This book includes depictions of domestic violence, rape, spousal rape, and emotional abuse. I wouldn't normally include that at the beginning of my review, but those topics are central to the book's themes, and I understand some readers like to avoid those topics. I will say the abuse isn't gratuitous or male-gaze-y.

I really liked this book. The main reason it wasn't a 5-star read for me is that I felt like there were too many unknowns left. In gothic horror, it's common for there to be doubt, but there was so much plot left to interpretation that it just felt messy instead of interesting. I also thought the inclusion of Sarah having a negative relationship with her mom was unnecessary. It didn't further the plot and was such a blip in the story. I think it was included to make it easier for Kyle (the abusive ex) to isolate Sarah, but really it didn't add anything. The mom could have just been absent, and it would have served the same purpose. Honestly, it would have been more insidious if the mom had been supportive and dismissive of any concerns Sarah had with her boyfriend. In some cases, that would have been more realistic. The only other issue is the timeline; I had a hard time figuring out how old Sarah was and what her background was. At one point, I thought she had an undergrad art degree and had been in a master's program when she met Kyle, but then it mentions she was actually a junior in college. Maybe I misunderstood, but that part was wonky for me.

Sarah arrives at an artist residency program to escape her abusive ex and start over. The residency program is at Tranquil Falls, a defunct medical spa. While the old hotel and spa is off-limits, the artist residency program is on the grounds of the old facility. There are whimsical cabins and historic buildings; everything seems perfect until someone puts a dead bloated possum on Sarah's bed. From there, the story escalates as Sarah discovers the horrors of the so-called medical spa and her own past.

Part of why I liked this book is that it really outlines how far people are willing to go to turn the other cheek. Multiple characters are willing to aid or ignore the abuse that is going on around them. Not just men, but women are willing to ignore or outright aid in the emotional or physical abuse of others. There's also the disgusting nature of medical spas and asylums, which I could write whole novels on.

If you like gothic horror, I think you'll enjoy this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House, all opinions are my own.

Having loved "Bloom" by this author I was really excited to get into this one. I was a bit skeptical because of its length but I went in optimistic. Dawson did a great j0b at setting up the atmosphere and vibes. You had haunted hotels, creepy ghosts and a dual timeline which I tend to really enjoy. Dawson's writing style is also really great, and despite not loving this one I will continue to pick up her works. However unfortunately that is where my enjoyment ends. There were a lot of loose ends, a lot of things brought up throughout the story were left unanswered. There weren't enough twists or big events happening to keep me intrigued or wanting to continue. I also think the small romantic subplot just wasn't necessary.

In IT WILL ONLY HURT FOR A MOMENT, Delilah Dawson gives us another Good For Her angsty read of female-rage, and I am here for it! This read felt very nostalgic for me, having spent some time at artist colonies, which added to the flavor of the story. I enjoyed Ingrid, but wish we'd seen more of Sarah's relationship with Kyle for the climax to hit harder. Still, another great book from Dawson.

I read Bloom by Delilah S. Dawson back in January and LOVED it. As soon as I saw she was coming out with another book this fall, I knew I had to read it. And I was lucky enough to get an e-ARC through NetGalley.

This is the haunted fall artist’s retreat to Bloom’s bloody whirlwind summer romance. And as such, it brings all the spooky fall vibes with a huge dash of haunted history. I was immediately invested and stayed invested and captivated throughout.

The vibes:
- Fall art camp
- Haunted history
- Haunted houses and abandoned hotels
- Old “wellness retreats” of the 1800s
- The treatment of women in recent history and current day
- Feminist

The synopsis is as it presents itself: Sarah is an aspiring potter who's recently escaped an abusive relationship (and is running from a toxic mother she thought she cut off years prior). She's attending an artist retreat to get back into pottery and find herself again, but as soon as she gets to the artist's retreat, ominous things start happening. And as she digs into the weird happenings, the history of the abandoned hotel and "wellness retreat" the artist retreat sits on starts coming to light, revealing some truths about Sarah's own life at the same time.

The novel gets into the creepy mishaps right away, and as it progresses it gets creepier and creepier. If anyone else is as interested in old hotels from the 1800s as I am, you know that hotels and “wellness retreats” really aren’t that. It’s code for something else. And this novel delves into that and delves into it hard.

One of the elements I loved most was the continuous commentary of the horrors women have to face every day from so many sources (husbands, significant others, coworkers, parents, strangers, other women) and in so many ways, both blatant and in microaggressions. Women’s empowerment and reclaiming a sense of self was a huge message and theme, and horror that explores this is my favorite. This didn’t disappoint in that respect.

Despite my enjoyment of this, there were a few things that made this a not-quite perfect read. The biggest was that the ending felt rushed and not entirely wrapped up. The climax and resolution take place in the last 3-5 chapters, so for a novel that was building up to something for so long, the ending felt too quick and I was left with more plausibility questions than I anticipated. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but if there had been more build up throughout the novel and then a few more chapters to work through the consequences of the climax, I think this ending really would have stuck. Even as is, however, it didn’t take away from the ultimate message/theme of the book or my enjoyment of reading it, but it did leave me a little disappointed.

But in all, this was a spooky tale that both satisfied my love of the included horror tropes and settings and gave a satisfactory (and important) commentary around what it feels like to be a woman with all the horrors that are directed at us when we’re just trying to live our lives and what it takes for some to regain control. (Also, just gonna say it… when we learn where the title comes from, it’s both a sucker punch and then an empowering battle cry. Loved it.)

So in all, this isn’t a flawless novel - it has some execution and resolution issues in the last ~5% of the book. But I enjoyed it thoroughly, and adored the spooky vibes, haunted history, and the female empowerment that’s at the core of the novel. And yes, I did preorder this to have a copy for my personal library.

If you like the vibes, can stand the trigger warnings (below), and don’t mind an ending that's not 100% buttoned up (vibes over perfection!), then definitely give it a read.

TW:
- Animal harm/death
- Rape and abuse (sexual and emotional), including from a partner - some scenes are on the page
- Suicide
- Gaslighting

There was a lot of promise when before I read this book. After reading it, I’m a bit iffy on some of it. I felt like it could’ve been shortened, some details were not needed. Not a fan of the end, couldn’t predict it, but it felt off with the rest of the book. And, the characters were not relatable.

It Will Only Hurt for a Moment definitely falls into the Good for Her genre for me, so therefore it was an automatic yes because I LOVE cheering on women, especially women who have been made to believe they aren’t worthy. With that in mind, there are some definite content warnings I’d like to mention for anyone picking up this creepy, feminist thriller, including depictions of verbal and physical abuse, sexual assault, gaslighting, and men just being terrible humans in general.

My favorite part of the book was the redemption arc of the main character Sarah. Trying to escape an abusive ex, the story begins with her taking refuge in an artists’ retreat in the North Georgia mountains, an artists’ retreat that also happens to be on the site of a historical hotel that has lots of its own thinly covered baggage. This setting was perfect for creepiness to ensue. I live near the North GA mountains, so I could easily picture the setting as I was reading. I loved that the story also had supernatural elements that keep the reader guessing throughout.

There were a few characters who felt a little stereotypical, but honestly I think that was the point. They were kind of background and secondary to the main character who was still trying to figure out who she was in relation to herself and to others, so it kind of worked that some of them felt a little flat. Sarah herself felt fully realized if not young and definitely on that journey of self discovery after being held down so long by her ex.

Overall, I really enjoyed It Will Only Hurt a Moment and found myself cheering on the last few pages. It’s an easy to read thriller with ghostly elements that takes you on a fun ride of revenge.

4 stars

Thanks to the Publisher and Netgalley for an ARC of It Will Only Hurt for a Moment.

This is my second book by Delilah Dawson, and I really enjoyed it.

Tranquil Falls seems to be the answer to all of Sarah's problems. She's on the run from her abusive boyfriend and her alcoholic mother. The artist retreat seems like a place for her to reconnect with her art and herself but things go sideways as soon as she arrives. As more things happen, Sarah feels compelled to find out the truth behind Tranquil Falls.

I enjoyed this book and I went in blind but the story line kept me hooked. I wanted to know what was going to happen next.

I do think the ending could have used a little more. I really wanted an epilogue to answer a few more questions.

This novel is dark, creepy and very messed up. It is also extremely engrossing and it was hard to put down. Sarah goes to an artists’ retreat to get away from her abusive boyfriend. The place sounds incredible, and the little houses where the artists stay, their studios and the woods surrounding them are so well described that they weren’t hard to picture. From the beginning, something feels off. Maybe it’s the volatile personalities of the artists forced to live together. Or, it could be the abandoned hotel next to the colony. Strange things start happening. As I’m trying to summarize the plot, I realize that it jumps a bit and the threads could have been a little more cohesive. While I was reading, though, I never even noticed. I liked the colorful characters, even if I never truly connected with Sarah. My favorite was Ingrid for sure, and I enjoyed the evolution of her personality. Lastly, this is a feminist book that makes a point without falling into the pitfalls of this type of novel. It never becomes preachy. The women here were really and truly victims of men. Not all the men are evil or stupid, and women can be bad too. This book may not be perfect, but I liked it a lot.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Del Rey.

I was a bit on the fence on this one. (Maybe like a 3.5) All of the elements were there, but they didn't necessarily add up and I felt like some things were left unresolved (like the fate of the rest of the artists).

The thing that surprised me most was that this book was not terribly scary (which is weird since our hero keeps exploring a decrepit sanatorium.) The problem is that as Sarah is trying to figure out weird stuff happening at this retreat, she's ALSO having visions of the life of a woman who died on the property a hundred years ago.

For me, this dueling POV took the fear out of the story. There isn't much that is spooky about a ghost when they're giving you play-by-play about their life story, feelings, and motivations. The result was I never really left like Sarah was in any sort of danger.

Overall the reader is left with some unexplained phenomenon in the present and no real sense if this is being caused by humans or ghosts. We're also not sure if anything ghostly is malevolent or just a warning to Sarah. Actually, the more I think about it, I have no idea for the motivation for a lot of things that happened in this book. (Who killed the animals? What exactly is the purpose of haunting artists...so your story gets told? Was everyone having these dreams?)

In other words, I didn't dislike this book. It was an interesting read. But it lacked some cohesiveness that left me with more questions than answers. Thank you to the author and NetGalley for granting me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

trigger warning: sexual assault

Rife with unexpected twists and turns, obscured from thought and prediction, Dawson delivers a thrilling tale with tension as thick as a concrete blizzard.

Loved it! Could not put it down. Lackluster ending though. Was hoping for a big gotcha moment for Gail and co. Also what the hell happened to Kim and Reid. Too many unanswered questions for my taste. I understand that those answers are not important for the message of the book, but it bothers me none the less.

I’ve read quite a few of this authors stories and I love how she tells the tale of unique and strong women.

The main character, Sarah, is running away from an abusive relationship. She’s found sanctuary at an artist’s retreat in the mountains. Things aren’t right from the moment she steps into her new home. An abandoned hotel/asylum, long dead corpses and ghosts.

Very much a slow burn book, but picked way up around the halfway mark and I plowed through to find out the secrets of Tranquil Falls.

3⭐️ this is not my usual genre of book so it was quite the palette cleanser! I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t that! This book has a lot to offer. A multitude of characters and an uncanny ability to draw suspense. I did not find the story line predictable. At times it was a bit dark, it reminded me of books like Verity and If We Were Villains. If you enjoy a spooky, thriller, mystery book- I think you would enjoy this book.

Thank you to NetGallery for the opportunity of my ARC read.

THE CREEPIEST!
Dawson has created a perfect storm of thriller and haunted tale in this isolated camp setting for artists. Sarah has run from her abusive relationshiop to reignite her passion for pottery at the Tranquil Falls artist colony. She meets a cast of characters including an adventurous punk young woman that has her exploring the desolated hotel property next door.

It's the perfect place to reinvent yourself except Sarah keeps running into horrible signs - a dead possum, an unmarked grave and the proprieter seems to dislike her. Dawson has brought in plenty of known scares in unique and interesting ways to make this a book you should only read in the daytime. Dawson has the knack for taking the truth about women's lives and shining on it - is it horror, or is it real life? #randomhouse #ballantine #itwillonlyhurtforamoment #delilahsdawson

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC! This was a fun read. No gore (saying this for those of you who have read Bloom and were expecting something like that). I enjoyed the artist residency angle, and the no WiFi isolation of it all. If you’re looking for a paranormal thriller you’d likely enjoy this.

It went completely differently than I was anticipating. Warning spoilers ahead.

I 100% thought the MC killed her boyfriend and was the one injuring people and blocking it out (and was going to realize and have a Bloom moment. I also thought this was going to be where the no WiFI came into play - that’s how she wouldn’t know she was wanted for murder). I think that would’ve actually been cool, but I can always get behind a vengeful ghost who turns out to be real.
This book did a good job illustrating how little the plight of women has changed. How easily their freedom can be taken just for having needs and emotions that the men in their lives can’t handle.

I just finished reading this book, and while it had some great elements, I’m left with mixed feelings. The setting was one of the highlights for me, with its magical and supernatural elements that really drew me in. However, the plot started off very slow, and it wasn’t until about 30% into the story that things started to pick up. Once it did, the pace became more consistent, which kept me engaged.

That said, there are a few things that I found hard to overlook. The ending felt abrupt, leaving several characters, like Reid and Kim, incomplete. I understand that the author might have intended to keep with the mysterious theme of the plot, but it felt more like the story was cut off rather than adding to the mystery.

Another thing that bothered me was the lack of explanation behind Emily’s actions. Her motives were never fully explained, and I felt like every character was underdeveloped. Take Ingrid, for example. She was a crucial part of the plot, helping to start and end Sarah’s journey, yet I finished the book feeling like I knew nothing about her. She felt like an empty shell, and I wanted so much more from her character.

Despite these flaws, I would still recommend this book to fans of ghost stories and mysteries. Just be prepared to overlook some of the incomplete aspects of the storyline. There’s a lot to enjoy here, but don’t expect all your questions to be answered by the end.


I would like to express my deep gratitude to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley for their generosity in allowing me to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was the third book I’ve read by Delilah S. Dawson and it was my least favorite out of the three, but it was one of those books that made me feel like I had physically gone somewhere. Dawson is great at atmosphere and world building, and even if this book didn’t quite hit as strongly as the other two in the end it was still an experience.

I loved the vivid way she described the artists’ retreat. I really understood the layout of the place and felt like I had been there before. Dawson appeals to all of the senses with her writing. This story took place in the Fall and the retreat was located in the woods, so that added an extra layer to everything, also. I think that Dawson is very skilled at visualizing her stories and where they occur, then translating that for the reader.

While the GR blurb for this book absolutely drew me in and made me want to read it, I do think it gives away too much about the plot. There are little details in there that don’t occur until pretty far into the story and would’ve been more fun to be surprised with as I was reading.

A mutual Friend/Reviewer on here recently mentioned that she is tired of seeing the “Goth girl is a bitch” stereotype in books, and honestly it hadn’t really occurred to me until I saw her talk about it but now I’m noticing it more. It totally happens in this novel. I kind of got the feeling that Ingrid was supposed to be a mean version of Lydia Deetz. (The book even references “Beetlejuice” at one point.) She did end up growing on me a bit by the end. But the timing was humorous and that Reviewer was absolutely right.

The plot takes a bit of a turn in a surprising direction that I was not expecting. It gets very dark, and then even darker. Part of me was hoping that the story would stay focused on the art aspect because I love art horror, but I didn’t really mind the other stuff that was going on, (though heed the trigger warnings.) The book straddled the line of feeling like two different stories stitched together, but the author made them harmonize for the most part. Just as main character Sarah was determined to explore her creepy and moldy surroundings, I was intrigued to find out just how deep this horrific plot would go. By the end, though, it did feel like one of the plot lines was left hanging and with a few gaping holes. As I read other reviews, I realized more and more threads that were left dangling. Based on “Guillotine,” another Dawson book that I just read an ARC for recently, I feel like she typically gives a lot of thought to her plots so honestly this surprised me.

The action also got a bit repetitive after a while, with Sarah doing the same things over and over but for different reasons. There was a lot of “Once she made it back outside into the sunlight, she could breathe again” or variations of that sentence.

Parts of this story were admittedly tough for me to read. There isn’t much that gets to me when I read horror, but the specific things that I don’t care for were there in this book and they were handled in a graphic way.

I was mostly having a good time with this read overall until I got to the last ten percent. The ending was just a big jumble of disappointment. I felt like Riley Sager suddenly took over. (Sorry for the shade!) I took a whole star off because of it. Sarah seemed to be doing things that were very out of character, after everything I had come to learn about her and after this little journey we had taken together, and it felt like a betrayal. A big reveal occurred that wasn’t surprising at all. There were those big questions left unanswered and two things happened out of nowhere, partially for the sake of plot convenience. But I found them difficult to believe or accept. All of this also made the ending overall feel a bit abrupt and unfinished. *I thought the book deserved a better conclusion. There was so much buildup to what amounted to a mixture of over the top villainy and a long passage of telling rather than showing in the aftermath. (“Let me catch you up on what happened in this dialogue.”)

I liked “Bloom” and “Guillotine” quite a bit, and this one had a lot of potential but didn’t quite hit the mark for me. I think a different ending would really elevate the story. But I’ll definitely continue to read more from this author!

2.5 rounded up because I really did like it until the ending.

Thank you to Netgalley and to the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own.

TW: Substance Abuse, Animal Death, Sexual Assault, Domestic Abuse, Misogyny, Self-harm (graphic), References to Abortion

This was such a fun read as a Georgia native. At the beginning of the novel we find the main character, Sarah Carpenter, returning to her home state of Georgia to reconnect to her artistic roots at an artist's collective program in the remote Georgia mountains. This novel initially reads as a mystery and quickly turns to thriller as paranormal elements begin to entwine themself into the story.
I have an aunt who is an established southern potter, giving me extensive knowledge of the process of making pottery, and I must say Dawson successfully spoke to so many elements of this artistic form with such clarity and depth that I could envision the pieces being formed in my mind.
The ending was unexpected but felt a bit rushed to combine all the loose threads from the story. Overall, this book is a fantastic read and perfect for spooky fall evenings.

So, first off... please put a trigger warning or content warning in this book. It was a very darkly overwhelming read with absolutely 0 warning.

The setting and atmosphere are gorgeous, but....the plot was a major let down. Especially the ending. For someone so set on moving on, Kyle was the major point of Sarah's entire personality. We only got glimpses of her in terms of how Kyle made her, but rarely a glimpse of who she actually was. I feel like the story would have been more impactful if only Sarah had been impacted, which really takes out the creepier elements of the story.

Please, someone take away the sheer number of metaphors used. AND why did Kyle just randomly pop up? If he had been manipulating things that may have made the ending more plausible, but it was just nonsensical and traumatic. Not knowing what happened to Reid was also strange. Gail would have had no reason to get rid of him, so it felt like cheap suspense to leave his ending unknown. Very reluctant 3 star read.

Sarah has left her abusive husband, heading to a secluded artists’ retreat with no cell service or internet, safe from her husband and free to resume her love for pottery. Soon after her arrival, while digging a pit for a kiln, she discovers the body of a young woman, apparently from the 1800’s. From that point forward, strange things begin happening at the art colony, and Sarah is in the center of it all. It Will Only Hurt For A Moment is a dark, eerie ghost story with a disturbing theme central to the plot, as Sarah discovers the more she delves into the sordid past of Tranquil Falls, the former location of a “healing spa” in the 1800’s that catered to the rich. The flawed characters, all artists like Sarah, add to the strange aura that surrounds the colony, and Sarah’s vivid, strange dreams help tell the story, and provides plenty of chills for the reader. I was pleasantly surprised by the direction this book takes, and except for a few plot holes at the end which need to be overlooked, I definitely enjoyed this one! I received an ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.