Delicate Condition is a story about a woman nearing the age of 40, desperate to have a baby. She’s gone through multiple rounds of IVF, pushed herself physically and mentally trying to get pregnant. When finally, the two little pink lines appear.

Anna suffers so much throughout this book.. what I had thought was a “remake” of Rosemary’s Baby- a modern take on the horror classic- turned into something much more. I felt like I actually learned a lot, never have being pregnant myself, but planning on it. This is about woman being heard, being trusted to understand their symptoms, this is about the need to learn more about WHY things happen to pregnant women.

After Anna discovers she is pregnant, strange things start happening… A woman in a blue baseball cap seems to be following her. Disfigured dolls with her likeness start appearing in random places, and the hallucinations. Something is wrong with her baby. And no one, not her husband, nor her doctors will listen.

I think I loved this book. Some things I could not guess, some were obvious, but it certainly didn’t take the route o had hoped it would but still a very satisfying conclusion.

A great stand-alone horror novel, just be prepared to feel more than scared.

5⭐️

Thank you Netgalley, Sourcebooks, and Danielle Valentine for the ARC

Every woman who has been pregnant will see herself in this book.

Anna Alcott is an actress who has just found real commercial success in a movie called The Auteur. She also is a married woman who wants to have a baby more than anything. She is doing IVF, and hoping this time there is a viable embryo. But weird things are happening. Her calendar has the wrong time for appointments, she is leaving medicines out of the fridge, and is almost late for her shot more than once.

But the procedure is finally successful. Anna is pregnant, but she is also in contention for an Oscar. She feels pulled in two directions. When she has a miscarriage, she is devastated and tells her friend Siobhan she was desperate and would do anything.

Then, she feels the baby move. How could that be? The doctor decides it was vanishing twin syndrome and that there must have been two embryos to begin with. Anna feels that isn't right, but she doesn't have an answer of what happened. Al she knows is that this pregnancy is strange. She hears strange sounds, has hallucinations, and keeps finding strange dolls of her around her friend's house, where they are staying.

This book isn't scary, per se, but it is creepy. It also really hits a chord as a woman who has been pregnant. Even if you aren't seeing things and being stalked as a celebrity, pregnancy can be stressful, painful, and give you the feeling that an alien is inside you!

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy of this book!

Once I heard associations with Rosemary Baby and also the new season of AHS, I knew that I had to read this! It’s different from what I normally read and sometimes you need that. It was tense, creepy, unsettling, depraved at times.

Delicate Condition was a suspenseful story about Anna Alcott who will do anything to have a baby. Anna and her husband are going thru IVF. The pregnancy that she dreamed of has become a nightmare. There were some rosemarys baby vibes going on here in this story. There are some triggers with infertility, miscarriages and animal cruelty. This will make a great movie!

Engrossing might be the best word to describe this read! I stayed up far into the small hours wanting (needing) to know where this narrative was headed. There is no way I could have guessed the ending, though! This enthralling read details one woman's single-minded determination to get (and stay) pregnant even as she feels sinister forces conspiring against her and her fetus. Our protagonist is fully-fleshed out (something I need for a read to be good) and even some the more outlandish scenes feel plausible. A welcomed surprise were flashbacks to others eras, and other pregnant women - while a touch confusing at first, at the end it all came together more than nicely. Valentine has a gift and she has fully realized it with this book!

If you are looking for a layered and thrilling page turning horror book, this is the one for you. I had fun and laughed but also stayed on the edge of my seat throughout it

Beware anyone who is thinking of becoming pregnant - you might want to rethink that decision. Or not. Excellent characters, disturbingly real plot. While Delicate Condition is Danielle Valentine's first adult novel, she obviously has plotting and character development chops. I'd like to see what her YA fiction is like.

Recently, I checked out the first episode of the podcast The Retrievals. It uses the story of the Yale fertility clinic, where a nurse tampered with fentanyl vials, stealing the drug and replacing it with saline, to tell a larger story about women's pain. I ended up not continuing with it because I don't think I'm the target audience.

I've been fortunate enough to have had my medical concerns heard, but I know all too well the history of the medical neglect of women. For one thing, the doctor referred to in this book, the one who experimented on Black women with no regard for their comfort or agency, is almost certainly J. Marion Sims, who's from my home state. My own alma mater, as recently as this century, had an endowed chair in his name.

And all that, to me, is actually what this book is about. I went into it thinking it was obviously going to be a take on Rosemary's Baby. There is that vibe, but this book isn't simply a retelling. It reminds me more of some of Freida McFadden's work, wherein she takes a story that we think we know, like the movie Psycho and then puts her own delicious spin on it. That's what's happening here. There is the Rosemary's Baby vibe, but the actual story unfolds into a bigger, more engaging one about what's it like to have a baby-producing body and how someone's entire personhood can be whittled down to being considered only that--a broodmare and nothing more.

Delicate Condition Review

Delicate Condition is the harrowing story of actress Anna Alcott, who is desperate to have a baby. She and her husband Dex are going through IVF, and after many disappointments, Anna finds she is pregnant. Her story from this point is anything but the idyllic pregnancy - and Anna is gripped by terror after terror that no one else seems to believe.

This story is dark, gory, and tense in the best way. The descriptions of Anna’s mental state throughout are just terrifying, but connected enough to reality that you really question what could be real. I was completely gripped.

The conclusion was dramatic, but completely satisfying and did such a great job of tying everything together. I enjoyed this one from start to finish.

5 stars from me! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Oh, my! A psychological thriller I could not put down. So many evil, suspect things happening that I wasn't sure what was reality, dreams/nightmares or hallucinations. And who do I trust? There are stalkers, criminals, sinister forces and some really strange things happening, but also great girlfriends and strong women. This book was a strong 4.5 stars throughout much of the storyline, but then it got a bit overly wacky at the end (ending was closer to 3-3.5 stars). Still a good read!!! And I liked how Valentine incorporated women's healthcare into the storyline and how women's pain and symptoms are often underrecognized and/or overlooked and considered a result of something mental or emotional. Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the eARC.

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.

This book was super creepy and disturbing, and slid quickly past the thriller genre into horror, at least for me. I usually love a good supernatural thriller, but perhaps due to the description of this book, or perhaps other factors, I was completely unprepared to deal with the level of grisly detail in this story. I felt like I was getting punched in the face by the gore (which is why I don't typically read horror...) I appreciate the parallels to the reality of doctors who tend to minimize or dismiss women in pain, but beyond that I had a hard time connecting to the main character. That being said, the pace was pretty fast, the suspense was palpable, and I definitely felt the need to find out how this was going to end.

Okay, Danielle Valentine. I see you, and I think I love you.

As a super fan of American Horror Story, I knew I needed to read this when I heard Season 12 is based off this book. It was heartbreaking, mysterious, and just gross enough that I wasn't squeamish.

I could relate to Anna (the MC). Being an aging woman, trying to get pregnant, and having miscarriages is something you don't see a lot of in books. The author unfortunately experienced pregnancy loss, and really nailed every single thought and feeling I also had when I experienced my losses.

The mystery was gripping. I couldn't stop reading, I needed to know what the heck was happening! It all tied together so nicely in the end.

I highly recommend this book, and cannot wait to read more from Danielle Valentine.

5 stars.

Is someone stalking Anna? Is someone out to hurt her or her baby? Are these events connected? Is this really happening? While you’re asking yourself these questions, only one thing is for certain. This pregnancy is not going well.
A definite buy for me! This book was well written and WILD. If you’re into woman-centered horror & domestic horror you have to give this book a try. If AHS is really adapting this I hope it turns out good, I hate when a good book gets ruined by a show. I also hate when I can’t craft a good review for a book I loved (which is most of the time)

“I didn’t know this then, but the truth is there’s no such thing as an uncomplicated pregnancy. We all give something up in exchange for our babies. Nearly everyone on this planet was welcomed by the sounds of a woman screaming.”

Genuinely terrifying body horror, and then there's the fictional aspects beyond what people go through during pregnancy! Kudos to Danielle!

First off, thank you NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Landmark for granting me access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

WOW! ALL RIGHT!! Delicate Condition was not at all what I was expecting! The synopsis compared this book to Silent Patient and The Push and that is extremely misleading. The Silent Patient is one of my all time favorite psychological thrillers and this book was more on the pregnancy HORROR genre. The only thing I found similar with The Push is the pregnancy aspect. If you are a fan of the horror genre then you might enjoy this one. Unfortunately, I do not consider horror in my wheelhouse of genres.😳😬

Anna and Dex desperately want to have a baby. After multiple IVF treatments, they learn that it was successful and Anna is pregnant. Simultaneously, strange things start to happen! For instance, her appointment times are changed, medications misplaced, stolen items and someone is following her. Is she going crazy and getting forgetful or is it someone else doing all this and why?? Following their move to a temporary location of safety, Anna is told she has had a miscarriage. Or is she still pregnant?

I do appreciate the trigger warnings given at the beginning of the book. PLEASE take note of them before launching into reading it. If you are trying to have a baby or currently pregnant I do not advise reading this book right now.

Overall, it was a slow paced, creepy horror read that will keep you reading until the very end. While I was invested and had to know how it would end I am thankful its over. Phew! 😮‍💨😅🤣

TW: Infertility, Miscarriage and thoughts of harm to animals

Would recommend for fans of…
🍼 Rosemary’s Baby
🍼 Alien
🍼 American Horror Story

I’ve been going through a big horror phase lately and Delicate Condition was the perfect book to satisfy my horror cravings!

The story follows Anna, an actress who’s undergoing IVF treatments in hopes of finally having a child. When she finally gets pregnant, she’s thrilled but then lots of strange things start happening…

This definitely leans more in the psychological horror genre and I found it to be pleasantly creepy – it was tense and chilling but not scary enough to make you want to sleep with the lights on. In fact, I’d say the scariest part of the book was how Valentine so accurately depicts how our healthcare system often diminishes and writes off women’s concerns.

Like in most horror books and films, the ending goes a little haywire, but I still found this to be a fun and thrilling read. The story is also the basis for the upcoming season of American Horror Story, starring Emma Roberts and Kim Kardashian, and I have high hopes for the TV adaptation.

A word of caution…BIG warning for topics around pregnancy, infertility, and childbirth so use care if those topics are difficult for you.

Thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. Delicate Condition is available August 1.

I really loved this book! It was recommended as a good read so I thought I would give it try!

First I would like to say that there may be triggers with anyone who is struggling with fertility issues or who has had a miscarriage. But if you can get passed this, then this book is very engrossing and it sucked me in immediately. Anna who has finally conceived her miracle baby starts to have issues, both medically related to the pregnancy and psychologically as well. Is she going crazy or isn’t she? This author really leaves it up to the readers mind to guesstimate what is actually going on here.

I obviously do not want to give anything away because it might ultimately ruin this story for you, but if you like a good mind twist, this book may be for you. I highly recommend it for psychological thriller lovers!!

I went back and forth between the audio and the book version, the audio and narrator was fabulous and I highly recommend it!

I can totally see why they decided this novel deserved to be turned into a season of AHS!

Delicate Condition really is a modern day feminist Rosemary's Baby and I loved it! I was thoroughly sucked into the story of Anna the actress and her complicated IVF journey.
Stay far far away from this novel if you are triggered by miscarriage, infertility and pregnancy trauma! However, if you're like me and you've dealt with miscarriages and traumatic painful pregnancies you'll find yourself nodding along with Anna and wanting to rip these stupid doctors to shreds!

As the author says in her end note, "The tendency to assume that women can't be trusted to accurately convey their symptoms comes from the historical diagnosis of "hysteria," which was once thought to be a medical condition said to only affect women.Doctors were taught that women were inherently liars, unreliable, or hysterical hypochondriacs. In some cases, they were even believed to be possessed."

Honestly, what's scarier than being in pain and no one believing you? If no one believes you who will help you? It's always other women. We look out for each other.

Readalikes for Delicate Condition are:
Cackle by Rachel Harrison
Night Bitch by Rachel Yoder and
Just Like Mother by Anne Hetzel

I really enjoyed this! The ending surprised me (in a good way)! I also think the characters are written well. Special Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.