pulls no punches on the psychological effects of being infertile, IVF and miscarriage. It also speaks to the way women can be infantilised or even erased from discussions about their own health. While it makes good points about how modern medicine is based on men and ignores that women have different needs, I found the way that was approached a bit whiny rather than indignant.



Basically, the MC - an actress - desperately wants to have a baby and after three rounds of IVF and multiple miscarriages, finally finds herself pregnant. Which is when things start to go wrong. There is a hint of Rosemary's Baby but ignore the 'feminist retelling' angle because it's not really. It follows the usual staples - body horror, baby being something not right, cults/ witchcraft, inability to trust own memories etc. And generally it hits those tropes well. However, it does sag in places, the constant 'must protect my baby' even against all common sense is very wearing (admittedly I will never be the target audience for a pregnancy storyline) and it can get repetitive. Whay pulls it up is its depiction of female friendship, it's unflinching look at how women get dehumanised during pregnancy and how hard it is to find balance. The ending actually managed to surprise me too. I'm not sure the ending actually fit, mind, but I liked it and thus it pulled the book up from 3 stars to 4. It's an interesting take on age old questions and it was a very easy read, even if it was frustrating in places.

*2.5 Stars Rounded Up*

I'm torn, 3 ways.Part of me wants to say, "It's no you, it's me" and the other part of me wants to say ,"Okay, good ending" and the last part of me wants to go, "Uhh, another drawn out book where the author let's us know how misrepresented women are".

Shall we go through all 3?
Okay let's.

"It's Not You, It's Me" -To Quote the great George Costanza
I am not a horror genre reader. I took the time to look up (okay it took google 0.06 seconds to give me this definition: agenre of fiction whose purpose is to create feelings of fear, dread, repulsion, and terror in the audience.... putting life’s most frightening and perplexing things—death, evil, supernatural powers or creatures, the afterlife, witchcraft—at the center of attention....”
I hate supernatural powers (see House Across the Lake review) I am to much of a realistic person, I find ghost/ghost stories/ spirits stupid and not real, my mind just doesn't work that way. I also dispise all things cults and witchcraft.

"Uhh, another drawn out book where the author let's us know how misrepresented women are".
All you need to know the term "Pregnant People" was used multiple times. I do not want to go into a whole anatomy lesson here, but men can not have babies, only women. Also terms "cis-man" and "cis-female" were used, like what? Why did I need an urban dictionary to read this book?
Next lets talk about how many times we had to hear about how modern medicine does not listen to women....women are just hormonal crazy women who are "Delicate". If any doctor behaved or said some of the things that were said/done in this book they would be sued for medical malpractice. Also I am not sure where y'all are getting health care, but doctors don't put down talk to patients that way. Also men do not treat their wives this way either, "Oh honey you are just being pregnant"--So frustrating how Valentine stereotypes characters in this way.
Okay now lets talk about how this book kept going on and on and on and on. I was like okay I get it, Anna is having a "Weird" pregnancy, and odd things are happening. I do not need 112 examples. Each of the examples was so graphic and over the top also, very gross descriptions. Like eating raw pork chops, ew.....Craving to eat a racoon? The graphic miscarriage and birthing scenes...um thanks but no.
Okay, good ending"
I can admit I did enjoy a satisfying ending to this book. It all wrapped up nicely and I definatly knew 1 part of the ending, however Valentine did a good job of weaving in certain clues and pieces of the puzzle throughout the book. She explained how everything came together for a cohesive ending. Well thought out for sure.
Overall if you are a fan of horror I think you will enjoy this book but be prepared for a VERY slow burn. If you can climb over the politically correct jargon then read away, I won't stop you.


Thank you Net Galley and Danielle Valentine for this advanced copy of Delicate Condition. I was not influenced or paid for this honest review.

This book is perfectly creepy and I’m so glad I had buddies to read and discuss this one with! Thanks @bethanyburiedinbooks and @theloopyknot_ for reading with me last week!

Trigger warnings (without spoiling anything) include infertility, IVF, and miscarriage. These are all main themes in the book so if they’re triggering, you may want to skip this one. 😔

I am completely obsessed with this book! I love horror that creeps me out with situations that COULD be real if you allow your mind to bend a little. Anna has been going through IVF treatment and finally gets pregnant. That’s when strange things start happening. Her calendar is changed, her medicines go missing, and she’s started receiving strange messages. Someone is trying to mess up her pregnancy but no one is taking her seriously, not even her husband. Then the unthinkable happens and she suffers through a miscarriage. Except…she still feels her baby growing inside her. She can see her baby rolling and kicking. As her belly continues to grow, the creep factor sets in. She starts having unnatural food cravings and vivid hallucinations that leave her breathless and scared. Is something wrong with her baby or are there more sinister reasons she’s having these experiences?

@hillaryoutloud narrated this one and she is phenomenal! The sheer terror, frustration, and exhaustion was portrayed perfectly. If you prefer audio, definitely listen to this book!

If you’re a fan of creepy books, magical realism, and mind-bending plot points, get your copy preordered or put one on hold at your local library! This is definitely a summer horror not to miss!

WOW! I really wasn’t sure what to expect when picking up Delicate Condition, but I knew I wanted to read anything being reviewed as the “feminist update to Rosemary’s Baby”. If you don’t already know, Rosemary’s Baby is one of my all-time favorite classic horror stories. I love how well it holds up over time and the subtle chill that I got the entire time reading it. Delicate Condition takes that and ups the level of paranoia to a high I wasn’t expecting.

Our narrator, Anna, is vulnerable, emotional, and incredibly real. The reader can feel her slipping into a state of questioning not only herself, but everything and everyone around her. Valentine writes her as an unreliable narrator, but the reader knows that Anna’s not altogether wrong that something is happening to her. I loved the care that Valentine took with Anna and her struggles. I could tell that she had truly done her research not only into IVF, but the medical treatment of pregnant women as a whole. This is such a compelling and extremely personal topic to cover, and Valentine’s effort was certainly not lost on me as a reader. Her author’s note at the end is a definite must read.

If all of that isn’t enough to convince you to pick this one up, then perhaps the pacing and suspense will lure you in. There are quite a few twists throughout the story that will leave you on the edge of your seat and flipping pages. Just wait until you get to the end because…GASP! It was so good!

Fun Fact: Delicate Condition is the source material for the upcoming new season of American Horror Story! Now is the perfect time to snag your copy and read it before the series starts airing!

A huge thank you to Sourcebooks for my gifted copy!

This book was not what I expected. Perhaps I didn’t research enough, but I was expecting a thriller. It turned out to be a horror fantasy, which is not a genre I enjoy.

The best parts of this story were the descriptions of how women, especially women of color, have been marginalized in our medical system.

I’m glad I finished it because I wanted to know how it ended. I liked the ending, but I found the overall story to be extremely repetitive.

The narration was well done, but I needed to listen to it at triple speed because I was anxious to finish it.

Readers will like this story if they enjoy the horror genre.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to the audio in exchange for an honest review.

This was one creepy listen! Parts of it gave me goosebumps. Typically I’m not a big horror fan. This had just enough gasp out loud moments I could handle. If you are pregnant or trying to get pregnant, I would definitely wait on reading this. Disturbing, chilling, and entertaining is how I would describe this scary tale. The narration was actually soothing and helped ease my nerves as I navigated toward the chilling conclusion. Thank you, NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for my audiobook.

Thank you to NetGalley, Danielle Valentine & Dreamscape Media for an audio arc of Delicate Condition in exchange for an honest review. This review is wholly my own (except quotations) & may not be reproduced.

“Anna Alcott is desperate to be pregnant. But as she tries to balance her increasingly public life with a grueling IVF journey, she starts to suspect that someone is going to great lengths to make sure her pregnancy never happens. Crucial medicines are lost. Appointments get swapped without her knowledge. And even when she finally manages to get pregnant, not even her husband is willing to believe that someone's playing a twisted game with her.

When the increasingly cryptic threats drive her out of her Brooklyn brownstone and into hiding in the cold, gray ghost town that is the Hamptons in the depths of winter, Anna is almost at the end of her rope.

Then her doctor tells her she's had a miscarriage—except Anna's convinced she's still pregnant, despite everything the grave-faced men around her claim. Could it be that her mind is playing tricks on her? Or is something more sinister at play? As her symptoms become ever more horrifying and the sense of danger ever more present, Anna can't help but wonder what exactly she's carrying inside of her...and why no one will listen when she says something is horribly, painfully wrong.”

This one was highly recommended by a friend and was getting a lot of hype, but it just wasn’t the book for me. It wasn’t bad – it just wasn’t for me, therefore, I’m rating down the middle with a 3/5 Stars.

This book was extremely disturbing, more than I anticipated it being. I will say that it was incredibly atmospheric, but I really didn’t want to be in this one! The story had a quick start, like from the very beginning, which in a way is good because it didn’t have that slow buildup like some stories do, but also not-so-good because the reader is just thrown into the story all at once without the background to make it make sense from the get-go. You do get it the more you read, but again, this just wasn’t for me.

The twists & turns were well done, as was the ending. Anna, however, was not a character that I really liked at all.

I do think a lot of readers will enjoy this novel. I think this is one that is just going to vary from person-to-person.

Hmmm…Well, that was different. Ha! You know a story is super creepy and/or disturbing when you’re constantly scratching your head, scrunching your eyebrows, and wondering what the heck is happening the entire time! After I finished listening to Delicate Condition by Danielle Valentine, I honestly yelled, “WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST READ?” I read a review that called this one a pregnancy horror story, and I’d have to agree with that description. It’s honestly the best way to sum it up. If pregnancy complications like miscarriage or infertility are triggering for you, then it’s best to use caution with this novel. If you’re fine with the content, I highly recommend going in blind. I really can’t say too much without revealing spoilers. So yes, this novel is crazy AF, but also super entertaining. It’s slow-burning, suspenseful, and jaw-dropping. A wild ride, indeed. Oh, and definitely go the audiobook route for this one. Hillary Huber narrates, and once again, knocks it out of the park! She can do creepy and disturbing sooooo incredibly well! Delicate Condition is available now, and it gets 4/5 stars from me!

I've heard that the next season of American Horror Story will be based on this book. And, as someone whose never watched a single episode of AHS, I had to read it right away! (Also, that book cover)
We follow Anna as she learns that she is pregnant after a round of IVF. Anna quickly begins having some weird and unexplainable experiences. As her experiences intensify, her paranoia grows and she begins suspecting everyone around her should not be trusted.
This story had some creepy elements and Anna's mental state was a bit unsettling at times. With that said, it wasn't scary (in fact, I thought it could go darker); and I think that a lot of readers - not just horror readers - would enjoy this one. It was strange and weird in all the right ways that kept me fully engaged.
Now I need to look into AHS so that I'm ready for next season.

Thank you to @netgalley @bookmarked and @dreamscape_media for the gifted copy of this book.

As an audiobook, the narrator was superb! The intonation and range of her voice made this story come alive. As a a work of fiction, I truly appreciated this perspective on pregnancy. Women often feel guilty when things go wrong and are fraught with that guilt, guilt that can tear them assunder. Women need to know that it is "okay" to feel guilt, to feel desperation, but at the same time to feel anxious, and to want to be heard. Oftentimes women are told to "calm down", "chill", "relax". They are told that they don't understand or know what is going on in their own bodies, and their fears are often brushed aside or seen as overreactions. This novel is a beautiful, but spooky/creepy examination of that societal problem. It is a also a great metaphor that helps to underscore, not undermine, the sometimes unaccepted view of pregnancy - the fact that women literally have another BEING in their body. They are the "host", and sometimes the fetus makes that role difficult (an understatement). Bravo, Valentine!

*Be mindful of the content warnings on this one. This can be a difficult read for some audiences*

Anna is a famous actor and has put motherhood on the back burner. Nearing her 40's, and with multiple failed rounds of IVF under her belt, she and her husband Dex seek the help of Dr. Hill. This round, though Anna's become seasoned at this routine, she's finding she's misplaced her medications and even missed appointments, though she's pretty sure she's not the one making these mistakes. Thankfully, one healthy embryo is transferred, and Anna becomes pregnant for the first time.

Anna has been the subject of harassment and stalking before, and she's terrified she has people following her after she wakes to find a woman in her bed, so she and the husband go to stay in a friend's vacation home in the snow and hire a guard. Even though she should be safe, Anna's fears become hallucinations, and she begins to see people hiding in the shadows on the property. Anna suffers a (fairly graphic) miscarriage, only to discover that she's still pregnant. After receiving strange messages, she begins to wonder whether the being within her is even human.

First off, the author did an impeccable job with the IVF experience. SO many times authors don't get the details right, and it leaves me feeling they didn't care to accurately portray how arduous the process actually is. Second, there's definitely a lot going on here, and I felt like this story went in a LOT of different directions at once. Third, there were some mystical shenanigans, which may or may not be to your taste. Fourth, the interspersed stories didn't ever tie together for me, YMMV. Finally, the narration was superb!

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for an audio ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest feedback.

I went from being depressed about Anna and Dex’s fertility struggle, to slightly creeped out, to needing to sleep with the light on because I was SO scared, to having the warm and fuzzies.

This toes the line between thriller and horror which, coincidentally, is something that I had been in the mood to read. It will not be for everyone.

Pay attention to content warnings.

Ok… this one THREW ME. I mean it seriously blew my mind. I wasnt sure I was going to like it going into it.. at first i thought it looked good but then I was having massive anxiety just thinking about reading it, but it was nothing like how I thought it would be. Scratch that. It was, but in a totally different way. It was a super creepy thriller that was just the perfect amount of slow-burn. It teased things out perfectly to keep my attention but things were always happening so it wasnt so slow that it was annoying. The characters are fantastic, the stalker aspect was creepy AF and the twists were everything.

I also appreciated the trigger warnings. Lovely!

“[She] wished people would stop telling women they should be grateful for their suffering instead of trying to help them with it.”

Oh shit. This book was good.

Go into this novel blind. But here is a little background: Anna and her husband would do anything to have a baby. After rounds of IVF, she finally gets pregnant, but weird things begin to happen. Is it in her head? Or is something horribly wrong?

Honestly, I wasn’t sure about this one. It gave THE PUSH vibes and I honestly couldn’t relate to that one. I also don’t typically read horror. But I devoured this book. I listened on audio 🎧 and I couldn’t stop listening. I had to know what would happen to Anna and her baby.

This has everything you want in a thriller/horror. It’s creepy af and completely gripping. AND it’s inspiration for S12 of American Horror Story 😈 it would be fun book to discuss with others too. There is so much commentary on how women and mothers are treated in our society and by doctors.

⚠️⚠️TW: pregnancy loss, infertility

I chose this book because of Hilary Huber, she is amazing!! The book itself was creepy and had some pretty raw emotions. I enjoyed it, I would recommend it for someone looking for a different book with the whole creepy vibe thing going for it.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape media for this audio ARC.

Hillary Huber is fantastic.

The story is not for me.

Please read/ listen and decide for yourself.

Thank you again.

This was a great read and more horror that I thought it would be! Some pretty gross and graphic scenes. Also, check the trigger warnings!
I really enjoyed this audiobook and I flew through it!

Delicate Condition by Danielle Valentine was an intense ride! This book was a slower burn that successfully built up tensions surrounding pregnancy, the medical system, relationships, fame, and conspiracies. It was really hard to put down at times (or pause, because I read the audiobook lol). I frequently found myself surprised, horrified, creeped out, and eager to figure out how the story would end. And I was not disappointed! Not only is the story well-written and captivating, the narrator (Hillary Huber) did a wonderful job as well. 4.75 / 5.00 stars!

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of Delicate Condition by Danielle Valentine. My comments are an independent, honest review.

Thoughts

I kept seeing reviews for this that said it was good and had Rosemary Baby's vibes, so I knew I wanted to read it. Luckily, they approved me for the audio on @Netgalley a few days before it was released. So, I got to it quickly.

I really enjoyed it. I was confused at first about where it was going but I really loved the ending.

This isn't going to be for everyone because it deals with miscarriage and talks very openly about it. So, if that is something difficult for you to read about I would skip this one.

However, I always love when books work in real issues in the story. Miscarriage and women's health in general is horrible here in the United States. And this book talks about that. How women aren't taken serious when we say something is wrong.

Also, I think this is going to make a great season for American Horror Story. Overall, I think if you can handle the seriousness of this one it is a good read.

Thank you #partner Dreamscape Media for my gifted ALC.

Delicate Condition is unlike anything I've ever read, and it's one of those books that ends with a BANG! 💣 Like an onion with layer upon layer, peeled back throughout the novel, revealing all at the very end. I loved it! It's dark, twisty, creative and propulsively bingeable. I also loved how wildly feminist and deeply thought-provoking it is.

Hillary Huber, one of my favorite narrators, delivers a fantastic performance. Highly recommend!

WARNING: CHECK TWS!!!!!